The narrator begins the passage by painting a scene of utter chaos and pandemonium. The use of short, simple sentences to describe the ship moving speeds up the pace of the text, making us feel as if the sinking is happening rapidly. This is shown in the quote: No harm done. I got up. These two simple sentences make us as readers immediately interested as we feel tense and afraid of what will happen next. The writer shifts from focusing our attention on the ship itself at the opening, to describing the reaction of the animals on the ship in the middle of the passage. This shift is reflected in the use of complex sentences: I thought I saw some animals too crafted by rain and shadow. In contrast to the simple sentences in the opening, this longer complex sentence slows the pace of the writing down and paints a vivid and horrific picture of the animals screaming and escaping from their cages. We as readers find this engaging as we wonder whether there will be any salvation for the animals and the narrator, or whether we are witnessing a tragedy unfold.
Q4. Focus this part of your answer on the second part of the Source from line 19 to the end. A student, having read this section of the text, said: The writer makes the reader feel sympathetic for the narrator. To what extent do you agree?
The writer successfully makes the reader feel deeply sympathetic for the narrator. As we read and witness the events unfold, we cannot help but feel sadness and pity for the narrator. This essay will examine how the writer successfully makes us as readers feel sympathy for the narrator.
The use of the first person narrative makes me as a reader feel sympathetic for the narrator as it brings me close to the narrator and I feel as if I were in his shoes. Indeed the narrator says: I looked at it I ran The repetitive use of the first person pronoun I brings the narrator to life we as readers vividly feel as if we were on the ground with him. In fact, we can sense his panic and fear as he deals with such a difficult predicament, hence making us as readers feel sympathetic for the narrator. Moreover the use of the hyperbole in the rhetorical question: Who in God s name had let it out? makes us as readers feel sympathetic for the narrator. This hyperbole conveys the narrator s heightened sense of panic. Additionally the rhetorical question is one of several questions he asks in this passage to no avail he receives no answers and no clarity. The narrator s fate is unclear and we as readers wonder whether he will survive this ordeal, making us feel a deep sense of worry for the narrator. In addition, the writer uses a skilful blend of simple and complex sentences to create dramatic shifts in the pace of the writing. Indeed the simple sentence: They turned contrasts with the complex sentence: Only when they threw me did I begin to have doubts. The constant shift from the fast paced nature of the shorter simple sentences, to the longer complex sentences which slow down the passage s pace, may reflect the unpredictable nature of the tossing and turning of the ship at sea. This makes us as readers empathise with the narrator. We are thrown into the same unpredictability in the flow of the writing and this creates empathy within us for the narrator. In conclusion, I think the author successfully makes the readers feel sympathetic for the narrator. The writer s range of literary and stylistic devices in the passage make us as readers able to effectively empathise with the narrator and by the end of the passage we worry as to whether he managed to survive the ordeal.
