CHAPTER 6

Stephens feelings at the

start of the chapter
 LO1 To be able to identify a range of stylistic features
LO2 To be able to analyse how writers use stylistic
features convincingly to evoke a characters emotions
Starter
1. Which stylistic feature does Frayn use five times in a
row to open Chapter 6?
2. Why do you think he chooses to use this?
Hint: What does it reveal about Stephens state of mind at this
point in the novel (indirect characterisation)
LO1 To be able to identify a range of
stylistic features

List the stylistic features that you can identify in the

following description on page 113:

Theres a strange light flooding around the edges of the

blackout. I get up and slip my head under the blind. The
dull, familiar world outside, I discover, has been
transformed. The tangle of bushes in our front garden and
the frontages of the houses opposite are picked out,
against a background of velvet darkness, in the most
delicately brilliant and unearthly white. Theres absolute
stillness, absolute silence. Its as if the Close had become
a picture of itself, or as if the ethereal chiming of the
Haywards clocks had been caught and preserved as a
silent shape in space.
 personification

Theres a strange light flooding

around the edges of the blackout. I
get up and slip my head under the
Visual blind. The dull, familiar world outside,
imagery; I discover, has been transformed. The Visual and
metaphor tangle of bushes in our front garden tactile
and the frontages of the houses imagery;
opposite are picked out, against a noun phrase;
background of velvet darkness, in the synesthesia
anaphora
most delicately brilliant and unearthly asyndeton
white. Theres absolute stillness,
simile absolute silence. Its as if the Close
had become a picture of itself, or as Simile;
if the ethereal chiming of the auditory
Haywards clocks had been imagery;
caught and preserved as a silent synesthes
shape in space. (p.113) ia
New Stylistic Features?
Anaphora the beginning of a word or phrase at the start of
successive clauses within a complex sentence or at the start of
successive sentences
Theres absolute stillness, absolute silence.
Asyndeton the omission or absence of a conjunction between
parts of a sentence, as in I came, I saw, I conquered.
Theres absolute stillness, absolute silence.
We would expect the coordinating conjunction and to be added here.
Synesthesia a condition in which one type of stimulation
evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound
produces the visualization of a color or shape. Sensory interplay.
as if the ethereal chiming of the Haywards clocks had been caught
and preserved as a silent shape in space.
Here, Stephen mixes the sensation of sound with sight: silent shape
Page 113 Reflection
What is the significance of the light?
How is it presented? Look closely at the adjectives that modify it
How does it impact on Stephen?
What could it symbolise?
Over to you
Carefully read pages 114 Were halfway through the
lunar calendar to page 118 into the booming darkness
of the tunnel

As you read, annotate (underline / highlight + label) all

of the strategies and stylistic features Frayn uses in
order to evoke Stephens fear as he undergoes his one
single heroic deed.
Anaphora Rhetorical Hyperbole Auditory Declarative
I have identified the
Question
following. You may wish to
imagery
use this as a
statement
reference. You may wish to add more categories if you find any.
Ellipsis Phrases for Tactile imagery Kinesthetic Synesthesia
sentences (a image
phrase lacks a
main verb)
Visual imagery Onomatopoeia Simile Personification Alliteration

Exclamatory Sibilance Italics Hyphen Short, clipped

statement sentences
Anaphora Rhetorical Question Hyperbole Auditory imagery Declarative
statement

Ellipsis Phrases for sentences Tactile imagery Kinesthetic image Synesthesia

(a phrase lacks a main
verb)

Visual imagery Onomatopoeia Simile Personification Alliteration

Exclamatory Sibilance Italics Hyphen Short, clipped

Statement sentences
Anaphora Rhetorical Hyperbole Auditory imagery Declarative
I should climb [] Question I feel as if my I can hear my statement
I should take it [...] And what am I heads going to teeth rattling the delicate white
I should perform going to do? burst together world around me
[...] I should go But how can we I shall die of fear The murmur of the evaporates
through [...] possibly proceed if I charged with that telegraph wires The box has
Some of it smooth, dont tell him this unbearable cold There is no sound something in it.
some of it fibrous at once? electricity At any moment
he trees the moons going to
come out again
Yes, I know what
this is.
Ellipsis Phrases for Tactile imagery Kinesthetic image Synesthesia
If only I had a knotted sentences (a phrase [..] keep touching the Very slowly I ease back [] a darkness whose
rope lacks a main verb) slime on the walls the bolt. Still shaking shape is defined entirely
something wrong Her stupid stories about harsh brickwork I snatch my hand away by sound
with the sound of his mother and his rusty links The sound of breathing wet blackness
aunt. broken stalks continues. Theres something odd
it...whats wrong is
On my own. metallic smoothness Another faint sound. about the blackness -
that there is no hard interior A bodys squeezing something wrong with
sound The stirring of the
leaves in the trees along A dry, cool softness inder them the sound of it
Cloth, yes...A lot of rough to the touch sharp, raucous gasp The texture of the
the lane
cloth.Different sorts of Some of it smooth [] I hear him scrambling darkness around me
Nothing else.
cloth... A dry, cool softness. fibrous back I can hear the size of
Something about the Some sort of cloth. him.
sound of the world... booming darkness of
the tunnel

Visual imagery Onomatopoeia Simile Personification Alliteration

reflected disc of water plopping rattling together like serene white face no moon to whiten
silver-grey scutterings and dice riding full and round the world
The shiny underside splashings as immobile as a cool breath of air The darkness
as it turns catches a rustle stone stirs, and the moon dissolves
faint gleam of light murmur sails behind a cloud
A flood of moonlight. barking the sigh of the wires
sigh
Exclamatory Sibilance Italics Hyphen Short, clipped
statement The stirring of the the sound of it Its a man I can sentences
Shes his mother! leaves in tress there is no sound hear the maleness. I cant move. I cant
stylistic features convincingly to evoke a
characters emotions
You need to add the noun for the
emotion you feel is evoked strongly in
the extract (fear / confusion /
anxiety
Question: How does Frayn evoke Stephens emotions vividly for the
readers to understand?

Select 3 of your strongest pieces of textual evidence (aim for one from
different categories and from different points in the extract)
Analyse them, so that you are able to explain how the quotation
enables Frayn to evoke Stephens feeling to the reader. Remember to
identify which stylistic feature Frayn is using.
Example: Throughout this extract, Frayn evokes a sense of Stephens confusion.
He achieves this through Stephens use of synesthesia. For example. Another
way Frayn is able to share Stephens feeling of confusion is through....
Example: Throughout this extract, Frayn captures a sense of Stephens
confusion. He evokes this through Stephens use of tactile imagery. For
example. Another way Frayn is able to communicate Stephens feeling of
confusion is through....

Attempt the sentences in blue for extra

challenge
Plenary
Students peer assess, commenting on how well students
have answered the question with deep analysis of
stylistic features.
Read aloud any particularly good practice as identified
by students.