Hotel Room, 12th Floor Flashcards
What are the main themes of Hotel Room, 12th Floor?
Violence in society is an issue.
Isolation.
S1 - “a helicopter skirting like a damaged insect”
Simile.
Suggests that helicopter is insignificant - it appears tiny amongst all the tall, powerful buildings in New York.
Fact that it looks like a ‘damaged insect’ suggests jerky movements - unpleasant connotations.
S1 - “that jumbo size dentist’s drill”
Metaphor.
MacCaig suggests that a building of this size is pointless. Everything in New York is oversized. He seems to criticise an (American) view that ‘bigger is better’.
Connotations of pain and suffering. Again, he may be making a deeper point regarding inequality of society and suffering of groups of people who are left behind by progress.
S1 - “foreign”
Word choice.
Suggests danger, difference, things to be afraid of.
S1 - “uncivilised darkness”
Suggests violence, corruption and danger at night.
S2 - “But midnight is not so easily defeated”
Personification of midnight suggests violence in society cannot be defeated - things not going to change.
Reminds us of war and battle.
S2 - “I lie in bed, between a radio and a television set”
MacCaig becomes frightened by sounds coming from streets below.
MacCaig trying to use technology to drown out the sounds of violence from the city outside.
S2 - “the wildest of warwhoops continually ululating through the glittering canyons and gulches”
Metaphor to suggest New York’s skyscrapers and streets are like canyons.
Alliteration emphasises noise and danger.
S2 - “coldwater flats”
Highlights poverty.
People are suffering despite being surrounded by wealth - unexpected poverty and suffering from New York.
S2 - “blood glazed on the sidewalks”
Emphasises amount of violence in New York.
Blood is permanently covering sidewalks/pavements.
S3 - “stockades”
No barriers can keep evil out.
Evil always going to be a threat.
S3 - “can keep the midnight out”
Pessimistic ending.
Continues extended metaphor of Wild West imagery.
Evil is within us.
