Tom Brennan the Prologue
Tom Brennan
Prologue-
‘Sounds of feet shuffling along the concrete’ – sensory imagery.
‘Past the ugly words that told us we were no longer wanted’ – negative connotation
‘Silhouettes of houses slipped past before I could catch them’ – personification + alliteration
‘Down, down we glided in silence’ – repetition [giving a sense of downfall in their life + highlighting the sense of secrecy and contact]
‘I pushed our Ford Falcon station wagon out of the garage’- forced to leave
To be able to identify how tom Brennan moves into the world throughout the novel, it is necessary to establish a starting point or a beginning of where his journey commences. JC Bourke utilizes a writing technique whereby the story she tells commences with a prologue. The purpose of this prologue establishes a family, that being Tom Brennan’s family in an obviously dramatic situation where it seems where it seems they have been forced to leave their home.
The composer establishes a serious negative tone by establishing time and place of ‘4:30 am 23rd of January leaving their house for the last time’. The secrecy of this situation is reinforced with the description of the ‘near dawns silence’. They had to leave their house in a car being pushed out of the garage so nobody could hear them as they glided in silence. Bourke’s use or specific nouns such as ‘ugly words’ and ‘Daniels whine’ again reinforces the negative situation they’re in by using first person narration and a reference to himself in the third person establishes a very personal perspective of the story. This allows us to identify how Tom evolves, matures and transitions into the world throughout the novel.
Toms involvement and transition into a new world, is heavily emphasized in the concluding pages of chapter five. JC Bourke approaches this aspect of the story with a continuation of a non-linear approach with very effective use of flashbacks, juxtaposition of imagery, irony and Tom’s self-realization of his world
Prologue-
‘Sounds of feet shuffling along the concrete’ – sensory imagery.
‘Past the ugly words that told us we were no longer wanted’ – negative connotation
‘Silhouettes of houses slipped past before I could catch them’ – personification + alliteration
‘Down, down we glided in silence’ – repetition [giving a sense of downfall in their life + highlighting the sense of secrecy and contact]
‘I pushed our Ford Falcon station wagon out of the garage’- forced to leave
To be able to identify how tom Brennan moves into the world throughout the novel, it is necessary to establish a starting point or a beginning of where his journey commences. JC Bourke utilizes a writing technique whereby the story she tells commences with a prologue. The purpose of this prologue establishes a family, that being Tom Brennan’s family in an obviously dramatic situation where it seems where it seems they have been forced to leave their home.
The composer establishes a serious negative tone by establishing time and place of ‘4:30 am 23rd of January leaving their house for the last time’. The secrecy of this situation is reinforced with the description of the ‘near dawns silence’. They had to leave their house in a car being pushed out of the garage so nobody could hear them as they glided in silence. Bourke’s use or specific nouns such as ‘ugly words’ and ‘Daniels whine’ again reinforces the negative situation they’re in by using first person narration and a reference to himself in the third person establishes a very personal perspective of the story. This allows us to identify how Tom evolves, matures and transitions into the world throughout the novel.
Toms involvement and transition into a new world, is heavily emphasized in the concluding pages of chapter five. JC Bourke approaches this aspect of the story with a continuation of a non-linear approach with very effective use of flashbacks, juxtaposition of imagery, irony and Tom’s self-realization of his world