I denne study guide kan du få hjælp til at analysere novellen “The Path to Heaven” af Mary O'Donnell, som indgik i skriftlig eksamen i Engelsk B på STX den 4. december 2018. Udover analysehjælpen får du et summary af novellen samt hjælp til at fortolke teksten.
Eksamensspørgsmål
Write an analytical essay (700-1000 words) in which you analyze and interpret Mary O’Donnell’s short story “The Path to Heaven”. Your essay must include the following points:
- a characterisation of Lauren
- the relationship between Lauren and Kalina
- the main theme(s)
- the title
Præsentation af teksten
Titel: “The Path to Heaven” (2016)
Forfatter: Mary O’Donnell
Genre: Short story
Mary O’Donnell er født i Irland i 1954. Hun har udgivet fire romaner og syv digtsamlinger såvel som noveller og radioprogrammer. Hun har vundet flere priser for sine værker. Novellen “The Path to Heaven” stammer fra novellesamlingen The Glass Shore – Short Stories by Women Writers from the North of Ireland, der blev udgivet i 2016.
Uddrag
Herunder kan du læse et lille uddrag af vores study guide:
Beginning
The story opens with Lauren walking through her garden. In the exposition, the setting and the characters are presented. We learn that Kalina, a Polish woman, is Lauren’s housekeeper and they sometimes talk together.
Lauren feels guilty “at having another woman do work she herself was no willing to do” (ll. 20-21), which foreshadows how later she will try to ease that guilt by trying to help Kalina. We also learn that Kalina never accepts offers of food while in Lauren’s house, which foreshadows that she will reject Lauren’s help.
Kalina’s partner, Adam, is also briefly presented, as a former Physics lecturer who cannot find a suitable job, so he sits at home taking care of the children. This makes him unhappy. His unhappiness and Kalina’s remark that he is depressed, as well as Lauren’s suspicion about him, foreshadow that he will later beat his wife.