Across the Rooftops: analyse af Kevin Berrys novelle

Summary and analytical essay of across the Rooftops by Kevin Berry, from the collection, Dark Lies the Island, (2013).

Summary

In Across the Rooftops, our lead person is debating whether to pursue their love for a girl. The chance of her rejecting them, seems far less worrying than the thought of letting her go. So, after spending a few hours together on a rooftop, overlooking the city, sharing thoughts of music and life with the company of a joint, they finally build up the courage. The little hints they’ve picked up through the night, seemed so obvious to them, but their picture of a perfect summer of love, stays a picture. Her cold walls create an ocean between the two of them, and there’s no way through. When she leaves, they see themselves staying there for the rest of eternity, as if time stood still.

Analytical essay

“I sat there until all that had been about us had faded again to nothing, until the sound of the crowd died and the music had ended, and we all trailed home along the sleeping streets, with youth packed away, and life about to begin.” These last lines of the story are the beginning of our main characters end. The beginning of adulthood, and the end of their youth. Because this moment, filled with the taste and loss of love, will forever have touched them. In this moment, they were not only close enough to smell and touch the thing they so deeply desired, but they finally got a taste of it, only for it all to fade away. Their supposed true love story melts away like cotton candy on a warm tongue and leaves them with a trail of sugary ascent and an aching heart.