Image
Passage
“Grandmamma!” I shouted. “Has that woman gone?”
“What woman?” my grandmother called back.
“The woman in the black gloves!”
There was silence from below. It was the silence of somebody who was too stunned to speak.
“Grandmamma!” I shouted again. “Has she gone?”
“Yes,” my grandmother answered at last. “She’s gone. I’m here, my darling. I’ll look after you.
You can come down now.”
She led me into the house and gave me a cup of hot cocoa with lots of sugar in it. “Tell me
everything,” she said.
I told her.
By the time I had finished, it was my grandmother who was trembling. Her face was ashy grey
and I saw her glance down at that hand of hers that didn’t have a thumb. “You know what this
means,” she said. “It means that there is one of them in our district. From now on I’m not letting
you walk alone to school.”
“Do you think she could be after me specially?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “I doubt that. One child is as good as any other to those creatures.”
Question
What kind of impact could the above image and passage have on a reader’s emotions?
Make reference to both the image and the text in your answer.
(140 words)