The extracts your exam questions are based on might be longer than the one here but you should still be able to write a close analysisThe interpretation of a piece of text which looks closely at the language, structure and themes used.. First of all, have a read, and see what ideas you can come up with. Remember to link each point to a quotation or example.
Question
How does the writer use language to create interest for the reader in this opening to Lord of the Flies? (10 marks)
Extract
The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat. He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another.
鈥淗i!鈥 it said. 鈥淲ait a minute!鈥 The undergrowth at the side of the scar was shaken and a multitude of raindrops fell pattering.
鈥淲ait a minute,鈥 the voice said. 鈥淚 got caught up.鈥
The fair boy stopped and jerked his stockings with an automatic gesture that made the jungle seem for a moment like the Home Counties.