How the
episode impacted on you. What was the writer doing to evoke this response?
You are first aware that something is wrong when the man
repeats “oh Christ”. The man rarely uses any words that display any kind of
emotion except in moments of great danger or shock (for example in episode
three when they discover the bodies in the cellar). So this change immediately
alerts you that something is wrong, or there is danger.
Plot
progression (what will happen next?)
I’m not sure what will happen next, but the man is becoming
more cold and cruel to everyone except the boy. You don’t know anything about
his character or what he’ll do next. He could easily kill the boy, as he is
emotionally distant from everything. All of his hope is gone.
Your
experience (change of mood? A lighter moment? Increase or release of tension?)
When you find out the items have been stolen it makes the
scene immediately more tense, the way he lists what is missing in short
sentences speeds it up and helps make it even more tense.
How does
this develop character and their relationships?
You see a cruel side to the man, before when he has killed it
has been out of necessity. You can still justify him as a good guy. But now, he
is cruel, he didn’t need to take the clothes off that man it would have been
fine just taking back what he took from them. The man told him to take off his
clothes knowing full well he would most likely die in a matter of hours. It is
getting harder to class him as a good guy.
Is the
language in keeping with rest of novel? Are there particular symbols or images
that are foregrounded?
The language is the same as the rest of the novel, except
from when the other man speaks. He doesn’t speak simplistically like they do,
he uses slang.
Is this in
fact a key episode? What makes it important? How does it stand out in a novel
without chapters?
You learn that this man is “an outcast from one of the
communes” this is the first you hear of other places where humans live. This
poses the question, why is the man separated from them? If he knows that there
are other people like them out there why is he trying so hard to keep away from
them? Is through choice or is he an outcast just like the man who stole their
belongings.
Good work Leah. You raise interesting questions about the choices the man has made to possibly avoid other 'communes', it also worth considering why the man is so vengeful in this section. His punishment of the thief is almost crueler than killing him, why does he display such vengance?
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