Analytical Essay om "In the National Gallery"

In the National Gallery

A1 Gazing back into your past or looking ahead into your future is something common for us as humans. What images that emerge from the corners of the mind often has to do with age. In youth the views are dominated by carelessness and spontaneity, while in old age passion and intensity often dominate. All in all the two stages are very different from each other and when confronted often clash and get into conflict. This conflict instigated by the generation gap is also the heart of the matter in the short story In the National Gallery by Doris Lessing from 2007. Her starter vi med en tragtindledning, der går fra det generelle til det konkrete i netop denne tekst - husk dette er en subjektiv betragtning, og der kan være mange andre tolkninger af teksten. Det vigtige er, at vælge en du kan underbygge med teksteksempler. Derudover er temaet slået an fra begyndelsen - fokus vil være på generationskonflikten, altså hvordan forskellige generationer kan have vanskeligheder ved at forstå hinanden og mødes.

Indledningen sætter et par nøgleord på temaet: carelessness and spontaneity sat over for passion and intensity. Indledningen fanger læseren uden at afsløre alt for meget, og giver denne lyst til at læse videre. Derudover bliver de mere faktuelle ting skrevet ind i indledningen som titel, årstal og forfatter, uden det bliver tørt og opremsende. Told through a first person narrator we get a first hand view on group dynamics in a public space, London's National Gallery. The narrator, whose age, gender and appearance remain hidden from us as readers, watches, observes and comments on human interaction from a central position in the gallery. He/she guides our perceptions and judgments through the disturbing and unsettling events that we witness through his/her eyes. Disaster lurks beneath the surface at all times, or at least that is the impression we are given.

What the onlooker is interested in is observing something familiar, and only one thing. “It should be already known to me” (Text 1, ll. 3-4). The choice falls on Stubbs' chestnut horse. As the painting is in the center of the gallery it also becomes the pivotal point of understanding the short story. More than just a horse in a painting, the narrator wants to observe people interacting.