Significant Cigarettes

"near the back". "huddled against the window" "pulled low over his eyes" (4 points)
Line Number (s): 1

1. choice of language

2. creates the feeling that he is cut off and antisocial.

3. This isn't a trip for pleasure and enjoyment, simply something that has to be done.

4. He isn't expecting to make friends, simply get through.

"scorched dry by the harsh wind" (2 points)
Line Number (s):2-3

1. Sensory language

2. symbolic or reflects the harsh life he has lived

Evidence: "sunflowers scorched". "garlic growing green" (3 points)
Line Number (s):2-3

1. Alliteration

2. Draws attention to the rural scenery

3. rhythm created that is reminiscent of coach moving

syndetic listing (2 points)
Line Number (s): 5

1. syndetic listing

2. impact of this and no descriptive words is a feeling of simple, ordinary clothes.

"grey toned from his smoking" (3 points)
Line Number (s):6

1. descriptive language

2. shows he has had a harsh life and has an addiction to cigarettes

3. makes him seem older than the description of his clothes does.

"clutched" (3 points)
Line Number (s): 6

1. Vocabulary choice

2. shows he is feeling nervous or anxious

3. holding on to last physical vestiges of the life he is leaving behind.

"Russian cigarettes" (4 points)
Line Number (s): 7

1. Word choice

2. shows they are from his home, and he is holding onto them tight.

3. Reflects his desire to hold on tight to his culture as a source of comfort as he has to leave home.

4. Shows us he is leaving because it is needed or he must not for pleasure or just because he wants to.

"I'm sorry but there is no smoking allowed on the bus." (3 points)

1. Dialogue

2. shows Lydia is a direct, confident character.

3. Lev's refusal to engage in a conversation but his willingness to comply shows his desire to remain alone and that he is not an unpleasant man.

"even an unlit cigarette was a companion" (3 points)

1. Metaphor

2. highlights that he is lonely

3. however, he doesn't want to talk Lydia at this point, the companions he would want have been left at home whilst he has to leave.

"fifty hours or more". "like a married couple (4 points)
Line Number (s):17,18

1. Simile on line 18

2. shows that they would be uncomfortably intimate for the length of the long journey.

3. Like a married couple in physically how close they are but at the end they would leave and there is no expectation of emotional intimacy.

4. That kind of physical proximity with a stranger would feel uncomfortable.

"They would hear each other's snores and sighs,.......make short forays into conversation." (2 points)

1. Asyndetic listing

2. This mirrors the length of the journey and how it will be broken into chunks.

"each alone and beginning a new life" (3 points)
Line Number (s): 22-23

1. A level of emotive and hyperbolic language

2. they aren't being reborn literally but the language shows the scale of the change.

3. It also shows that despite not knowing each other, they have this as a shared experience.

"break his back" (2 points)
Line Number (s): 24-25

1. Alliteration

2. draws attention to the hardship he imagines is in his future.

"-if only that work could be found" (3 points)

1. punctuation -

2. highlights the uncertainty of finding work.

3. He doesn't have employment to go to, but believes that he will be able to earn more and provide a better life for his daughter in England-but this is an unknown and a risk.

"he didn't need to belong, that his heart remained in his own country" (3 points)
Line Number (s): 26-27

1. emotional language, word choice

2. he is here for the work and to make money, not to become part of a new country, he has a home and it is Russia.

3. the see of the word 'need' implies that whilst it isn't necessary he might like or want to feel like he belonged but was worried that as an immigrant he wouldn't be and he would be on the outskirts of everything.

"see wild flowers on a verge" (3 points)
Line Number (s): 30-31

1. symbolic description

2. symbolising things that are out of reach.

3. Just as the wild flowers are out of reach of the passengers having their short rest, so his home is becoming out of reach to him as he moves further away

"herded" (3 points)
Line Number (s): 33

1. verb choice

2. this is a verb that is associated with animals like cattle and is dehumanising.

3. It makes the passengers seem like mindless livestock being moved at the will of the coach drivers.

"There would be times when the journey would seem to have no end" (2 points)
Line Number (s): 35-36

1. Hyperbole

2. Communicates how long the journey seems to Lev and how great the distance away from his family is.

"when his wife was dying..." "Lev had slept on a rag rug beside his daughter's bed..." (3 points)
Line Number (s): 38-48

1. Flashback

2. Uses the flashback to show the reader more about Lev and why it is hard for him to be on this journey

3. It shows that he is a man who cares deeply for his family and is willing to endure hardships for them.

"storks" (4 points)
Line Number (s): 54, 58

1. Symbolism and irony

2. The use of storks first is as a symbol of eternal life and wishing for his wife to remain alive

3. and then later showing how ironically Lev had become like a migratory stork, leaving his home.

4. There is also the hidden hope that like the stork, he might return.

"My name is Lev," (3 points)
Line Number (s): 60

1. direct speech

2. Despite initial impressions that Lev wished to remain isolated, here he is directly introducing himself to Lydia.

3. Perhaps the memory of his wife and daughter are making him want to seek some form of companionship on this journey, however fleeting.

"I became tired of seeing the view from my window" (4 points)
Line Number (s): 71

1. Explaining via direct speech

2. Lydia is leaving because she found her life, with a steady job, monotonous

3. in contrast to Lev who has been forced to leave because he doesn't have a job good enough to support his family.

4. Lydia's question at the end "I expect you understand what you mean" is ironic because of this contrast in reasons.

"and". "and the" (2 points)
Line Number (s): 72-73

1. asyndetic listing

2. creates the impression of a boring, monotonous life.

"I am legal" (4 points)
Line Number (s): 83

1. Direct speech

2. Shows Lev practicing phrases he has learned.

3. They are all basic and this one shows that he expects to encounter some issues with xenophobic attitudes in England.

4. This shows he wants to be prepared for his new life but also that in his naivety he thinks this will be sufficient language to help him get a better job- his opportunities will be limited.

"I am lost." (3 points)
Line Number (s):

1. direct speech, metaphor

2. More phrases he can say that he is practicing with Lydia.

3. This one reflects his internal state of mind

"Bee-and-bee." "to be or not to be" (3 points)
Line Number (s): 87-88

1. similar sounding phrases with two very different meanings
   E: (given on front)

2. Lydia's meaning links to Shakespeare whereas Lev's is about a source of cheap overnight accommodation with breakfast.

3. This shows the difference in their experience of English culture.

"they ran out of trees" (3 points)
Line Number (s): 108

1. simple statement, direct speech

2. This shows a modern problem of deforestation, a cause for global concern, that is for Lev simply about not having a job

3. his concern is on his immediate survival not on deforestation or climate change.

"coal fire". "tall house". "rain falling outside". "red buses" (4 points)
Line Number (s): 112-113

1. sensory description

2. It is a very stereotypical and naive view of what Lev expects England to be like.

3. He doesn't really know what he is getting into or about what England is really like.

4. He is likely to be unprepared for the difficulties he will encounter.

"clothes, shoes, books, toys, everything." (4 points)

1. asyndetic listing and hyperbole

2. The asyndetic listing shows the needs of his daughter

3. creates a feeling of endlessness to what he must provide for her.

4. The use of the word 'everything' is hyperbolic and reflects the enormity of providing for his daughter and how this feels vast and never ending for Lev.

"England is my hope." (3 points)
Line Number (s): 115-116

1. short, simple sentence

2. emphasises how much rests on Lev finding a job and being successful in England.

3. Everything relies on this risk paying off.

"yearning in his lungs and his blood". "hands grew fidgety" "tremor in his legs" (3 points)
Line Number (s): 122-123

1. list

2. reveals signs of addiction to cigarettes.

3. As cigarettes were a symbol of home earlier in the writing it could also allude to how much he already longs to be home.

"How long before the next gas stop? It could be four or five hours." (3 points)
Line Number (s): 123-124

1. Hypophora

2. By asking and immediately answering a question the writer shows Lev's increasing impatience with the length and duration of the journey.

3. Lev is anxious about the unknown and wants to get to England so he can begin finding a job and finding his way in his new country.