A game of polo with a headless goat

Question 1

the title relates to the common phrase

Answer 1

running around like a headless chicken

which relates to chaos

Question 2

plot

Answer 2

a crazy race which goes wrong at the end because there aren’t any rules. Meant to be funny at the end… but its not.

Question 3

Wacky races

Answer 3

allusion to a cartoon from the 70’s about a race with no rules The fact that this is a cartoon highlights how surreal the event and that it seems very different to any experience that the writers seen before. This comparison captures the colour and sense of frenzy and compete absence of rules as much of the cartoon was dominated by cheating

Question 4

‘horns tooting, bells ringing’

Answer 4

appeals to sounds
onomatopea
cacophony

Question 5

‘This was formula one without rules’

Answer 5

metaphor
emphasises the disorganised nature of the race, presents an image of pure chaos in the readers mind.

It hints at the danger and power of the donkeys and the speed of the race

it also hints at the prestige of the event and that it is considered an important sport by the locals

absence of rules again emphasises chaos

Question 6

City centre rush hour gone anarchic

Answer 6

Exaggerated reference to anarchy highlights the extent of the disorder

Question 7

‘funny’ part

Answer 7

one of the guys in the race didn’t have his licence so there is irony at the end that he was glad he didn’t tell him that before because an underaged driver in the donkey race could have caused problems.

Question 8

How does Lavigne help the reader to share her experience of the donkey race in Karachi? Para 1 she describes the madness of the race

Answer 8

• wacky races
• formula one without rules
• City centre rush-hour gone anarchic

Question 9

How does Lavigne help the reader to share her experience of the donkey race in Karachi? Para 2

Answer 9

Levine uses onomatopoeia and dynamic verbs to create a sense of the sounds and the speed of movement which helps the reader to share her experience

• horns tooting, bells ringing
• the veichle jostled
• Swerved
• dive in the ditch

Question 10

The veichle jostled

Answer 10

Personification of the vehicles to emphasise the amount of swerving and movement

Question 11

Swerved

Answer 11

Suggest that the driving was out of control and speed

Question 12

Dive In the ditch

Answer 12

The verb dive suggests desperation, which adds to the sense of drama. This is intensified by the effect of the alliteration

Question 13

How does Lavigne help the reader to share her experience of the donkey race in Karachi? Para 3

Answer 13

Uses long sentences to build up the momentum of the narrative and to mirror the speed and intensity of the race as it unfolds.

Uses hyphens to make sure the sentances appear disjointed and to create the impression that all of the events are happening at once at rapid speed

However she very so use of syntax so that shorter sentences convey abrupt changes to shock the reader and engage them in the event that on folding. For example “Yacoub loves it” the sentence “the race was over “also contrast strongly with a really long sentences and so it effectively Mirrors the sense of anti-climax and slowing down at the end of the race.