1. This quote is from the middle of the story, “The girl in the photograph was young and had dark, dark scraped severely back and tied like a knotted rope on the top of her head – high arched eyebrows, her nose straight and thin, her mouth slightly smiling, yet not smiling – the way a mouth is after smiling. Her eyes looked out at him dark and knowing and beautiful.
a. This quote is in direct contrast to the Aunt’s undignified, ugly death, by showing the beauty and elegance of her youth; this emphasises her previous beauty, and how she lost it through age and bitterness. This makes the reader curious, because it shows her earlier beauty; yet she died a spinster, so it makes the reader question why she never got married.
2. “They had tried to wrap her fingers around a crucifix but they kept loosening”.
a. In this passage, at the start of the story, the great Aunt’s distance from religion is present, although we the reader does not immediately know the significance. It shows “her fingers around a crucifix”, the crucifix connotes the Catholicism of the family surrounding her, but her fingers “kept loosening”, showing how she was rejecting the idea of religion right on her death bed, alluding to a situation in which she ‘fell out’ with Christianity earlier in her life. This intrigues the reader, and sets up her rejection of religion later on in the story.
3. “You are dirt,” she hissed, “and always will be dirt. I shall remember this until the day I die.”
a. This dramatic quote comes at the end of the story; it is the climax of the story, as Aunt Mary discovers the narrator reading her private letters. The significance of these words is made clear by the fact that the story starts with the death of the Aunt Mary, and the boy has not gained redemption for this moment. In this line Aunt Marys anger is vast, and it is very out of character from her role that she has played so far, of the benevolent spinster Aunt, and this makes it very shocking. She is irate, and has lost control; this is emphasized by the extreme words she uses and the onomatopoetic quality of the way she “hisses” he words.
4. “I have lost all feeling. The only emotion I have experienced lately is one of anger. Sheer white trembling anger. I have no pity or sorrow for the dead or injured. I thank God it is not me but I am enraged that it had to be them.”
a. This quote, in the middle of the story, shows the first enactment between Brother Benignus and God, instead of between him and Mary. In his previous letters he always mentioned them together and used “we” and “us” a lot, to emphasise their relationship; in this passage it is all about him and God. This shows the first distancing between him and Mary, whilst showing his growing connection to God (which will ultimately lead to their separation), which prepares the reader for him getting further and further away from Mary. He says the only emotion he felt was “anger”, meaning that he wasn’t feeling any love for anyone, especially Mary- this shows his total lack of feeling towards her and how his love will grow weaker and weaker throughout the war.
5. “Tears came into his eyes for the first time since she had died and he cried silently into the crook of his arm for the woman who had been his maiden aunt, his teller of tales that she might forgive him.”
a. This is the ultimate line of the story, it is when we finally see the extent to which the boy mourns his actions when he was younger, and how upset he is that he was never forgiven. The boy will never forget what his Aunt said to him about never forgiving him, and having not got absolution from her he must bear the guilt. However his grief is fairly selfish, he is not mourning her, he is mourning the fact he was never given her forgiveness, which shows that despite his pain he has not really changed that much from the young boy who, gripped by curiosity, trespassed on his Aunt’s private belongings and ruined her trust.
‘The noise, deep and guttural, that his aunt was making became intolerable to him. It was as if she were drowning’
This passage is from the start of the story while his Great Aunt is on her deathbed. The adjectives the author uses are very vivid, like ‘deep’ and ‘gutteral’, therefore it is easy to relate so that the reader can sympathise with the boy and understand why he left. MacLaverty also uses the word ‘intolerable,’ intolerable means literally more than tolerable, therefore the author is trying to say that the boy took in enough noise than he possible take. Lastly MacLaverty uses the verb to describe Great Aunt Mary as ‘drowning,’ as when you are drowning you struggle to breathe and your body reacts by using a panicky action , so by using the phrase drowning the author was saying that Aunt Mary was tossing and turning awkwardly.
‘He was doing his homework and his mother was sitting on the carpet in one of her periodic fits of tidying out the drawers of the mahogany sideboard.’
This quote is taken from the middle of the story, before the boy discovers his Great Aunt’s letters. The lack of punctuation in this large sentence portrays how relaxed this scene is, as it is a casual sunny Sunday afternoon there isn’t much going on, this is what leads him to look through his Aunt’s letters, boredom. The author uses the phrase ‘periodic fits,’ which implies that these sessions of tidying happen regularly in fixed periods of time. This is also why there is no punctuation as he is used to these ‘periodic fits’ and it has become a usual thing. Moreover his mother was sitting on the carpet which shows that she was getting into the cleaning and wanted to do the job thoroughly. Which sums up the mother’s impact to the story, she spends her time on cleaning and she has a small impact into the boy’s life.
“You are dirt,” she hissed, “and always will be dirt. I shall remember this till the day I die”
This text is taken when Great Aunt Marry catches the boy reading through her letters. She uses the noun ‘dirt’ to describe the boy, because dirt is the excrement that no one wants to have around their house as it is annoying ruins the living environment. However when Aunt Mary says that the boy is dirt, she is referring to him as a vile human. She also says that she ‘will remember this till the day [she] dies’ as if to haunt him and regret what he has done straight away. In addition to this, it makes the day where she does actually die into an even worse day, as he will remember what she said. Also the author uses the verb ‘hissed’ which is usually the action which snakes do. So by Great Aunt Mary hissing the author uses the imagery of a snake attacking its prey (the boy).
‘She went on burning the cards. They built into a strata, glowing red and black. Now and again she broke up the pile with the poker, sending showers of sparks up the chimney.’
This passage is taken from the end of the story. The letters are burnt at the end of the story to create many different effects. Firstly, to erase Aunt Mary’s effect on the house and how it symbolises what it means to the boy. Secondly, to keep privacy of Aunt Mary, even after death she doesn’t want anything to be known about her, which shows a lot about her character and how she keeps everything to herself all the time. Lastly, to destroy memories and all the emotions she felt, good and bad. Therefore giving her the send off Great Aunt Mary wanted. Also the author uses a great use of imagery by comparing the ‘sparks’ from the fire to the water in a ‘[shower.]’ This is very effective as the picture of the ‘[shower] of sparks’ is very vivid in your mind.
‘When he felt a hardness in his throat he put his head on his books. Tears came into his eyes for the first time since she had died.’
This is the first time in the story where the boy really feels for the death of his Great Aunt, this is also the only time in the story where we see the emotional side of the boy as he portrays no emotion throughout this story. However this mourning reflects on the boy’s character as he is not really mourning the loss of his Aunt Mary, but her forgiveness. This can portray the boy as selfish, because instead of mourning his relative, he mourns the fact he was never forgiven for his misdeed. Moreover the narrator doesn’t say that he cries he says that ‘tears came into his eyes,’ which could define the boy as a proud person as he is too self-respected to say that the cried.
In secrets the story revolves around the secrets of an old woman and how her grandson finds out about her secrets. The story relies on the style of language and the speech between the 2 to build tension. So in the when for the first time the grandmother discoverers that her letters have been discovered she says ‘you are dirt’ this quote that the story’s the boy has read really contain the most personal of information about this woman’s life and what happened to her when she was younger. The way it is described as she has ‘hissed’ these words adds a amount of venom to her words. Personifying her to be almost snake like. Before the mother finds out about the reading of the letters, the building of tension is created with the sentence ‘suddenly the boy herd the creak of the stairs’ this sentence really builds the tension of the story to the point that u actually want to know what’s going on. The wording used also helps heighten the suspension of the story. Words like suddenly really jump at us from the page and make us actually wonder what is going to happen. After this sentence we read that as soon as this woman comes into the room she snaps at him saying ‘what are you doing boy’. Now for the overall story this is unimportant as it really adds nothing to the continuation of the story line however it does really begin to make us think...what is this woman going to do. She already has the idea in her mind that he has read her letters. And she is even before she gets into the room known for being short tempered so we can see that this woman really could go anywhere with this anger. The boy does not really make his life any easier when he comes to her and says he has been doing ‘nothing’. He is denying his guilt but this one word makes clear to his grandmother that he is willing to lie to cover up what he has read. This again shows us that this boy is sorry for what he has seen but he is also incredibly scared of this woman as he knows her to be unpredictable The final quote i want to look at is the quote that is right at the end of the entire escapade. She says she will ‘remember this till the day i die’ now this may seem a rather dark and almost an exaggeration of the severity of what her grandson has witnessed. All he has done was to read her letters, however she does hold onto his deceit until the day she dies and re really makes sure that he is never fully able to rest his mind as she never actually forgives him.
Secrets “Her eyes looked at him dark and knowing and beautiful.” This is a quote taken from when Aunt Mary was a young, pretty woman, posing for a photograph. The use of the triplet adds depth to the beauty, and her eyes seem to show a new layer of beauty with each adjective. This sentence is the end of the paragraph of which a list has been formed within – creating many aspects of beauty of this woman. By forming the list, it also creates a large contrast to the dying women at the beginning of the story: “She half opened her eyes but could not raise her eyelids enough, and showed only crescents of white”. Here, also shows a contrast to the woman of which the main focal point surrounds during this story. The continued use of pronouns “he” for the boy and “her” for his mother, backs up the previous point and shows that they have little significance to Aunt Mary – even when she’s not there. The repetition of “the boy” and “his mother” emphasises how they come across more like objects, rather than subjects.
“I feel deeply that I must do something, must sacrifice something to make up for the horror of the past year. In some strange way Christ has spoken to me.” Throughout these postcards, Aunt Mary’s past life of love and pain is reflected and creates an interesting way to give across detail to the reader, without giving everything away at once. The irony that Aunt Mary was a follower of God makes her lover’s decision to leave, more painful. What started off as detail and delicate memories of the two of them together, ended in him deciding to end their relationship whilst he was away at war. Due to the fact that he found God, which led them not being able to be together, because of his new beliefs, therefore resulted in her becoming a spinster in later life and never finding love again. The use of commas in these sentences, break them up into separate parts for the reader to reflect on; whilst at the same time, creates tension as this is Benignus parting with Aunt Mary – through the use of a letter. By keeping these letters show that they meant a lot to Aunt Mary and results in making her past and these letters intriguing. By refusing her nephew to go into her bureau-bookcase to read these letters, backs up that point firmly. “He reached over towards the letters but before his hand touched them his aunt’s voice, harsh for once, warned. ‘A-A-A’ she moved her pen from side to side. ‘Do-not-touch’ she said and smiled.” This extract from the story shows the reader that this was the only part of her life she was secretive about and a part she wanted to keep private. She answers with short sentences but her actions and emotions create the intensity that makes you wonder what the letters contain. This predicament clearly hurt Aunt Mary so she wanted to lock away her feeling – which draws symbolism between the locked bureau-bookcase and her broken heart.
“You are dirt. You will always be dirt. I shall remember this until the day I die.” Before this explosion occurs, the author builds up the suspension by capturing the characteristics of a typical curios young boy, too careless to tidy up the mess he’s created before his Aunt comes home. This shows huge contrast to his Aunt, who was older, wiser and more organised. The peak of the story comes when the boy is caught reading this aunt’s beloved secret letters. The suspension is built and you know something is going to happen but you wouldn’t guess that his aunt would slap his across the face of scream the words stated above. These short sharp sentences personify the slap that the boy receives. So far in the story his aunt has been portrayed as loving and patient so the reader is then surprised when the young boy reads into her personal life and she snaps; this therefore makes this a very memorable part of the story.
“Who was Brother Benignus?’ he asked His mother stopped sorting and said, ‘I don’t know. Your Aunt kept herself very much to herself.” By bringing up Brother Benignus at the end of the story shows that Aunt Mary’s nephew still had that curious young boy inside him. It’s blatant that Aunt Mary’s family knew of Brother Benignus, however they didn’t know anything about him or the relationship that had gone on between the two of them. It is also clear that the family had an interest in this man seeing as his mother “stopped sorting” the letters to answer the boys question, rather than carrying on with her duties – this draws attention to the question. Throughout this whole story Brother Benignus is in the background of everything. He is the reason for Aunt Mary’s behaviour throughout the story. He knew her when they were both young and in love and his name also arises on the day of Aunt Mary’s death. I think these aspects show that Brother Benignus was a main character as well as a memory of Aunt Mary’s.
"They had tried to wrap her fingers around a crucifix but they kept loosening”.
In this passage, at the start of the story, the great Aunt’s distance from religion is present, although we the reader does not immediately know the significance. It shows “her fingers around a crucifix”, the crucifix connotes the Catholicism of the family surrounding her, but her fingers “kept loosening”, showing how she was rejecting the idea of religion right on her death bed, alluding to a situation in which she ‘fell out’ with Christianity earlier in her life. This intrigues the reader, and sets up her rejection of religion later on in the story. 2. “Tears came into his eyes for the first time since she had died and he cried silently into the crook of his arm for the woman who had been his maiden aunt, his teller of tales that she might forgive him.”
This is the ultimate line of the story, it is when we finally see the extent to which the boy mourns his actions when he was younger, and how upset he is that he was never forgiven. The boy will never forget what his Aunt said to him about never forgiving him, and having not got absolution from her he must bear the guilt. However his grief is fairly selfish, he is not mourning her, he is mourning the fact he was never given her forgiveness, which shows that despite his pain he has not really changed that much from the young boy who, gripped by curiosity, trespassed on his Aunt’s private belongings and ruined her trust. 3. ‘He was doing his homework and his mother was sitting on the carpet in one of her periodic fits of tidying out the drawers of the mahogany sideboard.’
This quote is taken from the middle of the story, before the boy discovers his Great Aunt’s letters. The lack of punctuation in this large sentence portrays how relaxed this scene is, as it is a casual sunny Sunday afternoon there isn’t much going on, this is what leads him to look through his Aunt’s letters, boredom. The author uses the phrase ‘periodic fits,’ which implies that these sessions of tidying happen regularly in fixed periods of time. This is also why there is no punctuation as he is used to these ‘periodic fits’ and it has become a usual thing. Moreover his mother was sitting on the carpet which shows that she was getting into the cleaning and wanted to do the job thoroughly. Which sums up the mother’s impact to the story, she spends her time on cleaning and she has a small impact into the boy’s life. cawkeers..
1. This quote is from the middle of the story, “The girl in the photograph was young and had dark, dark scraped severely back and tied like a knotted rope on the top of her head – high arched eyebrows, her nose straight and thin, her mouth slightly smiling, yet not smiling – the way a mouth is after smiling. Her eyes looked out at him dark and knowing and beautiful.
ReplyDeletea. This quote is in direct contrast to the Aunt’s undignified, ugly death, by showing the beauty and elegance of her youth; this emphasises her previous beauty, and how she lost it through age and bitterness. This makes the reader curious, because it shows her earlier beauty; yet she died a spinster, so it makes the reader question why she never got married.
2. “They had tried to wrap her fingers around a crucifix but they kept loosening”.
a. In this passage, at the start of the story, the great Aunt’s distance from religion is present, although we the reader does not immediately know the significance. It shows “her fingers around a crucifix”, the crucifix connotes the Catholicism of the family surrounding her, but her fingers “kept loosening”, showing how she was rejecting the idea of religion right on her death bed, alluding to a situation in which she ‘fell out’ with Christianity earlier in her life. This intrigues the reader, and sets up her rejection of religion later on in the story.
3. “You are dirt,” she hissed, “and always will be dirt. I shall remember this until the day I die.”
a. This dramatic quote comes at the end of the story; it is the climax of the story, as Aunt Mary discovers the narrator reading her private letters. The significance of these words is made clear by the fact that the story starts with the death of the Aunt Mary, and the boy has not gained redemption for this moment. In this line Aunt Marys anger is vast, and it is very out of character from her role that she has played so far, of the benevolent spinster Aunt, and this makes it very shocking. She is irate, and has lost control; this is emphasized by the extreme words she uses and the onomatopoetic quality of the way she “hisses” he words.
4. “I have lost all feeling. The only emotion I have experienced lately is one of anger. Sheer white trembling anger. I have no pity or sorrow for the dead or injured. I thank God it is not me but I am enraged that it had to be them.”
a. This quote, in the middle of the story, shows the first enactment between Brother Benignus and God, instead of between him and Mary. In his previous letters he always mentioned them together and used “we” and “us” a lot, to emphasise their relationship; in this passage it is all about him and God. This shows the first distancing between him and Mary, whilst showing his growing connection to God (which will ultimately lead to their separation), which prepares the reader for him getting further and further away from Mary. He says the only emotion he felt was “anger”, meaning that he wasn’t feeling any love for anyone, especially Mary- this shows his total lack of feeling towards her and how his love will grow weaker and weaker throughout the war.
5. “Tears came into his eyes for the first time since she had died and he cried silently into the crook of his arm for the woman who had been his maiden aunt, his teller of tales that she might forgive him.”
a. This is the ultimate line of the story, it is when we finally see the extent to which the boy mourns his actions when he was younger, and how upset he is that he was never forgiven. The boy will never forget what his Aunt said to him about never forgiving him, and having not got absolution from her he must bear the guilt. However his grief is fairly selfish, he is not mourning her, he is mourning the fact he was never given her forgiveness, which shows that despite his pain he has not really changed that much from the young boy who, gripped by curiosity, trespassed on his Aunt’s private belongings and ruined her trust.
^^^^^^ + bea
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete‘The noise, deep and guttural, that his aunt was making became intolerable to him. It was as if she were drowning’
ReplyDeleteThis passage is from the start of the story while his Great Aunt is on her deathbed. The adjectives the author uses are very vivid, like ‘deep’ and ‘gutteral’, therefore it is easy to relate so that the reader can sympathise with the boy and understand why he left. MacLaverty also uses the word ‘intolerable,’ intolerable means literally more than tolerable, therefore the author is trying to say that the boy took in enough noise than he possible take. Lastly MacLaverty uses the verb to describe Great Aunt Mary as ‘drowning,’ as when you are drowning you struggle to breathe and your body reacts by using a panicky action , so by using the phrase drowning the author was saying that Aunt Mary was tossing and turning awkwardly.
‘He was doing his homework and his mother was sitting on the carpet in one of her periodic fits of tidying out the drawers of the mahogany sideboard.’
This quote is taken from the middle of the story, before the boy discovers his Great Aunt’s letters. The lack of punctuation in this large sentence portrays how relaxed this scene is, as it is a casual sunny Sunday afternoon there isn’t much going on, this is what leads him to look through his Aunt’s letters, boredom. The author uses the phrase ‘periodic fits,’ which implies that these sessions of tidying happen regularly in fixed periods of time. This is also why there is no punctuation as he is used to these ‘periodic fits’ and it has become a usual thing. Moreover his mother was sitting on the carpet which shows that she was getting into the cleaning and wanted to do the job thoroughly. Which sums up the mother’s impact to the story, she spends her time on cleaning and she has a small impact into the boy’s life.
“You are dirt,” she hissed, “and always will be dirt. I shall remember this till the day I die”
This text is taken when Great Aunt Marry catches the boy reading through her letters. She uses the noun ‘dirt’ to describe the boy, because dirt is the excrement that no one wants to have around their house as it is annoying ruins the living environment. However when Aunt Mary says that the boy is dirt, she is referring to him as a vile human. She also says that she ‘will remember this till the day [she] dies’ as if to haunt him and regret what he has done straight away. In addition to this, it makes the day where she does actually die into an even worse day, as he will remember what she said. Also the author uses the verb ‘hissed’ which is usually the action which snakes do. So by Great Aunt Mary hissing the author uses the imagery of a snake attacking its prey (the boy).
Analysis continued...
ReplyDelete‘She went on burning the cards. They built into a strata, glowing red and black. Now and again she broke up the pile with the poker, sending showers of sparks up the chimney.’
This passage is taken from the end of the story. The letters are burnt at the end of the story to create many different effects. Firstly, to erase Aunt Mary’s effect on the house and how it symbolises what it means to the boy. Secondly, to keep privacy of Aunt Mary, even after death she doesn’t want anything to be known about her, which shows a lot about her character and how she keeps everything to herself all the time. Lastly, to destroy memories and all the emotions she felt, good and bad. Therefore giving her the send off Great Aunt Mary wanted.
Also the author uses a great use of imagery by comparing the ‘sparks’ from the fire to the water in a ‘[shower.]’ This is very effective as the picture of the ‘[shower] of sparks’ is very vivid in your mind.
‘When he felt a hardness in his throat he put his head on his books. Tears came into his eyes for the first time since she had died.’
This is the first time in the story where the boy really feels for the death of his Great Aunt, this is also the only time in the story where we see the emotional side of the boy as he portrays no emotion throughout this story. However this mourning reflects on the boy’s character as he is not really mourning the loss of his Aunt Mary, but her forgiveness. This can portray the boy as selfish, because instead of mourning his relative, he mourns the fact he was never forgiven for his misdeed. Moreover the narrator doesn’t say that he cries he says that ‘tears came into his eyes,’ which could define the boy as a proud person as he is too self-respected to say that the cried.
By Nick and Jamie
In secrets the story revolves around the secrets of an old woman and how her grandson finds out about her secrets. The story relies on the style of language and the speech between the 2 to build tension. So in the when for the first time the grandmother discoverers that her letters have been discovered she says ‘you are dirt’ this quote that the story’s the boy has read really contain the most personal of information about this woman’s life and what happened to her when she was younger. The way it is described as she has ‘hissed’ these words adds a amount of venom to her words. Personifying her to be almost snake like.
ReplyDeleteBefore the mother finds out about the reading of the letters, the building of tension is created with the sentence ‘suddenly the boy herd the creak of the stairs’ this sentence really builds the tension of the story to the point that u actually want to know what’s going on. The wording used also helps heighten the suspension of the story. Words like suddenly really jump at us from the page and make us actually wonder what is going to happen.
After this sentence we read that as soon as this woman comes into the room she snaps at him saying ‘what are you doing boy’. Now for the overall story this is unimportant as it really adds nothing to the continuation of the story line however it does really begin to make us think...what is this woman going to do. She already has the idea in her mind that he has read her letters. And she is even before she gets into the room known for being short tempered so we can see that this woman really could go anywhere with this anger.
The boy does not really make his life any easier when he comes to her and says he has been doing ‘nothing’. He is denying his guilt but this one word makes clear to his grandmother that he is willing to lie to cover up what he has read. This again shows us that this boy is sorry for what he has seen but he is also incredibly scared of this woman as he knows her to be unpredictable
The final quote i want to look at is the quote that is right at the end of the entire escapade. She says she will ‘remember this till the day i die’ now this may seem a rather dark and almost an exaggeration of the severity of what her grandson has witnessed. All he has done was to read her letters, however she does hold onto his deceit until the day she dies and re really makes sure that he is never fully able to rest his mind as she never actually forgives him.
Secrets
ReplyDelete“Her eyes looked at him dark and knowing and beautiful.”
This is a quote taken from when Aunt Mary was a young, pretty woman, posing for a photograph. The use of the triplet adds depth to the beauty, and her eyes seem to show a new layer of beauty with each adjective. This sentence is the end of the paragraph of which a list has been formed within – creating many aspects of beauty of this woman. By forming the list, it also creates a large contrast to the dying women at the beginning of the story: “She half opened her eyes but could not raise her eyelids enough, and showed only crescents of white”. Here, also shows a contrast to the woman of which the main focal point surrounds during this story. The continued use of pronouns “he” for the boy and “her” for his mother, backs up the previous point and shows that they have little significance to Aunt Mary – even when she’s not there. The repetition of “the boy” and “his mother” emphasises how they come across more like objects, rather than subjects.
“I feel deeply that I must do something, must sacrifice something to make up for the horror of the past year. In some strange way Christ has spoken to me.”
Throughout these postcards, Aunt Mary’s past life of love and pain is reflected and creates an interesting way to give across detail to the reader, without giving everything away at once. The irony that Aunt Mary was a follower of God makes her lover’s decision to leave, more painful. What started off as detail and delicate memories of the two of them together, ended in him deciding to end their relationship whilst he was away at war. Due to the fact that he found God, which led them not being able to be together, because of his new beliefs, therefore resulted in her becoming a spinster in later life and never finding love again. The use of commas in these sentences, break them up into separate parts for the reader to reflect on; whilst at the same time, creates tension as this is Benignus parting with Aunt Mary – through the use of a letter. By keeping these letters show that they meant a lot to Aunt Mary and results in making her past and these letters intriguing. By refusing her nephew to go into her bureau-bookcase to read these letters, backs up that point firmly. “He reached over towards the letters but before his hand touched them his aunt’s voice, harsh for once, warned. ‘A-A-A’ she moved her pen from side to side. ‘Do-not-touch’ she said and smiled.” This extract from the story shows the reader that this was the only part of her life she was secretive about and a part she wanted to keep private. She answers with short sentences but her actions and emotions create the intensity that makes you wonder what the letters contain. This predicament clearly hurt Aunt Mary so she wanted to lock away her feeling – which draws symbolism between the locked bureau-bookcase and her broken heart.
Anna and Rory - Part One
“You are dirt. You will always be dirt. I shall remember this until the day I die.”
ReplyDeleteBefore this explosion occurs, the author builds up the suspension by capturing the characteristics of a typical curios young boy, too careless to tidy up the mess he’s created before his Aunt comes home. This shows huge contrast to his Aunt, who was older, wiser and more organised. The peak of the story comes when the boy is caught reading this aunt’s beloved secret letters. The suspension is built and you know something is going to happen but you wouldn’t guess that his aunt would slap his across the face of scream the words stated above. These short sharp sentences personify the slap that the boy receives. So far in the story his aunt has been portrayed as loving and patient so the reader is then surprised when the young boy reads into her personal life and she snaps; this therefore makes this a very memorable part of the story.
“Who was Brother Benignus?’ he asked
His mother stopped sorting and said, ‘I don’t know. Your Aunt kept herself very much to herself.”
By bringing up Brother Benignus at the end of the story shows that Aunt Mary’s nephew still had that curious young boy inside him. It’s blatant that Aunt Mary’s family knew of Brother Benignus, however they didn’t know anything about him or the relationship that had gone on between the two of them. It is also clear that the family had an interest in this man seeing as his mother “stopped sorting” the letters to answer the boys question, rather than carrying on with her duties – this draws attention to the question. Throughout this whole story Brother Benignus is in the background of everything. He is the reason for Aunt Mary’s behaviour throughout the story. He knew her when they were both young and in love and his name also arises on the day of Aunt Mary’s death. I think these aspects show that Brother Benignus was a main character as well as a memory of Aunt Mary’s.
Anna and Rory - Part Two
"They had tried to wrap her fingers around a crucifix but they kept loosening”.
ReplyDeleteIn this passage, at the start of the story, the great Aunt’s distance from religion is present, although we the reader does not immediately know the significance. It shows “her fingers around a crucifix”, the crucifix connotes the Catholicism of the family surrounding her, but her fingers “kept loosening”, showing how she was rejecting the idea of religion right on her death bed, alluding to a situation in which she ‘fell out’ with Christianity earlier in her life. This intrigues the reader, and sets up her rejection of religion later on in the story.
2. “Tears came into his eyes for the first time since she had died and he cried silently into the crook of his arm for the woman who had been his maiden aunt, his teller of tales that she might forgive him.”
This is the ultimate line of the story, it is when we finally see the extent to which the boy mourns his actions when he was younger, and how upset he is that he was never forgiven. The boy will never forget what his Aunt said to him about never forgiving him, and having not got absolution from her he must bear the guilt. However his grief is fairly selfish, he is not mourning her, he is mourning the fact he was never given her forgiveness, which shows that despite his pain he has not really changed that much from the young boy who, gripped by curiosity, trespassed on his Aunt’s private belongings and ruined her trust.
3. ‘He was doing his homework and his mother was sitting on the carpet in one of her periodic fits of tidying out the drawers of the mahogany sideboard.’
This quote is taken from the middle of the story, before the boy discovers his Great Aunt’s letters. The lack of punctuation in this large sentence portrays how relaxed this scene is, as it is a casual sunny Sunday afternoon there isn’t much going on, this is what leads him to look through his Aunt’s letters, boredom. The author uses the phrase ‘periodic fits,’ which implies that these sessions of tidying happen regularly in fixed periods of time. This is also why there is no punctuation as he is used to these ‘periodic fits’ and it has become a usual thing. Moreover his mother was sitting on the carpet which shows that she was getting into the cleaning and wanted to do the job thoroughly. Which sums up the mother’s impact to the story, she spends her time on cleaning and she has a small impact into the boy’s life.
cawkeers..
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