...A Gap of Sky Individualism is a keyword in postmodern society. We do not depend on each other and we go our own ways. If we fall, others might catch us, but not necessarily. We are left with freedom to choose whatever we want of life. It is expected that we create our own footprints. Freedom is beautiful, but with freedom, also comes a great responsibility; the responsibility of our own life. Freedom can lead to loneliness, and sometimes even lead to a fear of going in the wrong direction. In the short story “A Gap of Sky”, the author Anna hope uses the narrative technique with a stream of consciousness to give us an insight into the young protagonist Ellies mind, as she walks through the urban setting of London, where her confused mind makes her lose herself in the many choices and decisions. * Topic sentence for the 1st paragraph The author allows the setting to take a symbolical meaning, when Anna Hope uses the urban setting of London, and how that affects Ellie’s way of taking choices. The story takes place in the streets of London; an urban setting Throughout the short story it is clear that Ellie is tired of education, things she has to do and expectations. She knows that she has to write the essay in order to stay on the course, but she is not quite sure for whom she is doing it. Her life seem to be an eternal search for freedom, and it is exactly the word “freedom” that is repeated through the story. In this quote; ”She doesn’t know where she is going...
Words: 1114 - Pages: 5
...Analysis and interpretation of “A gap of sky” by Anna Hope “A Gap of Sky” is a short story by Anna Hope. The story is about the young girl Ellie who lives in London and attend UCL. She lives a wild life with parties and drugs and therefore she cannot concentrate on her studies. She has not got anyone to hold on to and no parents to guide her. The city distracts her with all its options and temptations. There is always new and exciting things around the corner but you must focus on the important things and not choose to follow all your impulses – life is too short for that. The main themes in the story are developing and identity. Ellie finds out that it is important to keep up on her studies and take care of her body, by staying clean of drugs. Ellie is the main character in the story. She attends University College London, but she does not take her studies very serious. The text says: “It was their fault she was doing this bloody course in the first place.” So it seems like her parents have forced her to go there. She does not care much about her education. She is very close to expulsion. “She remembers the letter, the stomach-lurching letter. If this lack of application continues we will have no choice but to reconsider your place on the course.” She most likely skips classes and papers and parties instead. In the beginning she wakes up after a party. It is Monday afternoon which means that she had been partying all Sunday night. She cannot remember last night clearly because...
Words: 1205 - Pages: 5
...A Gap of Sky Youth is often associated with freedom, exploration, desire, and choices which concern the future of the individual. Being young is not always easy. The parents are now in the background and, therefore, young people enjoy the freedom which comes with the parents’ withdrawal. Although, having fun and being free is part of youth, there are responsibilities and expectations, and these must not be neglected. But real freedom and responsibilities go together. The short story ‘A Gap of Sky’ by Anna Hope deals with issues which may be associated with being young in a big city trapped in an environment where drugs and “freedom” without responsibility are part of everyday life. The main character, Ellie, wakes up on a Monday afternoon realizing that she has to write an essay for the next day. She has been out all night, high on drugs and alcohol, and she is close to being kicked out of the university that she attends. In the short story Ellie goes through a mental journey, and the outcome of this is a new Ellie who doesn’t take everything for granted, and she realizes that life has so much to give her if she gives something back. Ellie is 19 years old and lives in the heart of London. She might live at a college as she has to walk down a corridor to get to the toilet. She studies at a university even though she doesn’t take it seriously. It was her parents who made her attend, and she has already had an extension. She doesn’t do her schoolwork and the past...
Words: 947 - Pages: 4
...A Gap of Sky -by Anna Hope It is in the youth you construct your final identity. This can be very hard to handle for some youngsters. It's important to find a balance between the society's and family's expectations and your own hunger for freedom and dislodgement. This short story by Anna Hope is about Ellie, a nineteen-year-old girl who lives in London by herself. She is addicted to drugs, especially coke, but at the same time she is studying at the university. Her life is sort of dual which leads to problems – it's difficult for her to take care of her studies in the daytime and at same partying the entire night and be a drug addict. We only follow her life about an hour, where she has to buy ink to her printer, but still she is able to go through the entire range of emotions – fear of death, rebelliousness, joy, dejectedness, freedom and so on. The story begins in medias res with the sentence: “It is dark, but the wrong dark. Something is wrong with the dark.” This creates a very gloomy atmosphere right from the beginning. The description of her waking up with swollen cheeks, drinking water from a pint glass, peeing in the sink etc. gives the impression of a person who is out of her depth and living on the edge. It's plain that she lives a very unhealthy life – she has inflammation of her eyes and her chest is hurting. She only remembers glimpses from the night before, which indicates that she has been very affected by drugs and alcohol, and it appears that it's...
Words: 908 - Pages: 4
...English essay – “A Gap of Sky” Amalie Thomsen Introduction: The title of the short story is “A Gap of Sky” and is written by Anna Hope in 2008. Anna Hope is an English actress and writer. She is from Manchester and was educated at Wadham College, Oxford. The short story is fiction, but could still take place in real life. The main theme is identity formation. Analysis: The story is written with a 3rd persons view: “Ellie reaches a hand out […] She takes the glass, stumbles forward…” The narrator therefor has an omniscient point of view, and knows everything about the main character, Ellie. Characters: In the story we have the main character, Ellie, her friend Toby (who we do not meet, but hear about) and the mother (we do not meet her either). Ellie: The main character, Ellie, is 19 years old: She is only nineteen […], and lives in London: […] this part of London. She is a very unhealthy and sloppy teenager. She has smoked a lot of pot, which her health condition clearly shows: The air is cold, makes her gasp, cold and hurting on her ragged lungs. She a type of person who postpones many of her things: She’s got to get this essay in. […] They won’t close till sixish. It will all be fine. Ellie is a complex character because a part of her develops and she becomes more grown up. At first she has a very difficult relationship with her mother, but after seeing a little stone, she suddenly realizes that she has not been fair to her. The setting (FOCUS) The setting...
Words: 1131 - Pages: 5
...A Gap of Sky – Anna Hope A Gap of Sky is a short story written by Anna Hope. The short story is from 2008, and it takes place in London, England. The story is about a girl who has a lot of pressure on her shoulders from both society and family. The story shoes what environments can do to a person who stands alone without the support of family and friends. The story is written in 3. Person narrative, because the author describes the main character with words like she and her. Example: “…Ellie giggles. She touches the middle finger…” The author has written the story as a Stream of Consequences, which helps to give the impression that Ellie is under the influence of drugs. The character uses a lot of short sentences with only a few words. This makes the story more confusing and it often speeds up the action of the story. The sentences work perfectly with Ellies thoughts because they are short, hectic and out of order. A girl named Ellie is a student and the main character in the story. She is a troubled nineteen-year-old girl, who probably has a drug problem, I quote: “…Coke. Does she have any left…?” One day she wakes up in her bed at half past four on a Monday and realize that she has a very important essay due to Thursday and she haven’t even started yet. Ellie has not applied herself enough at school, and risks getting kicked out of school if she doesn’t hand in her essay assignment. She is still high on drugs and alcohol from the day before when she realize...
Words: 955 - Pages: 4
...A Gap of Sky Youth is often associated with freedom, exploration, desire, and choices which concern the future of the individual. Being young is not always easy. The parents are now in the background and, therefore, young people enjoy the freedom which comes with the parents’ withdrawal. Although, having fun and being free is part of youth, there are responsibilities and expectations, and these must not be neglected. Though real freedom and responsibilities go together. The short story ‘A Gap of Sky’ by Anna Hope deals with issues which may be associated with being young in a big city trapped in an environment where drugs and “freedom” without responsibility are part of everyday life. The main character, Ellie, wakes up on a Monday afternoon realizing that she has to write an essay for the next day. She has been out all night, high on drugs and alcohol, and she is close to being kicked out of the university that she attends. In the short story Ellie goes through a mental journey, and the outcome of this is a new Ellie who doesn’t take everything for granted, and she realizes that life has so much to give her if she gives something back. Ellie is 19 years old and lives in the heart of London. She might live at a college as she has to walk down a corridor to get to the toilet. She studies at a university even though she doesn’t take it seriously. It was her parents who made her attend, and she has already had an extension. She doesn’t do her schoolwork and the...
Words: 987 - Pages: 4
...prepares you for adulthood. However, it is not always easy as it sounds because they might find it difficult to make their own decisions, and feel pressured. Therefor they want to escape from reality by ingesting drugs or drinking alcohol which could be their way of protesting against responsibilities and a search for freedom, or maybe it is just because they are in that age where they are open to all kinds of experimentations. This is what the main character Ellie is facing, in the short story “A Gap of Sky” written by Anna Hope in 2008; Ellie is wandering around in the streets of London and in her own mind as well. Her walk around London’s streets becomes a walk through her own mind. Crisis, confusion, changes, responsibilities and fear, are the main components of a short story by Anna Hope. A story which is intriguing, and will take you one step closer, to understand what a ‘typical’ teenager can go through. In this essay I will analyze and interpret Anna Hope’s short story A Gap of Sky. I will characterize the main character Ellie, and analyze her behavior as a teenager. I will also focus on the narrative technique in the short story and the importance of the city sitting. Though an analysis I will conclude upon my discoveries and determine the theme of the story. The main character of the short story, nineteen year old Ellie, is a university student and lives in London. She has...
Words: 1602 - Pages: 7
...A Gap of Sky Fuck! Fuck is a word which is used a lot among young people. Especially when talking about your life. Fuck it! School can wait, let’s party tonight! But it isn’t always that easy not to care. Life isn’t a walkover. It can be pretty tough sometimes because what is right and what is wrong? – This is the question! Sometimes you end up confused and lost, as an outcome of too many bad decisions and too little guidance and support. But what is a bad decision and how do you figure it out? Sometimes all you need is a little something that will show you the answer – Motivation leads you to the right thing to do! This is some of the Topics that we are dealing with in the short story called A Gap of Sky. A Gap of Sky is a short story written by Anna Hope and published in 2008. It is about a 19-year-old girl struggling against the inner voice of her, which is telling her to cut out her studies and have fun instead. By having fun I mean drinking and doing drugs. Because that’s what Ellie is good at. She has been sent to London by her parents to study, but she is not taking it as serious as her parents are expecting of her to do, because she has been partying all night and can’t remember much. She wakes up and starts stressing because of an essay that she has to write, about Virginia Woolf. But she needs printer ink, so she goes out into the world searching for printer ink. On her way searching for printer ink she experiences a lot. The 19-year-old Ellie is the main character...
Words: 1213 - Pages: 5
...Anders Kjær Gasbjerg 08-D 09-2-2011 Spadedk@gmail.com Haderslev Katedralskole Engelish A Gap of Sky Fuck! Fuck is a word which is used a lot among young people. Especially when talking about your life. Fuck it! School can wait, let’s party tonight! But it isn’t always that easy not to care. Life isn’t a walkover. It can be pretty tough sometimes because what is right and what is wrong? – This is the question! Sometimes you end up confused and lost, as an outcome of too many bad decisions and too little guidance and support. But what is a bad decision and how do you figure it out? Sometimes all you need is a little something that will show you the answer – Motivation leads you to the right thing to do! This is some of the Topics that we are dealing with in the short story called A Gap of Sky. A Gap of Sky is a short story written by Anna Hope and published in 2008. It is about a 19-year-old girl struggling against the inner voice of her, which is telling her to cut out her studies and have fun instead. By having fun I mean drinking and doing drugs. Because that’s what Ellie is good at. She has been sent to London by her parents to study, but she is not taking it as serious as her parents are expecting of her to do, because she has been partying all night and can’t remember much. She wakes up and starts stressing because of an essay that she has to write, about Virginia Woolf. But she needs printer ink, so she goes out into the world searching for printer ink. On her...
Words: 1227 - Pages: 5
...An Analysis and Interpretation of Anna Hope’s ”A Gap of Sky” (2008) When being a teenage student in the twenty-first century you might find yourself at a crossroad where important decisions have to be made. You have to consider your ambitions and where you will end up with the current lifestyle you are living. In Anna Hope’s A Gap of Sky (2008) teenager Ellie finds herself deeply reflecting over both partying and doing drugs, but also the severity of her college education. Ellie is a nineteen year old college student residing in the heart of London. She is living a hectic life with drinking, ketamine abuse and smoking crack pipe. The lifestyle that she is living suggests that she does not take her education seriously and she also blames her parents for taking this “bloody course in the first place” (p. 3 l. 66). The narrator is third person heterodiegetic and it is internal with limited omniscience. Throughout the story Ellie’s thoughts are described, but it is not herself telling them. This is seen as the pronoun “I” is never used, but “she” is used in the entire story. Ellie is the protagonist and all of her thoughts and actions are depicted, but it is not herself describing them, the narrator is therefore heterodiegetic since it is not an actual character itself. Ellie is the only character in the story who is mentioned by name and has great significance to the story. She is also the only person whose point of view is shown and the narrator can thereby be characterized...
Words: 984 - Pages: 4
...Analysis of A Gap of Sky You have to be a good daughter or son. You have to be a good girlfriend or boyfriend, a good friend, a good brother, a good sister. You have to be good at math, chemistry, social science and biology. You have to wear the right clothes, and be good at sports. You have to be popular and have the coolest friends. The pressure nowadays is enormous. There is no wonder why so many young people want to run away sometimes, so they can get away from the huge amount of pressure that they are dealing with. This huge pressure can make people feel very lonely, even though they are surrounded by lots of people, and this is exactly what the short story “A Gap of Sky”, written by Anna Hope, is about. In this short story we hear about a nineteen year old girl called Ellie, who is afraid of not living up to her teachers’ and parents’ expectations and this is what has driven her into a drug abuse. The short story gives us a portrait of a young girl, who is caught in between her desires and what is being expected of her. She is struggling with her inner demons and she is having an inner fight with herself about which decisions are ethically right or wrong. The short story is written as a 3rd person narrative. The point of view is limited to the main character Ellie and the text only describes Ellie’s thoughts e.g: “She remembers going out for booze. Did she get booze?” . The narrative technique that’s being used makes the reader come very close to Ellie’s personality...
Words: 1104 - Pages: 5
...Write an essay (900-1200 words) in which you analyse and interpret Anna Hope's short story "A Gap of Sky". A part of your essay must focus on narrative technique and the importance of the city setting. A Gab of Sky - essay To be young is the greatest thing on earth, especially when you have a lot of friends, do well in school, and remember to relax and enjoy life. In this short story Anna Hope tells us about a young girl, Ellie. She takes pleasure in life by using drugs in her everyday life. Ellie is a girl who was sent to college by her parents, nothing she really wanted, but something she had to. She dosen’t like being there, and she has the thought of running away, but something inside her tells her to stay. We are told that the night before she went to a party where she got very drunk and took a lot of drugs. She thinks the night through and she kind a remembers it all, however, she was under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Suddenly she recalls that she have to make an essay and have to print it out, but she dosen’t have any ink, and therefore she have to run out to get some. Ellie is a nineteen year old teenager who lives in the heart of London, where her college is. Apparently she lives at the college and not at home with her parents. Ellie blame her parents for her being there, and she even calls it “this bloody course”. She stays up late and party, smoke crack pipe and do drugs. She dosen’t take her course serious and she really just want to hang out with...
Words: 863 - Pages: 4
...A Gap of Sky “I'm flying over London on a cold November night Unlit parks like bullet wounds on the blanket of electric lights The city is a living creature on it's own And we all push like blood through it's veins, so close together, so alone” Tina Dicow – London In the short story A Gap of Sky (2008) by Anna Hope we meet a young girl, Ellie. Ellie is a seemingly regular teenage girl who lives in London and studies at UCL. The only thing that might separate her from the crowd is how she spends her nights. Instead of staying home or doing homework, Ellie likes to party and do drugs. The basic storyline is that Ellie has a paper due for the next day, which she hasn’t yet started, probably because she has been partying. Apparently Ellie hasn’t applied herself enough at school, and risks getting kicked out if she doesn’t hand in her assignments. To make matters worse, Ellie is all out of printer ink, and she decides to go the student shop at UCL to buy some. On her way there she is faced with a few obstacles, and has to redirect herself in order to reach her destination. The story has a third person omniscient narrator and it is written as a stream of consciousness, which helps to give the impression that Ellie might be under the influence of a drug. Throughout the story Ellie has a hard time keeping focus; even though she realizes that it will have serious consequences if she doesn’t hand in her assignment, she is still more occupied with getting drugs than fulfilling...
Words: 1169 - Pages: 5
...A Gap of Sky “A Gap of Sky” by Anna Hope is a short story about a young girl named Ellie who is constantly on drugs. She is a student in London, and from the story we can tell that she is tired of education and lacking freedom so she goes against this by doing drugs. The story describes how someone can lose control of themselves when they are alone in a city, with no one to turn to for support. The story is told by a third person narrator, but the way that the story is written makes it seem like Ellie, the main character, is telling the story. The writer shows Ellie’s thoughts very clearly through the narrator using very casual language and different sentence structures to get inside Ellie’s head and describing everything in a way that shows she is very distracted. It is like a running view of what is inside her head and helps us understand that she is on drugs. We are almost reading her thoughts and are witnessing her search for freedom, a theme in the story. The type of writing used in this story may seem like it is messy and unfocused, but it is actually very effective in showing the reader what it is like in Ellie’s head as her thoughts and actions are blended together and told by the narrator - “She’s going to have to work through the night, but it’s fine.” Here, we see her thoughts about having to work on an essay. She is also extremely distracted and constantly changes her mind and thoughts. After thinking it would be “fine” to work on the essay, she thinks back to...
Words: 912 - Pages: 4
