Analysis

The analysis of the short story “Red Christmas” by Paula Morris shows that it follows a nonlinear plot structure. The main events take place chronologically, during the same evening. However, the narrative often moves from present to past events.

The main character of the story is Ani, the eldest of the McGregor children. She is accompanied by her younger siblings, Tama and Henry. Their mother does not appear in the story except in flashbacks, but she is important to the narrative.

The setting is Te Atatu Road, a suburb in West Auckland, New Zealand. The story takes place close to Christmas. The Christmas house which the children stop to admire is a symbolic setting in the story.

The story is told from the point of view of a third-person narrator who has access to Ani’s thoughts and feelings. Throughout the story, we only see things from Ani’s perspective.

The language is descriptive. The story uses various symbols to express the characters’ struggles with poverty.

You can read a more detailed analysis in the following pages.

Engelsk

Short story analysis

I denne vejledning får du Studienets hjælp til at analysere noveller (short stories) i engelsk.

Excerpt from the study guide:

Ani also makes assumptions about the characters which may or may not be true. For instance, she assumes that her brothers would want to return to the mother who abuses them, instead of living with another family. We do not know how the brothers feel about the situation, so we cannot tell if this is true. The perspective of a child also limits the information we have about the mother. We do not know if she has a mental illness or if there are other reasons for her behavior...