What makes us human

“WALKABOUT”

In the novel, “Walkabout” James Vance Marshall, by the use of language and literary devices, control what we are meant to think about how the children are reacting to their situation.
Firstly, we can analyze how Mery is reacting to this difficult situation. Like for example, when she says;

“The girl´s fist impulse was to grab Peter and run; but as her eyes swept over thestranger, her fear died slowly away” page 20.

In this reference we can identify that the author is using personification. He is personifying the fear, and by this he shows us how scared she is, and how is talking lot´s of time to her to feel safe. Although she doesn’t shows it, she is scared and alert, and she is trying to control and kill her fear, to become stronger.
Also, the style represents thedeath of the fear. Each coma changes the ritm and makes it go slower. The full stop represents the end of the fear, when it finally goes away.

Moreover, in the quotation;

“Yet she didn´t move;not even when the dark fingers ringers ran like spiders up and down her body” page 25

By the following extract, we can observe how the authour uses the contrast to makes as see how confused thegirl is. It makes a contrast of how she wants to react and why she dosen´t reacts like that. Although her conscience tell her to push away the black boy, her spirute of suvivence tells her to stay still. She is having an fight inside her. She dosen´t know what is right. She is totally frozen. It´s like all this situation is making her totally cluless.

Also, when she says;

“For there, less thana four feet away, so close that she could have stretched out an arm and touched her, was a boy” page 20.

Here the authour is using hyperbole, to demostrate how exagerated the girl is acting.
The exageration proves how Mary is making problems out of nower, she is just making things look worse than it really is.
Also, the expression produces tension, because slowly, the description makes youimagine an scary visual image, and then when they just tell you that it´s just a boy, the contradiction of the horrible creature and the boy, provokes an strange atmosphere, that just takes you by surprise and confuse you. Making you doný undertand whats really happening.
The exageration proves how Mary is making problems out of nower, she is just making things look worse than it really is.Moreover, by the expression;

“Don´t look, Peter, she whispered. Don´t look again. It isn´t fair” page 17.

At this juncture, we can observe how potective Mary is acting. How she dosn´t want his brother to get dissapointed.
Also, this show, that a part of her dosen´t understand why this situation is happening to them. She is confused.
And we can also say, that although Mary isn´t an expert onhow to survive on the dessert, this expression shows us that she is well trained to cope with difficult situations, and that she is acting very mature.

Finally, by the following description;

“Here nerves were strung taut” page 25.

In the following quote, we can observe that the authour presents us an visuall image.
By saying, “strung taut” we can picture an image, of her nerves beingready to colapse and break.
Also, this image conveys us a feeling of tension, and this contrast with the place were she is. Because in the middle of the dessert, you have to be very calm and patient, and she is all the oposit. She is used to the life of the city that has nothing to do with the live of the dessert.

Peter, by the other hand, is another character that the authour uses to show how heis reacting to the situation.
Because of the following expression;

“He realized that the bush boy had never seen anything like him before”page 24.

It evokes an atmosphere of humour. It´s very comic how he feels so proud of himeself. How ignorant he is, because this moment were his apireance is the less important of all, he gives importance to something totally useless in this situation....