Analyse af novellen 'Pill Pusher'

The short story is about a person, who is also the narrator. The narrator is working at a pharmacy. She is tired, when an impatient woman wakes her up from her daydream. The narrator instructs the woman to stand in the right line, but the impatient woman will not listen, because she has been waiting for so long. The narrator is looking to see if anyone of her coworkers can help, but they are all busy. A little discussion starts, and the woman gets her medicine for her daughter. The medicine are pills but are supposed to be a liquid, so the narrator checks the computer, and sees that the woman’s daughter has cancer. She calls the doctor, he approves, and the lady gets her medicine.

Analysis:

Composition:

It is a first-person narrator. We see things and experience thoughts from her point of view. The story is very descriptive and detailed. The narrator thinks a lot about the near future, which is written with italics, and the narrators’ thoughts are not divided from the dialogue between the narrator and the costumer. The narrator doesn’t have a name. Neither has the costumer, who is also a woman. Those are the two main characters in the story. “Pill Pusher” is a short story. It begins in the narrator’s mind, where she realizes that she has made a $70,000 mistake. With this beginning the story starts in media race, because it starts in the middle of a story, where the reader doesn’t know the context to why she has made a $70,000 mistake. The narrator later thinks about how disappointed she is in herself. She has a pharmacy degree which took her 6 years. She has a debt and she work in a retail. The heights of the story happen in the middle of the story. The costumer starts a discussion with the narrator about whether she should be serviced by the narrator. The line starts to pay attention to their discussion. The narrator seems to be in a conflict with herself. She judges the costumer. The excitement is whether the narrator is going to say it out loud. Another conflict happens after the costumer gets it her way but wants the medicine in another consistence. After some time, the costumer – again - gets it her way. Then the narrator gets enough and yell at her, to let her do her work. At the end of the story the atmosphere becomes more sensitive and intense. The narrator goes to the computer to look up the costumer’s doctor’s phone number, so they can get the medicine in the right form. While searching for the number, the narrator decides to read some of the costumers’ comments about what is wrong with her daughter, but then she realizes that she has cancer. The narrator gets very emotional involved reading this. She gives the costumer an advice and the costumer quickly apologize for her behavior. Both characters changes from the beginning to the end.