Gods Lift Is Out of Order
Interpretation of
”God’s lift is out of order”
By Karen McCarthy
The short story God’s lift is out of order is written in first person character and begins in media res.
“Aaron is tumbling through the sky. A muddy wash of colour envelops him like a shroud.” (p. 2, l.1)
The protagonist is a young black woman and the story is set in London at Christmastime. Even though the story begins in media res, the teller unfolds the story while the protagonist is travelling with the train on her way to work. In the beginning she has a dream about her childhood friend Aaron. When she is travelling she passes blocks where she used to ride around her bike when she was a child. This triggers the protagonist to a flashback, and the reader has an insight into the protagonist’s childhood with Aaron. These blocks are also a symbol of how the protagonist not is seeing the things right, she is looking trough a dirty glass, and behind this glass everything is a mess. This is a symbol of how she is not seeing the things as they are.
“ I stare out trough the dirty glass. Grim industrial estates flicker by, gradually giving way to a more rustic vista: untidy allotments, a little field with a lone and shabby pony, bare birch woods dotted red, white and blue with old Coke cans and plastic bags.
While she is seeing this vista she is thinking of Aaron and her childhood. Meanwhile she is thinking of how she used to ride around the blocks on her bike, but now all the blocks have mutated into a meaningless mantra inside her head. This shows how she has forgotten the true beauty and the childhood memories, and now they all seems meaningless to her. As the same way she has lost, and forgot who Aaron really is. Her memory of Aaron is a boy who is clever, and the family he lived at was intelligent.
“He was more clever than me: he could read music, write poetry, play chess, pianobasketball. They all listened to Radio3 at his house, and he could do maths. (p. 3, l. 56)”
She admires him, and
”God’s lift is out of order”
By Karen McCarthy
The short story God’s lift is out of order is written in first person character and begins in media res.
“Aaron is tumbling through the sky. A muddy wash of colour envelops him like a shroud.” (p. 2, l.1)
The protagonist is a young black woman and the story is set in London at Christmastime. Even though the story begins in media res, the teller unfolds the story while the protagonist is travelling with the train on her way to work. In the beginning she has a dream about her childhood friend Aaron. When she is travelling she passes blocks where she used to ride around her bike when she was a child. This triggers the protagonist to a flashback, and the reader has an insight into the protagonist’s childhood with Aaron. These blocks are also a symbol of how the protagonist not is seeing the things right, she is looking trough a dirty glass, and behind this glass everything is a mess. This is a symbol of how she is not seeing the things as they are.
“ I stare out trough the dirty glass. Grim industrial estates flicker by, gradually giving way to a more rustic vista: untidy allotments, a little field with a lone and shabby pony, bare birch woods dotted red, white and blue with old Coke cans and plastic bags.
While she is seeing this vista she is thinking of Aaron and her childhood. Meanwhile she is thinking of how she used to ride around the blocks on her bike, but now all the blocks have mutated into a meaningless mantra inside her head. This shows how she has forgotten the true beauty and the childhood memories, and now they all seems meaningless to her. As the same way she has lost, and forgot who Aaron really is. Her memory of Aaron is a boy who is clever, and the family he lived at was intelligent.
“He was more clever than me: he could read music, write poetry, play chess, pianobasketball. They all listened to Radio3 at his house, and he could do maths. (p. 3, l. 56)”
She admires him, and