Settlement – Part Three
Introduction
]It is “late autumn” and the “days grow ever shorter”. Mary ventures into the wilderness to meet Jaybird’s grandfather and learns about a mysterious “hare” which is “smaller” with a “different colour” to the native rabbits. The wolves also begin to attack the settlers’ sheep and “winter sets in like a siege”.
Based on these entries, the following exercises focus on some revision techniques that will help you prepare for an examination.
Setting
Setting is considered to be a fundamental aspect of a good novel so it is vital that a writer describes the story’s location effectively to the reader. Read through Entry 62 and create a list of words and phrases which you think are important for the following ideas:
- The weather
- The change in season
- Woods
- Valley
- Waterfall
- Cliff ledges
- Cave
Write a brief description about what each of these quotations mean. Try to include any specific literary techniques Rees is using to emphasise that element of the setting.
If you are not sure what to do, the following example will help:
Quotations | Meaning / Impact |
“the mornings still dawn blue and brilliant” | The mornings are full of incredibly beautiful. The alliteration of /b/ in “blue” and “brilliant” draws the reader’s attention to Mary’s appreciation of the wonderful “dawn”. |
| “ice glazes the water barrel” | The “ice” on the “water barrel” shows that it is getting colder, even dangerous. |
| “the ground is dusted with rime” | The frost on the ground will make it extremely difficult to farm the land so the settlers need to work quickly. |
| “winter comes on” | The world is becoming increasingly dangerous. |
| “the late autumn weather is fickle” | The settlers cannot depend on the weather. The writer emphasises this worry by personifying the weather as “fickle”. |
| “it could snow any day” | The world is becoming increasingly dangerous. |
This method of organising your notes could help you if an essay question about the setting came up in the test.
Another really useful approach to understanding setting is to draw a map outlining the various locations and what happens there. Using your list of quotations, try creating a map for Mary and Jaybird’s journey to the cave.
Mind Maps
Drawing diagrams can be a great way to visualise a story. You can arrange themes, characters and images into a meaningful structure which could be colourful and memorable. For example, a mind map links supporting thoughts and ideas around a key concept in the centre of the diagram.
The conversation between White Eagle, Jaybird and Mary is full of intrigue and rising tension. Develop this mind map which visualises the most important plot points.
Read Like A Teacher
When a teacher reads to the class, they will use a variety of intonation, volume and pace to convey the mood and drama of the story. Of course, they will often pause in the middle of a passage to ask questions to make sure everyone is following the story. Hopefully, the pupils will provide high-quality responses which integrate evidence into their explanations.
Read Entry 63 aloud, making sure you vary your expression, and stop to ask questions about the important plot points, such as the noisy huntsmen, the old hare they chased and then dog which “rolled over to show its mud-caked underbelly”.
Flashcards
Flashcards are small cards with a simple key term or question on one side and a list of information on the back. They are useful for revising plot, character and keywords from the story. By practising the same information over and over again, they help you memorise important facts. The following example was created to revise Entry 64:
Create flashcards that will help you revise different aspects of Entries 65 to 67.
Story Frames
Understanding the structure of a story is really important because it will help support your more focused analysis of language and imagery in an essay question. The following list is a very simple example of a story frame:
The main problem in this part of the story is ___________.
This is a serious problem because ___________.
The conflict is solved when ___________.
In the end, ___________.
You could add more comments on setting and character which will help sequence the events in the novel. More complex frames might involve character motivations and fears, key images and writer’s methods.
Try writing a story frame for the Settlement section of the novel and share your answer in the comments below.
