The Shining Mountain: analyse af Alison Fells novelle

The shining Mountain is about a Scottish girl named Pangma-La, her name originated from a mountain, and was given to her because her father was a famous mountaineer. Pangma-La’s father dreamt of climbing The Shining Mountain with her, and throughout her childhood, he pressured her to learn mountain climbing. At last, they end up climbing the mountain together, but the climb was too harsh on Pangma-La. She ended up having to sacrifice her life to make her father proud, but when her father had learned his lesson, she was given her life back.

The story’s theme is a girl who tries to fulfill her dad’s expectations in her. Her dad was always seen as more than an ordinary man, in public people would even call him a hero “Now there’s a hard man, there’s a hero” (pg. 18, ll. 13-14). Because her dad always had been seen as a heroic strong man, he expected nothing less from his daughter. This was problematic, because Pangma-La was well aware of the pressure that was being put on her, and she refused to disappoint her father “Pangma-La woke up frightened wanting her mother, but she said nothing. For she was afraid her father would be disappointed” (pg. 19, ll. 23-24). Pangma-La’s mom tried to be protective of her, and the mother was in general more sympathetic, than the father “she said you’ll fall and hurt yourself. But her father only laughed” (pg. 19, ll. 8-9). The two previous examples show that Pangma-La actually wanted and needed the kindness and care that her mother was offering her. First, when Pangma-La gave her life to satisfy her father, he realized the consequences of his actions, and was now able to show the common humanity, he had been lacking “for the first time wept hot tears like any human” (pg. 22 ll. 1-2)The story is written in past tense with a third-person narrator, the narrator is bound to Pangma-La and makes sure that we as readers know her state of mind through the story. “Small and bright as Smarties” (pg. 19, ll. 13-14) This particular example shows us the connection to Pangma-La’s thoughts, and it is also referencing to her age, as she compares the surroundings from afar to Smarties.