Uneasy Homecoming By Will F Jenkins Building Suspense … • Time: • • • • “The last thin sliver of crimson sun went down below the world’s edge.” The safety of day is over Sense of descending into hell Darkness encourages your imagination to run wild • Place: • • • Lonely, isolated Sense of vulnerability Plays on a common fear of being alone in an empty house Building Suspense … • Immediate sense of uneasiness: • • From the title From the first sentence • Uncertainty (for Connie and the reader) about whether the threat is real or imagined • Foreshadowing (hints of trouble), e.g. the window, motorbike, telephone conversation • Dramatic irony • The author makes Connie’s fear universal: • “But it was also the unnerving realization that the fears she’d had about Them, the men who prey on others, were not entirely groundless.” Building Suspense … • Pacing: • • The author releases details steadily, bit by bit, so the reader doesn’t get a chance to relax He confirms the presence of a burglar - thereby easing the tension - but then immediately escalates it again by introducing the threat of violence • Keeps the reader guessing: • • • He suggests possibilities … but they don’t work out (e.g. the telephone, riding the motorbike) The audience wonders how she is going to get away We are unsure of the burglar’s identity right up to the end Building Suspense … • Word choice: • Dread, red dying sun, uneasy feeling intensified, restlessness, apprehension, silence, absurd, unbearable, infinite despair, unnerving, fears, etc. • Ellipsis: • “So he would go into the bedroom and look under the bed …” • Senses: • Uses sight and smell Uneasy Homecoming By Will F Jenkins 2016 Task Create a plot diagram for the story. It must include: • Three examples of the rising action • The climax • Two examples of the resolution Plot Structure Diagram The peak of the plot’s excitement, the conflict or problem is addressed. This is usually a turning point. The main character faces a conflict or problem. Beginning of the story, characters and setting are introduced. As the problem has been addressed, tension eases. Events are now leading to the end of the story What happens in the end. There may be character / narrator reflection. Task Create a plot diagram for the story. It must include: • Three examples of the rising action • The climax • Two examples of the resolution Plot Structure: Uneasy Homecoming Hidden motorbike. Spate of burglaries. Cigarettes on rug. Connie finds loot. Burglar hunts for Connie. Connie comes home; is alone. Only home this side of the bay. Connie fears ‘Them’. “Wild escape”: Connie sets fire to the motorbike. Burglar fails to put out fire. Burglar knows he will be found out. Connie weeps with relief. Fire engine/cars approach. Connie is safe. However, cries with terror: ‘They’ are real. Charlie is one of ‘Them’. Task: Comprehension Questions 1. The first sentence of the story tells us about Connie’s unease. What factors contribute to her sense of dread? 2. Does she have any definite evidence to support her feeling? 3. When she arrives home, what in particular does she feel as she looks around? 4. (a) What is the first thing that Connie does? (b) How does she react to the noises she makes? 5. When she goes out into the garden, we learn how she usually reacts. What is her normal feeling and what is different this time? 6. What do we learn from the author that tells us something is definitely wrong? 7. How does Connie explain her fears to herself? Uneasy Homecoming By Will F Jenkins Burglars? Connie’s House Critical Essay Questions could be on: • • • • • Character Theme Setting An important incident Reader reaction (e.g. sympathy, suspense, excitement) Etc. Possible Themes of Uneasy Homecoming • • • • Isolation Darkness Vulnerability Duality Duality Themes in Uneasy Homecoming Duality • Safety of day versus danger of night • Connie’s internal struggles: irrational fear (“Them”) vs. urge to be brave intuition vs. evidence/knowledge emotion vs. logic • Charles • source of respite vs. source of trouble (reputation) • helpful son vs. hostile adult • Men • Potential danger (“Them”) vs. potential safety (Tom) Themes in Uneasy Homecoming Duality “She heard her voice refusing, and her mind protested the refusal.” (page 6). Character in Uneasy Theme Homecoming Task: Try to find at least four quotes in the story which say something about Connie as a character. Try to find them in different parts of the story. Give your quotes and an explanation of what they say about her character, in a document, to me. PEE(L) Paragraph Q. Choose a story in which there is a complex character for whom the reader has some sympathy. With reference to appropriate techniques, explain the nature of the complexity and discuss how your response to this character adds to your appreciation of the text as a whole PEE(L) Paragraphs Q. Choose a story in which there is a complex character for whom the reader has some sympathy. With reference to appropriate techniques... The author begins the story by telling us how Connie is feeling as she travels home. “Connie began to have the feeling of dread and uneasiness in the taxi…” By opening the story with Connie’s unpleasant feelings, the reader immediately feels sympathy for her. The word choice “dread” foreshadows that something bad is going to happen. As well as a dangerous situation, Connie continually has to deal with an inner conflict about whether her fears are genuine, which makes her both complex, and someone the reader sympathises with. The author begins the story by telling us how Connie is feeling as she travels home. “Connie began to have the feeling of dread and uneasiness in the taxi…” By opening the story with Connie’s unpleasant feelings, the reader immediately feels sympathy for her. The word choice “dread” foreshadows that something bad is going to happen. As well as a dangerous situation, Connie continually has to deal with an inner conflict about whether her fears are genuine, which makes her both complex, and someone the reader strongly sympathises with.
