Analysis Of Anna Hope's A Gap Of Sky

1066 Words5 Pages

In the postmodern society everything changes expeditiously and the individual is forced to change with it to survive. The human being must constantly adapt to the cultural evolution. Especially for young people it can be extremely difficult to navigate in a world that is characterized by constant change and where you become ever more alone and free. It is difficult to find your place in a society where individualism prospers, norms change and more freedom requires more responsibility. The main theme of Anna Hope’s postmodernist short story “A Gap of Sky” is finding out what kind of person you want to be without being afraid of disappointing the expectations of those around us.

Even though the short story is a third person narrative with …show more content…

Choosing London as the setting of the short story has the effect that it sets the general atmosphere, the flow of the story and what kind of life Ellie lives. As a result of globalization, London has become a pulsating metropolis and a melting pot of many different varieties of cultures and races, and Ellie, a child of the postmodern society, fits right into this brisk environment: “There are people moving together, here in this part of London, moving with purpose, with meaning, and Ellie is one of them” (p. 2, ll. 57-58). By being a postmodern eldorado, the city leaves her with great responsibility of her own life; she is free to do any-thing she sees fit and everything is available to her. The consequence of this freedom is that it paves the way for alcohol and drugs into Ellie’s life: “She’s going to have to work all through the night, but it’s fine. This is fine. Coke. Does she have any left?” (p. 1, ll. 29-30). The use of present tense to add flow to the narration is emphasized through the energy of the city: “She turns away, away, and hurries down through Covent Garden, Seven Dial; she doesn’t know where she is going, maybe the river, yes, the river is what she needs (…)” (p. 3, ll. 93-95). When reading the well-know addresses and toponyms, the reader too gets a bit stressed owing to the fact that the reader makes up a inner map of how Ellie hurries along to different locations in London, and there is no time to look back, only to move

Open Document