Analyse af Genevieve Scotts novelle 'Ernie Breaks'

I have chosen responsibility as my main theme and 2 subtopics; family life and jealousy. I will analyze the 3 themes and after that I will discus sibling relationship. At the end of my assignment I will make a conclusion of my analysis.

The short story is told by the eyes of Cara. Cara is 10 years old. In the end of each school year Cara and her brother Jed gets a “passing gift” from their mother, to congratulate them for having completed the school year. Cara and her mother make a compromise and Cara and Jed can get another pet than a dog – a fish. Cara and her mother go to the fish store and Cara’s mother clearly knows the man in the store Gary. Gary congratulates Cara on passing 4th grade, but Cara’s concerned she’ll go to special Ed, because she’s bad at math. Cara doesn’t want the fish that Gary suggests, because it’s “gay”, which is a word she’s learned from her brother Jed. Cara ends up choosing a turtle. When they get home they decide that Ernie the turtle has to live in Jed’s room, now that Cara chose him in the store. The school year begins and Cara doesn’t get to see Ernie the turtle a lot. Cara also freaks out at Valerie, her math partner, because can’t remember how to do fractions in math. When Cara gets home she finds her brother Jed and his friend Toby playing with Ernie. Cara is afraid, because they’re going to flip Ernie, but luckily he lands on the bed. The boys and the mother go to hockey practice and Cara stays home. She wants to hold Ernie, but suddenly he slips out of her hand and ends up lying lifeless on the floor. Cara puts him back in the tank hoping he’ll be okay. He dies. The phone rings and Cara’s is afraid that it’s her teacher or Valerie who’ll tell about the incident in school today.