Structure

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Beginning 

The short story "Good Girl" by Marita Conlon-McKenna begins inmedias res, as we hear Chrissy screaming as she is trapped somewhere, which creates a feeling of unease and foreshadowing from the very beginning. We do not know where she is trapped, or why she is screaming, but we are made aware that things will take a b…

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Middle 

In the rising action, Gemma questions Chrissy about her date, while Chrissy does not want to give too much away. We learn that Gemma wants to be just like Chrissy (p. 69, ll. 6-7), which foreshadows the connection between them at the end of the story. The attention Chrissy gives to brushing her long hair, as well as the fact that “Ian liked her hair long and loose” (p. 68, l. 10) foreshadows it getting cut off. The remark about her new jeans foreshadows their getting destroyed. The tension rises as Chrissy’s older sister, Anna, warns her about “folk in this place” (p. 69, l. 27). This, along with her remark about political unrest, serves as another foreshadowing of the attack on Chrissy,…

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Ending 

The tension falls as Gemma reveals he called Ian a “stupid proddy git” (p. 75, l. 20), and Chrissy merely sighs (p. 75, l. 22). Then, Gemma reveals she told Ian that she had been repeating what Chrissy wrote in her letter which he refused to receive, and that she hated him. (p. 75, ll. 23-25) 

The resolution of the stor…