The Explorer's Daughter

By Kari Herbert

“…plumes of spray from the narwhal catching the light in the spectral play…” (line 3)

• beautiful image

spectral play :

• rhyme in spray → supernatural, ghostly, elusive

• poetic → show grateful and intelligence

“… but always slowly, methodically passing each other day…” (line 5)

• (methodically) intelligence

• increase tension (adverb)

“…I looked across the glittering kingdom in front of me and took a sharp intake of breath…” (line 6)

glittering kingom:

• metaphor

• magical/majesty → more visual adjectives, stressing the beauty of the scene; cruel to kill the narwhal in where they belong

took a sharp intake of breath:

• in awe

• (the writer) is moved by the scene

“… evening light was turning butter-gold, glinting off man and whale…” (line 8)

• romanticized

• more intense compound adjective

• juxtaposition

• equals

'“… hunters were close enough to touch the narwhal with their bare hands and yet they never moved…” (line 10-11)

• life/death

close enough to touch:

• don’t hide

• hesitate to kill

narwhal:

• links back to her culture

bare hands:

• know when to attack

• stay still and are courageous as they don’t get scared at attempt to move

• calm before the disaster

never moved:

• no protection

• go in with only themselves and their skill to save them

“…and I fell to wondering if the narwhal existed at all or were instead mischievous tricks of the shifting light…” (line 11-12)

• summarize and conclusion

• dream-like

paragraph 1&2

one: literary style

two: factual/ detached tone

“the narwhal … is an essential contributor to the survival of the hunters in the High Arctic…” (line 17)

• culture

narwhal:

• essential food source in their culture, what they rely on

essential:

• they live on the narwhal for both meat to eat and other parts to sell

survival of the hunters:

• hunt to survive

• their culture hasn’t advanced, they still live off land and not technology

High Arctic:

• where their culture is located, far away from industrialization, hence why they ‘live off the land’

“…the women clustered on the knoll of the lookout, binoculars pointing in every direction…” (line 33)

• roles of man and woman

women:

• have different roles in keeping the family alive

clustered:

• quite panicked

• worried for their husband’s safety

• important event

knoll:

• technical language → references back to their culture

“…spinning around at a small gasp or jump as one of the…” (line 35)

suspense

“…it was crucial to her that her husband catch a narwhal…” (line 36-37)

• dependency

crucial:

• big sense of dependency

• language choice

husband:

• dependent on their husbands’ success for the whole family survival

“…it was part of their staple diet, and some of the mattak and meat could be sold…” (line 37-38)

big sense of dependency

“Every hunter hunter was on the water…” (line 39)

important event

“It was like watching a vast, waterborne game…” (line 39-40)

simile → anticipation

“…are intelligent creatures, their senses are keen and they talk to one…” (line 41)

• informative

• suspense

“That … was why the hunters had to sit so very still in the water” (line 43-44)

• suspense

• courage

• refer back to the first paragraph

… (ellipse)

• represents how still they are waiting for time to pass

• emphasis the seriousness of the situation

still in the water

• highly dangerous

• shows their courage to get so close to the narwhals

“..my heart leapt for both hunter and narwhal…” (line 46)

hyperbole

“This dilemma stayed with me the whole time that I was in Greenland” (line 52)

• ethical dilemma

dilemma:

• conflict

• dilemma to stick with her cultural roots

the whole time:

• can’t figure it out

• stays with her always

Greenland:

• her original homeland/ culture

“How can you possibly eat seal?” (line 55)

addresses reader’s concerns

“Hunting is still an absolute necessity in Thule.” (line 63)

• assertion

• confident tone

• poverty

• extreme adjective

hunting:

• primary job

• work traditionally to get food

• can’t afford to get it in any other way

absolute necessity:

• live on what they catch