Between a Rock and a Hard Place Flashcards

"Get your hand out of there!" "Come on...move!"

Direct speech - emphasises his panic and isolation.

"Fear shoots my hand up over my head." "The backlit chockstone

falling towards my head consumes the sky."

Personification - both feelings and boulder to highlight feelings of shock and terror.

"In slow motion: the rock smashes my left hand...."

Long sentence - creates tention for reader and highlights how time slows down.

"Then silence." "But I'm stuck." "Nothing."

Short sentences - hoplessness of situation

"The boulder then crushes my right hand and ensnares my right

arm." "My flaring agony throws me into a panic" "Tearing skin"

Emotive language emphasises horror and pain of situation. Gruesome image of injuries and adds to tention.

"I grimace and growl" "Good god, my hand."

Alliteration - shock and pain.

"This technique is known as stemming or chimneying." "Another refrigerator chockstone."

Jargon - experienced

"Fear shoots my hands over my head." "agony throws me into a panic," "anxiety has my brain tweaking,"

Passive voice - loss of control due to fear. Shift from active to passive highlights loss of control, creating tention.

"I press" "I lower" "I kick" "I squat" "I can"

Active voice - in control.

"I grimace and growl"

"Good god, my hand."

guttural Alliteration - fear has made him animistic.

' I shove against the large bolder, heaving against it, pushing with my left hand, lifting with my knees pressed under the rock.' "Nothing,"

Build up + asyndeton (which shows frantic efforts) before "nothing" creates hope and feeling of desperation. Nothing comes as a shock and emphasises hopelessness.

Structure

Tention and drama builds as you read . Opening paragraphs are matter-of-fact (ordinary day) Then language becomes powerful and emotive.

"I cry out..." "I grimace and growl..'

Elipsis used to create suspense and show his uncertainty about what to do - chaotic thought process and desperation + partial disconnect from reality/ senses?

"It supports me but teeters slightly"

Not in total control - suspense and shows his vulnerability

'akin to climbing down the roof of the house,' - 'dangle'

turning point

'I come to another drop off'

present tense

"It supports me but teeters slightly"

"As I dangle, I feel the stone respond to my adjusting grip with a scraping quake."

Verbs emphasise precariousness

'The next three seconds play out at a tenth of their normal speed. Time dilates, as if I'm dreaming, and my reactions decelerate.'

Temporal language emphasises how everything is slowing down and his sense of helplessness

The rock smashes my left hand against the south wall; my eyes register the collision, and I yank my left arm back as the rock ricochets; the boulder then crushes my right hand and ensnares my right arm at the wrist, palm in, thumb up, fingers extended; the rock slides another foot down the wall with my arm in tow, tearing the skin off the lateral side of my forearm.'

list emphasises traumatic time since he remembers all of it and also gives it a slow motion effect.

'Then silence.'

minor sentance used directly after complex list to juxtapose with it and highlight the complete shock of the events and allow reader to process.

"The boulder then

crushes my right hand

and ensnares my right

arm....My flaring agony throws

me into a panic...Tearing skin"

emotive language