Er der fejl? En sød der vil hjælpe:)

Hejsa sp, tænkte om der var nogle søde mennesker der vil kigge min engelsk stil igennem for fejl.. ( Min lærer siger det især er kongruensfejl den er gal med) - og dårlige formuleringer osv... Er desv slem til at overse mine egne fejl:S

Tuusind tak på forhånd!:)



Killing lizards


This short story contains extremely many themes and aspects, and in my analysis I will try to point out the most important ones.
The Oedipus-complex plays a significant role in this short story, as well as the main character Gavin’s other family relations. Twelve-year-old Gavin keeps having dreams, and day-dreams about experiencing the death of his father and his sister. He feels embarrassed about these dreams, but the lack of attention from his mother drowns this embarrassment. His mother is far more interested in shopping with Gavin’s sister, Amanda, and the fact that his sister is on boarding school indicates that his parents has demanding jobs, which leaves Gavin feeling overlooked; especially by his mother who you might say, is an obsession to him.
Attention from ones parents is one of the most important human needs, and the lack of attention can have fatal consequences. This shows clearly in Gavin’s actions in “Killing lizards”. The Oedipus-complex was described by Sigmund Freud, and the term comes from a myth about a Greek king, Oedipus, who accidentally kills his father, and marries his mother. According to Freud this reflects a common conflict which takes place between the child and the parent of the same sex. The child considers the parent of the same sex as a threat for love and attention from the parent of the opposite sex. This leads to thoughts and wishes about the other parents’ death or damage, and in some cases the child’s siblings as well. This fits Gavin’s resentment towards his father and sister perfectly.
Another Freudian term in this short story is the Freudian egg. The term which is the thought of everyone containing three states of minds; the superego, the ego and the id, where the id is the subconscious. The Oedipus-complex and the Freudian Egg are strongly presented in this short story. Gavin has strong feelings against both his father and his sister, as he feels they are the reason for his mothers falling attention towards him. His subconscious takes over in his dreams, and tells him to destroy these threats. This of course is frustrating to him, because this is actually his family and he loves them. “He had this dream quite a lot these days and it made him feel peculiar: he knew it was bad, and sometimes he forced himself not to think about it. But it always came back.”Line 17 – as he describes it.
Normally these feelings reveal themselves in the age of 4-6, so it is quite odd that Gavin is experiencing them at the age of twelve. This could have something to do with his near transition from child to teenager, which might be difficult for him- he seeks support from his mother, and doesn’t get enough of it.
Gavin has found a way of releasing his frustration; by killing lizards with some friends. This gives him a form of control, as lizards are helpless easily killed animals. He has the power of deciding which lizards is going to die, and which is going to live - a power he lacks normally considering his father and sister. Therefore you could say that the lizards symbolize his father and sister. He can’t kill them in real life, but he can imagine them to be lizards which are easily killed.
Wherefore the short story is named “killing lizards” as this hobby of his provides an opportunity to gain control. Later on, Gavin discovers his mother is cheating on his father. Gavin is not hurt, scared or confused as a “normal child” would be, but as he picks up his mothers left-behind sunglasses, he reacts with an excitement. This is his chance of gaining the full control of his family again. Now he decides what is going to happen next, as he knows about his mothers cheating, and even has a proof of it. As he now has gained the control, he feels no need killing more lizards, and he lets a lizard live as it passes by him in the end.
Continuing the Freudian psychoanalysis this is the struggle between his superego and the id. This is the struggle between the consciousness where his morals lies and his sub consciousness containing his desire for his mother’s undivided love.
“Killing lizards” shows just how important attention and nurturing is for a young child, and how severe the consequences of the lack of it, could be. The text is also a brilliant example of one of the difficulties a child has to go through when crossing from child to teenager. Therefore them main theme is parenting, along with marriage, child-teenager transition and family-love.