English ADV. Prelim Quotes and Techniques

What literary techniques are used in this quote from Crossing The Red Sea: ‘Voices left their caves…And silence fell from its shackles’,

Metaphor and allusion

What literary techniques are used in this quote from Crossing The Red Sea: ‘Patches and shreds…Of dialogue…Hung from fingertips’

Fragmented imagery

What literary techniques are used in this quote from Crossing The Red Sea: ‘I remember a field…Of red poppies, once behind the forest…When the full moon rose’.

Symbolism and tropes

Which analysis goes with this quote from Crossing The Red Sea: ‘Voices left their caves…And silence fell from its shackles’,

auditorially signifies the emotional revision required to confront the experiences of migration. The imagery of ‘shackles’ symbolises silence as both imprisonment and a form of security, demonstrating the difficulty of fracturing emotional suppression when past trauma makes communication feel forbidden.

Which analysis goes with this quote from Crossing The Red Sea: ‘Patches and shreds…Of dialogue…Hung from fingertips’

expels an image of fragmented voices, exhibiting migrants who share experiences of disconnection yet remain divided by differing cultural values. The action of hanging communication and ‘dialogue’ from fingertips evokes a sense of unfinished conversation, emphasising the struggle to transform silence into human connection through spoken and physical expression, such as sign language and other forms of physical transmission

Which analysis goes with this quote from Crossing The Red Sea: ‘I remember a field…Of red poppies, once behind the forest…When the full moon rose’.

The conveyance of a common literary trope ‘full moon’ symbolises the renewal of migration, emphasising the journey while demonstrating that silence conceals painful histories, and communication allows memory to survive and expand identity.

What literary techniques are used in this quote from Lion’s Dinner scene: “My little hobby” and “Cheeky little thing”

Indicative thoughts and Australian vernacular

What film techniques are used in this specific scene from Lion’s Dinner scene: The Brierley family (including Saroo’s girlfriend) sitting at their dinner table with warm lighting reflecting on their faces

Cutaway and Warm lighting

What film techniques are used in this specific scene from Lion’s Dinner scene: Shots of characters' faces, expressing their emotions based upon their differing reactions to Saroo’s words; “We’re different”

Medium shots

What film technique is used in this specific scene from Lion’s dinner scene: The absence of music in the background of the scene

Diagetic sound and the contrast with no non-diagetic sound.

Which analysis goes with this quote/scene from Lion’s dinner scene: Shots of characters' faces, expressing their emotions based upon their differing reactions to Saroo’s words; “We’re different”

Mantosh reacts to these circumstances with physical-self-harm, inflicting it upon himself as Sue tries to stop him and consolidate his substantial emotions. From Sue’s perspective, she appears to exclude her honest feelings upon her circumstances and emotionally manipulates herself to disregard the difficulty of taking in a child (Mantosh) with a tragic past. Mantosh’s substance abuse and inability to maintain an independent lifestyle appears as a burden to the Brierly family, however it is Saroo who verbally acknowledges his perspective aloud- representing a lack of communication in the Brierly family regarding the familial connection to Mantosh.

Which analysis goes with this quote/scene from Lion’s dinner scene: The Brierley family (including Saroo’s girlfriend) sitting at their dinner table with warm lighting reflecting on their faces

darkness encapsulates their warm atmosphere at the centre, foreshadowing to a foreboding darkness that eventually seeps into them

Which analysis goes with this quote/scene from Lion’s dinner scene: “My little hobby” and “Cheeky little thing”

Masks Mantosh’s personal issues that continuously influence his overall connection with his family and identity. Her language and utilisation of Australian vernacular alludes to her cultural values as a middle-class Australian, representing her privilege as she deals with Mantosh as a ‘hobby’ due to the time-consuming nature of his maintenance.

Which analysis goes with this quote/scene from Lion’s dinner scene: The absence of music in the background of the scene

Representative of voided communication, invoking silence and emphasising the complex nature of the mode of communication at the dinner table.

What literary techniques are used in this quote from Postcard: ‘Haunt…’ his memories ‘Warsaw: Panorama of the Old Town’,

Capitilisation and epiphet

What literary techniques are used in this quote from Postcard: ‘I never knew you…Except in the third person’

Personification and connotations

What literary techniques are used in this quote from Postcard: ‘I stare…At the photograph…And refuse to answer…The voices…Of red gables…And a cloudless sky’

Emjambment

Which analysis goes with this quote from Postcard:‘Haunt…’ his memories ‘Warsaw: Panorama of the Old Town’,

Skryznecki idealises and denotes a particular place that continues to reinforce the idealised nature of the town itself through a romanticised image that captures a commonly held perception of the town. The description of Warsaw as an ‘Old Town’ emphasises the aged and eroded traits of the place itself, symbolising the town's ruins and destructed environment as a recurring memory of the past.

Which analysis goes with this quote from Postcard: ‘I never knew you…Except in the third person’

Creates a significant bond and relationship between Skryznecki and the town, while simultaneously suggesting that he has only read/heard about the town through a third person perspective - influencing contemporary values of connections to a city. The continuous reinforcement of ‘I never knew you’ throughout the poem evokes a sense of nostalgia to somewhere that continuously haunts Skryznecki’s personal narrative, shifting how he perceives the concept of relating to a town he had never known.

Which analysis goes with this quote from Postcard:  ‘I stare…At the photograph…And refuse to answer…The voices…Of red gables…And a cloudless sky’

Emphasises the compression of Skryznecki’s thoughts and decisions to disregard them. His refusal ‘to answer’ the image conveyed on the photograph symbolises his inability to romanticise the ‘Old Town’ with knowledge of how time has inflicted a negative effect on it, influencing his memory and cultural values connected to the town. 

Which film technique goes with this quote/scene from Lion’s ending scene: Saroo embracing his mum in end scene

Dolly shot

Which film technique goes with this quote/scene from Lion’s ending scene: Piano riff in the background that is the same as the one at the end

Soundtrack/score

Which film technique goes with this quote/scene from Lion’s ending scene: Montage of memories at the end

Montage

Which analysis goes with this quote/scene from Lion’s ending scene: Saroo embracing his mum in end scene

In the ending scene of Lion, Saroo returns home to his mother and sister in an emotional scene, however representing a barrier both in language and mutual understanding of each other - as time has altered and eroded their memories of one another. As Saroo and his mother reconnect and combine in a powerful embrace, a dolly shot is utilised to capture their emotions and simulate the moment of reconnection.

Which analysis goes with this quote/scene from Lion’s ending scene: Piano riff in the background that is the same as the one at the end

During the unfolding scene, Saroo reminisces about his past and his memories merging as a whole, represented as a montage of memories that he had been disconnected from. As a soundtrack of the scene, a similar riff of a piano plays as a rolling tune to connect the viewer with memories of the beginning of the film, where the same piano riff had played - placing the audience into a sympathetic mindset of reconnecting with memories.

Which analysis goes with this quote/scene from Lion’s ending scene: Montage of memories at the end

Saroo’s recognition and grasp of his memories is fulfilled as he reunites with his biological family, although a feeling of disconnection and displacement is conveyed through the lack of direct communication and coherent dialogue between himself and his mother. Saroo has adopted an Australian and English-speaker identity over the course of time being absent from his home, but his pursuit of finding his origins complicates his identity and synthesises a barrier, both in language and overall identity, between Australian and Indian identification.