Analytical essay of: Frida Boyelski’s Shiva

Indledning
How do we identify our gender? Today we see a lot of different gender types and sexuality. Many people don’t know how to define the different types, which often leads to misunderstandings.

It can be hard for many persons to accept and understand when a woman transform herself into a boy or in the other way around.

These misunderstandings and the unaccepting attitude will often create prejudices, taboos, and will lead to arguments where friendship or families will be ruined. This modern issue in the society is described in the short story “Frida Boyelski’s Shiva” written by Abigail Ulman in 2016.

The short story explores the reaction and thoughts of a mother whose daughter wants to transform herself into a boy.

Optimer dit sprog - Læs vores guide og scor topkarakter

Uddrag
The short story’s narrator is third person and is a limited-narrator which means that we have only access to the main character Frida’s thoughts and feelings as we can see in this quotation:

“Frida had a strange feeling that if she let Ruthie leave now, she might not be exactly the same person when she came back.”(p. 2, l. 22-23).

The limited access makes it possible for the reader to emphasize with Frida and it is easier to understand her personality. We never really hear about her daughter’s feelings and thoughts, which also makes the point of view unilateral.

The short story starts with a description of Frida and her wish for a daughter: “Frida Boyelski had always wanted a daughter. Then she had a daughter and that daughter grew up into a young woman who said she was actually a young man.” (p. 2, l. 1-2).

Afterward, the story is structured linearly with a few flashbacks as we can see in the following examples: “Frida Boyelski remembered watching her father sit shiva decades ago when his own father had died.”

(p. 3, l. 48-49) and “Frida pictured Ruthie’s seven-year-old face scrunched up at the sight of the bike on her birthday morning.” (p. 3, l. 61-62).

The flashbacks give the reader more knowledge of Frida’s background and give a better understanding of Frida’s personality.