explorers daughter Flashcards
(3 cards)
first
Firstly, Herbert interests the reader by presenting the beauty of the narwhals and their natural habitats at the start of the text.
Visual imagery “glittering kingdom” shows how the writer was in awe of the natural surrounding”
Narwal spray is described as “Catching a light in a spectral of colour” – this adds a mythical quality to the description.
-The Juxtaposition between the adverbs used to describe the Narwal moving “slowly” and “Methodically” and the writer “scrambling back” serves to highlight her excitement
2nd
The ethical dilemma of hunting narwhal
-The men are always called “The hunters” which makes them anonymous and emphasises how they are defined by this role.
-The use of the simile “It was like watching a vast, waterborne game” is undercut by the simile of “The hunters spread like a net”- this reminds the reader the purpose and intent of the hunt which is to kill the Narwhal
-The juxtaposition of how she “Urged the man on in my head, but my heart also urged the Narwhal to dive,” this shows her contrasting feelings about the hunt
3rd
Showing the necessity for hunting for the survival of the Inuit’s
The final single clause sentence sums up the writers thoughts in a strong way, she says “Hunting is still an absolute necessity for the Thule”
-The writer understands the “Harshness of life in the Arctic” this shows that she understands the necessity of hunting due to the harsh environment that they live in
-The final paragraph has a much calmer tone, with phrases such as “I understand” and the use of impersonal “one cannot afford to be sentimental in the arctic”. The fact that this paragraph is also at the end places emphasis on it and it also shows that is her concludive thoughts.
