The Happiest Days of Your Life
By Penelope Lively, 1978

The story starts out with a boy named Charles sitting in a car with his parents. The family is on their way to a preparatory school. Charles’ parents will see if it would be a nice place for Charles to continue his education. The fees are much higher then his old school – Seaford. When they enter the school, they meet a woman who tells them to wait for the headmaster to be there. After talking a bit in the room where they were placed, the headmaster’s wife enters the room. Immediately she apologizes for her husband – the headmaster. After talking with the headmaster’s wife the headmaster comes in. the headmaster’s wife takes Charles away to meet the other students. They enters a room where some of the boys are playing, there are very noisy in there, but the boys become quit the second Charles and the woman enters. The woman leaves Charles in the room full of the boys, and the other boys gather around him in a circle.

They ask him a lot of questions. He’s confused and forgets to listen to the boys – he looks at the clouds and he’s daydreaming, but suddenly he hear someone telling him, that when and if he starts at the school they will mash him and that they mash all of the new boys. After the parents are done talking with the headmaster, the headmaster’s wife comes in and brings him back to his parents, who are already in the car.
The parents talks about the school on their way back and decides it’s a very pleasant school for Charles. When the mother ask him if he would like to go there, the child doesn’t answer, he just looks straight ahead of him, at the road. The only thing the boy can think about are the boys telling him, that he will get mashed next term. Although Charles doesn’t answer the parents, the decision about him going there is already made. “The car turned right, between white gates and high, dark, tight-clipped hedges” (Page 55 line 6-7)
This is one of the many places in the text where we can see, that this school is more expensive then the most preparatory schools.
The family are from Hampstead – page 56 line 44 –, which is known for their wealthy citizens and intellectually culture. Although the family comes from Hampstead they think the school is pricey.
“It’s pricey, of course”
“All the same….”
“Money well spent, though” (Page 58 line 41-44)

It indicates that the family are not entirely from the upper class, but has saved up the money so their child can get a very good education. The family are more likely from the upper-middleclass. I assume that Charles is an only child because we never hear about his siblings. Maybe that’s why the parents will spend extra money on him and his education.

“One or two of the merchant bankers, those kind of people. It’s the sort of contact that would do no harm at all. You meet someone, get talking at a cricket match or what have you… Nat at all a bad thing” (Page 56 line 26-29)

The father has big ambitions for his son. In other preparatory schools the boys play soccer or plays at the playground, but in this school the boys plays cricket, which is a sophisticated sport. He wants Charles to play with the children who comes from wealthy families because then Charles could get a good influence from them. I think it’s very snobby first of all because he isn’t from the upper class and second of all because Charles doesn’t want to go there. For me it seems like Charles wants to stay in his old school.
At the very beginning we get to know that Charles is on the back seat of the car with an unopened box of chocolate and a folded comic. For me, it’s a sign of unhappiness. Boys in that age love chocolate and comics, and the words “folded” and “unopened” isn’t written by a coincident. It’s to emphasize how miserable he is. Also when the family is on their way to enter the school we see how unhappy he is.

“They went up the steps, the man, the woman, and the child two paces behind”. (Page 56 line 11)

The child isn’t anxious to see his future school and his future school companions.
It’s very clear to me that the parents haven’t involved the child in the very big decision - which it’s when you have to transfer to another school.

The family doesn’t seem to be very close. It almost seems like the parents doesn’t care about Charles feeling miserable. Sometimes the mother asks him how he feels, but they don’t show him much love. The family in general doesn’t seem like a very loving family, they seem very superficial almost like they only care about what others think about them.

The title says it all. Older people often refer to their childhood as their happiest days of their life. It is very clear to me, that the parents wants Charles’ school years to be the happiest days of his life as well.
Most of the story is written in past tense but when Charles and the headmaster’s wife leave the parents and the headmaster it turns into present. I think it shifts because it’s the point of no return if you could call it that. When Charles meets the other children it’s whens his new life starts in some way. Those boys are his new school companions for the next many years, and the shift between past tense and present has a dramatically effect.