Bulbjerg (Ebba, Rasmus, Sofie and Victor)

In the short story “Bulbjerg” by Naja Marie Aidt, the author describes how animal instincts are in every human being and appear as anger, aggression and fear when they are psychologically pushed to their limit – a situation where they’re stripped of all control. Only after the establishment of words like ethics and morality have the human race suppressed their instinctive reactions towards these situations. The story is a part of the collection of novels called “Bavian” by the same author.

In the beginning of the short story “Bulbjerg” the author describes a family and their surroundings. The family consists of the narrator, his girlfriend Anne, and their adopted son, Sebastian. The family is on vacation when they got lost in the woods. They are trying to find the town Bulbjerg, but they keep riding their bikes in circles. The bikes are described as “old and rusty, the danger of a puncture was imminent.” This refers to the state of the family. And the fact that they got lost and can’t find their way to Bulbjerg could be a reference to the relationship between the narrator and Anne, because of the conflicts between them and the affair between the narrator and Anne’s sister, Tine. As the narrator describes their affair in a flash back he suddenly switches from speaking in present to past tense.

The narrator focuses on Tines sexual skills and her looks - and not who she is as a person. He feels more comfortable in a physical relationship than he does in an emotional relationship. He feels trapped and distraught in his relationship with Anne, but when he is with Tine he is free and has no worries. The narrator is acting out his animal instincts. Because genetically speaking men has always tried to have sexual intercourse with as many women as physical possible - but for the narrator this has led to his loss of general morale toward his family.

He does not try to improve his relationship with Anne, while Anne is desperately trying to make it work between the two of them. The woods are like their relationship. It is confusing and twisted, and it’s Anne who is trying to find her way out. "Every time we come to a crossroads, you look at me inquiringly, but, after all, I’m not the local here, and each time you end up saying something like:"

As the family is riding their bikes down a big hill, the narrator crashes his bike with Sebastian sitting on the back of the said bike. Sebastian gets a big cut in his head and is unconscious. Anne picks him up and begins walking while carrying him over the shoulder. This is one of the points were you can really see the animal instincts, in the short story. The narrator and Anne will do everything in their power to save Sebastian.

The next part of the story is again told through a flashback. This time it’s about the narrators first meeting with Anne. How she was when he first met her: “And then she did something completely unexpected: with great conviction she suddenly leaned over and kissed me long and intensely.” This quote underlines the fact that was presented earlier. The narrator seems to by drawn by the physical relationship. But this type of relationship is with time subdued in Anne. At the same time, at the end of this flashback, the narrator contradicts this fact. Even though he likes the physical relationship the best, he is addicted to his family, and if they disappear, he’ll bleed out: “Their names sit like two awls in my main artery: if you pull the out, I’ll bleed to death immediately”. Suddenly the narrator confesses his affair with Tine and Anne is furious. Anne now runs off, and the narrator carries Sebastian the rest of the way. This is a great example of the missing ethics and morals of the narrator.

In this paragraph something special happens with the language: “”You’re sick”, she then whispers”. The narrator starts to address Anne as “she” instead of “you”. The family looks like a normal family, but by stating his unfaithfulness, the family starts to crumble. At the same time, Sebastian’s cut can be symbolized as the couple’s relationship, his is broken – like Anne’s and the narrator’s relationship. Now something extraordinary happens – Sebastian wakes up automatically and the narrator does everything is his power to keep him awake. This is maybe a symbol of the narrators drive to steady the relationship with Anne, because he’ll “bleed out” if he doesn’t have her.

When Anne runs off, all the narrator could think of was getting Sebastian to the hospital and to find Anne again. He walks against Bulbjerg and finds Anne on a bench with another man. The narrator realizes that Anne is having an affair with this man. The narrator describes the stranger as: ”He looked most of all like a monkey, as he stood there with his broad chest and hairy arms”. From this quote we see once more some animal instincts. The narrator knows that the stranger is bigger and stronger, therefore he decides to do the smartest thing as a survival instinct: run away. The last lines of the short story “You sat in the darkness by the window, when late that night we returned to the summerhouse. You hadn’t even picked up the dog.” is very interesting and could have several meanings. The first thing is that the narrator referees to Anne as “you” again. This is linked to the cut on Sebastian’s forehead, which turns out not to be such a big deal. Another meaning this could have is that Anne forgot to pick up the dog; this could be interpreted as the family joy left behind, something that Anne earlier tried to hold on to.

The short story ”Bulbjerg” is a dramatic story that looks like something terrible on the surface. Animal instincts, ethics, morality and infidelity are some of the themes you can relate this story to. From our point of view there is no main theme. All of the themes are a part of the story and has an equal importance theme by theme. Everybody in real life has an animalistic façade but Humans are by time evolving their sense of ethics and morality and that makes us hide and control it.