Characterization of Ellie

Outer characterization

Ellie is the main character of the short story “A Gap of Sky” by Anna Hope. She is 19 years old (l. 67) and lives alone in London. Ellie is a student at University College London, although she hints attending university was her parents' idea: “It was their fault she was doing this bloody course in the first place” (l. 66). Ellie drinks alcohol and takes drugs: “She remembers going out for booze. Did she get booze? Cans, some cans of lager, and then more coke arriving and – K, didn’t they do some K?” (ll. 19-20)

Ellie is not given a last name in the story, which could be a deliberate choice as she can be seen as a symbol of her generation. Ellie’s experiences are not necessarily representative by themselves, but they function as symbols of the confusion and vulnerability of her generation.

Inner characterization

The main trait that characterizes Ellie is confusion. From the very beginning, Ellie wakes up disoriented and does not seem to be aware of her surroundings:

It is dark, but the wrong dark. Something is wrong with the dark. Ellie reaches a hand out from under the duvet an...