Analyse af novellen 'Pill Pusher'

The story revolved around a pharmacist, working at Walgreens, who is working at the counter, serving medicine. The protagonist hates the job, and thinks she deserves better due to her degree. A lady at the counter is impatient, and their conversation turns into a heated argument. The pharmacist ends up yelling at the lady, and checks comments about the woman, for validation. Instead, she finds out the woman’s daughter has leukemia, and feels bad about her behavior. The protagonist gives the woman the medicine and gives her a tip for her daughter’s nausea. After the woman leaves, the pharmacist is happy and smiles genuinely for the first time that day.

INDLEDNIG

This essay will analyze the composition of the story, as well as the standard analytical tools of point of view, writing style and main theme and lastly with focus on the main character of the story.

The structure of the short story is mostly chronological, although the main character briefly thinks back on her education (line 13-15). The story starts in medias res, which is typical for short stories, and has the effect of getting straight “into the action”. The composition of the story is not exactly either of the “home-away-home”, or the Hollywood model, but uses elements of the Hollywood model, with these elements being the conflict, point of no return, climax and resolution. Due to the in medias res start, the story skips the introduction and sends the reader straight into the conflict, which quickly escalates. Although the ending of the story is open, like most short stories, it still leaves the reader with a sense of satisfaction and closure, due to the resolution of the conflict, and the “happy ending”, which is unusual for short stories, “And I smile genuinely for the first time today” (line 106).