The Ballad of Adam Henry 

In the end of the novel (chapter 5), the narrator presents to the reader a ballad. The ballad has been written by Adam and it is the centre of the book. Obviously, it is a fiction. The narrator gets into Adam’s shoes and builds a coherent and cohesive ballad with the character but also with the entire novel. Indeed, the poem is organize into five stanzas, each of 4 lines, that represent and are strictly connected with the 5 chapters of the book. The rhyme scheme is very simple: AABB, in order to create credibility, moreover, the writer is a young boy and not a poet.  

The first stanza has an introductive function. Adam is very attached to his religion. He is a Jehovah’s Witness and even if he is suffering from leukaemia he refuses a blood transfusion, that could save his life.  Words such as “wooden cross”, “penitence” and “Sunday” convey the idea of a high religious sense.

In the second stanza the metaphor is continued. Adam is on his deathbed. Death appears in front of him, but does not have the courage to face her. Despite religion, Adam feels fear. The cross is "heavy as lead"

In the third stanza Adam meet a fish that led him to abandon the cross and therefore to live. In parallelism with what happens in the 3rd chapter, where Fiona and Adam met for the first time. The choice between life and death clashes with several options caused by religious beliefs or particular ideology, but for the fish and out of the metaphor, for Fiona life is a supreme value to defend at all costs.

In the forth stanza has the function to underline Fiona’s behaviour. Indeed, after the kiss she is disappear in the “icy bottom”. Adam is saddened and disappointed. However, by silence of his suffering, comes a sound of trumpets, the Lord is calling him again.

Even if the 5th stanza is not complete, the intelligent reader can conjecture and make hypothesis in order to try to understand a possible meaning. Metaphorically, Adam has betrayed God’s love with the kiss of Judas, and hearing the Satan's voice. Judas and Satan are Fiona’s personification. The awareness of having betrayed the faith will bring Adam to extreme consequences.