The Explorers Daughter Flashcards
“two hours after the last of the hunters had returned and eaten, narwhal were spotted again, this time very close. Within an hour…”
- straight into the action through temporal references
- hunters positioned as predators
“the plumes of spray from the narwhal catching the light in a spectral play of colour”
- metaphor used to describe the blow of air makes the whale seem magical and surreal adding beauty to the hunt
- supernatural spiritual allure
“I looked across the glittering kingdom in front of me and took a sharp intake of breath”
- extended metaphor
- lexical parallelism
- narrators awe
“The evening light was turning butter-gold, glinting off man and whole and catching the soft billows of smoke from a lone hunter’s pipe”
- alliteration coupled with sibilant ‘s’ creates a soundscape of beauty and natural harmony
“Distance are always deceptive in the Arctic, and I fell to wondering if the narwhal existed at all or were instead mischievous tricks of the shifting light”
- moral dilemma articulated at the end of the extract
- contemplative tone
- narrative voice
“the narwhal rarely stray from high arctic waters, escaping only to the slightly more temperate waters towards the arctic circle in the dead of winter, but never entering the warmer southern seas.”
- informative and factual
- autobiographical is fulfilling in both informing the reader about the narwhal and life in the arctic
“for centuries the blubber of the whales was also the only source of light and heat, and the dark rich meat is still a valuable part of the diet for both man and dogs (a single narwhal can feed a team of dogs for an entire month)
It’s single ivory tusk, which can grow up to six feet in length, was used for harpoon tips and handles for other hunting implements”
- informative text offers social/historical perspective through facts
- adds credibility
“carving protective tupilaks”
- reference to accent figures with magical powers
- interest in their heritage and tradition
“each wife knew instinctively and watched their progress intently”
- adverbs show intimacy between husband and wife
- dual perspective sis emphasized through the balanced structure of the sentence
- tension builds
“every hunter was on the water.
It was like watching a vast, waterborne game with the hunters spread like a net around the sound”
- simple sentence highlights enormity of the event
- juxtaposition of two similes highlight Herberts mixed feelings
- tension
“the narwhal…are intelligent creatures, their senses are keen and they talk to one another under the water. Their hearing is particularly developed”
- presents facts through an empathetic tone
- identifies human qualities
- intensifies her moral dilemma
“one hunter…gently picked up his harpoon…flimsy kayak…foolhardy…inspire respect.
A pair of narwhal and they were huge…my heart also urged the narwhal to dive, to leave, to survive”
- complex sentence
- triplet
- juxtaposition of verbs, adverbs and adjectives
- penultimate paragraph describes moral dilemma and human instinct to want to protect
“the dilemma stayed with me the whole time that i was in Greenland. Harshness…needs. Hunters needs…sea mammals that we demand to be protected. “how can you possibly i eat seal?” i have been asked over and over again. Hunting is an absolute necessity in Thule”
- personal tone
- facts presented to justify killing
