Every Good Boy
The dramatic short story “Every Good Boy” written by David Nicholls is about the 9 year old boy called Michael. The short story is flashback, when Michael, was going through a development, on his way to find his identity. Everybody is good at something, and Michael is trying to find his speciality. The young boy tries with piano, but he is not good at all. The boy’s mom takes him too Mrs Patricia Chin, a local cheap piano teacher. Mrs Patricia Chin was an older lady who lived in a house smelling of cat food and air-freshener, just across the street. She played piano, and was very good at it. Mrs Chin’s piano tone could be heard trough her windows in the summer days. It’s a very bizarre story, which gets you wondering about the narrator’s choices. The narrator tells the story with a sense of self-irony.

The main theme in the short story is about finding your thing you´re good at. Everybody is good at something; you just need to find what it is. It can take you time too find your speciality, but don’t we all want to find our speciality, no matter the time? This kid, Michael, defiantly wants to find his speciality, and doesn’t care about the time. On Michael’s way of growing up, he goes through a change and is about to find his identity. His older brother and sister have already found their passion. Michael thinks that the piano might could be his passion. He considering starting at piano, and didn’t even worry about that he might be to old to be able too learn something new. The piano was like a safety place to him.

Michael who is the main character, and simultaneous are the narrator of the story is a 9 year old boy at the time. The story takes place in his childhood with his mother and father. Michael is the only one in the family who can´t do anything well. Michael doesn’t stop fighting, when his about to find his speciality. He is a very humble boy, and was the non-ability boy. He didn’t fit in anywhere. He has big dreams, and want to become a big star. He compares himself with Mozart who also was a 9 year old boy when he started at piano.
In the end he feels guilt for killing Mrs Chin with his piano sound. But that doesn’t last for so long, and he starts at violin.

The role of the piano is very important for the story. The piano is a gift from Michael’s uncle, but Michael’s mother doesn’t want it, because of nobody can play at it. The piano stays at Michael because he thinks it might could be his salvation. He describes the piano as a big monster, but there is something interesting about the monster. The piano is like a person to Michael, a horrible person. The piano should be his salvation to make him shine, but ended up being an even terrible monster than it started to be.

In the end Michael realises that his not the reason of Mrs Chin’s death. Instead he realises that it is the piano, who killed Mrs Chin. Because of Mrs Chin’s dead, Michael swore that he never touch the satanic piano again. His parents thought it was some kind of trauma, but Michael himself knew that it was a whole different reason. It was the fear of the power of something he couldn’t be able to control. Finally it succeeds Michael to persuade his parents, to get rid of the piano. The monster was immediately passed to a nephew, and then burned. Michael imagines the piano screaming as it got burned.
In the closing sentence Michael says; Six months later, I started violin lessons, but that’s a whole other story. Its with sense of humour, but also to proof that his not giving up. He wants to be good at something, like his father said, that everyone must be good at something.
The title can be connected to the theme about being good at something. All kids want’s something to be good at, so does Michael. People want to shine and make their parents proud, which is related to the title, “Every Good Boy”. Michael just want to be a good boy.