Short Story on the Sidewalk Bleeding by Evan Hunter

Intermediate 1/2 English Revision Notes Prose Short Story – “On the Sidewalk Bleeding” by Evan Hunter

1. Plot: the story The plot of “On the Sidewalk Bleeding” is that a boy has been stabbed and he is left bleeding in the rain. As he slowly dies, he thinks about his life and the things he regrets. A few people come and go, but no one helps him. He takes off his jacket because he realises it was the reason he was stabbed. In the end his girlfriend Laura comes to find him, but he is dead. The story ends with a policeman starting to take notes on the incident.

PLOT POINTS TO LEARN  Very little actually happens in this story. There is hardly any plot.  The only real event is that the character of Andy dies.  Most of the story is taken up with wondering about things that don’t or won’t happen.

2. Characters = the people in the story

Andy is the main character in the story. He is sixteen years old and he is in a gang called “The Royals”. Laura is an important person in Andy’s life, but she only joins the story in person at the very end. She is Andy’s girlfriend. The minor characters are a drunk man, Freddie and Angela, and old woman and the cop.

Andy  Andy is very young to die.  When others looked at Andy they saw a “Royal”. Andy though of himself as just Andy, a person with his own identity.  Laura was important to Andy.  Andy died with regrets.

Laura  Laura represented the good things in Andy’s life – hope and a future.  He thought about her a lot as he died.  He regretted that they would miss out on his future with him  Laura cared for him and saw him as an individual.

The Drunk Man  The drunk man does not realise Andy is dying  The reader, and Andy, want him to realise and help  The reader, and Andy, are frustrated and disappointed with the drunk man.  The character of the drunk man helps the reader to feel the same feeling of frustration as Andy.

Freddie and Angela  Freddie and Angela could have helped Andy, but chose not to.  They did not help him because he was a Royal.  They were afraid of getting involved with the Guardians.  Freddie said sorry to Andy as they left.  The reader hopes that Freddie will help, and is disappointed when he decides to leave him.

The Old Woman

 She was a little deaf and it was raining so she could not hear him.  She is Andy’s last chance and the reader hopes she will notice him, but she doesn’t.

The Cop  The cop is not interested in Andy as a person, just as a Royal.  The reader finds this hurtful, because we know that Andy put his last energy into removing the jacket to avoid this very thing.

3. Setting – time and place  There is only one setting in the story.  On a sidewalk, in the rain, March, in an alley, near a place where he was at a ‘jump’, between that and the shop for cigarettes.  The rain makes it worse for Andy. It stops the old woman hearing him as the rain beats off the garbage cans. He feels that the rain is washing his life away. It makes Freddie and Angela want to leave.

4. Theme – the ideas behind the story

Beware of getting involved with gangs. They stop you being seen as a person – an individual. People might not help you if they are scared of getting involved.

Value your life and make the most of it. Andy was sad to die so young because there were so many things he hadn’t done.

5. Style and Structure

Narrative Stance  Most of the story is told from Andy’s point of view, but with a third person narrator.  The end of the story is simply third person, but we share Laura’s point of view at that point.  We see Andy’s thoughts as he lies dying, but we know that he is dying before he does. This makes us feel sorry for him.  We hear conversations that Andy hears.

Style The story is very descriptive.

The story focuses on thoughts, feelings and ideas.

The story is unusual because the main character does so little during the story.

Italics are used to show things that Andy wishes he could say.

QUOTES AND COMMENTARY

“The boy lay bleeding in the rain.” This is the first line of the story. It tells us the main character and the setting. In fact, this is also what the whole story is about.

“He had heard the voice saying ’That’s for you, Royal!’ and then the sound of footsteps hurrying into the rain, and then he had fallen to the sidewalk, clutching his stomach, trying to stop the flow of blood.” This is Andy remembering what happened. The fact that he calls it “the voice” shows that he did not think of his attacker as a whole person. The fact the the attacker simply calls him “Royal” shows that he did not see Andy as an individual either. The footsteps, just like the voice are disembodied.

“He did not know he was dying.” This is ironic. He does not realise what is happening to him. The reader feel sorry that he does not know this. We know when reading what has to happen in the rest of the story. We know from that moment that it cannot end happily. Even so, we keep on hoping that someone will help him.

“Someday he would marry Laura.” This is ironic. This is what he believes, even although the reader knows he won’t. It makes the reader feel sympathy to hear the boy’s hopes and plans.

“Shame on you. I gotta good minda calla cop.” This is ironic. He thinks the boy is drunk and that is why he is lying in the rain. The reader hopes the men will realise what is going on. The writer has altered the spelling of the words to reflect the way the man is speaking. The irony is that Andy wishes the man would call a cop to come and fine him, but the man is saying it as a threat.

“He tried to speak. He tried to move. He tried to crawl towards the doorway.” This quote shows three things Andy tried to do. The repetition of “He tried” shows up just how weak and helpless the character is. He can’t do anything so we feel sorry for him.

“I’m Andy he screamed wordlessly. I’m Andy.” This quote shows Andy’s most important thought. He wants people to know he is there, to hear him, to know his identity and to see him as a person, not just a gang member. To scream wordlessly is almost impossible. He wants to yell it out, but he is too weak. We feel sorry that he can’t express this idea that is so important to him. The repetition also emphasises this.

“If he had not been wearing the jacket, he wouldn’t have been stabbed. The knife had not been plunged in hatred of Andy. The knife hated only the purple jacket. The jacket was a stupid meaningless thing that was robbing him of his life.” This long quote sums up the message of the story. Andy realises this towards the end. He realises that it was because he was in a gang that he had been stabbed. There is personification of the knife and the jacket. It was not simply one boy killing another – it was a conflict between two gang members.

“A Royal, huh?” This is what the policeman says when he finds the body and the jacket nearby. He is not interested in the name of the boy. The word ‘huh’ shows that he was casual about it. This was perhaps a common event for him and he did not seem to care. This makes the reader feel sad for Andy, because he wanted to be known as Andy and the cop just sees him as a gang member.

POSSIBLE ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. Choose a short story that interested you because it dealt with young people. Briefly say what happens in the story and show how the writer helps you to understand the situation they are in.

2. Choose a short story in which there is a character for whom you feel sympathy. Describe the character and then go on to explain how the writer made you feel sympathy for the character.

3. Choose a short story which has a message for young people. Say what the message is and then go on to explain how this message was made clear in the story.