carter p1

1

Carter introduces Uncle Philip before his face is described. He appears first as "the immense, overwhelming figure of a man," blocking the head of the stairway, backlit so that "Melanie could not see his face": the structural force comes before the individual, Phillip is a silhouette of authority occupying the domestic space he controls

2

Uncle Philip stands at the top and Finn and Melanie ascend towards him which enacts the hierarchy between them. The vegetable simile of the "watch" being "round turnip-shaped" makes it seem absurd while its reference also signals that time in this household is Uncle Philip's property,

3

he decides what constitutes as lateness, and therefore what deserves punishment. This grotesque combination of the ridiculous and the oppressive is something Phillip has been allowed to embody unchallenged, due to the authority provided by financial structures of the household.