Analyse af Jeffrey Archers novelle 'A Wasted Hour'

In this assignment, I want to start with a quick introduction of the author, Jeffrey Archer, with of course followed up by his short story: “A Wasted Hour”. Afterward, there will be an analysis focusing on the narration and points of view, themes, message, and characterization. I’ll end the whole assignment with a conclusion. Jeffrey Howard Archer, born 15 April 1940, is an English novelist, former politician, and peer of the realm. A peer of the Realm is a member of the highest aristocratic social order, outside the ruling dynasty of the kingdom. Jeffrey Howard Archer wasn’t an author all his life. Before becoming an author, he was a Member of Parliament from 1969 to 1974. He did not seek re-election after a financial scandal that left him almost bankrupt.1 He revived his fortunes as a best-selling novelist. He has become so famous and professional, that his books have sold millions of copies worldwide, in fact, they have sold around 330 million copies. 2 The short story; A wasted Hour is about a young Stanford student whose name is Kelley. Kelley is an aspiring writer, through the last 3 years she got a lift or more said: Hitchhiking, her way back to campus. Mostly because of saving money, but also hoping to find new people who got exciting stories to tell. In the short story, she encounters an alluring man, with a very amusing story to tell. The story is been told in third-person narration. It is told by an unknown narrator, with not that much information and knowledge. The narrator’s view isn’t great it is very limited because he offers insight into Kelley’s backdrop and in also life. We are getting everything told about her excitement and thoughts. The narrator does not have access to the perspective that John has. The narrator has an objective angle because he doesn’t share any reactions or reflections the reader, in fact, he instead is some kind of observer who is following the main character, Kelley, during the different episodes that occur in her life. The main characters and the most important ones in the short story are John and Kelley. You also get to know Kelley’s parents and other persons, who Kelley has been in contact with while she was hitchhiking. Anyways, no one of those people has had any impact on the story. Kelley, whose real name is Kelley Ragland (L 143), is the protagonist of the story. She is studying at Stanford University. In the story, she does not take any bus or train to her university. So, she “travels” from her parents’ house in Salinas, back to her Stanford University. The narrator does not give any details or descriptions of Kelley, therefore we need to create a picture or more said an image of her just based on her inner character, which is being created through her language, thoughts and things she does. The first thing we get to know is, that Kelley likes to hitchhike back to college every time she was at her parent's house, without her parent’s knowledge. Even tho that she does not tell anything to her parents, it still seems like they have a pretty good relationship between them. For example: “Her father would drive her to the station on the first day of term” (L 3). We also get to know, that the reason behind her hitchhiking causes that she doesn't want to bother her family finance, and mostly because her father just had been fired. Not just that her dad has been fired, Kelley feels like that her parents have done so much for her, and sacrificed so much.