REVELATION

Question 1

[REVELATION]

“Big boys”

Answer 1

• men are once again presented as something to fear and something dangerous to the young girl
• alliteration of “b” reinforces danger and bad feeling through the harsh sound, and links back to “black bull”. thus it reinforces the bull’s violence

Question 2

[REVELATION]
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“pulled the wings from butterflies and blew up frogs with straws”

Answer 2

• harsh, honest language used here emphasises the violent and evil actions the boys are taking against nature.
• nature is often viewed as very feminine (mother nature) and this therefore also represents the threat that men pose for women; now that the speaker is ware of the evil she sees it all around her

Question 3

[REVELATION]

“my pigtails thumping alien on my back in fear”

Answer 3

• personification if the pigtails helps show the extent of her terror
• just as aliens are something unknown and evil, so too have her once comfortable and unassuming pigtails become threatening as she is more aware of how much evil surrounds her.

Question 4

[REVELATION]

“his anarchy threatening the eggs, well-rounded, self-contained.”

Answer 4

• symbolism of the eggs here is used to represent women and femininity; characteristics like mild-mannered, thoughtful.
• eggs also symbolise order and calm, sharply contrasting the bull’s disorder and anger; his anger is therefore “threatening” the innocence/calm.
• the idea that “his” anarchy caused this shows men are causing the harm.

Question 5

[REVELATION]

“only my small shaking hands on the jug’s rim in case the milk should spill”

Answer 5

• suggests that the speaker is desperately trying to preserve her childhood innocence; this was symbolised by her trying to protect the eggs and milk.
• the word choice or “small” and “shaking” has connotations of fragility and fear as she frantically tries to protect the last of her innocence.
• “no use crying over spilt milk” idiom is paralleled here; if she spills the milk then the final shred of her innocence is destroyed and evil wins.

Question 6

[REVELATION]

“black bull” + “eggs and milk”

Answer 6

• the word choice here creates an immediate contrast between the blackness of the bull (male/harsh/evil) and the white of the feminine milk and eggs (innocent/feminine)

Question 7

[REVELATION]

“immense, his edges merging with the darkness”

Answer 7

• the word choice here suggests the bull is oversied in the small space, conveying his power and size.
• the assonance here of the repeated ‘e’ represents the bull emerging and beginning to take form in the child’s eyes - mysterious, sinister.

Question 8

[REVELATION]

“this antidote and Anti-Christ his anarchy”

Answer 8

• the alliteration of ‘an’ = harsh sounds suggests how theatening the bull is now that she can fully see him.
• word choice of ‘anti-christ’ means opposite of Christ, the man of love and forgiveness, and represents the loss of innocence.