“The Only Only”, by Candia McWilliam is a short story which I feel successfully achieves a mood of tension and unease throughout its storyline.

The story tells of how one careless mistake made by a single person, led to a catastrophe, and ended up tearing an island community apart. Davie was a pier worker on the island and it was his mistake that was to blame. He had forgotten to untie a holding rope in order to release a departing ferry. This had resulted in the rope springing free and lashing about all over the pier. The lethal rope had hunted down the younger population of the island, and without mercy, beheaded all but one.

The title, “The Only Only”, gives many suggestions for what the story could be about. However it is not till you read the story that you find out its true meaning. The title gives the reader a sense of something being solitary or alone when first read. This then triggers then suspicion that the mood of the story may well be unpleasant or upsetting.

The opening sentence to the story however does not show any signs of the expected mood, and certainly does not leave the reader feeling cautious once read:

“The first ferry for a week was fast to the quay, the thick rope springs holding it to, looped fore and aft over iron cleats, the height of children.”

There is nothing unusual about the information given, except for the fact that the writer compares the height of the iron cleats to that of the height of children. I personally think that this comparison was rather strange, I question if the need for parenthesis about the height of iron cleats was really necessary and if so, why compare the height of the iron cleats to that of children?

There were only seven children on the island, and Davies daughter, Sandy was one of them. Sandy was the “Only Only” on the island as she had no brothers or sisters.

“Seven children lived on the island and attended the school together. Sandy was the only only among them; the rest had brothers or sisters”

At the mention of there only being seven children living on the island, this gives the idea that the community is quite small and must be really close as a result. Also the fact that it says that sandy was the only only changes the reader’s opinion on what the story must be about.

As you read on in the story, you find out that the writer has included a lot of detail about Sandy’s father Davie and incidents which had occurred earlier in his life:

“Davie had boiled up a clutch of eggs once and they had sat down to them…the tapping and the faint window of membrane had seemed right enough, but when he’d got through to the boiled half made chick he’d got sick.”

The quotation above tells of how a half-born chick had been boiled to death. This creates a mood of tension and forces the reader to think whether or not they think death will have an important significance later on in the story. It also shows of Davie’s carelessness early on in life, and of how he had accidentally killed a poor defenceless chick by making the decision to boil up a clutch of eggs.

In the story it mentions the fact that Davie had not been born on the island and that he was an incomer to island life. As a result he lacked in local knowledge and therefore his mistake with the eggs could be understood.

The idea of death is continued in the next paragraph:

“He still looked away when a seal heaved up the rocks to die after a gashing…In death a seal keeps its enthusiastic expression; the human face falls to neutral peace, but the seal appears to trust even death.”

The writer has effectively used the example of the seal, and descriptively described its death to reinforce the idea of dying. In my opinion, this creates a lot of unease around the story, as for some reason the writer continues to pursue down the topic of death.

The community on the island was rather small, and as a result everyone knew everyone and no gossip or news went unheard:

“When, as now, she was irked at her man she did not tell, or it would have been round the place before tea.”

The quotation above reinforces the idea that the island was closer than close and that talk was the islanders past time.

As a result of the small population on the island and everyone being closer than close, the children of the island were normally found altogether:

“The children of the island were standing against the rail at the end of the pier…Six of them red headed… and one of them with the crow black hair.”

I found it quite unusual for the writer to have included information about the children’s hair colours, when I first read the story. However after re-reading, it is obvious that the writer has attempted to use this piece of information as a subtle clue for the reader as to what the latter part of the story may be about.

Throughout the story so far there have been various points of tension, but in my opinion the following are the exact moments in the story, where I believe tension is at its greatest:

“In the restful numbed cold silence…”

And

“The moment the children loved was coming, when they could wave to the boat as it pulled out and away from the island, seagulls over the wake like bridesmaid.”

The reason why I believe these are the exact points in the story where tension is at its height is because it is the last thing which is said before everything starts to go wrong. When you read it, you definitely get the sense that something is building up, and as a result it is very effective.

As everything does start to go wrong, the speed of the story quickens and everything seems to happen all at once:

“After the first tearing report of the bust rope came the whipping weight of sixty yards of corded hemp and steel, swinging out through its hard blind arc at the height of a good-sized child.”

As the speed of the story quickens it is almost inevitable that something bad is going to happen. Also Candia McWilliam includes the words, “tearing”, “whipping” and “swinging” to add to the sense of speed and results in this particular part of the story being very effective to its purpose of creating tension, as it puts the reader on the edge of their seat and also makes them ask the question, what is going to happen next?

However, the writer includes the information of the rope swinging at the height of a child, this information has been repeated throughout the story, and so from this the reader must surely hazard a guess that a disaster must be on the cards and that the children of the island are involved.

The writer’s use of language and description helps the reader imagine what is happening and even help build a picture as if there were actually there:

““Lie down, get down, for god’s sake”, yelled a man. The women fell to ground. Unless they were mothers, when they ran for their little ones….”

The reader is left thinking whether or not anything bad has actually happened or not; is everyone safe and unharmed?

As you read on you unveil the tragedy that was feared. Its at this point in the story, where you don’t want to read on, as you know its going to be really sad and upsetting:

“The children from the end of the pier comforted their mothers…a bob in the water, the heads of children cut off at the neck…the streaming curtailed hair, red, red, red, red, red, red or black, and to grow no more.”

Can you imagine being one of the mothers? It must have been soul destroying. The fact that the writer lists the colour of the children’s hair, and uses phrases such as, “comforted their mothers”, “a bob in the water”, and “the streaming curtailed hair” makes everything appear even more gruesome and horrifying.

Candia McWilliam without a doubt successfully creates a mood of tension and unease throughout her short story, “The Only Only”. The use of extra information, well places hidden clues and descriptive detail adds to the emotion of sadness, and the absolute shock of reading about the tragedy and death of the children. As a result, it also lets the reader think about what will happen afterwards, which the story has not told. What will happen to Davie? Will he get blamed? What will happen to eumphemia’s job? We can only wonder.