Her finder du et Studienets hjælp til analyse af novellen "Sea Story" af A.S Byatt.
Teksten har været anvendt til skriftlig eksamen i Engelsk A på STX i marts 2014 i et vejledende opgavesæt, hvor eksamensspørgsmålet lød:
Write an analytical essay (800-1200 words) in which you analyse and interpret A.S. Byatt’s short story “Sea Story”.
Part of your essay must focus on the writer’s use of literary quotations and on the role of nature in the story.
Presentation of the text
Titel: “Sea Story”
Forfatter: A.S. Byatt
Udgivet i: The Guardian (2013)
Genre: Novelle
A.S. Byatt er et pseudonym for den britiske forfatter Dame Antonia Susan Duffy (f. 1936). Byatt skriver digte, romaner og noveller og har vundet den prestigefyldte Booker-pris. Den britiske avis, The Times, har rangeret hende blandt de 50 største forfatter i Storbrittannien siden 1945.
Uddrag
Nedenfor kan du læse et uddrag af webbogens indhold:
Title
The title of the text, “Sea Story”, suggests that the narrative takes place somewhere at the seaside, or at sea, but also that it might be a story about the sea. Upon reading the story, we realise both assumptions are correct. Most of the action takes place at the seaside or at sea, but the sea also has a deep symbolical role. The sea represents nature which is both a victim and a vengeful force. On the one hand, the sea is a victim of human pollution as it is getting filled with plastic and other harmful debris:
It is composed of human plastic waste, and beneath it, hidden under the movement of the sea surface, vast curtains of tiny particles hang fathoms deep. It is like a pop painting, containing white plastic forks and beakers, shoals of toothbrushes, phantom threads of ghostly ropes and lines, bottles and jars. (ll. 108-111)
On the other hand, the sea takes revenge on men, for their polluting acts. It tears Harold’s plastic bottle and his love message, it kills Laura, and ultimately it floods the lands: “Fires raged and floods drove through streets and houses as the planet became more and more inimical to human life.” (ll. 133-134)
