The Happiest Days of Your Life

Denne study guide hjælper dig med at analysere novellen “The Happiest Days of Your Life” af Penelope Lively. Du får et summary af teksten samt inspiration til at analysere og perspektivere den.

Præsentation af teksten

Titel: “The Happiest Days of Your Life” (1978)
Forfatter: Penelope Lively
Genre: Short story

Penelope Lively (f. 1933) er en britisk forfatter, der skriver fiktion for både børn og voksne. Hun blev født i Cairo og blev sendt til England for at studere på en kostskole lig den i novellen “The Happiest Days of Your Life”. Hun har udgivet mere end tyve bøger og har modtaget hæderen the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for sit mangeårige bidrag til litteraturen.

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Personification

The author uses personification and metaphors to create vivid images that also suggest the main character’s state of mind.

The school building and its flowers are personified: “The building was red brick, early nineteenth century, spreading out long arms in which windows glittered blackly. Flowers, trapped in neat beds, were alternate red and white” (p. 56, ll. 9-11). Here, the personification of the building and its “arms” reaching out towards Charles suggest that Charles feels intimidated by the school. The “trapped” flowers are in image of the way Charles feels when he thinks about the new school.