Yellow - Peter Carty

The short story "Yellow" is written by Peter Carty. The short story is about a man called Jon. Jon is in Egypt to write for a sports magazine. Therefore Jon has to try scuba-diving, so that he can write about it, but deep inside Jon hates sports especially diving. He is afraid of water and even more afraid of dying. Jon has a lot of problems in his life, and that results in that he commits suicide in the end of the story.

Jon has a lot of problems in his life. He drinks a lot, more than good is. Already in one of the first lines we are telling about his problem. "...and tucked into his duty-free." (p.2 l.4) It is obvious that Jon drinks to escape the problems in his life, both at home and in Egypt.

Contemporary with his drinking problem, he also has social problems with himself and his girlfriend. Jon is not respected anywhere, not even in his own head. It seems like he has a great amount of people looking down on him, but the worst is no doubt himself. Jon keeps telling himself that he is yellow. The first time Jon is trying scuba diving with his instructor Berto, he gets the thoughts that he is a coward and he keeps on saying: "You're yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow."(p.3 l.61) He thinks he is a coward and therefore he has a bad self-confidence, and that affects him psychology. He gets unsecure, when he is under water and he thinks he is weak because he can't complete it.

You may think Jon as a coward in the end off the short story because he chooses the easy way out off his life. He doesn't think about the consequences it may have to the people around him. He doesn't think that he has anything good left in his life. He has lost his girlfriend and he has lost his belief in himself which is the worst you can do. He hates his job and hates sport, and nothing in his life makes him happy.

To rise above the standard and challenge yourself, is a positive attitude to have to life. Jon challenge himself, but to him it has the wrong affect, because he deeply inside hates diving. He doesn't want to challenge himself, he only tries diving because it is a part of his job, and it is more a duty than a delight.

The title of the short story is very interesting because it is a symbol on the protagonist Jon, view at himself. You may disgust whether you think Jon is a coward or not. In some situation he is a coward because he doesn't take responsible of his own life. It seems like he has given up and he therefore he chooses the easiest solution in the end. But what is more coward in his life is how he is running away from all his problems.

Jon is afraid of the ocean but he is even more afraid of what the ocean contain, which he means is emptiness and nothingness: "An immensity of nothingness, a massive absence that was a presence." (p.5 l.122) This is a clear symbol of Jon's own life. He is afraid of anything that is