The short story ‘An Act of God’ by Gary Crew raises the issues about the choice between life and death and the moral dilemma involved in making critical decisions that may impact on the future. In the story, a decision needs to be made to either end the life of a woman in pain or leave her to die through natural causes. Point of view, language and the use of gaps/silences in the text encourage readers to question the validity of the doctor’s decision to take the life of a young boy’s mother trapped under a fallen beam in a church about to be consumed by fire after a devastating earthquake. Therefore the short story ‘An Act of God’ by Gary Crew touches on the controversial issue of euthanasia and encourages readers to question their own attitudes towards the right to life.

The story is narrated from the point of view of a police officer who is ‘on the beat’ when a devastating earthquake hits a small town. This subjective account allows readers to gain a personal insight into the moral dilemma the doctor and young boy are faced without becoming emotionally involved in the events. Although a character involved in the action, the police officer’s comment after the young boy is told about an injection that can put his mother to sleep reads like a clinical police report, ‘The son sat there mute’. Thus the narrative point of view although first person, does not provide readers with an emotional opinion on this choice and therefore allows readers to make their own judgements about whether the doctor made the right decision.

The language used in the short story encourages readers to question their attitude towards the right to life and also their feelings in relation to such moral issues as euthanasia. Crew uses descriptive and direct language to encourage readers to think deeply about the issue being presented without emotional attachment. At one point the police