Nathalie Zheng IB2        English A1 SL 20100904

The extract, titled ”Feet”, from the novel Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane, depicts a young boy observing the passing of his younger sister. While being crouched under the table and shrouded behind a tablecloth, the boy is merely a spectator of the situation. While contemplating the pairs of feet of his family members, the narrator interprets the events taking place with the use of imagery, metaphor and similes.

The passage is written in a first person narration which gives the reader the effect of a more personal and intimate tone, mainly due to the fact that the boy is taking a passive stand but at the same time being an observer of the scenario. Although, there is no direct reference to the boy’s emotional state, the author instead attempts to convey the emotions of the young boy indirectly through his dog, Smoky, who was whimpering and dreading the inevitable death of Una. The narrator tries to elude himself from the ongoing actions that are taking place by becoming “deaf to their words and alert to their noise”, every time his dog would start to quiver. The boy instead tries to divert his attention to the sound and movement of the other characters’ feet.

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The thematic focus lies within death and the oncoming loss of a beloved family member. The narrator shows familiarity with other illnesses, which implies them to be an ordinary element to his life. Humor is faintly used as the young boy recollects the illnesses one by one, while connecting the names of the different diseases with “Italian football players or racing drivers or opera singers”, giving a somewhat ironic effect to the grievous situation. Simultaneously the author uses a slightly comical imagery by ridiculing the mumps as well as drawing a comparison between the swelling caused by meningitis with “helium ...

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