Elephant essay
A
Life isn’t as easy as it seems. Some people would love to see you fail, while your closest would love du see you succeed. Everybody have a dream. A dream about becoming something big and great. Having a nice job with a good salary, an expensive car and house. And if you don’t achieve any of this, your life will feel like a mistake. You will feel like a complete fail. You want to isolate yourself from others. Even those who support you. You are pausing your life, because you don’t know what to do.

This story “Elephant” is written by Polly Clark in 2006. It starts in media res, because we are unexpectedly standing in a dark room where a person named William is sitting with a computer, some notes and facts. A third person narrator tells the story, but we hear Williams’s thoughts through out the story, and because of that we directly recognize us with him. William Is married to Ginny and have 7 children, all of them which are girls. “He glanced up at the bookshelf above his computer at his girls: Sophie, Witney, Norah, Becky, Christine, Maria, Britney. “Page 1 line 16-18. His relationship with his wife is almost only about making children. ”Well done, darling, she said. Then, “I know this isn’t much fun for you.” Page 2 line 82. She loves it, and thinks he doesn’t. Their relationship is seems to be like a more like “Friends with benefits” than a marriage, because right after they had sex Ginny would leave again. Williams job is writing about biographies of pop-singers, whom he doesn’t enjoy. He would have preferred to write about the film stars, but wasn’t quick enough to get the job and therefore, he has dedicated his life writing about singers. It is also told he can’t write. This has a big effect on his life. He is feeling down and don’t really feel happy, and try to forget it “Writing was Impossible for William if there was a view onto the garden, even if it was a plain distracting one like theirs;” Page 1, line 7-9.

So he’s trying to forget the fact that he has a writing issue. Even though he also is trying to fulfill a dream. A dream about being a important writer, like Leo Tolstoy and James Joyce. It doesn’t matter if it he doesn’t get just as good as them. If only he was near as good, it would be a blessing. William knows he’s falling behind in what he’s living of. It makes him dream a lot, and want to forget what he has written. He lives in a dream world where flashbacks of his life I what is keeping him happy. Like when his wife Ginny reminds him about then he was six or seven years old, when his mother brought him the blue elephant. At this time it all becomes too much for him, because he’s tired of living the same life over and over again, day by day, so he decides to write about something he’s passionate about. Christine.

I have chosen to compare this story with “Introduction on the 1999 edition of the Pillars of the earth.” Ken Follet wrote it in 1999. Both of these texts explain why things don’t always end like you want it too. The difference is that Ken Follet is talking about a book he have written, where William is talking about his daily life as a writer. Ken is talking about that change is not always good. In his case he tried to change genre, which ended badly. He lost many readers and it made his potential carrier disappear. Whereas William becomes happy and feels like he is restarting his life, and breaking the barrier which he have been living in the past years. It also tells that William started from not being someone appreciated for his work a appreciated person. But when he broke the barrier he became famous and acknowledged. Whereas Ken started out good as a acknowledged person, to be forgotten for his new work, which didn’t live up for the standard of his fans. Because of that, he tells its best to stick too the genre you had success in. “Clowns should not try to play Hamlet; pop stars should not write symphonies. I should not have risked my reputation by writing something out of character and overambitious”. Page 1 line 5-6.

B

The end of a story is very important; it tells if there may be a sequel or if it stops. It can end out of nowhere, or end with “They lived happily ever after” for an example. It gives context to the given text, and the ending give you a sort of feeling, that you want more. You don’t want the text to stop there. Or maybe you think it’s a very bad ending to a good story. But it is your opinion. Maybe you think it is bad, but other may think it’s the ideal and best ending. In the “Elephant” We hear about how William feels numb and bored. Because he doesn’t write about things he love. But at the end, when he finally writes about something he likes, he becomes very happy “Tears filled his eyes. His fingers flew faster and faster. That his career in pulp biographies was definitely over did not matter a bit,…” page 4 line 143-144. It ends greatly, whereas if you compare it to the book “Yahya Hassan” It may end well for him because Gylendal publishes his book, but he doesn’t fell happy. He sounds like he doesn’t care. Almost like what William felt in the beginning.