Green River Rising

The author, Tim Willocks, using vivid imagery, word choice to illustrate that the prison is a metaphor for the harsh world outside and the prisoners and workers in the prison have to change in order to survive. When I read Green River Rising by Tim Willocks I was interested in how the environment in the prison forced prisoners to be changed in a negative way rather than being reformed. The segregation of prisoners fuelled racial tensions and created a mine field for ordinary prisoners who are left changed by the gang culture with the prison. One such character is Ray Klein who has been able to distances himself from many prisoners at the centre of this. Klein is on the brink of parole when a riot breaks out, drawing him in at the worst possible time. The riot has been master minded by the prison warden who has been driven insane impossibilities for positive change in the prison. The author skilfully portrays this through imagery and word choice which I will study. The writer uses third person to which adds to the imagery by allowing the reader to see the engage with the characters, through their thoughts and feelings, this also lets us see how they change throughout the novel. As does the fact it is written in chronological order. The informal language gives the prison setting some realism but is often exaggerated taking away from the realism. Now, you fat cocksucker Although it does show how twisted some of the inmates are emphasising how people could become trap in the violent culture. The novel is set in an American prison where gangs common and racial tensions constantly under the surface as resources are competed for. If you included the sewers there was more space underground than there was above. This indicates a problem with overcrowding intensifying the problem. The fear of violence caused the inmates to draw

together into select groups in which they were confined, this served to keep the peace and yet escalated violence when it occurred because it encouraged racial tension. This encouraged violence in inmates who may not otherwise been violent and forced them to associate themselves with a group or gang for safety. This is a problem faced in the outside world in many inner cities in both America and the UK but is often exaggerate to shock the reader into understanding the seriousness of the situation. The author also explores how these circumstances affect the characters in the novel from inmates like Klein to staff like the warden. The warden is an extreme example where it the strain affects him quit drastically. In reopens the prison an enthusiastic young man with great ideas but it becomes clear very quickly that he has become hardened and arrogant, caught up in his own power. Hobbes (the warden) now views himself as all powerful is shown by is use of sentence structure; Stone. Drums. Punishment. Power. Discipline was all. Hobbes was all. By other means. The author uses short sentences and repetition to reinforce the idea that Hobbes is obsessed with own power. Hobbes also uses imagery to describe how the prison affects the inmates. Darkness permitted at least the illusion of privacy and invisibility...Light is discipline, darkness was freedom This shows that he has stripped away any sense of individuality and freedom leaving the inmates trapped within themselves, as well as being trapped within the prison itself. Klein as an inmate experiences some of this in the beginning he