H is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald

Question 1

Genre

Answer 1

Autobiography

Question 2

Audience

Answer 2

People who like hawks

Question 3

Structure

Answer 3

Presents 1st hawk (builds tension) (overwhelmed)
Presents 2nd hawk (no connection)

Question 4

Subject

Answer 4

choosing hawks

Question 5

Purpose

Answer 5

the author’s father had died so she needed companion and got a hawk to be distracted, and to overcome her grief.

Question 6

Perspective

Answer 6

1st person past tense

Question 7

How does Macdonald create tension?

Answer 7

Builds up tension
Feels overwhelmed
Fear

Question 8

Slightly builds up tension

Answer 8

Foreshadowing, “Don’t want you going home with the wrong bird”
Powerful and violent verbs “Shook”, “punched it, hard”
Series of short, incomplete sentences, “Another hinge untied.”, “Concentration.”

Question 9

Overwhelmed

Answer 9

Repetition “an enormous, enormous hawk”
Hyperbolic metaphoric cliche “My heart jumps sideways”
Syndetic list “And…and …(13-17)”

Question 10

Fear

Answer 10

Repetition “much, much bigger”
Italics “This is my hawk”
Paradox “This isn’t my hawk”
Declining feeling for second hawk “But this isn’t my hawk”