A Gap of Sky: About the Teenager Ellie

A Gap of Sky
Anna Hope’s short story A Gap of Sky is about the teenager Ellie, who lives an unhealthy life with drugs and lots of alcohol. At the same time, she is about to complete a course of study, which her parents forced her to do. Ellie is bewildered about her situation. She knows it’s wrong to give up life, but she can’t cope with school and other things that demand her attention.
The story begins in medias res as Ellie returned from a wild night out. Later she burrows back into bed. Because of her massive hang-over she oversleep, which is a huge problem because she doesn’t have time for her essay for the next morning. But even more badly, she doesn’t have ink for her printer and the shops in city are already closed.
Ellie realizes that she is well-known at school, but not for being a good pupil, therefore she has to go to the city and see if she luckily would be able to buy ink.
When she leans against the iron railing at Russell Square, she sees a black leather glove, which middle finger is upright. She sees the glove as a sign. A sign, that tries to show her the meaning of life. She felt absolutely free, but she realizes in that second, that there was to life than just crazy nights out and getting drunk. Suddenly she fears the death. And maybe that was a good thing?
’’Ellie’s not sure she’s ready to cope with death.’’
The story is written by a 1st person narrator, who builds suspense and lead us to a climax because of the narrator’s way of telling the story. Ellie (1st person narrator) is confused about life and constantly through the story you hear about her inner feelings and thoughts.
The predominant element in the story is the setting. It is deeply described, particularly when Ellie is in city after ink. The river, strand and streets are described as something really beautiful, which gives the story a new, and more sensitive, touch in contrast to the beginning of the story, where Ellie is intoxicated and remote.
Ellie is the main character and the story is only about her and her bad situation. And as readers we only hear a little about her parents, at that’s not good things. But Nellie grow wiser through the story, and at last she is able to see the good things in life, such as education.
The title is suitable to the story because of the gap of sky, which suddenly appears, when Ellie is on her way home, and has given it all up. She is afraid and hurries away from the place.
Afterwards, in a little shop, she finds a stone, which remind her of her mom, because she gave her one manage to, and at that moment she blame herself for being a bad daughter.
Back in time when she had received the stone, she had just shoved it away, but at last she feels sorry about it.
’’She had just shoved it into her rucksack somewhere. Probably still there. [..] Whatever, it was still an expression of something, a distilled expression of something, of her mother, of her love, and Ellie had just shoved it away, taken it for granted.’’

Suddenly, she got more courage for life, she tries to find an open shop to buy the ink for her printer, and her goal was to write the essay for the next day and continue her course.
’’She is nineteen and in London and she has an essay to write and she needs to buy some printer ink, but here is a shop that she knows will be open at the end of the Strand and she will buy her ink and write her essay for the morning. She will write her essay and that will be a good thing. A good thing and the right thing to do.’’
The above is also the ending of the story, which shows that Ellie really has going through a transformation, and now has a more positive view of her life and fortune. The same sentence is used three times in the story, but the two other is build up in this way:
’’She was nineteen, and in London, and she needed to get some printer ink before the shop closed, and she should write an essay, but really, she was free.’’
When these sentences occur, the story is told by an omniscient, 3rd person narrator.