Themes and message

Emotional awareness

In "What Anton Learns in the Queue" by Janis Freegard, the theme of emotional awareness is explored through Anton and Bernadette. Anton is a matter-of-fact, practical person. This is reflected, for example, in his decision to join the queue for the toilets because he expects to need to go in half an hour’s time (ll. 9-10).

The narrator tells us he enjoys making educated guesses. He makes several estimates throughout the story – the number of people at “Music in the Park (l. 5), how long it takes the “perfect woman” to get ready (ll. 27-29), how many times (and how many degrees) Bernadette spins (ll. 107-108). However, it appears that he has not asked himself why he does this – we only learn that he enjoys it.

These details suggest that Anton is very aware of his surroundings. In contrast, he is mostly unaware of how he feels about his life. He does not know if he loves Shell, even though they have been going out for almost a year. He appears to have never asked himself if he is happy – moreover, he does not understan...