Original Writing Coursework Commentary Mysterious Island is an extract from a novel, in the style of Dennis Lehane, and so contains many aspects of a thriller, horror novel.

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Original Writing Coursework Commentary

        

Mysterious Island is an extract from a novel, in the style of Dennis Lehane, and so contains many aspects of a thriller, horror novel. It employs a semantic field of horror, created through the use of the noun phrase “intensified wind”, and the nouns “beast” and “petrified” these are predicative adjectives which suggest fear and uncertainty. The first chapter of a novel aims to set the scene and introduce the main character. Mysterious Island does this through elevated vocabulary, such as the pre-modifier “howling” which creates a tense atmosphere and the use of figurative devices such as the personification of the trees: “the trees watched her every move, whispering in to the wild winds”. The alliteration of the consonant ‘w’ in this complex sentence starting to develop the main character’s fear whilst the imagery suggests she is being watched – a repeated motif in the chapter. The island is described as “isolated” and “uninhabitable” these adjectives both creating the necessary atmosphere for a thriller, needed to create suspense. This also adds to the cliff-hanger ending when it is revealed that she is not alone on the island.

The audience for the novel would be adults and this is reflected in the themes of the extract: isolation and predators. Also the protagonist is in her mid-twenties and has had a relationship that has led her to be “banished” which is an emotive verb. Although it is purposely not revealed to add an element of mystery to the character that will be explored as the novel develops. The alliterative of her banishment with the ‘bleak’ island has the purpose of suggesting to the reader that the woman is in a difficult situation, this is further conveyed by the descriptive adjective “intensified”.  

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The opening chapter sets a tense atmosphere through the rest of the extract by using imagery and metaphors, “whispering in to the wild winds”. This allows the reader to get a thorough image in their views of Stacy that she is in a terrible place, which will add tension to the extract this could also mean that she in a calm environment as she can hear the winds; the novel starts with a declarative sentence “it was nightfall”. This creates a tense mood to suggest that something could happen as the nightfall is the typical time for dangers to ...

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