Chainsaw vs Pampas Grass

Question 1

‘It seemed like an unlikely match’

Answer 1

over confident-sure he will dominate- male behaviour
‘seemed’- creates sense of doubt- foreshadowment

Question 2

‘under the hatch in the floor’
‘spider’s wool’

Answer 2

Shakespearean play hell= under the hatch-> chainsaw belongs under the hatch-> creature from hell- evil
‘spider’s wool’- extended image of hell -> spider- halloween associated with evil things

Question 3

Chainsaw vs Pampas Grass

Answer 3

Gender conflict
chainsaw= man-made so mechanisation vs nature-> criticism of society

Question 4

‘I trailed along the day-glo orange power line

Answer 4

bright colour= warning
despite violence, cs needs help-> it’s power isn’t generated internally but externally- given the tools to be violent
-> social criticism- to what extent are men responsible for their actions since they were created -> God gave man free-will
‘I’-> maker=complicit-> enables violent but since cs fails just puts it away- deflects responsibility
men have chance to not be evil-> the more powerful u become the kinder u should be

Question 5

‘its mood to tangle with cloth, or jewlery of hair’

Answer 5

triplet- all things associated with women
criticism of predatory behaviour of men who target women to fufill their twisted desires

Question 6

‘ludicrous feathers’

Answer 6

used to describe pampas grass
stereotypical view of female image

Question 7

‘I lifted the fringe of undergrowth carved at the trunk’
‘pipes and tubes’

Answer 7

idea of rape
‘carved at the trunk.” -suggests intrusion and violation, as it goes beyond mere cutting or trimming and instead speaks of a deliberate, forceful action taken against something vulnerable (the pampas grass). This mirrors the way sexual violence involves a forceful invasion of bodily autonomy
idea of dehumanization- the violent, mechanical nature of the chainsaw. It represents something that is not just powerful but dehumanizing in its brutality, stripping away the natural beauty and autonomy of the pampas grass.
person=enjoying humilation
female organs- ‘pipes and tubes’
personified- metaphoricall chainsaw or has become chainsaw

Question 8

‘i left it at that’

Answer 8

defeat of cs-> could show how women fight back

Question 9

‘in the weeks that came new shoots like asparagus tips’

Answer 9

simile
stronger than ludicrous feathers
nature wins
‘weeks’ r shorter compared to the ‘year’ cs stayed
mocks power of cs
contrast in the way violent imagery is used- before human ‘gunned the trigger’ to initate the violence now ‘shoots’ is used in a postive way to show the pg’s victory