Analyse af Jonathan Santlofers novelle 'Hope'

It is far from easy when your world suddenly is turned upside down, and you are positioned in an existential crisis where your boyfriend got you pregnant. What do you do when you are not in the current situation to have a child, but abortion is illegal in your country? This is the problematic crisis that the two young lovers, Hope and Artie, faces in the short story “Hope” by Jonathan Santlofer published in 2018. The short story deals with the sudden dilemma of pregnancy leading to an abortion in a country, where it is illegal and how it affects the relationship of Hope and Artie plus their respective minds and feelings.

Firstly, seven characters are present in the story, but the primary focus is on two. The main character is Hope, but another relevant character is her boyfriend, Artie, as they are the characters whose thoughts the reader accesses. Secondly, the story is in the present tense and starts in media res, where the reader only gets to know the past of Hope through her thoughts and memories. Thirdly, the story has a linear, chronological plot structure apart from thoughts and memories of Hope and Artie. Following, the story is from the Point of View of a third-person narrator bound to two persons, and the characters are only referred to by their names or their respective pronouns. The Point of View shifts throughout the story since the reader gains access to the thoughts of Hope and Artie. As in an example from the beginning, “[…] Hope stares out the window at brackish water, the Hackensack River, and thinks of her father, a lawyer and intermittent tyrant, […]” , where the reader experiences the thoughts of Hope. On the other hand, the reader experiences the point of view shifting from Hope to Artie in the quote, “He feels as if his nerve endings are electrified, his mind is sparking.” , where the reader gains insight into the mind and feelings of Artie. This gives the story a deeper insight into how the perspective of pregnancy and abortion is from respectively the man and the woman, and how the stereotypes were in the time of the story. As aforementioned, Hope is the main character, but the reader does not gain knowledge of any external characteristics; however, the reader can interpret that Hope must be in her late teenage years or a young adult. Likewise, the boyfriend of Hope does not want a child and Hope can get pregnant which therefore means that she must be in her fertile years. As for the internal characteristics of Hope, the reader experiences her emotions and feelings before and after the abortion. Hope does not speak with Artie about the abortion until towards the end. As in the quote: “[…] she wasn’t wearing gloves, both of them smoking as they attached my legs to stirrups, and all I kept thinking was… I am going to die." , where it allows the reader to understand the feelings of Hope in this particular situation. The reader almost feels just how traumatizing the experience has been for her. Additionally, Hope felt like she was going to die in this specific situation from how dirty and unsanitary the place was. It took a couple of weeks for Hope to speak up about her experience. Likewise, in the very beginning in the quote, “On the overpass, Hope looks down at cars whizzing beneath them, for a moment thinks she will shout: Stop! Let me out! I'm going to jump!”, that emphasizes the fact that she is very anxious. The reader might interpret that she is regretting the choice of abortion. The relationship between Artie and Hope also gets progressively worse after the abortion. This is due to Hope changing demeanor immediately after it as she cried and felt empty. Hope leaves Artie puzzled as she does not say anything, while Artie looks for any sign of an explanation of what happened, which is also here that the communication issues start. The ending does not suggest the relationship getting better, even though they are married, as they never speak about the abortion, and they avoid bringing it up.