A Semiotic Approach to the Short Story "Glass" by Shena MacKAY

"Glass" by Shena Mackay. A Semiotic Approach. In the short story Glass, Shena Mackay presents the inner feelings and perceptions of Jessamy Jones, a female protagonist, who, as she is waiting in line to the cash dispenser, tries to make sense of her life and of her past. (1)"Glass" - the title marks the beginning of the text and has both a deictic and a declarative function. It has multiple meanings because it can refer …

…just tried to help the girl decide in which bin to deposit the bottle. It is an open ending and the reader must infer its meaning. The "glass squares" that are "old, adamantine, durable" suggest the idea of hardness, longevity, toughness that only a "pickaxe" would break. The impossibility to see thorough that glass or to break it implies Jessamy's difficulty to take the right decision and to 'see' what future holds for her.