The Go-Between

BORUPGAARD GYMNASIUM Julie Markvart Nielsen Terminsprøve: Engelsk Side 1 af 2 Skolenummer: 037 2009 EN/ a: 3a EN 3a 12 20-03-2012 Modtaget af:

A. The Go-Between

The text The Go-Between is a short story written by Ali Smith from 2009. He writes about freedom and movement. It s about Ali who is a prisoner in Africa. He wants to go to Europe because that is freedom, and he says that Europe is on the other side of the fence. So he always wants to escape but he also gets caught every time he tries.

Ali speaks a lot about the fence and how to break it. But he also mentions that he loses one finger at the underwater fences and an ear on the top of the fence. As he says The top part of my ear is in Europe! it means that he has been in Europe, but only for a short while (p.2, l.3-4). It is important to make a ladder if you want to escape. It s also important to have some kind of a mat to protect you from the wire. Ali has tried to escape several times. The second time they were hundreds of prisoners. It surprised the guards a lot because it was their police holiday. When he escapes he says I m Europe! I m in Europe! , and for him it feels like such a relief (p.2, l.16-17). But he hasn t anyone to call. We don t hear about any friends or family. So he phones the French doctors, maybe because he is the closest to him so that he becomes a friend. Ali tells about the escape and how the guards chased them with dogs, sticks, electric shock sticks and guns. Ali say to the doctor: You know what Europe is? It s a phone signal! (p.2, l.27). For Ali Europe is the freedom he always has wished. He speaks Italian, Spanish, French, English and some others. He is a very learned man who was a microbiologist and worked in the university. He can use his talent later on because it s a gift to have such a good education and speak all these language. Ali escapes to a Spanish province called Ceuta. He wants to start a new life and feels free. He ends up helping the French doctor because as he says: I can do a bit of doctoring (p.3, l.50). Besides doctoring he also did a bit of translating for the people who lived near and in his camp. They had a market, restaurant, own low system, own police and their own currency in the camp. But the border police found them, and came into the camp and took