29/09/2020 eAlpha - Week 4 - Half a Day

Unit 1:  At Home and Away 

Week 4 2/8

Practice and Apply: Pacing and Foreshadowing

1. Identify the technique—pacing or foreshadowing—that the author uses in the following
excerpt from “Half a Day.” Explain the reason for your answer.

“I hesitated and clung to his hand, but he gently pushed me from him. ‘Be a
man,’ he said. ‘Today you truly begin life.’”
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The technique used in this passage is foreshadowing, 'Today you will truly begin life", this states the author
hinting about the following events.

2. Describe the pacing in the excerpt below. How does the pacing reflect the narrator’s
emotions?

“Again he shook me by the hand and went off. I proceeded a few steps, then
came to a startled halt. Good Lord! Where was the street lined with gardens?
Where had it disappeared to? When did all these vehicles invade it?”
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29/09/2020 eAlpha - Week 4 - Half a Day

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Where had it disappeared to? When did all these vehicles invade it?

''I proceeded a few steps" This shows that the narrator was startled, and started questioning reality.t

3. In your opinion, which technique does Naguib Mahfouz use most effectively in “Half a
Day”? Use details from the story to support your answer.

The narrator uses the foreshadowing technique , and in my opinion is most effective considering that most
of the story is hinting about the future.

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