Chapter 1

flashback

\-juxtaposes novel’s setting

\-helps present dilapidation of Hundreds Hall/ ‘see’ the two diff conditions

\-contrasts classes (narrator lc childhood/ mc dr in adulthood)

symbolism:‘no trips inside’

represents seperations of classes in england during pre/interwar period

hundred’s hall

\-almost a character

\-first thing narrator speaks abt> nor Ayres fam who live there

\-shows materialistic

\-trying to learn ways of upper class to fit in

\-aspiration?

semantic field of aesthetically pleasing words: ‘lovely red bricks’/ ‘handsome family’/ ‘ribbons’

readers view hundreds hall (and owners) as a beckoning place- piques curiosity

oxymoron: ‘impressed me terribly’

emphasising his pleasure

milieu

\-upper class rural setting through the eyes of a working class child

\-all audiences regardless of class see it as if they were lower class

authorial voice: ‘I was an obedient child’

\-waters has her narrator address an unseen listener meaning that Faraday is conscious of being read

\-this may make him less reliable/ prone to giving a favourable presentation of himself

repetition: ‘thrill’

injects more risk/ provoke reader’s concern for his narrator’s theft of the ornamental acorn

symbolism: ‘acorn’

symbolises Faraday’s ambition; using a seemingly trivial event to show how oblivious he is to his ambition which will swell to a devastating size (like an oak tree- largest tree in engl)

unreliable narrator

\-justifies vandalism of acorn

\-honest abt motivations or says what make him look good?

symbolism: ‘the acorn was put on a fire’

symbolism for decline/ financial ruin of house which was to follow