User:Mattis2765

Analysis of Pink By Judith Thomson, 1986

Setting

The story is set in South Africa during the apartheid, where black and white people were separated in two different social groups. The setting creates a sad and gloomy atmosphere, especially because it is focused on the apartheid.

Characters

There are two characters involved in the action. The main character is 10-year-old Lucy, who is a white girl, that has a childish and naive view on apartheid. She has a black nanny called Nellie, who she loves higher than her own parents. Nellie has four children and a husband, who Lucy finds difficult to accept. The relationship between Lucy and Nellie was close when Lucy was a little girl, but when she grew up, they drifted apart. Lucy started to feel that Nellie did not love her anymore, because they stopped doing things, that they always had done - like making pink cakes. That feeling let to Lucy's outburst.

Events/structure/composition

The story has a short but very informing introduction, which includes a small presentation of Lucy. The whole story is based on flashbacks, where Lucy tells the events about her and Nellie. The initial situation is that Lucy is affected by Nellie's death, and it is a very sad moment. Lucy's mood develops from being sad to aggressive because of jealousy. The whole situation will definitely affect Lucy's future life, and her opinion about apartheid is going to chance. Nellie's death and all of Lucy's words relates to the events in the text. Because of the fact that there are a lot of possibilities, on which events that come afterwards, the ending is open. In the end the reader feels relieved, because Lucy said what she needed to say.

Narration/point of view

The introduction is told by a third person narrator, and the rest of the story is told by Lucy as a first person narrator. Lucy is reliable, but the reader has to remember that, we hear the story from a childish point of view. Lucy feels that the black people have been ungrateful. Her attitude to the events are varying from being sad and aggressive to glad. Lucy is described by the author in the introduction, but we also get to know her by hearing her words and opinions. Lucy is also the person that describes Nellie. The whole story is a direct speech from Lucy to Nellie, but it also includes a lot of description.

Theme

The main theme is Apartheid. But there are also a lot of other big themes like; Nature vs. nurture, childhood, loss, jealousy, different worlds, social heritage and living across cultures.

Message

The message of the text is, that you should respect each other, whether you are different or not. Another message could be, that the environment has a great influence, on how people experience certain things, like the way Lucy experienced apartheid.

Language/Style

The language is of course very simple due to the fact, that Lucy is only 10 years old. Her sentences are extremely long, so long that it seems like she only makes a pause, whenever she has to catch her breath. This is another indication of how much the loss affects her. You can almost hear her crying while reading.