The Cone Gatherers by Robin Jenkins Chapter One The Exposition

The exposition The exposition of this novel introduces: Characters Relationships between characters Sources of conflict and tension Setting The narrative voice Motifs and symbols Foreshadowing of later events The writer’s style

The brothers and their relationship Neil ( characteristics and relationship with his brother) Calum (characteristics and relationship with his brother)

Duror (characteristics and feelings) Hatred of Calum. Feels revulsion towards him. Imagines killing him (and Neil). He thinks it would not be murder (because to him, they are not human) He feels the woods- his stronghold and sanctuary- have been polluted by the presence of the two men He is strangely drawn to the two men despite his hatred of them and finds himself obsessed by them, spying on them, waiting for them etc. He feels humiliated by this: “He had waited over an hour …..Runcie Campbell.”(p9) It is like he is a third brother. He has a “ungovernable” aversion to anything with an imperfection. He approves of Hitler’s killing of “idiots” and “cripples” not in theory, but when he sees Calum.

Sources of conflict and tension Neil’s bitterness about how he and Calum are being treated (by the “grand” people in the “big house”)why they cannot live in the summer house, but have to live in a tiny hut. (Relates to theme of class conflict/ social inequality) Duror’s irrational hatred of the cone gatherers ( this is a key factor in the development of the plot and the build up of tension towards the climax.

Setting (time and place) Set during WW2. The war is constantly in the background of the novel. On the first page, a destroyer and aeroplanes are mentioned- even in this secluded place, the war cannot be escaped. Calum hates to think about the war- cannot bear the idea of people killing each other.(shows his goodness) Neil refers to the war when telling Calum off for being so soft hearted- the horrors of war are being highlighted. Duror refers to the Nazi idea of the perfect Aryan being- people like Calum were executed by the Nazis. This creates horror in the mind of the reader, that Duror could even think like this. (Relates to the theme of the battle between good and evil) The forest is secluded and isolated, allowing tensions to build

Narrative voice Although the novel is written in the third person, the writer does use the technique of “indirect free discourse”, meaning that we “hear” the thoughts of the characters in their inner voice. This is especially obvious with the character of Duror when he is thinking about Calum. “in an icy sweat of hatred, with his gun aimed all the time at the feebleminded hunchback grovelling over the rabbit. To pull the trigger….and then to hear simultaneously the clean report of the gun and the last obscene squeal of the killed dwarf..”

Motifs and symbols The tree of revulsion and hatred growing inside Duror is a major motif which appears throughout the novel ( to represent his growing insanity). The imagery is especially appropriate because of the setting in the forest; because Duror used to find “sanctuary” in the trees, and because he himself is later described as a strong tree which has somehow gone rotten.

Foreshadowing