Analyse af 'She's the Bomb' af T. Coraghessan Boyle

Analytical Essay of “She´s the Bomb” by T. Coraghessan Boyle

Inevitably, time passes. One day we will all die. Before that, hopefully, we will find ourselves sitting in a cosy retirement home, discussing our lives with our wrinkly friends, We all hope, we will be that cool guy/girl who lived their life to its fullest; skydiving, river-rafting, walking the Camino, winning the Nobel prize, curing cancer and so forth. But what do you do if you find yourself having achieved nothing, wondering where time went? The story of a character, who carelessly throws her life away, is told in the short story “She’s the Bomb” written by T. Coraghessan Boyle, 2017.

Boyle kicks the story off with the suspenseful sentence “RU OK” (p. 1, l. 1); an in medias res opening which sets the tone for the rest of the story. She uses a complex composition and e.g., two chronological timelines are current: one in the present and one in the past (which is reflected in the tense of the verbs used in the different timelines). In the present, the reader follows the main character, Hailey Phegler, through her college graduation whilst flashbacks, broadcasting the events leading up to the graduation, continuously interrupt the present. These interruptions both adds suspense and an element of chaos to the story. E.g., in the following quote, ““Hey Hail, you’re the bomb, you know it?” If there’s irony in that, she’s not the one to appreciate it.” (p. 4, ll. 134-135) the first sentence is from the past whereas the next sentence touches on the present. No clear distinction is made between these two timelines, temporarily confusing the reader; a confusion that is further fortified by a half-year long jump through time that happens in the present, but which is never explicitly addressed. Additionally, foreshadowing is used to mix the timelines and thus push the narrative forward. For example, Boyle specifically mentions, and even quotes, the novel The Scarlet Letter which foreshadows the social banishing Phegler experiences after being found guilty for a making bomb threat during the graduation. A resolution for this foreshadowing is placed in the ending where Phegler says, “Like really I might as well have a letter A stitched on my sweater” (p. 5, l. 164) referencing the clothing of the shunned main character in The Scarlet Letter.