Monday, May 9, 2011

Zadie Smith Picnic, Lightning; A Mystery Within a Mystery

To me this story involves two mysteries; what gender each character is and the mystery of who killed who!
This was a very complex story written my Zadie Smith. The characters genders are not clear besides Clara & Elane; you could interpret the characters as either female or male. We aren't even sure if the narrator is male or female.

The form is written in a way that shows the readers the complexity of the story. We aren't completely sure about the characters making this a complex reading and it can also be interpreted in many different ways depending on how one reads it.
The form contradicts itself. There are also many different possible plot lines.

Clara riding the London Chunnel does give us a time frame when this story is taking place and that would be around 92' or later.

I find it interesting that the narrator is very upset by Clara and the "boy" have some sort of relationship. The narrator seems blunt and uncaring throughout the story about the "boy" but (s/he) really actually cares. But over all I can't trust the narrator because of the open-endedness the narrator leaves us with at the end of this short story.

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