Assignment 2
1. Choose a piece of text by a contemporary author that explores time and/or place; it could be an extract from a novel, short story or play, long poem (epic) or a screenplay, perhaps extrapolate a piece of text from song lyrics or a graphic novel. Your extract should be somewhere between 100 and 200 words long. That may not sound like a lot, but the extract from The Road (Project 4) was only around 120 words. The key thing is to choose your extract carefully to make sure you have enough to write about. In longer texts – novels, plays – beginnings are good for close reading because they usually throw up plenty of questions to get the reader interested and they may also have quite a bit of ‘establishing’ detail. Do a close reading of the text and write about your response, your interpretation and your feelings about the writing and its themes. Go back to the close reading exercises in Projects 3 and 4 to help you with points to think about. Include a copy of the text with your assignment submission. Don’t forget to mention: plot, structure, character, narrator, point of view, language and language techniques, as well as possible themes of time and place.
Write up to 1,500 words. This is slightly more than you’re asked to write for other parts of the course; this word count has been chosen to give you plenty of scope to express and develop your ideas. You won’t be penalised for writing less than this, but please write at least 1,000 words.
For this assignment, I have chosen to look at an excerpt from Markus Zusak’s ‘The Book Thief’, 2012 (Definitions)
**A SMALL THEORY**
People only observe the colours of the day at its beginnings and ends, but to me it’s quite clear that a day merges though a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-splat blues. Murky darknesses. In my line of work, I make a point to notice them.
As I’ve been alluding to, my one saving grace is distraction. It keeps me sane. It helps me cope, considering the length of time I've been performing this job. The trouble is, who could ever replace me? Who could step in while I take a break in your stock-standard resort-style vacation destination, whether it be tropical or of the ski trip variety? The answer, of course, is nobody, which has prompted me to make a conscious, deliberate decision--to make distraction my vacation. Needless to say, I vacation in increments. In colors.
I am going to take what is known as a ‘close reading’ of this text from the best selling, contemporary novel ‘The Book Thief’, by Markus Zusback. By doing a close reading, I am going to explore aspects of the text such as language, language techniques, characters and structure and how they affect my perception but additionally observe them in relation to time and place.
This section is taken from the first few paragraphs of ‘The Book Thief’ and when I initially read this excerpt, I am drawn into a conversation between myself (as the reader) and the narrator. Being written in the first person, I feel that this is what really draws us in from the start. As we gradually progress through the initial paragraphs we soon discover that this narrator is an observer of the story, being a character themselves and a unique one at that. Because, this story is being told from the perspective of a personification of Death.
Set in World War 2, we are learning about the life of the young girl, Liesel Meminger, through the perspective of Death. Having been adopted by a couple in Germany just before the outbreak of war. We are taken through her experiences during a significant time and place within history. However, in the beginning we are unaware of the location of the story because we are being introduced to our narrator first. Just taking a close reading of this excerpt we can already assess that Death is an immortal being, with an almost comical yet rather bitter demeanour. The language itself is conversational, which we can see from the structure of the text. The fact that there is a note within the paragraph giving a poetic outlook on what Death thinks of the colours around them, suggests a less formal way of speaking to the reader. We also have some shorter, brief sentences that offer a more serious tone in an informal way, for example ‘It takes the edge of the stress. It helps me relax’.
Within that, the writer further develops the personification of Death by giving them a sense of intellect and poetry, including a sarcastic attitude! This gives us the impression we are being spoken to and adds an element of humour to what would presumably be a very dark and depressing character. For example, the sarcasm in creating the comical imagery of Death being able to take a holiday e.g. ‘Who could step in while I take a break in your stock-standard resort-style vacation destination..’.place This really made me consider Death as a character and actually empathise with them, with the thought of mercilessly carrying out the endless role of collecting souls for all eternity. Our narrator even draws out our empathy by stating themselves ‘...the length of time I've been performing this job’ and clearly explains that they use distraction of studying colours to help them cope.
The description of the colours that Death observes is poetically discussed with the use of metaphorical language, such as ‘cloud-splat blues’, and as a reader I’m prompted to deeply consider the extensive palettes of endless colours throughout time as this time-defying perspective explains that none of the colours are ever ‘quite the same’. The way that Death explains that people tend not to observe the colours as Death does, provokes the readers to reflect on what having an infinite amount of time can allow us to observe.
Looking in detail at some of the language techniques used, I like to consider the repetitive use of the word ‘Dark’ when describing the ‘Dark, dark chocolate’ of a ‘chocolate covered sky’. This imagery not only reflects the ‘darkness’ of Death’s character, and the darkness associated with imagery of death. but depicts the image of a dark perhaps reddish sky. Death really wants to emphasise the richness of their favourite colours by appealing to our senses, because when I think of dark chocolate I think of a bitter-sweet taste and luxury. This is echoed by Death’s metaphorical sky that they like to ‘slowly suck on’. This allows me to relate to our narrator, and consider the narrator of Death as a personified being. I also believe that being Death, their favourite colour of sky is likely a reflection of them. When I think of a dark chocolate sky, I think of a Summer night’s sky and remember the well known phrase ‘red sky at night, shepherd’s delight’! I assume this would be Death’s favourite colour because it’s likely to be a more peaceful time for humanity, and less work for Death!
The writing includes a few others of the poetic devices I have come to learn about, which reinforces to me that the writer wanted Death to have a degree of intellect and melody to their voice. Taking what we would already perceive Death to look like given years of media, the writing builds on that imagery with a sinister and eerie tone to the language. For example, when Death talks about colours of the sky being like ‘flavours’ and that they enjoy a ‘sky to slowly suck on’, we can hear the slow and sensual way that Death would be speaking to us by using an alliteration of the sound that ‘s’ makes.
With the use of consonance and assonance throughout the paragraphs of dialogue I feel that is what really provides me with a sense of articulacy from Death, and really emphasising on Death’s character as observant and intellectual. For example ‘a day that merges through a multitude of shades and intonations’ and ‘which has prompted me to make a conscious, deliberate decision - - to make distraction my vacation’. There are a few words in these phrases that blend sounds together, creating a flow of speech that gives greater articulation.
I also do not assume that Death is all-knowing, like a God of some kind. I think this is because within the dialogue, the page break notes are entitled ‘a small theory’. A theory being a hypothetical idea and not necessarily a fact. Also, even the fact that Death is able to create their own thoughts about colours and people further develops the personification as a cognitive being. I would say these were technicalities but they have more implication than I realised before examining.
Having the occupation of Death requires an omniscient presence, so in terms of place we know that Death is not confined in anyway, and so later on in the story we wonder why they have taken particular interest in the area the story unfolds in. Because of the power that Death has over us, I feel more invested in their point of view as opposed to a character involved in the story. I'm aware it's not uncommon to consider Death as being, but I personally had not considered what it would be like to actually see their perspective as an observer of life. They are outside of our social reforms and politics and therefore unbiased, which is perhaps why the writer chose Death as a narrator given that Germany still carries the weight of its past from its political actions in world war 2. Though it does not stop me from sympathising with them.
I have read this novel many times before and have always enjoyed the unraveling of the story, and the writer’s clever play with narratives to prompt consideration and understanding of a period in time where the world was under immense strain and turmoil. Having taken a small section and dissected it for scrutinisation, I feel I have gained greater respect for the skills required to write and write successfully. I also can understand why language plays such an important role in communicating and expressing human thoughts and emotions, and why words and techniques used in language can bear such power.This book made so much impact back when it was initially published in 2005 that it was later translated into a film,
including the infamous narrator, the personification of Death.
Word Count: 1331
2. To conclude, write a commentary of about 500 words, drawn from your learning log and notes, reflecting on what you have learned in this part of the course and how you have put this into practice in your assignment piece.
With this section of the course, I was initially keen to study this subject as I enjoy writing poetry and lyrics as a hobby, and already kept a ‘writing’ sketchbook for my own leisure. Also, being more observant of the way writing has developed and how it surrounds us every day was actually a bit of an eye opener, as I often take it for granted!
Upon reflection, I have found it somewhat challenging at times because some of the work seemed to be rather laborious and tedious, but once developing greater understanding and building my confidence with my knowledge of language and writing, it became more liberating and enjoyable.
Going back to the beginning of this section, I found Hazel Smith’s essay ‘Creative Writing and New Media’ to be more difficult why and probably the hardest part of this section to work through. Being one of the first few tasks, I had begun to worry I was out of my depth with studying literature at a degree level. I am somewhat proud of myself for working through it though. I was also interested to learn about ‘the hero’s journey’ and how it can be a template for almost any story, whether it is told through book or film. Writing a novel or a play has always seemed to me to be somewhat complicated to me, and although I still see that it is, I think I have a better understanding of how writers work and the tools they use.
It seemed to make writing more accessible to me, like taking apart an appliance backwards to see how it is made. Similarly, I knew very little about Aristotle though the name was familiar, and I’d never heard of Vogler! Although the course has touched upon only one aspect of their work, I feel I’ve gained a little insight into why it’s all still relevant today and how their work is still being used.
I believe I have furthered my joy of poetry again, as I was taken back to my first encounter with close-readings when I studied for my GCSCE’s back in 2004. Although I had some knowledge of poetic devices, it had been a long time since I had studied them or really looked at them in literature. Re-learning the skills of close reading is what helped me most in this assignment, and rather than just observing what techniques are used I was able to take the skills I’d learned from the close reading of ‘Fern Hill’ to confidently conduct my own and investigate a piece of literature independently.
I would like to take some of the new techniques I’ve learned, and develop them further in my own time by incorporating them into my own writing as well as paying more attention to literature and stories that I come across. I actually feel more confident in watching films or reading books I didn't previously fully understand, and would like to explore them again using these new perspectives and insights. I also hope that my own writing and language skills have developed further, and I would like to continue growing my vocabulary for future works and assignments.
Word count 526
Comments
Post a Comment