Killing Lizards

I denne study guide kan du få hjælp til at analysere novellen "Killing Lizards" af William Boyd. Udover analysehjælpen kan du finde et summary af teksten, samt inspiration til fortolkning og perspektivering.

Præsentation af teksten

Titel: “Killing Lizards” (1981)
Forfatter: William Boyd
Genre: Short story

William Boyd (f. 1952) er en skotsk forfatter, som er opvokset i Nigeria og Ghana. Han har gennem sit liv vundet flere britiske litteraturpriser. "Killing Lizards" stammer fra hans første novellesamling, On the Yankee Station.

Uddrag

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Title

The title of the short story “Killing Lizards” by William Boyd has both a literal and a symbolic meaning. In the literal sense, it refers to Gavin and his friends’ hobby of killing lizards: “Gavin and his two friends had been shooting lizards with their catapults for the three weeks of the Easter holidays and had so far scored one hundred and forty-three.” (ll. 74-76)

The symbolic sense is suggested through Gavin’s fantasy that his sister Amanda and his father are killed in a car crash (ll. 25-29). In this fantasy, he consoles his mother, who never remarries, and people appreciate his help: “People would look at them in the street and whisper, ‘I don’t know what she would have done without him.’ ” (ll. 31-33). This reveals Gavin’s wish to be needed by his mother – implicitly, it shows that he feels ignored by her.