"A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat" - Annotations

Annotations for this Edexcel igcse text

“A Game of Polo with a headless goat”

Juxtaposing images - sophisticated vs barbaric, reflects contrast between writer and locals, text is written from a western perspective

“the ‘Wacky Races’”

reader expects something unusual, cartoony/chaotic, not taking the sport seriously, link to 1970s tv show for kids

“We’ll open the car boot…. we’ll join the cars”

Dialogue allows us to imagine the writer’s experience, shows how event is disorganised and haphazard

“‘But will you try and get to the front?’ ‘Oh yes, that’s no problem’”

Dialogue exchanges on one line make the text seem disorganised - very haphazard method of viewing the race

“We waited for eternity on the brow of the hill”

Hyperbole shows the writer’s impatience, contrast with ‘the lads’

“fired up with enthusiasm”

metaphor/idiom - contrast with writers impatience, ‘the lads’ are very happy to wait

“Nearly one hour later”

shows disorganisation, off the cuff decision

“villager on a wobbly bicycle, who nearly fell off as he cycled past”

slapstick irony/humour - anti-climax and dismissive tone

“I was beginning to lose faith in its happening, but the lads remained confident”

Further contrast between her and ‘the lads’ emotions

“Just as I was assuming…”

shows writer’s prejudice

“in front of a cloud of fumes and dust”

visual imagery, shows tension, idea of ‘coming storm’

“roaring” / “revved”

aural imagery

“were almost dwarfed by their entourage”

idiomatic phrase, suggests the scale of what is coming

“no denying their speed”

sense of shock, admits to prejudice

“said to achieve speeds of up to 40kph, and this looked close”

statistics show she is taking the race seriously, amazed by speed, followed by short clause showing her excitement

“neck-and-neck… perched on top of the tiny carts”

builds tension, shows skill of jockeys and risks they face.

“using their whips energetically, although not cruelly”

writer includes this clause to ensure reader does not condemn the jockeys

“horns tooting, bells ringing, special rattles used just for this purpose”

tricolon - imagery leads to overwhelming cacophony, present continuous tense verbs convey noise

“standing on” / “hanging out” / “perched on”

precarious images of danger

“exactly the right moment to edge out… swerve in front… perfect place to see”

verbs suggest his care and skill in driving, adverbs used link to this idea

“This was Formula One without rules”

metaphor, exhilarating and dangerous, sense of speed - gives sport credibility by comparing it to a respected global sport

“city centre rush hour gone anarchic”

shows the scale and aggression of the races

“relished this unusual test of driving skills”

emotive verb shows admiration for his skills, also ironic?

“cut in front” / “sharp flick” / “quick reflexes” / “spot a gap”

violent semantic field shows danger and his skill at driving, also irony is used as the writer spends more time describing the car entourage than the goats themselves

“It was survival of the fittest… and an effective horn.”

long complex sentence shows how much skill is needed to keep up, need to be alert

“oncoming traffic - for it was a main road - had to dive into the ditch”

image of danger, cartoonish image, separated clause highlights absurdity

“Yaqoob loved it”

emphasises how he enjoys the chaos - adds to contrast

“growing more colourful with every vehicle that tried to cut in front”

euphemism is used to create humour

“The race was over”

short sentence, conveys anti-climax, shows how suddenly the race ended

“And then the trouble began”

short minor sentence, another tonal shift - much more serious, sense of foreboding. Also ironic, we would think the end of the race would be the end of any trouble

"officials”

ironic tone, criticism of race management - takes away credibility

“over a hundred punters who had all staked money on the race”

statistics - large number of people with financial interest in the race

“Voices were raised, fists were out and tempers rising”

ascending tricolon - shows the build up of aggression

“Yaqoob and Iqbal were nervous of hanging around a volatile situation”

serious tone, contrast as throughout the text they have been carefree

“ordering me to stay inside the car”

modal verb reflects the serious tone

“swallowed up by the crowd”

metaphor - even they seem vulnerable/in danger, writer feels scared and isolated

“its starting to get nasty. I think we should leave”

dialogue also reflects serious tone

“But I don’t even have my licence yet because I’m underage!”

contextualises Yaqoob’s skill at driving - gives the reader further appreciation of his skills

“… could have caused problems”

humorous understatement - she wants to end the account with the suggestion that she will remember it fondly

Whole Text Structure

Sudden contrast in emotions - reflects the writers original condescending attitude; ironic description of trouble after the race