H is for Hawk Flashcards
“The box shook as if someone had punched it, hard, from within.”
“punched” and “shook” violent verbs- scared or angry. Fight or flight instinct.
Simile suggests bird wants to be free.
Start of text.
The bird is described as violent and dangerous which slowly builds tension through the slow reveal.
“concentration, infinite caution.”
Contrasts with the previous paragraph in terms of of perspective, switching from the hawk’s to the humans.
The humans are being careful for fear of flight or fright instinct instilled in the bird.
Short sentences for dramatic effect.
“Hawks wings, barred and beating,.. her dark tipped primaries cutting the air.”
Imagery and technical language.
Suggests the hawk is wild, scary, violent or evil.
Hawk is finally revealed and responds with fear and concern. She feels overwhelmed, creates tension because the reader wants to know how the situation is resolved.
“It was the wrong bird.”
Short dramatic sentence.
Sudden change near the end. Not what the reader was expecting. We are surprised and concerned fort the writer.
Tone change, slow realization that she had the “wrong bird.”
“She cam out like a Victorian melodrama: a sort of madwoman in the attack.”
Violent Verbs.
Showing contrast between the two birds along with the tension building as her true bird is revealed to be evil and vicious. Described as “melodrama” to show that the bird is almost an act, deceiving in some sort.
“Madwoman” gives the impression that the hawk is untameable.
