Analysis of 'A Gap of Sky' and protagonist Ellie's struggles

In the beginning of the short story, our protagonist, Ellie, wakes up with what is left of the makeup she applied the day before, and yellow eye-frost in the dark corners of her eyes. She is nineteen years old and lives in a cold and lousy dorm room in London. She studies at University College London, although she already from the beginning of the short story does not seem to fit the description of the type that fits into the higher part of the education system. Early in the short story, we find out that responsibility is not one of her core competences, as she has not even begun writing on an essay that is due for the next day, even though her deadline has already been extended once. She has also gotten a written warning earlier that year, saying that if her lack of application continues, she will be thrown off the course. Ellie does not want to live the life of an ordinary student, she is much fonder of the young, wild and free life. Especially the wild part seems to be something she is into. The day before she was at a party, she drank a lot of booze, and did cocaine and K. This is not the only time drugs is involved in her life, already the day after, she decides that she needs to snort cocaine to be able to write the essay. Doing drugs to manage even the slightest challenge in life is a huge sign of a drug addiction. Her drug addiction is also one of the major differences between her and an ordinary university student. The reason for her lack of application could be that the only reason she is doing the course, is that her parents forced her to do it. Even though she at no point shows direct interest in the course she is taking at UCL, she is not entirely careless, if that were the coincidence, she would not write the essay. Perhaps it is out of fear for what her parents might say or do if she was kicked out of the university. With all that said, Ellie is not completely talentless, she does have a very deep, philosophic mind. That shows as she starts thinking about how free she really is, and how she sees, the glove rammed down over the spike fence, with its middle finger up, as a “salute” to the world. This little walk, just to get some ink, turned into a walk of revolution in Ellie’s life. She changes her mind about her parents, especially her mother, whom she remember gave her a stone to symbolize her love to Ellie. She realizes that she is not ready to die, and should think about what she is doing with her life. She realizes that she can still turn her life around, and she is going to start out with writing that essay.