Dette er vores study guide til novellen “After You, My Dear Alphonse” af Shirley Jackson, som giver dig et godt overblik over denne novelles indhold og opbygning samt alle de væsentligste elementer, som det er godt at komme ind på i en analyse.
Præsentation af teksten
Titel: “After You, My Dear Alphonse”
Forfatter: Shirley Jackson
Udgivelse: The New Yorker, 1943
Genre: Novelle
Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) var en amerikansk, skønlitterær forfatter, som mest skrev gysere og mystiske værker. Hun var meget populær i sin levetid. Hendes mest kendte noveller er “The Lottery” og “The Haunting of the Hill House”.
Uddrag
Her kan du læse et uddrag fra vores analysehjælp:
Title
The title of the story, “After You, My Dear Alphonse”, is inspired by the American comic strip Alphonse and Gaston. The two characters are unable to go anywhere because of their extreme politeness towards each other, as they constantly invite the other to go ahead first. The title is related to the theme of friendship, which is illustrated by Johnny and Boyd. The two boys are as close as Alphonse and Gaston and they sincerely care about each other. They both call each other Alphonse, which shows that they consider themselves equals and do not see any racial differences between them. This is in contrast with how Mrs. Wilson sees them.
The title, then, is representative of their equal relationship and of the child-like honesty between Johnny and Boyd. However, Boyd’s hesitation at the end (p. 4, l. 10) might be because of Mrs. Wilson’s superiority which might have suggested to Boyd for the first time that he and Johnny are not considered the same or equals in the eyes of society.
