Pill Pusher | Essay analyse

Indledning
The story revolved around a pharmacist, working at Walgreens, who is working at the counter, serving medicine.

The protagonist hates the job, and thinks she deserves better due to her degree. A lady at the counter is impatient, and their conversation turns into a heated argument.

The pharmacist ends up yelling at the lady, and checks comments about the woman, for validation. Instead, she finds out the woman’s daughter has leukemia, and feels bad about her behavior.

The protagonist gives the woman the medicine and gives her a tip for her daughter’s nausea. After the woman leaves, the pharmacist is happy and smiles genuinely for the first time that day.

Optimer dit sprog - Læs vores guide og scor topkarakter

Uddrag
The structure of the short story is mostly chronological, although the main character briefly thinks back on her education (line 13-15).

The story starts in medias res, which is typical for short stories, and has the effect of getting straight “into the action”.

The composition of the story is not exactly either of the “home-away-home”, or the Hollywood model, but uses elements of the Hollywood model, with these elements being the conflict, point of no return, climax and resolution.

Due to the in medias res start, the story skips the introduction and sends the reader straight into the conflict, which quickly escalates.

Although the ending of the story is open, like most short stories, it still leaves the reader with a sense of satisfaction and closure, due to the resolution of the conflict, and the “happy ending”, which is unusual for short stories, “

And I smile genuinely for the first time today” (line 106). The story is told through the first-person point of view of the pharmacist.

As such, the narration is bound to the protagonist and the reader is aware of both the thoughts, opinions and actions of the pharmacist: “But that’s not all! Billy Mays’s voice interrupts my thoughts with orgasmic enthusiasm” (line 12).

The fact that reader is aware of the protagonist’s thoughts, makes understanding her decisions and rationalizations easier, and gives the reader a closer look to one side of the conflict.