Slam | Analysis

Indledning
It is a common thing to worry about the future and the uncertainty of it. Especially for people of the coming of age , who has a long life ahead and few experiences in the baggage.

In Nick Hornby's novel “Slam ”, we experience exactly this through the eyes of Sam, who invites us into his own world. A world full of teen problems, fear and big mistakes that only a few will experience.

Teen pregnancy and social heritage are obvious themes of the story. This is the turning point of Sam's troubled world, but it highlights many other relatable scenarios and thoughts that everyone can relate to. Consequently, the focus of this analytical essay will be on setting, atmosphere, narration, and themes.

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Uddrag
Based on the text examples are the locations in the story are probably real, based on Islington is a part of London therefore it is possible that most of the locations exist.

In the text Sam describes his place and Alicia’s, where it is to be seen that Sam live in a flat, and hers was a big house

Sam describes the difference between his and Alicia’s place, which indicates to totally different social classes. He is living in a flat and Alicia lives in a big old house in Highbury New Park.

In the text we hear about Sam’s mom’s and Alicia’s job, Sam’s mom work at the council and Alicia’s mum is a councillor. In addition, Alicia lives with both her parents, where Sam’s parents are divorced and the contact with his dad is at the minimum.

Beyond that, Sam’s parents are relatively young compared to the average, where Alicia’s parents are around the ’50s.

“You could have guessed that my mum and dad don’t live together, […]” (P. 2), “Or they’d finished getting divorced, […]”. (P. 3.), “[…] my mum was thirty-two years old […]” (P. 9). “’ I’m fifty,’ […]”. (P. 227.).

“They lived in one of those big old houses off of Highbury New Park.” (P 17.), “Everything about her place was different from ours.” (P. 18.), “Hers was big, and we lived in a flat.” (P. 18).

To sum up, there is a big difference between Sam and Alicia’s family situation, Sam only lives with his mom, where Alicia’s family is a nuclear family.

Furthermore, there is a significant difference between the parents' economies, Firstly, in the text, we hear about Sam’s moms' job, and Alicia’s moms' job, they both work for the council, but Sam’s mom does not particularly have a title, where Alicia’s mom is the councillor.

This shows that Alicia’s parents defiantly are more well educated compared to Sam’s parents. Secondly, Sam is living in a flat with his mother, and Alicia’s living in a big old house in Highbury, which is a wealthy part of London.

Thirdly, the examples show that the difference in the age of the parents. All in all, there is a big difference between the families.

The language that is being used in the text is spoken language. For instance, he uses “I dunno”, which is slang for “I don’t know”, which presumably is being used by the younger generation. Furthermore, a substantial part of the text is a conversation, which is making it realistic. “I dunno”. (P. 20.),

All in all, the language is a spoken language, which makes the book authentic and gives it realism, which suits the book beneficially because of the subject. The subject is relatively tabooed, and therefore the language has succeeded.

The story is told through Sam, who happens, to be the Narrator. It is therefore a first-person narrator, while he uses “I” a lot in the novel, and you when speaking out to the reader. \

This can be seen in the following quote: “There’s nothing more for me to say. I don’t know whether you thought I’d lost it...” (P. 207).

Sam has the point of view in the novel, so all the events throughout the novel are seen from his perspective, and it can be seen in the following quote:

“’ Hello, everyone. ‘I’m Alicia,’ she said, in a singing voice. Nobody laughed. It seemed to me that we needed a lot of classes about other things...”.