Nat 5 English - Aunt Julia Quotes

commonality

in 'Aunt Julia' Macaig uses his experience of not being able to communicate effectively with his gaelic aunt to explore central concerns of loss and death but also scottish culture and heritage, and our place in the world

'her strong foot' which was 'stained with peat'

word choice of 'stained' underlines how hardy and tough aunt julia was the fact her foot was 'stained with peat' tells us she was deeply connected to her land, she owned the land but it also owned her - marked her with its peat almost like a tattoo

'she wore men's boots when she wore any'

suggests aunt julia had unusual clothing choices, was a practical person and chose to wear rugged footwear to suit her hard life, she worked outdoors a lot, there was no man in her life so she had to do both traditionally male and female jobs

'with a seagulls voice'

loud piercing thrill sound - reinforces communication barrier, but also links julia with natural world which played a big part of her world and reflects her large personality

'winds pouring early round house-ends'

alliteration of 'winds wetly' impression on reader that julia was a strong resilient lady who could work in harsh weather conditions sense of touch in 'water/wetly' shows her unity with the elements

'very loud and very fast'

word choice of 'very' is repeated to emphasise vigour and energy which she spoke fact she spoke so fast gives us hint about why her gaelic was so hard to follow, if she spoke slower it might have helped macaig understand her

'but i hear her still'

suggests he can still vividly recall her, as if she was still there, emphasizes how julia's presence was felt and made a lasting impression on macaig

'listening to crickets being friendly'

image suggests macaig feels comforted, there is idea of feeling harmonious with nature conveyed here, aunt julia created a haven of security and safety in her house for the young boy

'silenced'

word choice example of how macaig uses contrast, in all other descriptions of aunt julia she is loud/energetic/full of vitality here there's an accusatory tone, it's as if macaig is blaming death for stopping her voice

'hers was the only house'

word choice of 'only' suggests sense of security and safety he felt in her company, suggests he didn't necessarily experience that elsewhere