CREATIVE WRITING - Analyze a Short Story - Meira Zaliyanti

 Analyze a short story Girl In The Mirror by Cecelia Ahern

Tells the story of a young girl named Lila who lives with her grandmother since childhood. Her grandmother's name is Ellie but Lila always calls her Grellie (Grandmother Ellie). It is said that Lila has found the man of her dreams and will soon marry. But who would have thought that due to her family's secret being revealed on her wedding day, Lila's destiny could suddenly change.

PLOT

Based on the results of my analysis, this story has a progressive plot because the author tells a series of stories chronologically from beginning to end. Starting from the character's past, problems and then solving the problems that occur.

Stage Plot

1. Exposition

At the beginning of the story immediately opened with the main character, Lila. She was standing at the door of the house calling for her grandmother. There she was not alone but with her friend Sarah. This incident occurred in July 1992, so the author wrote this short story in two different years, 1992 and 2010. However, this does not mean that the story has a flashback because the plot continues to advance without any incidents that bring up the past.

2. Inciting Moment

Here the seeds of conflict began to emerge, but they were still vague. An example of the seeds of conflict that arise in this story is when Sarah suddenly wants to go home even though she was fine at first. Sarah sensed that there was something odd about Ellie when she visited. There were many things that Lila thought were normal but to Sarah they were not. Like when Sarah asked why all the mirrors in this house were covered with black cloth. Lila simply replied that Ellie didn't like mirrors. Sarah thought it was a very strange thing because she knew that Ellie was blind and why did she cover all the mirrors with black cloth when Ellie couldn't see.       

3. Rising Action

Several conflicts began to arise when Lila's wedding day with her future husband Jeremy. This incident occurred in July 2010. At that time Lila was about to put on her wedding dress and entered the forbidden room at her grandmother's house. She wore the dress while looking in the mirror. But suddenly someone pulled her hand into the mirror so that she was trapped in the mirror. Lila was also surprised when she realized that the person who pulled her into the mirror was someone who was dressed and looked very much like her.

4. Climax

After being stuck with a girl who looks just like her, strange things start to appear. The girl offered freedom from this mirror on the condition that Lila had to give up her eyes. Lila firmly refused and ended up stuck in the mirror forever. The girl who had been with her in the mirror managed to get out and replace her entire life outside the mirror and even marry the man of her dreams.

5. Falling Action

A few months later Ellie decided to paint the spare room in her house because she knew that her granddaughter must suffer living in this dark room. So she hired a local painter to paint the room but she took advantage of the situation to free her granddaughter. Ellie gave orders to Lila from outside the mirror to get out of the mirror using the local painter. And finally Lila managed to get out but with a shape resembling the local painter. Lila turned into a 25 year young man.

6. Denouement

The end of this story Lila managed to get out of the mirror but transformed into a 25-year-young man. She lived her life happily with Ellie until Ellie died.

 

CONFLICT

In this story there are two conflicts, namely conflict between characters and inner conflict.

1. Social conflict

Conflict between characters. One of the conflicts between characters that occurs in this story is when Lila clashes with Jeremy because Jeremy says Ellie can't see so it doesn't matter if the mirrors at their wedding venue are not covered with mirrors. Lila was angry because she didn't think Jeremy should talk like that.

2. Inner conflict

Conflicts that occur in the hearts and minds of the characters. There is an inner conflict when Ellie feels indecisive because she can't do anything to get Lila out of the mirror.

 

CHARACTER

1.      Lila
Lila is the main character in this story. At the beginning of the story the author opens the story by introducing the character Lila indirectly.

Physiological dimensions of the character: Lila is a young girl.

Sociological dimension of the character: Lila is the granddaughter of a grandmother named Ellie. Both of his parents have died.

Psychological dimension: Lila in this short story is told as a cheerful, courageous person who doesn't really care about reasons that don't make sense to other people.

2.      Sarah

Physiological dimensions of character: Sarah is a small girl.

Sociological dimension of character: Sarah is Lila's friend.

Psychological dimensions of the character: Sarah is a character who is very wary of something she finds strange.

3.      Ellie

Physiological dimensions of the character: Ellie is an old woman who can't see (blind), has white hair and has her hair pinned back into a bun. She held a stick in her hand.

Sociological dimensions of the character: Ellie is Lila's grandmother.

Psychological dimensions of the character: Ellie is told as a good grandmother figure, loves to bake cakes but has a mysterious side.

4.      Jeremy

Physiological dimensions of character: Jeremy is a young man.

Sociological dimension of the character: Jeremy is Lila's future husband. He has known and dated Lila for a long time.

Psychological dimension of the character: Jeremy is a character who loves and always worries about Lila.

5.      Girl in the mirror

The physiological dimension of the character: The figure of Girl in the mirror is described as having a shape similar to the main character of the story, Lila.

Sociological dimension of the character: The writer only tells that Girl in the mirror has been living in the mirror for a long time. It is not told where this character came from.

Psychological dimension: Girl in the mirror is the antagonist in this story because it causes the main character to be trapped in the mirror.

6.      Sarah's mother

Physiological dimensions of characters: The author does not describe the physiology of Sarah's mother.

The sociological dimension of the character: Sarah's mother.

The psychological dimension of the character: The figure of a mother who is worried about her child.

7.      A young man

Physiological dimensions of character: Young male around 25 years old.

The sociological dimension of the character: A local painter/painters. Live alone, without parents.

Psychological dimensions of the character: A good and polite character.

 

ROLE AND IMPORTANCE	Main Character: Lila Additional Characters: Ellie, Girl in the mirror , Sarah, Sarah's mother, Jeremy, A young man
FIGURE APPEARANCE FUNCTIONS	Protagonist: Lila Antagonist: Girl in the mirror

 

SETTING

1. Setting of Place

The setting of the place in this story takes place in Poland, here are some of the settings in this story:

• Ellie's house
  Ellie's house or the house of Lila's grandmother can be called the setting of the main place in this story because the beginning of the story, the conflict until the end of the story are all here.

• Hotel
  This hotel is the place where Lila and Jeremy are supposed to be. But in the end Jeremy was there not with Lila but the substitute girl who came from the mirror. 

2. Setting of Time

The author divides this story into two different years, in July 1992 and July 2010. As long as I read this story, it is always told during the day, there is no setting in the morning or night.

3. Room Setting 

• Ellie's home page
  At the beginning of the story Ellie's home page is described as a forest. The garden in front of her house seemed neglected, wild plants were allowed to creep up the walls of the house. There were stones for footing arranged from the gate to Ellie's house.

• Ellie's hallway
  When Lila pulled Sarah's arm into the house, the writer described the wide hallway of Ellie's house and there was a fireplace. There is also a dusty chandelier. Then the cobwebs were draped from one candle holder to another. Then there was a piece of black cloth covering something.   

• Spare room
  This room is where the main conflict occurs in this story. The conflict between Lila and the girl in the mirror. In this room also Lila finally trapped in the mirror.