Examination Day

I denne study guide kan du få hjælp til at analysere novellen "Examination Day" af Henry Slesar. Udover analysehjælpen kan du finde et summary af teksten samt idéer til fortolkning og perspektivering.

Præsentation af teksten

Titel: “Examination Day” (1958)
Forfatter: Henry Slesar
Genre: Short story

Henry Slesar (1927-2002) var en amerikansk forfatter, som både skrev litteratur og skuespil. Han var kendt for sin ironiske stil og skrev ofte tekster med overraskende slutninger. Udover at skrive adskillige noveller arbejdede Slesar også meget med tv-serier. Han havde fx et længerevarende samarbejde med den berømte filminstruktør Alfred Hitchcock.

Novellen "Examination Day" blev udgivet første gang i det amerikanske tidsskrift Playboy.

Uddrag

Herunder kan du læse et kort uddrag fra vores study guide:

Title

The story “Examination Day” by Henry Slesar follows Dickie Jordan, a boy who lives in a futuristic society in which the government requires all children to take an intelligence test once they turn 12 years old (ll. 17-18). The title of the short story, “Examination Day” is relatively straightforward, as it suggests that the story will deal with an examination. However, readers are likely to expect that passing the exam is a good thing; in reality, the plot twist at the end of the story reveals that doing well in the exam actually results in a death sentence, as the government wants to eliminate citizens who are too intelligent.

While readers might expect the story to describe only the events that happen during examination day, the first part of the story actually takes place a week beforehand (ll. 18-19), on Dickie’s birthday. This is the first time Dickie learns about the mandatory examination he will undertake (ll. 2-3). However, as they are tense about the subject, his mother and father give him little detail on what the examination entails.