A Gap of Sky
In ”A Gap of Sky” by Anna Hope we meet the young woman Ellie, a complicated girl, with some very serious problems. First of all her life is very affected by her serious use of drugs and the consequences of this use the following days. Her lifestyle is far from normal and very extreme, since we are able to interpret this after only one afternoon in her company. Unfortunately, this day is quite important, since she has to finish a hand-in for the next day, or else she will be kicked out of the course. We follow her through London on her quest for coke and ink, getting an insight in her everyday life.
The story is written in a stream-of-consciousness with an omniscient third person narrator. This stream-of-consciousness gives us the impression that Ellie is under the influence of drugs meanwhile we follow her, which is not that strange since it seems that she took a lot of different drugs the night before. The narrator and the stream-of-consciousness give us a great insight in her feelings both physically and mentally which is very important for understanding the story, but also it excludes us from having an insight in her background and upbringing since she does not give us an outline of her earlier life and her family. We are “only” allowed access to her mind, and not her entire story. This suits well with the in medias res beginning of the story, which is also affected by the stream-of-consciousness.
“.....Cans, some cans of lager, and then more coke arriving and –K, didn’t they do some K?”(line 20)
This shows both the stream-of consciousness and a little bit about her relation to drugs and the various types of hard drugs she is on while partying. Ellie isn’t in a very good place in her life right now, doing drugs, partying and basically ruining her chance for an education. It is even shown in the story that she has to get some drugs to be able to do her paper for the next day. Her view on life is definitely very convoluted as she says:
“She is only nineteen, only living, and if that was sometimes a little extreme, well, how should life be lived?”(ll.98-99)
She knows her life is extreme but still she believes that it is the way her life should be lived, at least at this time of day. Through the story she develops and has a change of belief. She chooses to take responsibility for her own life and decides to go home and write the essay as she should have done in the first place.
It shows in the story that Ellie is probably not a part of high-society, since she swears a lot and lives in a lousy apartment which does not even has its own bathroom, so she chooses to pee in the sink since she does not want to go down the hall to go to the toilet. At her room beside her bed there is also” an empty pint glass” which can be a symbol of the way she is feeling inside after this night out. She has not “fully recovered” when she wakes up at 16:29, and neither has her memory. She is in her apartment all by herself, and on the basis of her thoughts of being with “Toby, and some girl.” it can be deduced that she does not have that many friends. Her life is empty and therefore she tries to fill it up with alcohol and drugs. This allows us to return to the empty pint glass, which will be filled with alcohol, and give her a feeling of having a fulfilled life.
Going through London with Ellie we stop at the British museum simply because she has never been there before. Inside the museum there is an exhibition called “Living and Dying” and Ellie is confronted with these to concepts and their importance. This makes her head spin and makes her think about her life and the way she is living it, of course not in the biggest dimension, she actually just says that she does not want to take any more coke ever again. But at that time it sounds more like she just wants to die, she does not want to do anything but be outside. So she moves outside and immediately feels better. She describes the traffic “clotted like blood in the arteries nearing the heart of the city”(ll.90-91)
For her the city is life, in both its bad and its good ways. When partying at night and doing drugs it is the city at its worst. She complains about taking the rush-hour tube home. Her intoxication at night also takes away her sense of where she is. At night she could be in any other European city, and it would not make a difference. But in the daylight she constantly makes notes on where she is which street she is on and of her being by Covent Garden. We are able to follow her, and it is even possible to do it with a map, to mark her location through her afternoon walk about in London. During the afternoon London turns into a maze where she struggles not to get lost. The city distracts her, in the shape of the British Museum and it gives her a sign of hope in the shape of a black glove with its middle finger pointing up in the air. The role of the city of London and the urban setting is very important. First of all, there is the fact, that this story probably could not take place in a town or a village, since there simply isn’t the party and drug environment. Second of all, the city is filled with life and people interfering with each other, but during all the afternoon she does not interfere with anybody. It shows us how alone and withdrawn she is. As we are locked up inside her mind so is she, there simply isn’t room for anymore.
The title “a Gap of Sky” refers to the setting, as gaps of sky only exist in larger cities like London. It could be a symbol of her pre-mentioned emptiness. It could also be an opening, a way out of it all, away from the city, the parties and the drugs.
By the ending she goes into as shop where she finds a stone similar to one her mother has given to her once. It fills Ellie up with joy and love, and makes her realize how much she has taken for granted. She changes for the better, and is filled with a feeling, that everybody else seems to have to. Her life is full.
So, “A Gap of Sky” is about the struggles of being an individual, and the choices to make when you are young. Also it is about waking up and realizing that you have a life to live and to take responsibility for, because you are the one with the most control of it.