Revelation Critical Essay Flashcards
“I remember once being shown the Black Bull”
“I remember” Implies it was a memorable experience
“Black Bull” Black signifies colour of death and danger
“When a child at the farm for eggs and milk”
“Eggs and Milk” imply female nurturing, innocence and being delicate and easy to shatter.
“They called him Bob as though you could reduce a monster with the charm of a friendly name”
“Bob” Friendly, childish innocent name
“Monster” Something ugly and frightening
“At the threshold of his outhouse, someone held me hand and let me peer inside”
“Threshold” In-between childhood innocence and the adult real life scary world
“Held my Hand” shows she is still zoning and can’t keep herself safe
“At first, only black and the hot reek of him”
“Black” Appears again with the idea of this meaning danger and death
“Hot reek” suggesting he smelled so bad it was shocking
“Then he was immense, his edges merging with the darkness”
“Immense” The biggest thing she has perhaps seen, incredible vast
Darkness” Another idea of black meaning danger and death
“A big bulk and a roar to be really scared of”
“Roar” A sound only frightening large animals make, suggesting the little girl had never heard it before
“Scared” Showing the girl was innocent and had never seen anything like the bull before
“His eyes swivelled in the great wedge of his tossed head”
“Tossed Head” Implies he is unkempt and not very calm
“He roared his rage. His nostrils gaped like wounds”
“Rage” Shows the little girl how frightening the bull is, the bull reflecting on the real world
“Roared” Repetition of roared shows how loud the bull was
“Wounds” The idea of injury and the real world
“And in the yard outside, oblivious hens picked their way out”
“Yard outside”emphasising how the girl felt before entering the farm, innocent
“Oblivious hens” Symbolise the girls innocence before she saw the bull
“The faint and rather festive tinkling”
“Festive” Is something full of joy and excitement, how the girl felt before seeing the bull
“All they knew of that Black Mass”
“Black” this colour returning again, to signify death and danger
“This antidote and Anti’christ threatening the eggs, well rounded, self contained and placidity of milk”
“Anti Christ” young Lochhead sees this bull as evil and like satan
“Eggs and Milk” The returning idea of the eggs and milk symbolising female nurturing and childhood innocence
“I ran, my pigtails thumping alien on my back in fear”
“Pigtails” Shows how zoning she was and her innocence
“Past the big boss in the lane who pulled wings from butterflies”
Shows young Lochhead is now noticing all evil in the world and now sees the real adult world
