BEYOND THE SKY AND EARTH Flashcards
Form?
Memoir and travel writing
‘climbing up to peaks’
Present participle
Shows her surprise at the landscape
‘a giant child gathering earth… sharp peaks… valleys and gorges’
Contrast between geographical explanation and figurative imagery
Scene is so extreme she is finding it hard to understand how it was made
‘Amsterdam to New Delhi to Calcutta to Paro’
Syndetic listing
Expresses how far away and difficult it is to get to
Geographical distance also represents cultural distance
‘mountains are mountains, more mountains and mountains again’
Repetition
Humour
Question and answer (structure)
‘powdered milk’
Very difficult to get western items
‘convulsion of crests and gorges and wind-sharpened pinnacles’
Asyndetic list
Alliterative metaphor
Shows extreme nature of Bhutan’s geography
‘both Lorna and Sasha have travelled extensively’
Implies she hasn’t travelled much
Suggest she is naive
Contrast
‘incomprehensible but graceful hand gestures’
Different to the west
Shows her cultural distance and shock
‘onions, rice, tea, milk powder, dried fish’
Asyndetic list
Only sells essentials as rural
No luxuries
Small cramped not ordered
Suggest chaos
‘cultural infiltration’
Negative connotations
Military term/war/spying
‘the seat of the Royal Government of Bhutan’
Showing respect for culture
Understanding
Knowledge
‘search for the right word to describe the people’
New experience
Struggling to comprehend the nature of Bhutan
‘dignity, unselfconsciousness, good humour, grace’
Positive asyndetic list
Suggest innumerable qualities
‘historical records show that waves of Tibetan’
Historical detail trying to explain Bhutan to reader
Information
