Analyse af novellen 'The Golden Shower'

This narration develops over a short period of time, only a few hours actually, therefore it is short story. But the story line goes further than forty years back, when the main character; Douglas Spaulding, looks back at his past. There are only a handful of characters in this story, which is also characteristic for this genre. The story is told as a 1st person narrator, and the story also contains some direct speech. The story takes place in Chicago, where Douglas has two hours until his train for New York is leaving. But it is also about the year 1935 at Brandon Junior High School, when Douglas gets a flashback to the last year in Junior High. The story begins in the flashback, then Douglas stands in the middle of the sidewalk in Chicago, and later he stands in a building that Harry Hinds built and owns.

You could say that this story has two main characters, the narrator Douglas, and Harry Hinds because he is like the pivotal point of this story. Douglas Spaulding is a writer, but not a very famous one; he has no international fame, but a few fans across the country, and enough income to live a normal life with a family. Back at his last year in junior high a guy exchanged from a school in the east to the school Douglas went to, his name was Harry Hinds. From the first day Harry Hinds flaunted his IQ, his arm was constantly raised high in class, and his voice was eager to be heard. No one liked him by the second day, and no one even tried to become friends with him. But after nine graders, with Douglas in the lead, threw Harry´s pants up on a high branch in a big tree, they did not see more of him. With no other notice he transferred to another school. Then in Chicago forty years later, Douglas, who still often has thought about the episode with Harry, meets him, when Harry recognized Douglas on the street. Harry has changed his name from Hands to Hinds and is now dressed in a beautiful tailored suit with a silk shirt and a reticent tie. His nails are manicured and he smells of mild cologne. All this gives a hint about how well he has managed in life. The two men do not have a long history together, they only knew each other for a very short period of time, but still Douglas cannot seem to get Harry out of his mind. He has thought about the episode, where the nine graders threw Harry´s pants up in the tree and where Harry climbed up the tree to retrieve them and then peed all over the chocked children, in revenge, a million times. That episode has really left a mark in him. When the two men meet on the sidewalk in Chicago, Douglas freezes, he had not expected to meet him at all, and when he shakes his hand he smells pee. This is obviously a trauma from the event forty years ago. When he finally shakes Harry´s hand he pulls it back fast as he got electrocuted by touching Harry. Without any invitation Harry starts to ask about Douglas life, he hesitated, but looks at a building they pass. When Douglas sees Harry´s name on it, Harry says that it was not his intention to bring Douglas here. But still, he quits the hesitation and admits it straightforward, that he built and owns the building. And before Douglas notices Harry takes him by the elbow and steers him into the centre of the lobby, which has a big tree in the middle. Here he tells Douglas the secret of his success – “I´ve been jumping from behind cars on the last lap for years”