I denne study guide får du hjælp til at analysere novellen “We Can't Be Good at Everything” af Emma Sloley. Novellen har været i brug til den skriftlige eksamen i Engelsk B på HF fra 20. maj 2020. Ud over hjælp til analysen og den konkrete opgave, så finder du også arbejdsspørgsmål til novellen og inspiration til fortolkning.
Hvis du har brug for hjælp til Assignments 1-5 fra den skriftlige eksamen på HF B den 20. maj 2020, kan du finde vores vejledning her.
Præsentation af teksten
Titel: “We Can’t Be Good at Everything” (2019)
Forfatter: Emma Sloley
Genre: Novelle
Emma Sloley er født i Australien, men bosiddende i New York. Hun er forfatter og freelance journalist og startede sin karriere som redaktør på Harper's Bazaar i Australien. Hun skriver også rejsebøger og skønlitteratur, heriblandt romanen Disaster's Children fra 2019.
Uddrag
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Symbols
William’s balloon, which ends up pierced by a branch, symbolizes the hopes and dreams of children, which ultimately get shattered. This is relevant to both William and Miles. William gets ignored by Miles at his birthday party, and Miles has his request rejected by Fenella.
Fenella making food for the other guests before Miles symbolizes their relationship, or at least Miles’s perception of it. He approaches her only when “she is alone at last after having fed the masses” (ll. 66-67). This suggests that, in Miles’s mind, he was the last person who benefitted from Fenella’s attention as a child, only after she has ‘performed’ for everyone else.
Miles accepting the plate of shrimp from Fenella but not eating it is also symbolic of their relationship (ll. 71-72). He longs for his mother’s attention and affection, but when he does receive it, he becomes closed off and is unable to accept it, because of his jealousy and inability to forgive.
Miles’s name is symbolic of how he perceives Fenella’s attitude towards him. He sees his own name as “a yearning, her desire to put some distance between herself and home” (ll. 31-32), suggesting Fenella’s distant attitude. This also points to his fear of being abandoned and his lasting emotional trauma following Fenella’s absence during his childhood.