Andrina
George Mackay Brown
Understanding
Narrator: Torvald
as an old man
Structure:
1. There is a story within a story in Torvald’s life
(old age;flashback to youth;old age)Inner/outer stories.
2. There is a dream-like story (Andrina) and
a story of the realities of Torvald’s life.
Style:
Torvald is like a Storyteller using
a Tone which is confidential
Understanding
Seasons/times
Time:
time
passing; Torvald
Themes:
love ; betrayal; loss.
Torvald: life passing
Who is loved, betrayed, lost?
Look at themes from all angles.
Ghosts:
‘awakened’ in
his fevered
dream; ghost already visiting him.
Language:
*Ghosts;
* The sea ;
*The illness ;
* Light/lamp.
Relationships:
*Torvald and Sigrid
*Andrina and Torvald
*Torvald and the postman
and other islanders.
Andrina
George Mackay Brown
ANALYSIS
Opening Mood/Atmosphere:
Narrative Device:Dream
Descriptive techniques:
1.
Incident:(Stanley)Significance:-
Key features of this minor character:
2.
3.
Pointing to personality:
MOOD at the end of the Stanley incident:
4.
5.
Techniques to establish mystery :
1.
2.
3.
Structure: cycles,
seasons, natural passing
of time,birth, life ,
death…..
4.
Figurative Language:
1.similes
1.
Techniques to establish romance:
2.
2.metaphors
3.personification
3.
4.
Andrina
George Mackay Brown
ANALYSIS
Opening Mood/Atmosphere:opening mood of narrator: wistful, reflective,
content,happy etc.
Imagery of being content/happiness: ‘light’ of lamp-suggests warm
glow; ‘old thick jersey’-both suggest warmth /comfort; ‘peat fire in a
blaze’ –‘blaze’ suggests warmth; ‘extra peat’ suggests care by Andrina
Narrative Device:Dream
Descriptive techniques:
1.Word Choice:
‘like a ghost in a
hollow stone’;
‘longest night of
my life’
2. Repetition:
‘again and
again’; ‘time to
time’; ‘over
again’-suggests
fever of Torvald
3.Symbolism:
1. ‘images broke
and melted’symbolic of both
the fevered
dream leaving
him but also the
love melting.
4.Similes
‘like an ancient
gramaphone
record’- conveys
noise!pain!
5.Sentence structure
short sentences to
convey he wakens
in fright.Longer
sentences with
parenthesis to
convey the fever
Incident:(Stanley)Significance: Stanley represents the
outside world/real world in contrast to (a) the
dreamworld of Torvald’s past (b) the fevered
world of his illness.
Key features of this minor character:
1.jovial 2.friendly 3. happy
4. bossy /
presumptuous which point to his personality.
MOOD at the end of the Stanley incident: depressed/
negative/low
Techniques to establish mystery :
1. Torvald questioning himself about Andrina’s
background reminds reader of her mystery.
2.Torvald’s answers that he knows nothing of her
adds to this.
3.Andrina always asking questions of Torvald
suggests Andrina is mysterious.
4. Andrina arriving with shadows, turning the
lamp down adds mystery , too.
Techniques to establish romance:
1.Descriptions_-‘lingered there’; ’peace’; ’pure’;
‘tranced creatures’; ‘spell was broken’
2.Character: Torvald ‘spices’up his past, adding
romance-he paints a picture of a reckless, feared
figure; generally ‘boasts’, romanticising past.
Gives picture of traveller/explorer(‘Captain
Cook’) but also villain of a tale(‘Captain Hook’)
3.Lists-technique used by Torvald when going
through places he has been-exotic ports or world.
Fairytale genre:
Evidence- a) ‘a long time ago’…typical language of fairytale
b) the teenagers had known each other all their lives
and then………….
c) time setting-‘midsummer’…….typical magical time of
fairy tales; also emphasis on lovers meeting at night time-secret
meetings
d) Language of fairy tales‘lingered enchantment of twilight’
‘trance d creatures’
‘lived on each others’ heartbeats’
mention of ‘music’- THIS IS ALL IN CONTRAST TO THE LANGUAGE
USED TO DESCRIBE TORVALD’S EVERYDAY LIFE
e) theme of fairytale- like ‘Cinderella’, ‘Sleeping
Beauty’, ‘The Prince and the Pauper’- happy ending- love always
wins through.This is NOT the case in this story. There are hints of
this negative ending:
‘ the beckoning waters’ of the sea will pull the boy away from his
responsibilities to Sigrid and their child;
‘the ‘spell was broken’ when Sigrid told her secret (being
pregnant)
‘the ripening fields’ hid the boy as he ran away- the time
changing from summer to autumn is symbolic of the end of their
love affair. Sigrid will bear the fruit of it (the child).
Cyclical Structure s in the Story
1.the cycle of day-night-day (4 days) when Torvald is ill: he is
hopeful each day that Andrina will come but it is a forlorn hope.
2.Torvald looks back from Winter to Harvest time when he met
Andrina. This gave him hope/promise through the winter. She
disappeared in Spring yet she had served a useful purpose.
3. Life cycle- young life/love…new life(baby)...Sigrid’s old age...her
granddaughter’s young life/death….Torvald’s old age. Despite
the tragedy Torvald is grateful for Andrina and believes her
goodness will light up wherever she is now .It is as if death will not
be able to kill such goodness.This is A HOPEFUL ENDING.
4.The cycle of the love affair: love-,young, fresh, obsessive love
symbolised in ‘midsummer’; by contrast death of love in early
autumn because of the pregnancy .Appropriate ’ripening fields’ of
Autumn.
Andrina
George Mackay Brown
Evaluation
1. Structure of the outer story and inner dream-like story of Andrina visiting draws reader
in as reader wants to find out if the dream and reality will continue to overlap.
Torvald in reality
Torvald back on own.
Torvald’s flashback to Andrina over Winter.
Letter saying Andrina is dead.
Torvald’s flashback
To love affair of his youth
 Central to this structure is the love affair in Torvald’s youth.
 The dream-like narrative is the story of Andrina visiting over the Winter.
 The outer story is of the everyday existence of Torvald-getting ill, keeping warm,
going to the shop and pub.
 There are overlaps with the Andrina story as he is thinking about her visits , he
speaks about her at the shop, pub etc
It is an effective structure which not only weaves the different threads of the story
together but pulls in the reader to its different layers to keep the reader’s attention-which
it does very effectively. This is like a traditional tale being woven by an oral storyteller.
2. Themes of betrayal, guilt and regeneration are not dated so the story does not appear so.
Timeless because of love story, betrayal, guilt being endlessly appealing to readers as relevant
to present day.Local setting helps to add to the beauty of the love story but the themes are more
important-they affect us all.
3.Andrina - symbol of love, beauty, goodness, innocence as well as being Torvald’s
only living family. She is therefore a symbol of his life living on.
Mysterious:1. appears only sometimes and with the shadows, when it is
dark; turns lamp down; cold kiss at end
2. First met Torvald as he came home drunk-appeared from
nowhere to help him.
3. No direct speech from Andrina-only Torvald’s narration
4. No background details; no information on her
5. Andrina’s fascination with Torvald’s life! Why??