No Angel
By Bernie McGill

Death is inevitable and death is a natural part of human life. At some point in our lives, we have or will experience losing an acquaintance. To loose someone you love can be difficult to overcome. The question is how we handle the loss of a loved one. In the short story, “No Angel” Bernie McGill tells about how a woman handle her grief after she has lost her whole family.
As written previously, a woman loses her family tragically. The first family member she loses is her seven teen year old little brother, Robbie. He was murdered on a cold December night. After short six months, she loses her mother, who could not bear the grief of losing her only son. The only person, who is left in the woman’s life for now, is her father. Twenty-two years past the death of her mother, her father also passed away, because his lungs did not work anymore.
The woman is now going through a very difficult time. The loss of her family, make her create her own vision of her dead family, so she can talk to them.
The short story is told in first person narrative, where the narrator is our character. The point of view are limited because we do not hear the name of the woman, but we hear her inner and outer thoughts. Among other things, the short story says that the woman has a good lecturing job. We hear that she is attentive soft spoken and afraid of darkness.
The composition is not chronological because there are flashback and flash forward.
The story starts in media res where the ghost of her father visits her. “The first time I saw my father after he dies, I was in the shower […]( p. 1 l.1) The situation where the father appears, pass away very quietly and she does not seem to be surprised. It tell us that she has herself create an image of her father. Throughout the story, her father appears repeatedly; just to small talk and to criticize different things like Thomas, her boyfriend.

We as reader get confused because we do not know why the father shows up. As a reader, I cannot avoid the question; why do he show up without particular reasons. At the end of the story, it becomes clear why he shows up, she claims the father’s ghost was looking for the ghost of Robbie and the mother.
We are told that the second time she meets her father is on the train on the way to Belfast. “The next time I saw him, I was on the train, on the way to Belfast.”(P.1.l.24) it indicate that the story takes place in Northern Ireland. The story is also during the trouble between Irish people. For example, her father is not pleased that his daughter sees Thomas and there is a special reason why he is against it, for Thomas is protestant and she is catholic. It is not only for that reason it is also because he thought that the people who had killed his son Robbie were protestant. Even though her father is against Thomas, she chooses to stick with him. She thinks her boyfriend reminds her of Robbie. As seen in this quote ’I think it was Thomas’s confidence I fell for. […] If I’m honest, he reminded me of Robbie (P. 5 ll. 161-162). However, in the end of the story we found out that she is no longer in relationship with Thomas. I believe that theirs relationship fell apart because they are opposites. Thomas is confident and independent while she is insecure and dependent.
It seem like she is not yet over her fathers’ death. How we react is different from person to person, but in some point in life, we must recognize what has happened and move on. Sometimes holding on does more damage than letting go.
The text and title fit together because there is indeed no angels. However, she imagines her family as ghosts.