Whistle and I’ll come to you. susan hill For edexcel igcse

Gothic literature A recap The following are features of gothic literature. Can you add to the list? Read the passage and annotate with a ‘G’ in your marginalia each time you find one of these typical features. Setting: castles, isolated locations, large houses, possibly empty, underground caverns, religious buildings Character: a rational protagonist, women threatened or in danger, strange locals who lack the scientific approach of the protagonist, powerful men who abuse their power Prtagonist enters danger against advice, supernatural events, prophecies, entrap style: vocabulary creates a semantic field of fear, terror or danger

Narrative voice The narrator is the protagonist of this passage. What i s the technical term for this kind of writing? The ….. Person How ‘reliable’ is this form of narration? Can the narrator know everything or must we be careful when we read their opinions?

Pathetic fallacy You will have heard this term before: https://literarydevices.net/pathetic-fallacy/ Pathetic fallacy is a kind of personification that gives human emotions to inanimate objects of nature for example referring to weather features reflecting a mood. Personification, on the other hand, is a broader term. How does Hill use the weather in this passage to create mood and effect? Jonathan Peel 2017

Structure Although an extract from a longer novel, there is a clear internal structure to this passage. Read the passage again and decide where the action creates a structure to the passage. Protagonist reads, falls asleep, is wakened, nature is in turmoil, hears a cry, investigates, recovers.

Examples to find. 1: gothic themes comment isolation ‘.. Quite alone and exposed, bearing the brunt of the winter after winter of gales…’ Exposed suggests vulnerability of the isolated house. The vulnerability is enhanced by the use of Pathetic Fallacy to describe the weather. supernatural Fear A sense of the past Rational protagonist

Examples to find 2: language/style Technique Example comment Figurative language Pairs Desperation and anguish Not only the pain in the cry but also the terror Questions But what was real? Shows doubt in the narrator’s mind. Emotive adjectives Howling darkness Short sentences images