A Gap of Sky

1042 Words5 Pages
A Gap of Sky In the short story A Gap of Sky, written by Anna Hope, we follow the nineteen-year-old women, Ellie, across an afternoon. Ellie lives in London, probably alone. She smokes and does drugs. Around 4 pm Ellie wakes up from a rough night with alcohol and drugs. Ellie swears a lot, because she remembers that she has to write an essay about Virginia Wolf before the next morning. But there is a problem; she has no ink. She tries to remember the night, to figure out how many hours of sleep she has received. Slowly she recalls the night. “Eight hours of sleep is OK.” she thinks. Then she can get the day started. This first part is written as if it were her immediate thoughts. She decides to go to the Student shop to get some ink. She is confused as she gets ready; it is like she is talking to herself, or giving herself orders. E.g.: “Clever Ellie” (l. 32), “fill it” (l. 33), “Time? Ten minutes to get there. Shit. Should she do the essay first, print in the morning? No. No time” (ll.36-37), ”Good plan. Good, this was good, fine” (l. 34). These quotes are strange, because she is talking to herself and answers her own questions. She seems confused and it can be caused by drugs and hangover. Maybe she has to say things aloud to remember them or because she is alone. She also swears a lot over many things; another sign, that she is frustrated. On her way to the store with ink, she describes how the fresh air and the wind make her feel: “The air is cold, makes her gasp, cold and hunting on her ragged lungs. The light is bright, searing light from the sun. Setting sun” (ll. 42-43). “There is a clarity to the air, a quickening; it is the time of the day, the time of the year” (l. 56). -The nature and lightness, wind etc. makes a big impression on her. And suddenly she finds this glove, which is described as a dark object. She walks slowly towards it, and when
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