Analyse af novellen 'A Shot in the Light'

How far shall you go until you see the light in your life?

This extract from the American tale ”A Shot in the Light, is about how our narrator meets a guy called Ray, and how he sees the light.

Our narrator is a jewellery and giftware salesman travelling through the Southwest. On his way to LA he meets Ray, whose car has broken down. Our narrator decides to help Ray and lets him travel along with him. P. 1 l. 7-9 “I felt sorry for him, and in the three days we were together, I grew trust in him.” Our narrator seems a bit naive to me. He just picks op some guy, let him travel along with him, and after 3 days he trusts him. Well, he is a good person, but naive.

Ray is a criminal, confused, and lonely guy in his early 20s. He has no plans or nowhere to go. He has been to jail and just drifts around trying to survive. He is “…small, muscular, wiry, and slightly gaunt, as if underfed.” p. 1 l. 7.

One thing that our narrator and Ray have in common is loneliness and this strange way of living. It doesn’t seem that they have any familiar relations to other people. It seems like our narrator lives in his van driving from place to place. Ray is a criminal drifting around. They don’t have any plans. They are living from place to place trying surviving the day. For example, our narrator just goes wherever his van takes him. In a way they reminds a lot of each other.