Bernie Mcgill's Short Story 'No Angel'

No Angel
The passing of a friend hits hard; the loss of a family member often hits even harder. Dealing with this grief can be a struggle to some and thereby be the cause for a dilemma. There is the need for you to move on, to continue your daily life; however, you do not want to lose the memories of your lost loved ones, resulting in a painful experience. The short story “No Angel” written in 2010 by Bernie McGill depicts the struggle of Annie, a woman that has trouble moving on, as she deals with the loss of her family. “No Angel” begins in medias res and is told from a 1st person narrative with an internal point of view bound to the main character, Annie. This gives the reader an insight in the thoughts and feelings of Annie, but it does

It is a mean to convey the inner thoughts of Annie and projecting her loneliness and grief onto something tangible. Annie specifically con-jures her father’s ghost as they were all each other had for twenty-two years, and therefore have a close bond; a bond that can be supported by an interpretation of the title “No Angel”. The title could refer to the father being no angel, but he still takes care of his daughter despite his shortcomings in life. It is the father, who in the end allows Annie to cope with the death of her family, when he presents to Annie that both Robbie and her mother are okay, even though they both suffered an untimely and unpleasant death; Annie is able to move on. An element of mystery is also added through the use of supernatural elements, e.g. the incident in the coal house: “It was maybe the wind.” and “There wasn’t a breath, you needn’t deny it. I smelt Benson & Hedges.” (p. 4, l. 142-143).
These supernatural elements in “No Angel” are visible to the eye, and an interpretation as to why McGill has chosen a supernatural element that can be seen, could be that one of the main sources to Annie’s grief, is that she has to deal with the fact that she will never be able to see her family