The use of a specific time, ‘the third week in June, and there it is again’ is to bring a sense of realism to the text, which also acts as a basis in which the reader can craft a picture of what the narrator is so mysteriously but vividly describing. The abrupt sentence ‘and there it is again…’ also make the reader feel more involved as it seems that the narrator is talking directly to them.
Frayn makes it clear that the undiscovered aroma is of great importance in connecting the narrators adulthood with his childhood ‘and for a moment I’m a child again…’ this is clear to the reader that it’s likely that the body of the text will be based around this particular aroma that brings back all of the ‘frightening’ ‘half-understood…’ things about his childhood.
The descriptions of the narrators street is to encourage the reader to experience the things the narrator is seeing, smelling and feeling, the ‘warm evening air’ and ‘well ordered gardens’, both of which give a description of something that can be related to. This gives the reader the opportunity to feel involved with the scene and the sense’ that the narrator is experiencing. This is an effective technique used by Frayn as he is inviting the reader to imagine a nice quiet peaceful scene in mid summer, he uses this to give the reader a physical place to build from. He also gives the indication that something is not right ‘everything’s before me- all the half-understood promise of life.’ It indicated the feeling that some events that have passed have not been understood or defined.
The narrator portrays his sense of unease in the second paragraph by telling the reader that the aroma ‘must come from one of the gardens. Which one? I can never trace it.’ this fragmented sentence gives the reader the feeling that the narrator is directly talking to them, asking them in the hope of some clarity, to have the reader feel the same confusion and unease that he is experiencing. He segregates the aroma from other smells around him that are common in his area ‘it’s not like the heartbreaking, tender sweetness of the lime blossom, for which this city’s known.’ This tells the reader that this particular smell is out of place amongst the familiar smells.
The reader is then offered the question ‘I feel… what? A restlessness.’ The narrator is encouraging the reader to realise that this will be the basis of the journey of re-discovery. Frayn uses ellipses to depict that the narrator is struggling to verbalise the answers to which he seeks. This again gives realism to the text, creating once more a feeling of involvement for the reader as the narrator appears to be talking directly with them.
The narrator goes on to mention that he is ‘longing to be over the woods at the end of the street and away, away’, then in contradiction ‘a kind of homesickness for where I am.’ This highlights his mental state by emphasizing that he doesn’t know what he wants’ or needs to do. This increases the reader’s confusion which in turn entices them to continue reading to find out what all of the unease and confusion is based upon.
Frayn concludes the second paragraph with a suspenseful statement that is to become one of the many cliffhangers that Frayn employs throughout the novel. ‘I have a feeling that something, somewhere, has been left unresolved, that some secret thing in the air around me is still waiting to be discovered.’ This informs the reader that the narrator is about to embark on a journey of self-fulfilment and discovery.
In conclusion the theme, language and context in which Frayn uses these two paragraphs are very effective in giving the reader a sense of belonging within the text. In my opinion this is a great technique as the reader feels involved in the story from the start, thus enticing them to continue into the main body of the text.
