The explorers daughter - her thoughts and feelings about hunting the narwhale

Question 1

He gently picked up his harpoon and aimed — in that split second my heart leapt for both hunter and narwhal. (46-47)

Answer 1

The idiom ‘my heart leapt’ conveys the speaker’s heightened emotional response to the hunt commencing. The fact that her thoughts are for ‘both’ the hunter and narwhal captures her ambivalence about the hunt.

Question 2

‘I urged the man on in my head; he was so close, and so brave to attempt what he was about to do - he was miles from land in a flimsy kayak, and could easily be capsized and drowned.’ (47-49)

Answer 2

Herbert’s diction conveys how dangerous it is to hunt narwhal and, by extension, how courageous the men who do so are. The word ‘urge’ also conveys her support for this particular hunter.

Question 3

‘And yet at the same time my heart also urged the narwhal to dive, to leave, to survive.’ (50-51)

Answer 3

In this poignant excerpt, the speaker’s conflicting emotions are expressed as their heart compels the narwhal to escape and endure, underscoring a profound internal struggle between attachment and the instinct for self-preservation.

Question 4

‘This dilemma stayed with me the whole time that I was in Greenland.’ (52)

Answer 4

As an omnipresent motif, the dilemma becomes a narrative anchor, tethering the speaker’s experience in Greenland. Its persistent presence serves as a thematic thread, weaving through the fabric of the story, adding layers of emotional complexity and a sense of enduring internal conflict.

Question 5

Hunting is still an absolute necessity in Thule. (63-64)

Answer 5

In this statement, the stark pragmatism of “absolute necessity” conveys a harsh reality in Thule. The author employs emphasis to underscore the vital role of hunting, revealing the community’s dependence on this age-old practice for survival.