Analyse af Zoe Lamberts 'The Skirt'

The short story “The Skirt” by Zoe Lambert (2006) describes a morning in the life of Bethany, a former disabled comedian, and in what ways she copes with her disability. This morning she is going shopping with her aunt Joan and neighbor Jude. Her mother prepares her breakfast and dresses her daughter in a skirt, but later Bethany goes to her room to change to a pair of jeans, although they are very difficult for her to put on. The aunt thinks Bethany is in a bad mood today, because she must have heard from “him”. Then she decides to run away, and when she arrives to the bus station she is embarrassed by her wheelchair. She consoles herself that at least her wheelchair is red and she is not wearing that ugly skirt.

The title “The Skirt” is very symbolic. Bethany claims that the main reason why she hates the skirt is because she looks older when she wears is, but it is also a symbol of not letting others controlling her life, because it is her mother who decides that she has to wear the skirt, since: “it was easier to dress me in a skirt than trousers” (l. 9-10).