I denne study guide kan du få hjælp til at analysere novellen "Life for a Life" af Alan Paton. Udover analysehjælpen kan du finde et summary af teksten, samt inspiration til fortolkning og perspektivering.
Præsentation af teksten
Titel: “Life for a Life” (1961)
Forfatter: Alan Paton
Genre: Short story
Alan Paton (1903-1988) var en sydafrikansk forfatter. Hans tekster beskæftiger sig typisk med de sociale aspekter af livet i Sydafrika under apartheid. Paton var modstander af apartheid og ønskede at udfordre styret gennem sine værker. Hans mest kendte romaner er Cry, The Beloved Country og Too Late the Phalarope. Novellen "Life for a Life" har været udgivet i samlingen Tales from a Troubled Land.
Uddrag
Nedenfor kan du se et kort uddrag fra vores study guide til teksten:
Title
The title of the story “Life for Life” by Alan Paton hints at the two deaths in the narrative, of Flip and Enoch. Both characters die because of a head injury: “The doctor had closed up the ugly hole in Flip’s skull…” (p. 9, ll. 1-2); “…Enoch had slipped on one of the big stones there and had fallen on his head…” (p. 20, ll. 24-26)
At the same time, Enoch’s death is considered a retribution for the master’s death, although the authorities claim it was accidental. This is foreshadowed earlier in the story: “Someone must pay for so terrible a crime, and if not the one who did it, then who better than the one who could not grieve.” (p. 10, ll. 30-32)
Consequently, the title reminds us of the Old Testament saying, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. This is also suggested by the biblical names that the black characters have: Enoch (an ancestor of Noah), Sara (the wife of Abraham, literally meaning noble woman), and Solomon (a king of Israel, whose name means peace).
