This passage is an excerpt from Kate Grenville’s The Lieutenant and narrates Daniel Rooke’s

early experiences. The author creates many sources of tension from the hostility displayed
towards Daniel and the creation of a tense and fearful environment and setting, as well as the
pressure that he is under from various sources such as his disharmonious relationships and his
desire for recognition. 

One source of tension in the passage was constructed from the hostile atmosphere directed
towards Daniel Rooke. The sense of solitude that Daniel feels enhances the feeling of
hostility as being isolated could be a result of a rejection from his environment or a personal
choice from Daniel to distance himself from the hostile environment he is subjected to, and
this is first shown from how Daniel is described as “quiet, moody, a man of few words” and
how “he had no memories other than of being an outsider”, enhancing the feeling of solitude
and its effect on Daniel’s personality being quiet and introverted. The feeling of hostility is
further felt from the actions of his fellow students who “thought him stupid” showing their
sense of superiority over Daniel, and Mrs Bartholomew “paddling” Daniel with her old
hairbrush, an action of violence that shows clear malevolence towards Daniel due to his
failure to answer a question and his introverted personality that failed to work out what she
meant. The verb “pounced” only serves to show Mrs Bartholomew’s almost beastly instincts
taking over her to display hostility towards Daniel, and Daniel’s fear towards Mrs
Bartholomew’s violence also reflects the hostile atmosphere he is put in where he feels
constant fear towards Mrs Bartholomew. The comment from the neighbor women reveals her
sarcasm and feeling of disdain towards Daniel, further enhanced through her inhumane view
of Daniel as either disabled or even a creature below that of a human, creating tension
through the hostility displayed towards Daniel. 

Another source of tension is from the pressure that Daniel experiences. One source of
pressure comes from his relationships with his parents, which is implied to be disharmonious
due to his quiet and introverted personality that implies a lack of affection and love. The
“rictus of a smile” on his father’s face shows the awkwardness and slight annoyance of the
father towards Daniel’s display of his passion, and the lack of eye contact from his mother
also reveals her reluctance to accept and support her son, clearly showing the parents’
displeasure and lack of delight towards Daniel’s actions of displaying his passion. Rooke’s
action of hiding the grid under his hand also creates a link with his previous action of hiding
his notebook under his desk in school, revealing his feeling of shame instigated by the
pressure of Mrs Batholomew and his parent’s hostility, creating tension from Daniel’s feeling
of fear and his parent’s display of embarrassment. Another source of pressure comes from
Daniel’s interaction with Dr Adair, who represents a guiding figure to Daniel as seen from
the cluttered rhetorical statements that represents Daniel’s chaotic and enthusiastic train of
thought of wanting to impress Dr Adair, and the inclusion of different numbers also creates
more chaos within Daniel’s thoughts showing his enthusiasm,  creating another source of
tension from the suspense created by the unknown outcome of their interaction, Daniel’s
mixed feelings of shame and hope, and his parent’s display of embarrassment.  The
importance of the outcome is also shown from the extent of Daniel’s enthusiasm representing
his chance of breaking out of the hostile environment subjected to him and earning himself
recognition in place of his other relationships who fail to recognise and support him, creating
even more tension from the knowledge of the significance of their interaction to Daniel. The
creation of a mysterious yet awkward atmosphere from the lack of information about Dr
Adair known to Daniel and his parent’s “rigid faces” also serves to build up tension from a
pressure of the unknown future of Daniel and Dr Adair’s interaction, and the change in pace
indicated from the cluttered use of commas, rhetorical questions and numbers also serves to
create tension through the build-up and suspense leading to the final outcome, and the short
sentence paragraph describing Dr Adair’s reaction also capitalizes on the suspense and
creates a change of pace from fast to slow to create tension in the climax itself, and the use of
the word “But” also creates tension by subverting the reader’s expectations and displaying Dr
Adair’s reaction as a surprising outcome. The last paragraph showing Daniel’s reaction also
creates tension, with “the misery of being out of step with the world” representing his innate
desire of wanting to be recognised by the world and shows his fear towards his unknown
future of wanting to satisfy this desire and a sense of pressure from what is to come. 

Overall, the author creates tension successfully through the sense of pressure and a realistic
hostile environment that Daniel is subjected to, using his interactions from different
characters within the passage and the setting of Daniel’s tense and fearful environment to
achieve this.