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Vernissage

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Vernissage
The short story Vernissage is written by Claire Anderson-Wheeler and is narrated by the main character, Alex, who is a child. The child allows the reader to follow his point of view. Vernissage starts in media res; we do not get an introduction of the characters, but it starts in the middle of a scene.
The short story starts with the mother, Frances, who is driving her child Alex home from school. Alex asks the mother about the new dress, which she has bought for the opening of an art exhibition. When they reach home, Alex eats a banana sandwich, which makes him think about his age and about how he could grow too old to eat a banana sandwich. Later, Alex hides himself from his mother under the parents‟ bed because he thinks the mother wants him to do homework. Underneath the bed, Alex becomes a witness to his parents‟ conversation, and becomes aware of the fact that the parents‟ relationship is not going the way he thought. In the end, Alex crawls out from under the bed where he goes to the bathroom which again reminds him of his age. In front of the mirror, he decides that he is too old to have a crocodile toothbrush – exactly like the banana sandwich episode.
At the beginning of the short story, Alex is still a young child. We can see it through the way he asks his mother too many questions (p. 1, ll. 22-29) which children always do. Also, Alex behaves like a child when they have dinner, for example. He plays with the food (p. 2, ll. 53-55), and he eats with both hands like a baby (p. 2, l. 56). Alex is not old enough to take care of himself, and therefore he has a babysitter (p. 2, l. 75). Slowly, he moves from the child stage to the grown-up world. He has a discussion with himself about whether he has grown old for banana sandwiches (p. 2, ll. 49-50). In other words, he asks himself: „Am I still a child?‟.
”There was something about banana

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