Analyse af Anna Hopes novelle 'A Gap of Sky'

Throughout life, everyone acts immaturely. As children, our behavior is significantly more juvenile than the way we conduct ourselves as adults. For most people maturing comes as a natural part of growing older and taking responsibility for your own life. Others, however, have an experience forcing them to change and thus going from immaturity to maturity. This is also what happens to the main protagonist, Ellie, in Anna Hope’s short story “A Gap of Sky” when she, while high on cocaine, goes into the streets of London searching for printer ink.

“A Gap of Sky” follows a young woman, Ellie, during an afternoon while she is high on cocaine. The short story’s narrator is a third-person narrator. “Ellie fills the kettle, fills it from the sink.” (p. 1, l. 28). As seen in the quote the narrator is an outside observer. Even though the narrator is in the third person, Ellie’s thoughts are still disclosed to the reader. This is a technique used by the author called stream of consciousness. The technique is especially used to portray the disorientation and anxiousness Ellie is feeling as a result of the cocaine. Ellie wakes up and realizes that she has an essay due the following morning. She has run out of printer ink and therefore she goes into the streets of London on a quest for the ink. However, before she leaves, she tries to call one of her friends to see if he has some ink. “No reply. Unsurprising. Fuck it.” (p. 2, ll. 40-41). In this quote, the reader gets an insight into Ellie’s train of thought. As mentioned, the point of view is in the third person but as the reader proceeds into the story, the first-person point of view in the form of Ellie’s thoughts is appearing.