How I Live Now - Techniques Essay

In the novel, ‘How I Live Now’ by Meg Rosoff, the protagonist Daisy was thrust into an entirely different environment; a new country, a new family and the threat of impending war. Daisy faced and overcame many challenges during her time in London, which caused her character to grow and develop significantly. The author portrayed this idea well by incorporating the techniques imagery and narrative style into the writing of the text. These techniques helped me grasp the idea of ‘coming of age’ or ‘bildungsroman’. With these techniques, we gain a deeper understanding of what the character Daisy was feeling and how she changed, which enables us to feel connected to her.

The author’s use of imagery was particularly effective in the text, giving depth to the character Daisy by providing detail of people that were important to her and we were also able to see how her perception of these people changed. For instance, when we first came across Edmond in the text, we were presented with a well illustrated description of him, comparing him to a dog. “He’s exactly like some kind of mutt, you know the ones you see at the dog shelter who are kind of hopeful and sweet and put their nose straight into your hand when they meet you with a certain kind of dignity and you know from that second that you’re going to take him home? Well that’s him.” Daisy also made several other references to Edmond resembling a dog, another instance was “He just smiled and half closed his eyes and looked more like a Wise Dog than ever”. We can see by how much attention Daisy paid to him that she was fascinated by him and he played and key role in her life. Although, in the second part of the book, instead of viewing Edmond as ‘a Wise Dog’, he was seen to be extremely thin, worn and gaunt, and full of hatred and pain. Daisy’s approach towards Edmond was also quite different. In the beginning, all she wanted was more of Edmond, in a lustful sort of way – “I was starving, starving, starving for