At Any One Moment

“At any one moment” uses context to give meaning to the story and and allow the reader to have a clear image of the events in their mind. The story was written in 2005 so the context it was written in was after the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004. Through the readers understanding and experience of this event the author is able to build images in the reader’s mind and allow them to fully understand the gravity of the situation occurring. Had the story been written in a time where a Tsunami had not occurred for many years it would be a lot harder to imagine and put into perspective the enormity of the tragedy occurring in the story. Judy Allen builds on this idea through the specific language and metaphors used to set the scene and further build on the context. “It rose up like a mountain, either hiding or engulfing the distant boats”. Through using real locations in the text the reader can see and believe the story. The reader’s context is also used to build dramatic tension. As the water is drawn out before the Tsunami approaches the reader is mostly likely aware of what is occurring due to their context compared to Sherif, his brother and the villagers who were obliviouxs to the disaster about to occur. “ His brother started to laugh- it was all so extraordinary, a trick played by the ocean”. This situation creates dramatic irony and positions the reader to want to warn the characters in the story to get out of the water.

Judy Allen builds and plays on the readers context which is most likely that of a busy Western life. Many people in society are always busy and never take time to think about other people. “Even so, most people are aware only of their own small world, and many believe their own small world, and many believe their own small world is all there is”. Through the structure and the omniscient point of view the author positions the reader to imagine all the things happening in the world right now and how every action has a consequence. Allen then takes