The writer uses many language and structural techniques to convey her emotions throughout the

passage. The opening game of monopoly sets a tone of foreboding as the writer says “Four of us were
playing monopoly, my heart was not in to it and I was losing steadily”. This shows us that she was
troubled my something else, she didn’t feel like playing monopoly. It is further elaborated by the
technique pathetic fallacy “Outside it was hot. Possible typhoon the next days” which indicates the
possibility of a storm. The word ‘storm’ foreshadows to something bad or sudden which is going to
happen in her life.

The writers thought of going home is described with a simile “… like a persistent toothache”, The fact
that she was going home in a few weeks’ time was like a ‘persistent toothache’, a pain that kept coming
and going time to rime, a pain that she simply couldn’t resist or ignore. This shows us that for her going
home isn’t comfortable because of her dominating step mother and the steps siblings who despised
her. The writer uses emotive language like ‘foreboding’, ‘nightmare’ and ‘dread’ to add to the
atmosphere to represent her feelings.

When Mother Valentino said she was to go home. She uses the emotive language, “full of frightening”
which juxtaposes to her home, as her home brings her unsettling feelings. A chauffer is sent to pick her
up from her boarding school not her own family to pick her up, this shows the disconnection she had
with her family. She further discomfited by the rudeness of the driver when the driver replies, “how
should I know and “don’t you know anything”. The driver is usually a low person in the family hierarchy.
This means that even the driver who has a low status doesn’t respect her but discomfited her. When the
writer said, “I had forgotten”, it was to cover up the fact that she didn’t know anything about her family.
This shows the distant in her own family.

When Gum told her that her father wanted to see in her in his room her response was, “See me in his
room?” a question in great disbelief as her father usually doesn’t invites anyone to his room which is
supported with god like imagery the writer uses, “summoned” and ‘Holy of Holies” to show no one goes
to his room. The writers first reaction when she was called by her father was ‘overwhelmed’ which is
strong indicator of her distant between her dad as usually no one gets overwhelmed when their own
father calls them it also creates a sense of fear. The writer knocks the door ‘timidly’, even though it was
only her father there she was scared creating a sense of trepidation. The writer uses rhetorical
questions, ‘is this a part to trick me’, ‘Dare I let my guard down’ when her father was being nice to her
this shows that she didn’t trust her own father and creates a sense of fear in the writer,

The writer combines the techniques rule of three and rhetorical questions , ‘is it possible’ ‘Am I
dreaming’ ‘Me the winner’ to emphasize the disbelief and confusion the writer had even though her
name was clearly written the newspaper this shows the lack of confidence she had in her own self. This
is written in a single sentence paragraph to highlight it importance. Even though the writer won an
international prize the father was only ‘quite’ pleased. This shows he was only pleased because he was
able to show off to his friend C.Y Tung. “For, once proud he was proud of me” this shows that the father
looked down on his own daughter until now.

The writer uses the hyperbole in line 68-70, “Is this the big…I only had to reach the stars” to highlight
how rare the moment is. She uses the cliché ‘only had to reach the stars’ to show she was only one hand
stretch away to get what she wanted. The writer creates the climax of the story in the line, ‘I asked
boldly thinking it’s now or never”. This is the main thing the writer wanted and she asked it when she
had the chance before she misses this once in a lifetime opportunity.
The writer uses visual imagery, ‘my heart gave a giant lurch’ to show how happy she was when her
father was allowing her to go to England. Even though she wasn’t allowed to be a writer but to follow
her fathers commands and be what he wanted her to be she was still grateful. This shows that she was
scared to argue with her father and lose this once in a life time opportunity to go to England. Her
gratefulness is further emphasized in the last line by the repetition of the word “very”.