SST - Visiting Hour

Question 1

“Corpse”

Answer 1

• Word choice
• has connotations of dead, soulless
• which suggests that the essence of the person has left and is no longer human. This highlights that the speaker is feeling negative and sees death wherever he looks.

Question 2

“Lightly, swiftly”

Answer 2

• Word choice
• has connotations of elegance, efficiency which suggests the nurses know their way around the hospital well, they don’t have time to waste and are purposeful and focused. This contrasts with the speaker who is heavy and lethargic as they don’t want to be there.

Question 3

“Wasted”

Answer 3

• Word choice
• has connotations of decay or decomposition which suggests the patient is visibly getting thinner and weaker because of her illness.

Question 4

“Growing fainter”

Answer 4

• Word choice
• has connotations of blurred, fading or distant which suggests the speaker is leaving his loved one’s bedside, but is could also suggest he feels unwell as he is overwhelmed by his emotions.

Question 5

“Fruitless fruits”

Answer 5

• Word choice
• is an oxymoron which has connotations of a lack of reward or purpose which suggests the speaker is feeling hopeless at the end of the visit, that it has been pointless as the gifts he has brought are useless.

Question 6

“Combs my nostrils as they go bobbing along green and yellow corridors”

Answer 6

• Imagery
• The hospital smell is being compared to a comb. Just as a comb catches each hair individually as you use it, so the smell reaches into the speaker’s nostrils touches each part. This suggests the speaker feels overwhelmed by the smell and feels it is overpowering every other one of his senses.
• The speaker’s movements are being compared to a boat on water. Just as a boat bobbing on water moves without fixed purpose or control, so the speaker feels overwhelmed and out of control due to his conflicting emotions as he moves through the hospital.

Question 7

“A withered hand trembles on its stalk”

Answer 7

• Imagery
• The patient is being compared to a dying flower. Just as a dying flower is dehydrated and brittle, so the patient’s arm is getting thinner and more frail due to the length of her illness. This suggests the patient is gradually fading and possibly dying as once a flower withers it cannot be brought back to health.

Question 8

“A glass fang is fixed, not guzzling but giving”

Answer 8

• Imagery
• The IV drip is being compared to a vampire’s fang. Just as a vampire’s fang would pierce the skin in order for the vampire to suck blood from their victim, so the IV needle is attached to the patient in order to try and help her get better. This suggests a negative attitude to the treatment, that the speaker thinks it is invasive and that is doesn’t appear to be helping their loved one recover.

Question 9

“I will not feel, I will not/ feel, until/ I have to.”

Answer 9

• Structure
• Repetition: Emphasises that the writer is desperately trying to persuade himself that he is in control and is trying to appear strong for his sick relative. The repetition becomes a mantra that the speaker says over and over to himself as he makes his way through the hospital.
• Enjambment: Highlights the word choice of “not” which indicates how hard the speaker is working to contain their intense emotions. The technique also creates a disjointed structure to the stanza which matches the speaker’s struggles and his swirling, anxious thoughts.

Question 10

Here and up and down and there”

Answer 10

• Structure
• Inversion is used to suggest the nurses are busy and constantly moving in many different directions as they go wherever they are needed.
  Repetition of “and” further highlights the swift movements of the nurses and that they are always on the move. This helps to create a contrast between the speaker and the nurses as the speaker is moving slowing and is in turmoil, whereas the nurses are purposeful and focused.

Question 11

“Ward 7.”

Answer 11

• Structure
• Caesura marks a definite pause in the speaker’s journey as they have arrived at their destination within the hospital. They stop at the door of the ward because they are scared to enter. They don’t know if their loved one is even still alive and they know they are going to have to deal with the emotions they have previously been trying to suppress.