Anna Ammaniti Analysis

The Outside World
In this society, many people live through life having to overcome many obstacles, living a difficult life or not. Life seems uneasy, but in this world, every person must go through hard situations, one way or another. In the short story “Anna,” author Niccolo Ammaniti, exposes the psychological distress Anna experiences because of living in a chaotic world on her own. In the short story, Ammaniti creates vivid scenes through imagery to reflect the conflict that occurred between Anna and the world around her as she begins to feel loneliness as well as feeling out of place. The characters in “Anna,” demonstrates conflicts represented by the scenario of the chaotic world that we live in. An

internal conflict appears as a struggle that takes place within the mind of a person, a conflict within their self. This type of conflict appears like a good way to test a person’s value; it can include doubts, fears, indecision, along with making hard decisions. The protagonist of the story, Anna, appears to experience many problems within her life, making herself believe that she lives in a world full of darkness. Furthermore, in the short story, Ammaniti presents the black dog, the antagonist of the story, to give the short story thought of mystery. For example, the conflict associated with the short story seems like a person against self; Anna’s struggle appears internal. It seems like Anna appears to experience so much chaos throughout her life, that she cannot feel free to think that she seems safe. Anna may think of those conflicts because she appears conditioned to think the worst instead of feeling at ease. The author uses this type of conflict to show how people may struggle with these types of problems in the real world. Many people in the world may struggle with what life offers. Sometimes people appear as their own, worst enemies. In a psychological aspect, Anna may experience anxiety; “involving apprehension, avoidance, and cautiousness regarding the potential threat, danger or other negative events (“Anxiety Disorders”).” Anxiety may cause Anna to imagine things, due to the traumatic past she experienced. When a feeling of nervousness or fear becomes a feeling that is difficult to control, anxiety may be present. The author may have used this conflict, to relate it to people who may suffer from these complicated things in real life. Throughout the short story, Anna imagines the dog due to things that she may experience before; this may appear as the reason why she does not feel safe. In addition, the author processes the conflict of the story by presenting imagery.

Ammanati uses imagery to support the conflict in which discusses the issues that Anna deals with throughout the story with “the black dog.” Through imagery in “Anna,” the author reflects scenarios where the reader can imagine how a scary situation can devastate a person. Imagery helps the reader to visualize, more realistically experiences throughout the authors writing. For example, the author utilizes imagery by illustrating a vehicle in which Anna slipped into; “its front was crashed, the rear window had lost its glass… (Ammaniti 36).” The author utilizes this illustration to help the reader visualize the setting that Anna lived through. Within the vehicle, Anna notices a skeleton, but she seems unaffected by it. In shocked but intimidation, many people would react if they experienced what Anna saw; after seeing a skeleton in a vehicle. The author describes how the skeleton appears to look like by stating, “The skull hangs down on the chest, held up by withered tendons (Ammaniti 37).” By the author utilizing this description, he illustrates the

reality in which Anna faces. Also, towards the end of the story, the author says “At first it looked like her rucksack, then a tyre, then a heap of rags. Then the rags rose up and turned into a dog (Ammaniti 63).” Anna experiences so much chaos in her past that she may not feel free to think that she can feel safe. So, whenever she contains moments to think, she creates conflict for herself. Therefore, since Anna experiences some trauma at the beginning of her life, that may cause her to start imagining things such as “her rucksack,” “a tyre,” then “a heap of rags” and “the dog.” Along with his use of imagery, Ammaniti uses symbolism to give the short story more meaning to it. The author, Ammaniti, utilizes symbolism to provide meaning to the short story beyond what it describes within the story. Symbolism is “the artistic imitation or invention that is a method of revealing or suggesting immaterial, ideal, or otherwise intangible truth or state” (“Symbolism”). For example, Anna experiences a fire, as the short story states “but the fire had complicated everything.” After Anna experienced the fire, she most likely felt as if she was not safe. A fire may symbolize to represent anger, pain or even death (Huffman 3). The author utilizes the fire to describe the life that Anna lived in, a world full of confusion along with destruction. Also, at the beginning of the short story, Anna believes that the dog appears black; a color in which symbolizes evil, fear, grief, or mystery (Przybyla 1); however; later Anna realizes that the dog appears to be white, which make the readers question the imagination of Anna. Anna creates her internal psychological conflict by her imagination of the dog. Furthermore, the author utilizes these devices to support how living under so much chaos, can desensitize a person. Upon the psychological distress that Anna experiences throughout living in a dark, chaotic world, readers now can see how other people may experience life besides their own. This short story, comes to show the lengths many people will go through to keep alive. Therefore, through the conflict of the short story along with the use of imagery and symbolism, Niccolo Ammaniti, shows how people in the world may feel displaced. In this world, many people can relate to this short story, since it speaks upon living in a crazy world, but part of life involves obtaining obstacle. The biggest obstacles in our lives are the barriers that our minds create.