SST - Brooklyn Cop

Question 1

“Timid”

Answer 1

• Word choice
• has connotations of shy, quiet and anxious.
• (By saying the cop is “less timid” than a gorilla which is not at all shy or quiet), it suggests the cop is particularly aggressive and intimidating.

Question 2

“Plunge”

Answer 2

• Word choice
• has connotations of immersed or fully committed - which suggests the cop immediately takes action and gets involved in the violence on the streets.

Question 3

“Nightstick”

Answer 3

• Word choice
• has connotations of violence and instilling fear
• which suggests arming the cop with a weapon makes him even more threatening and scary.

Question 4

“Victims”

Answer 4

• Word choice
• has connotations of helpless and innocent
• which suggests those that encounter the cop deserve sympathy as they are being treated badly possibly for no reason.

Question 5

“Built like a gorilla”

Answer 5

• Imagery: Simile
• the cop is being compared to a gorilla.
• Just as a gorilla is powerful and intimidating so the cop is big, strong and threatening. This suggests the cop is quite scary.

Question 6

“Two hieroglyphs on his face that mean/ trouble”

Answer 6

• Imagery: Metaphor
• the cop’s eyes are being compared to hieroglyphs.
• Just as hieroglyphs are ancient Egyptian writing that is unreadable so the cop’s eyes are emotionless and indecipherable. This suggests the cop is difficult to read and you don’t know what he is thinking.

Question 7

“The thin tissue over violence”

Answer 7

• Imagery: Metaphor
• the line between violence and peace is being compared to a thin tissue.
• Just as a tissue is very weak and fragile so the line between peace and violence is easily broken. This suggests that violence in the city is regular and often happens.

Question 8

“He hoped it, he truly hoped it”

Answer 8

• Structure: repetition
• repetition of “hoped” - emphasises how much the cop wants to get home to his wife at the end of the day because his job is dangerous and he is constantly putting himself at risk.

Question 9

“Whose home is a place/ he might, this time, never get back to?”

Answer 9

• Structure: parenthesis, rhetorical question, metaphor
• The parenthesis of “this time” emphasises the uncertainty and danger the cop faces on a daily basis, that there is always a chance he will be killed in the line of duty. Rhetorical question is used to make the reader think about how dangerous the cop’s job really is and makes us feel sympathy for him that he is constantly putting himself at risk in order to help others.

Question 10

“And who would be who have to be/ his victims?”

Answer 10

• Structure: rhetorical question, enjambment.
• The rhetorical question forces the reader to think about the people the cop encounters as part of his job and how well he treats them. By calling them “victims” it suggests he perhaps does more harm than good and deals with them in a violent way.