1. The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Language
The Adoration of Jenna Fox

2. Language Techniques Word Definitions Rhetorical Questions Metaphors
First person narrative
Simple, short, sentences
These are some of the language techniques that the author uses to help us to understand the characters and themes in the novel

3. Word Definitions
Lost adj. 1. No longer known. 2. Unable to find the way. 3. Ruined or destroyed.” pg. 15
Hate v. 1. Intense dislike, extreme aversion or hostility. 2. To dislike passionately. 3. To detest.” pg. 39
The author includes a number of dictionary definitions of important words that Jenna is trying to learn and understand. She looks up words that she doesn’t recognise to try and make sense of what people are saying. We see that there is more than one meaning for a word, so sometimes Jenna gets confused about which meaning people are trying to communicate. For instance she mixes up the meaning of the word “curious” and wonders if Lily is asking her if she is inquisitive or odd? Pg. 9. Again we realise that the answer to a questions is not always straightforward.

4. Metaphors and Similes
“My perfect hand that won’t lace right. The monster hand.” pg. 110
“My brain. I do have ten percent. The butterfly, mother called it. My winged humanity.” pg. 188
“I am to whisk you to Edward, who will in turn whisk both of us out of the country.”…”Whisk me, Like a am a piece of dust deposited in a dustpan.” pg. 179
“I am mesmerised by their perfect tiny beaks, their creamy clawed feet, and their layered gray feathers that fold together like a beautiful silk fan.” pg. 21
“My synapses fire like a fireworks display” pg. 147
Pearson uses a number of metaphors and similes to express how Jenna sees herself and how she sees that world. We experience the horror of her feeling as if her body is alien to her. We understand how she feels that she is not really important and she is replaceable. And we experience her wonder and awe at the world around her as she re-learns what it is to be human.

5. Rhetorical Questions “Did I have friends?” pg 14
“It’s been seven years since that video was filmed. Do scars disappear in seven years?” pg 40
“My hands twitch. I look at them. Can I even call them my hands?” pg 111
“I shudder, repulsed at everything I may or may not be, wanting to escape by trapped again. By what? Myself? I don’t know who or what I am anymore.” pg 118
“Which is the real me? The one in the closet or the one here on the forest floor?” pg 188
“How far will a parent go for a child?” pg. 179
Mary E Pearson uses a lot of rhetorical questions to make us, the reader, think about important ethical and philosophical questions. We are thinking the whole way through the novel and coming to our own conclusions about what we think is ‘right’ or ‘fair’. We feel just like Jenna does, confused about very difficult questions that don’t have a simple answer.

6. First Person Narrative
“I used to be someone. Someone named Jenna Fox.” pg. 1
“I remember! I love hot chocolate!” pg. 57
“What are you doing? You have another me trapped in that environment. And Kara and Locke!” pg.191
“I’m afraid that for the rest of my two or two hundred years I will still have all these questions and I will never fit in.” pg. 203
Because the novel is written in first person we feel like we are included in the story and are discovering things at the same time as Jenna Fox. We feel sympathy for her and the way that her life has turned out because we are seeing everything from her point of view. We also get to understand her thought processes as she comes to terms with only being ‘ten percent’ Jenna.

7. Simple Short Sentences
“A wooden chair. A bare desk. A plain bed. So little. Is this all Jenna Fox adds up to?” pg.13
“Lily drives. I tap my knee. We don’t speak. I watch her from time to time.” pg. 79
“Sliding into Ethan’s truck, I remember. It’s the gray leather. I had a car. But no licence. I didn’t have a licence.” pg. 87
Pearson uses many short sentences throughout the text to firstly make Jenna almost seem like a robot. Her thoughts are quick and to the point and often seem emotionless. This links to the idea that she is slowly learning to be ‘human’ again. Short sentences also create a sense of realism and increase suspense in a text. This novel is full of suspense and tension as we try to figure out what has happened to Jenna.

8. Paragraph Writing Activity
Choose ONE of the language features we have discussed.
Write a paragraph explaining HOW that language feature helps us to understand Jenna.
Your paragraph should follow the structure below;
Statement- topic sentence including key words from the question
Example- a quote from the text that supports your point.
Explanation- explain how this quote/the language feature helps us to understand Jenna.
Link- to the wider world, why is this relevant to us today?