An analysis and interpretation of Anna Davis’ short story ‘Hiding in Cheesy’s Bedroom’

Adolescents are constantly seeking boundaries in the hope of developing into an adult in the fastest possible way. The borderline between right and wrong becomes blurry in the fast pace contest and initial good intentions prove to be poor decisions made from an untenable standpoint. An example of this sort of bad decision-making appears in Anna Davis’ short story ‘Hiding in Cheesy’s Bedroom’, where 16-year-old Jane struggles with growing up in a very rebellious way.

In Anna Davis’ short story we meet a 16-year-old girl called Jane. We know she is 16 years old because she mentions that she has to revise her GCSE, which is normally taken at the age
Jane sleeps with Tommy and realizes that Louise has become the object of her revenge – not Tommy. Jane regrets that Louise had sex before she did. “Louise was a nightmare about the sex … I hated her for what she knew.’ (p. 11, ll. 31-36). She hated the fact that Louise was ‘ahead’ of her on the way of becoming an adult. Teenagers often rush into adulthood and wishes to leave adolescence behind as fast as possible. The race to be the most mature often occurs within close friendships. Louise slept with Tommy and knows that Jane is a virgin and therefore acts very didactic towards her. Jane wants to be as mature as Louise and show her that she can sleep with somebody as well, if she wants to. This is why she eventually sleeps with Tommy. She decides not to get back at Louise, because when Tommy tells his child that the girl in the room is a secret, he is really saying it to Jane. She decides to keep a secret from Louise for the first time. Jane changes, and the reader feels sympathy with her in the end, because she is trapped just as Tommy is. “We have secrets, you and me.”(p.13, l. 38), he says. They are in similar situations where both of them will benefit of this being kept a secret.

Jane does not only become more adult in a physical way but also in a psychological way. She realizes that her good intentions were not as good as she initially thought. When she sees what she has done, she