Preview

Reading Assessment: Michael Morpurgo’s Use of Language and Structure to Create Drama in the Novel – Private Peaceful.

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1252 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Reading Assessment: Michael Morpurgo’s Use of Language and Structure to Create Drama in the Novel – Private Peaceful.
Private peaceful is a story which mainly follows the life of a boy named Thomas Peaceful (or Tommo as he is called by his friends and family) in the build up towards WW1. It talks of his family in their ups and downs including his Father’s death. We follow Tommo in the past tense as he reflects upon his time up to the trenches. In the extract of pages between page 153 and 155 (which is in the present tense), we see Tommo attacked by a gas cloud whilst writing to his mother. He is saved of his life by a German attacker (or “Fritz”). He is then given a bill of clear health upon inspection of how seriously he was hurt. He then goes to see all of his comrade’s bodies who were not so lucky and died in the attack. In the extract, Morpurgo uses lots of imagery to add to the drama and tension in the piece. By making the scene more realistic and gripping for the reader. The links to animals and monsters used through imagery, metaphors and personification give the reader an insight into what the character is feeling, this in turn makes the reader far more gripped and hooked on the novel because they see themselves as actually being there. In the extract Morpurgo shows many examples of personification, metaphors and imagery. When Tommo first sees the gas reaching towards him, he says; “we see it rolling towards us, this dreaded killer cloud” This is an example of a metaphor. Morpurgo uses this to give the effect that the cloud has a life of its own and is capable of murder and wishes to do it. He uses some specific words ‘rolling’- Morpurgo uses this to give the effect of the gas being an unstoppable machine or a robot that is programmed to do only one thing. Kill. Morpurgo also uses the word ‘dreaded’. Dreaded is a word that gives the effect of something that everyone knows of and is feared. Like a plague that has the power to kill hundreds and is often not stoppable with hardly any precautions to take. The last word that Morpurgo uses in this sentence is the word

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    These two novels, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and Separate Peace by John Knowles both share narrator similarities throughout the book because both show major changes and growth of the two protagonists.…

    • 227 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Richard Wilbur's Juggler

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Imagery is used in multiple points around the text and is possibly the most important poetic element. For instance in the text the speaker uses imagery such as “the boys stamp, the girls shriek, and the drum booms…” by adding this imagery the author is showing how caught up in the action everyone is. This quote reveals the atmosphere…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In his novel, The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad uses strong imagery to fully describe the characters and the relationships they have with one another. Throughout the story the pattern of imagery used by Joseph Conrad would be seen in the early twentieth century of the corrupted London society. The story written by Conrad can be related back to the time error it was written in. This novel was written in an error where terrorist threats were becoming increasingly more popular. Joseph Conrad would commonly use two men as his main characters whom were both of the Russian Activist “fan club”. These men would be the focus of Joseph Conrad’s pieces.…

    • 212 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In high school, students often face challenges that force them to grow up. From their first break up to peer pressure, they slowly begin losing their innocence. Similarity, in A Separate Peace two boys are exposed to hatred and violence in a military academy. During World War II, Gene and Phineas begin with a normal friendship, but throughout time they both face new conflicts. Through jealousy and paranoia, they change from friends to rivals. When challenges come face to face with Gene he attempts to get rid of them in the worst ways possible, which eventually leads him to a loss of innocence. In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Gene lives in his own world, but through his friendship with Phineas, he learns he has to face reality.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Intense imagery, contrasts, comparisons, and parallelism are used in conveying the complexity of her feelings toward nature. She ties in the similarities between the terror-striking reaction to the great horned owl and the heart-striking happiness of a field of roses.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The Cask of Amontillado,” Edgar Allen Poe uses many examples of imagery, such as the descriptions of the carnival, characters, the walk through the catacombs, and much more throughout the story to build suspense and intrigue for the readers and add to the mystery of Montresor’s underlining actions of the revenge and deception of the foolish Fortunado.…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Road To Chlifa

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the novella there are many different images and symbols that enhance and represent different aspects of the characters and the conflict within the text.…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Imagery is described as the ‘mental pictures’ one interprets from reading any type of literature; this can be done using any of the five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight and sound. Edgar Allan Poe is notorious for his use of dramatic imagery in the gothic genre. “Gothic literature has a number of conventions, including evocations of horror, suggestions of the supernatural, and dark, exotic locales such as castles and crumbling mansions” (Canada, 1997). In this paper, I will examine the imagery Poe has chosen in The Cask of Amontillado, and explain why it is vital to the furthering of the plot.…

    • 2298 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    War is often viewed as one of the most dangerous and brutal events ever created. It utterly destroys the humanity and mental state of soldiers fighting in the war. In All Quiet on the Western Front, a world renowned war novel by Erich Maria Remarque, the epigraph states that this novel “will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.” Staying true to this quote, Remarque tells of the horrors of World War I and fittingly describes the effects that war has on humans through the eyes of the protagonist, Paul Bäumer. In his epigraph Remarque says, “this book is to be neither an accusation, nor a confession, and least of all an adventure.” Except for a few notable exceptions,…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The use of imagery helps the reader to paint a mental image of the scenes throughout the book. As Simon…

    • 518 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A vast range of literary techniques is employed in the text, all of which contribute to exploring the negative outcome of journeys. Imagery is a predominant throughout the entire text, appealing to the auditory, olfactory, tactile and visual senses. This is highly effective in depicting the wild beauty and the horror of nature. Quotes such as “…the clouds brewing above and the dirt swirling around his feet” and “skyline rushing down to drown his brittle form” conjure up images of the uncontrollable force of nature and the insignificance of humans in comparison. Fudge also encompasses more harsh imagery to further reinforce the harshness of life. This is evident in the quotes, “…spluttered mucus and blood” and “…covered in crusted blood, jaws ripped from his skull”. All these descriptions are then directly linked to nature’s ferocity. Fudge has characterised “The Land” as nature’s representation in the text. He emphasises and reinforces The Land by encompassing heavy use of personification. “the Land was speaking”, “the Land throbbing” and “the Land had suffocated his family” all use personification. The repeated use of ‘the’ before the subject, ‘Land’, combined with the effect of personification, emphasises and reinforces the authority and dominance of nature.…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    book of negroes essay

    • 1014 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The use of imagery is strong in this scene to emphasize what Aminata endures while her ba is killed. It paints a mental picture in the reader’s head of all the emotions being exposed in this scene; fear, angry, and sadness. This part in the novel is an example of visual imagery, allowing the reader to visualize the event like they are actually there, seeing your own mother’s. In this quote, the use of the words; blood in the moonlight, angry and dark and spilling fast, creates a very vivid…

    • 1014 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Requiem for a Beast Essay

    • 1229 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Images can have a powerful effect on the way a person perceives a story. It can be the line that connects two dots together and adds a visual emotion to just a plain text. Matt Ottley’s multimodal text, Requiem for a Beast, uses illustrations, music, text and changes in point of view to highlight the major themes that develop throughout the text. Themes such as reconciliation and the Stolen Generation are explored and the hardships that the Aboriginal people endured are present as well. The Stolen Generation is interpreted as a time when Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes and then taken under custody of the Australian Government.…

    • 1229 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Owls

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Imagery creates the very distinct contrast between terrifying and beautiful parts of nature. Oliver begins her piece by describing the great horned owl in all its majesty and terror. She can hear the "heavy, crisp, breathy snapping of its hooked beak;" she stumbles upon the "headless bodies of rabbits and blue jays" knowing that the owl killed them because it has "an insatiable craving for the taste of brains." She says, "If it could, it would eat the whole world." And yet, she is as attracted by the night killer as she is repelled by it. She sees herself and the owl as "standing at the edge of the mystery" and says that "the world where the owl is endlessly hungry and endlessly on the hunt is the world in which I live too." Mary Oliver's use of threatening imagery conveys her deep fear of the power of this frightful creature.…

    • 405 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Grice uses an abundant amount of imagery in the piece, one example is when he states “Her abdomen swelled to the size of a largish marble, its glossy black stretching to a red-brown.” (para 5). Along with imagery he also incorporates similes into his work, “Their antenna as stiff as a gargoyles horn.” (para 2). Grice uses these literary devices to help further captivate the reader and also the way he uses imagery and metaphors helps set a mood for the entire essay. By doing this Grice makes his purpose more clear and…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays