Shouting at Cars by Adam Marek

Essay with internet access A: Shouting at Cars by Adam Marek

The short story Shouting at Cars is written by Adam Marek and published in 2013. The story starts with the narrator describing the family’s very special Christmas tradition. The whole family is on some kind of family trip. The father is carrying a big hamper tied up with ribbons. They are walking on a bridge at the outskirts of their town in order to offer the hamper to a troll who lives under the bridge. The family wishes him a merry Christmas and heads home. Afterwards, the story continues about a year later, when a policewoman visits the family to tell them that the troll is dead. After this, the family seems very relieved – except for the narrator who goes back to the bridge where the troll lived. The narrator then starts to contemplate about the life he and the troll had together. The story only consists of seven characters: the child narrator, the father, Magda, the little brother Alex, the troll, the policewoman and the taxi driver. The child narrator and the protagonist of this short story is an unnamed child. Neither the age nor the gender of the child is known. The narrator’s family is comprised of the father, the stepmother Magda and the little brother Alex. The family members are not specified. The character who is described the most is the troll and this underlines the fact that the troll is the most vital part of this short story. The short story is filled with contrasts. One of the biggest contrast in Shouting at Cars is the contrast between the troll and the rest of the people. As mentioned before, the troll is naturally different from the rest of the people. The troll is in this short story a very symbolic character; he is a symbol of those who are not accepted by and a part of society. The troll can also be a metaphor for people who do not fit society’s norms and for anyone who stands out from the crowd. If you look on it from a narrative point of view, the troll is also the one who pushes the plot forward. Without the existence of the troll and his death, the short story could not have progressed in any way. The troll is the element that creates the story and the intrigue. Another apparent contrast is the one between the narrator’s relationship with the troll and how other people see the troll; the narrator is the only one who does not fear the troll and the only one who actually wants to interact with the troll. In addition, the narrator is