Basking Shark

Question 1

“To stub an oar on a rock where none should be”

Answer 1

W.C
“Stub”
- suggests pain yet it didn’t disturb the shark

“Where none should be”
Suggests that he thinks the shark shouldn’t be in his water (superiority)

Metaphor
Saying the shark is strong/ solid like a rock would be

Tone
Dodgy, creepy, frightening

Question 2

“Slounge”

Answer 2

W.C

• onomatopoeic word
• shark is lazy/ slow
• slow movement
• not harmful

Question 3

“Tin-tacked”

Answer 3

Metaphor

• image of rain piercing the boat/water
• perfect and uniformed , as it pressing a pin through metal
• replicates the sound of rain hitting the metal boat

Alliteration
Happy/ pleasant sound

Question 4

“That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain. “

Answer 4

Metaphor
- the whales size and intelligence is insulted

Contrast
Between the huge whale and it’s “tiny” brain

W.C
“Matchbox”
-humorous image

“Monster”
-evil, dangerous, horrible
= ironic as they are not any of these

Question 5

“He displaced more than water.”

Answer 5

W.C

• the whales movements literally move the boat
• also forces MacCaig to think about the evolutionary process

Question 6

“Emerging from the slime of everything. “

Answer 6

Onomatopoeia
- graceful movement

W.C
“Emerging”
- suggests growing/ coming from the darkness to the light

“Everything”

• MacCaig is starting to realise that we all came from the same basic beginnings
• we are all connected

Question 7

“So who’s the monster?”

Answer 7

Question

• he has gone from insulting the shark to feeling less confident that he is the superior being

W.C
“Monster”
-the shark is only monstrous in size

Question 8

“The tall fun slid away and then the tail.”

Answer 8

Anti -climatic

Shows that the shark is in its natural habitat and MacCaig is in fact the one who is disturbing the other

He had realised it is not his water and is quite possibly the sharks