IGCSE SECTION A ANTHOLOGY Flashcards
Explorers Daughter Paragraph 1?
At the start of the extract, Herbert highlights her admiration for the narwhal by emphasising their beauty and majesty in a mystical setting.
•Visual imagery : ‘spectral’, ‘glittering kingdom in front of me’,
- -> awe she experiences when looking at the natural world
- ->almost romantic, fairy tale idyllic depiction.
- ->The effect is one of a beautiful, calm and tranquil landscape.
Semantic field of light (all adjectives): ‘spectral’, ‘glittering’, ‘glinting’
Shines a spotlight on Herbert’s fascination with both the beauty of the landscape and mystique of the narwhal.
• Subsequent adverbs: ‘always slowly, methodically passing each other by’
always’ implies a perpetual state of calm from the narwhal heightened by repeated lulling sounds of the following adverbs’ ‘ly’.
Explorers Daughter Paragraph 2?
As the extract progresses, Herbert factually details how the narwhal is a multi-faceted resource to the Inughuit people alongside explaining the hardships of life for the Inughuit people.
INFORMATIVE FACTUAL LANGUAGE: “scurvy”
==> “creates an authoritative, scientific tone: we trust the writer again but this time as an expert.”
Irony: ‘the tusk seems to have little use for the narwhal itself’ ==>
Contrasted to the favourable explanation that the Inuit make total use of the tusks, the irony is compounded by the fact that one of the uses the Inughuits have for it is for ‘harpoon tips and handles’ to kill the narwhal.
ALTERNATING PRESENT TENSE SENTENCES AND PAST TENSE ==> present tense serves to remind the reader that the narwhal is currently and will always be a resource to the Inughuit as long as it is present in Greenland.
The past tense is used to highlight evidence that the Inuit have historically used the narwhal’s resources responsibly. ‘For centuries’ (line 21)
Explorers Daughter Paragraph 3?
After expanding upon her conflict between admiring and thus sympathising with the narwhal and understanding the Inughuit people’s actions, Herbert crafts a sense of resolution by closing the extract with the ‘absolute necessity’ of the hunting.
Simile: ‘it was like watching a vast waterborne game…’ (line 39-40)
Creates image of the hunt as a game where luck and skill needed in equal measure to succeed
Repetition of emotive verb ‘urged’ (lines 47 & 51)
Asyndetic tricolon: ‘to dive, to leave, to survive.’ (line 51)
Again the writer is emphasising her fears for the narwhals’ survival. How could one kill such a vibrant creature?
Beginning of Bhutan
- IN MEDIAS RES “Mountains all around, colliding up to peaks, rolling into valleys”.
- Line 3. HYPERBOLE: “Indian subcontinent colliding into Asia thirty or forty million years ago”.
- Line 7. PRESENT TENSE narrative, with factual information: “It is my first night in Thimphu, the capital, a ninety minute drive from the airport in Paro.”
Analysis of Bhutan Opening?
- Underscores the vast scale of Bhutan’s landscape and writer’s awe.
- Heightens the sense of drama and writer’s attempts to come to terms with the vastness of landscape
- Creates immediacy and immerses reader in Zeppa’s journey.
Bhutan Middle?
- Line 19-20. ANECDOTAL LISTING: “I share a breakfast of instant coffee, powdered milk, plasticky white bread and flavorless red jam…”
- Line 28. EMOTIVE LANGUAGE: “They are both ecstatic about Bhutan so far, and I stay close to them, hoping to pick up some of their enthusiasm.”
- Line 30. FACTUAL INFORMATION: “Although Thimphu’s official population is 20,000, it seems even smaller.”
Bhutan Middle Analysis
Normalises her experiences in Bhutan and suggests she’s increasingly comfortable in her surroundings.
• Displays more widespread appeal of Bhutan and the writer’s desire to share in the experience.
• Highlights the intimacy of Zeppa’s experience and the uniqueness of the city.
Bhutan Ending
Line 84-85. FACTUAL INFORMATION: “Bhutan…is thought to be derived from Bhotana, meaning the ‘end of Tibet’”.
• Line 94-96. METAPHOR: “Considering the consolidated British empire in the south, and the Great Game being played out in the north between the colonial powers, Bhutan’s preservation of its independence was remarkable.”
.Line 82-83. LISTING (with metaphorical names): “Districts within Bhutan were even more felicitously-named: Rainbow District of Desires, Lotus Grove of the Gods, Blooming Valley of Luxuriant
H is for Hawk Paragraph 1?
PROLEPTIC IRONY - “Don’t want you going home with the wrong bird”
Itemised VERBS describing movements of the falconer
“untied”, “squinted” and “he knelt”
CONTRASTIVE STRESS (“thump”) and SIMILE (“as if someone punched it, hard”)
CONTRASTIVE STRESS (“thump”) and SIMILE (“as if someone punched it, hard”)
H is for Hawk Para 1 Analysis?
Anticipates narrator’s bathetic realisation that she has initially examined the wrong hawk, not intended for her.
Dramatizes the arrival of the hawk, displaying the excitement and intense interest of the narrator.
Emphasises the strength and unpredictable movement of the hawk and the nervousness of the narrator.
H is for Hawk Para 2?
ASYNDETONIC TRI-COLON and STACCATO SYNTAX
“The air turned syrupy, slow, flecked with dust”
EPIZEUXIS “enormous, enormous hawk”.
Listed METAPHORS “she is a conjuring trick” “a reptile” “a fallen angel”
H is for Hawk Para 2 Analysis?
Increases suspense before the arrival of the hawk, underscoring the narrator’s fear.
Hyperbolizes the narrator’s shock at finally coming face to face with the hawk.
Emphasis the strength and unpredictable movement of the hawk and the nervousness of the narrator.
H is for Hawk Para 3?
LISTING of simple sentences, followed by SINGLE WORD PARAGRAPH
“It was the wrong bird, This was the younger one. The smaller one.”
SIMILE “She came out like a Victorian melodrama; a sort of madwoman in attack”
REPTITION
“This is my hawk”
“This isn’t my hawk”
“But this isn’t my hawk”
H is for Hawk Paragraph 3 Analysis
Extends the agonising realisation of the narrator, creating pathos.
Underscores the writer’s panic and fear at meeting the second hawk.
Italicised phrases suggest a direct intrusion of the author’s thoughts
Note the change from “is” to “isn’t” in subsequent repetitions
Passage to Africa Paragraph 1?
Establishes life as a reporter:
personal pronoun “I” 6 times in the first four lines –> focus shifts to readers in our “sitting rooms”.
List of four adjectives - “Hungry, lean, scared and betrayed”
Synecdoche - “face”
Foreshadowing - “There is one Face I will never forget”
