Analyse af 'Live Like a Dog, Alone' af Fay Weldon

Most people know what it’s like to be alone – it’s a concept that’s difficult to define but most of us know how it feels. It comes in many different forms, in many different social layers and anyone – young or old, Scandinavian or Asian – can feel it. But is it possible to be alone, surrounded by friends, family and colleagues?

This is a question that is addressed in the short story “Live Like a Dog, Alone” by Fay Weldon. The story takes place in a cab driven by an immigrant chauffeur from Kosovo, now living in Britain. His customer is the main character, Miriam, who is on her way home at five in the morning after yet another heart attack.

The story is told in 3rd person, but with Miriam’s point of view – we only hear her thoughts and her past. It starts in medias res as “She [Miriam] thought about what he had just said.”. This means that no information about the characters is given from the start – we have to discover what they’re like on our own, through their actions and words. However the story is told so it’s shifting between present and Miriam’s past, this past giving us a more in dept knowledge of Miriam, her personality and the things she does.