TIMELINE:

In this hypertext the timeline is distorted, I mean, you read the facts in a disorganized way and as you deal with the plot of the hypertext you put in your head the facts in a chronological order. We are going to see how the facts are told to us in the story and then we will make the correct timeline:

Now (while you are reading): There is a conversation between a girl and a boy (the reader becomes the boy of the conversation). They talk about Budapest, and it seems that what happened in Budapest is pretty far from now: “It's been a while” “Especially the kind of past we had together” “The trip to Budapest possessed me”

In Budapest (the past): The reader discovers that there was a relation before this point of time that ended because she broke up with “you” and started a relation with your friend: “ I won’t be going back to Joes this time. That’s over”
Then, one discovers that this journey happened before The Fall of the Wall: “Like someone forgets an illicit trip to a communist country before the Fall of the Wall.”

The relation (before Budapest): the two “characters” talk about the relation they had and the things they did: “Images come to me unbidden, high walls of long grass on hot days, illicit pleasures, practically in public”

The remorse/ repentance (after Budapest): The girl explains how she felt after leaving “you”(the boy/ the reader). She regretted on her acts: “it was a stupid decision”, “Joe offered me the decadence of Budapest”

Conclusion (now): You can’t start a relation again so you decide to be friends again and to be in contact for longer: “And what about us? Is there any hope for us now?” “We could start over, be friends if you want to”

 

If we write the facts in a chronological timeline we have the next list:

1st: the relation

2nd:the journey to Budapest

3rd: The repentance

4th: the conversation

5th: the conclusion

When we read this next we have to realize that we have 2 ways of defining the timeline: is not the same moment when we read the hypertext and when the author wrote it. When I talk about now I talk about when I read the hypertext, but this “now” is not the same as the author’s “now” because this hypertext was last updated November the 20th 2007. Due to the fact that the story is written for the reader to interact, I have decided to develop my timeline referring to my (who reads) timeline point of view.