2011 Paper 2 Module A Elective 1: Distinctive Voices

In what ways are people and experiences brought to life through distinctive
voices?
In your response, make detailed reference to your prescribed text and at least
ONE other related text of your own choosing.
Sample response: Prose fiction
Prescribed text: The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender, Marele Day, 1988
Related text:
Katrina, Bruce Dawe, 1967 (poetry)
The introduction
names the texts and
outlines how they
both use particular
techniques to convey
a distinctive voice

In The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender, Marele Day

takes the reader into the world of the novel through
narrative perspective, tone, detailed description and
personifying the setting. Bruce Dawes poem, Katrina,
also uses a strong first person perspective and tone, but
uses metaphor and simile to convey feelings, whereas Day
uses description to convey character and action. In both
texts we have a very strong sense of the person behind the
distinctive narrative voice.

Narrative
perspective in Harry
Lavender

The narrative perspective in The Life and Crimes of Harry

Lavender establishes the voice of the hard-boiled
detective. We read the clichs of the genre the blond in
the bed, the heavy drinking and the hangover, the chaotic
apartment but Day undercuts and rearranges our
perceptions by making us realise after a few paragraphs
that the narrator is female, not male. This has the effect of
establishing the narrative voice as belonging to a multidimensional and interesting character, someone who is
unconventional and on first meeting certainly seems larger
than life.

Use of description to
convey action

Events and people in the novel are described in

considerable detail, to allow us to be closely involved in
the action. Day uses short sentences for fast-paced action
to give us a moment-by-moment understanding of events.
When Claudia is breaking into the gaming arcade through
the roof, the short non-sentences tell us her thoughts and
anxieties as they are happening. She makes some progress
with the crowbar But not enough. Then she has success
Enough to crawl through. This is a life-and-death
situation, so she is not wasting words or doing any
unnecessary thinking. A little further on, she tells us
everything she can hear, see and feel in each moment,
because danger has dragged time out and every second
lasts an eternity.

Using pace to create

sense of being there

The same moment-by-moment descriptions are applied to

the action scenes in the novel. When Claudia is trying to
escape from the container terminal, the sentences are

long, with many separate actions crowded in, to show how

much is happening all at once. In the one sentence, we
read these actions: poised, kick, rolled, swung and
swept. These five separate actions in one moment tell us
how quickly events are occurring.
Tone indicates what
the narrator is
thinking and feeling

Day brings her detective, Claudia Valentine, to life through

the tone with which Claudia relates the events of the
novel. We already know that Claudia is no-nonsense and
unconventional. We share her insights into others through
the way she sees the world. She has a dry sense of humour
when she says she doesnt have a car for the day because
the Daimler was being tuned, this doesnt easily fit with
what we know of her so far, so we dont know if she is
joking or not. She relates events in her life with clarity and
economy. We find out in a couple of sentences about her
marriage, divorce, children and other important personal
details these are dispensed with quickly because they are
not relevant and not as important as her job.

Characters are
differentiated to
make them seem
real

We learn about other people in the novel through Claudias

meticulous description and attention to detail essential
characteristics for a private detective. Sallys neurotic
behaviour is described in minute detail, to build up a
picture of her instability. The small enclosed lives of the
Levacks are economically described through the spy-hole
in the door, Mrs Levacks hair in rollers, the flickering TV
set and the covers on the armchairs. In contrast, the love
interest, Steve, is described in expansive terms that show
how elevated and noble he seems from Claudias
perspective: his height is exaggerated, he has eyes like
deep pools, his teeth are perfect, and he is
tantalising and exciting.

Setting the city is

depicted as a
character

To further establish the sense of real-life events and bring

characters to life, Day has turned the setting, the city of
Sydney, into a character. We read of the city as a body,
with a network of organs, veins, blood vessels and so on. It
is a living entity that is as much a part of the action as the
characters in the novel. This is reinforced by the way Day
uses real places in the city to create a sense of
verisimilitude. If we are familiar with certain suburbs,
roads, buildings and places, we gain a clear picture of the
events that are happening in these settings.

Verisimilitude: a
technique to make
something seem real
or true
Outline of the poem
and Dawes voice

In Katrina, a poem about his newborn child, Bruce Dawe

creates vivid images of a life-and-death experience and the
intense emotions this arouses in his wife and him. The
poem is a sonnet addressed to Katrina, who is struggling
to survive at two months old, although her twin brother is
healthy and thriving. Dawe uses the distinctive voice of
parental anguish to make us feel his despair and the
awfulness of Katrinas plight.

Use of imagery to
express feelings and
describe the
situation

How the structure of

the poem tells us
that the situation
has not changed

He establishes the experience by describing the situation

and the helplessness of everyone involved. Katrina is
suspended between earth and sky. This is a metaphor for
the uncertainty and precariousness of her condition will
she live or die? as well as a reference to limbo, the place
where unbaptised babies went for eternity, according to
Catholic beliefs. These references to death in the first line
make us aware of the grim reality of the situation. The
babys vulnerability is emphasised by her being naked in
her special room in the hospital. These ideas of the
closeness of death and her naked helplessness are
repeated at the end of the poem, to suggest that there is
no change in her condition. She is still caught between life
and death and is still very vulnerable.

The tone of the

poem and how this
adds to the
distinctive voice

The tone of the poem is despairing and negative, telling us

that Dawe does not hold out hope that Katrina will recover.
The words he chooses remind us of pain, physical and
emotional, and of the misery of grief. He and his wife
fear the phone call from the nurse, are hurt by the
healthy vigour of the twin brother and are trying to
prepare themselves for the karate-blow of Katrinas
death. His description of Katrina reinforces the pain and
agony of the experience: the life-saving transfusion
wounds her heels and the dummy taped in her mouth
vividly creates the image of a prisoner or hostage. The
image of the date-pad, with the date of her death
crumpled, thrown away, tells us how devastated he feels
about the senseless waste of her small life.

Use of contrast in
the poem to
reinforce the
life/death struggle

Contrast is used to show the poets depth of feeling and

tell us of his despair. He describes the difference between
Katrina and her brother. While he has vigour, she is
wasting, and even the sunlight that falls on her is thin
and sickly. Despite this, she is like a jewel to her parents,
her ability to hang onto life a shining point of hope against
the black velvet backdrop of death that threatens to
envelop her at any moment. Her struggle to survive makes
them love her more, not less.

The first person

narrative
perspective
intensifies the
personal voice

Dawe also shows the depth of his despair through his use
of the first person, I, throughout, to bring to life the
intensity of his grief and despair. He personalises his wifes
and his anguish by telling us bluntly and explicitly how
they feel. We do not know, but fear tells us the rawness
of their emotions, as do the bald statements, Your mother
grieves already, and so do I and the unanswerable
question he asks about her life opening or closing.
Both texts bring people and experiences to life through
distinctively conveying thoughts, feelings and actions: Day
tells us about characters and what they think and do in
fast-paced crime fiction, while Dawe tells us about the
anguish of parents who are waiting to find out if their child
will live or die. Both have used very similar techniques in

The conclusion links

both texts by
similarities and
differences

developing their distinctive voices, although the effects are

so very different.