A Limited Palette.

The limited linguistic palette and repetitive techniques echo the monotony of the post-apocalyptic world that is described.
This is shown at many points during the novel, it is shown prominently through McCarthy's use of the man waking alone during the night in the text, shown in Page 62 in the lines "Something woke him. He turned on his side and lay listening". It is too shown earlier, on Page 2, as McCarthy writes "With the first gray light he rose and left the boy sleeping and walked out to the road", this echo's the loneliness of the man, he has no companion other than his boy, who does clearly offer no emotional//intellectual stability for him.
This analysis is again proved correct through McCarthy's use of imperative, single word sentences. This is shown on Page 16, through the use of "ratty", it suggests the baroness of the landscape, and how descriptions don't seemingly matter, as the land is considered compact and  lonely.






Avoiding emotional language and keeping it simple makes the narrative all the more emotionally engaging.
This is shown through the boy asking "Were they the bad guys?", this is shown to be childishly simple, almost as if what is happening to the Man and his Boy is part of a comical horror book//film, it almost makes the novel farcical as it does not show what readers would believe to be true emotion. However, through McCarthy's style this does not show the novel to be farcical due to lack of emotion, but instead all the more emotionally engaging as it shows the child's vulnerability and youth as despite being brought up in a horrific, baron landscape, he still has feelings that make him a child at heart. It is important as it reminds the reader that not every 'survivor' is an adult, and the child is not necessarily as ready for the cruelty of life that the Man expects him to be ready for, shown in lines like  "Do it quick and hard. Do you understand?" when teaching his young son how to shoot himself.




Figurative Language and Poetic Vocabulary.
"Reflecting the sun deep in the darkness like a flash of knives in a cave". -Page 42
"Robes by candlelight a midnight supper and watched distant cities burn". -Page 61
"They clanked past, marching with a swaying gait like wind up toys". -Page 96
"They stood watching pale gray flakes sift down out the sullen murk". -Page 98



Language of a different kind is used primarily in two other instances throughout the novel, the language when the Man speaks to the Boy is often authoritative and demanding. This is shown on Page 73 as the Man says "Stop it. I want you to do what I say. Take the gun". The Man may speak to the Boy like this as he sees it as his duty to look after the Boy and keep him alive, whether this is to prove his Wife wrong or because he truly wants to live. Whichever of these it is the Man seemingly speaks to the boy possessively as in this wasteland there are no lives, just shells of people who want to survive, suggesting the Man may not want to get overly attached to anything that can be taken away from him in a split second, explaining why he may emotionally distance himself from the Boy.



Differing language is also used by McCarthy when the Man speaks of his, now deceased, Wife. The Man is again shown to be slightly scorned//heartless when speaking of his wife, this is shown on Page 53 when the Man "sat holding the photography (of his dead wife)...laid it down in the road also and then he stood and they went on.". This suggests the Man now holds his Wife in no regard whatsoever after she is perceived to have abandoned them by killing herself. McCarthy uses this style in order to suggest the harsh reality that the world has succumbed to, as in the Man cannot appear weak in front of the Boy, this reinforces the earlier line that they are "each the others world entire, which in turn backs up the suggestion that McCarthy may be attempting to portray a patriarchal society, as Women play no major role within the novel.


Literary Analysis Statement.
The use of different sentence types//structures within the novel create the feel of the complexity of human life (complex sentences), but how it can become limited at any point (short sentences).

Explain how Browning tells the story in 'Porphyria's Lover'? (21 Marks).

Porphyria's Lover is a Dramatic Monologue that tells the story of a lower class man, known as the 'lover' throughout, and an upper class woman's, Porphyria's, secret affair. The 'lover' is shown to know throughout to be of a lower class than Porphyria, this difference in class between the two is suggested to be the driving force for the 'lovers' psychopathic killing of Porphyria. It is shown after Line 40//41 that the 'lover' attempts to convince himself that killing Porphyria was just, as if he did not then his perfect memory of her would not be preserved.




Browning uses the opening of 'Porphyria's Lover'  to set the scene for his dramatic monologue, this is shown through his vivid use of pathetic fallacy, as in "sullen wind was soon awake", this is also Browning using personification suggesting that the weather may mirror//foreshadow a characters future actions. The opening also adds to the way Browning tells story as it shows sadness within the line "with a heart fit to break", foreshadowing the scorn that the lover encompasses within the dramatic monologue, enough so that he is driven to kill.




Setting within Browning's dramatic monologue is also important, this is as it is juxtaposed to the opening where fear//horror is foreshadowed, the setting as the dramatic monologue continues suggests Porphyria to be a loving woman as she walks in and it is written that she "blaze up, and all the cottage warm". However, this creates a deep underlying point that although she seemingly 'warms his life', he was still sitting alone in the dark, creating a broody atmosphere.


Characterisation is also important when Browning tells the story in 'Porphyria's Lover', this is because the characterisation seemingly switches at Line 40//41, this is as at the start of the dramatic monologue Porphyria is shown to create a dark and moody perception of herself, shown in "shut the cold out" and "made her smooth white shoulder bare". Whereas the lover is shown to be innocent, shown through the use of "made my cheek lie there", however as the dramatic monologue reaches its climax in line 40, the roles of the characters seemingly change. This is due to the 'lover' killing Porphyria through strangulation, "strangled her", suggesting the 'lover' is methodical in killing, and through the use of patriarchal society it is now suggested he is now longer innocent, but in fact Porphyria is the innocent character as death is commonly not thought to be what she deserved.


Browning's ending to 'Porphyria's Lover' is also of vital importance when the story inside the dramatic monologue is being told, this is because it shows the repetition of "and" at the start of lines 58//59//60, suggests the 'lovers' case building, as in it is ok to kill. This is repeated through the 'lover' suggesting "God has not said a word", allowing it to be seen as God's will that he has killed for his own personal gain. The ending of the dramatic monologue also shows the 'lover' to be psychotic through the line "all night long we have not stirred", suggesting the 'lover' is speaking to someone in the room where he has laid through the night with his dead lover in his arms.

How does Browning tell the story in 'The Laboratory'?

Robert Browning's, The Laboratory,  tells the story of a woman seemingly scorned, entering a apothecary or as it is referred to a "devil's-smithy" in order to create an evil poison. This is seemingly due to her seeing a man, who has no connotations of her lover//husband, appearing to flirt with women known as "Pauline" and "Elise", therefore she becomes entranced when creating a concoction that will end the women's lustful attempts at the man, forever.




In the opening, Browning establishes the setting for the rest of the poem, this is shown in the line that states "trying thy glass mask tightly". This within the opening creates the sense of clear and present danger to the woman if she stays in her initial environment, this is due to the fact she must wear a "mask", creating the feel that all is not right with the reasons she is in this "devil's-smithy". The woman's vulnerability in this apothecary is further shown through the line "these faint smokes curling whitely", this is through Browning's use of sibilance in the line, as it portrays these deadly gases to be soft and gentle, therefore helping to suggest that this mirrors the woman's mind set so far within the poem. 




Characterisation is also a key factor when telling the story in 'The Laboratory', this is important as it establishes the woman as self centred, arrogant and overall, a psychopath. Portrayed in the line "go where men wait me", ergo painting the image of a woman who views herself as class above the man she has chosen, as she could seemingly have whoever she chooses. She can be perceived as a psychopath through the line "she would fall shrivelled", meaning she would inflict pain on the woman in question for speaking to a man that has his own free will, not ordinary behaviour. Furthermore, the Woman can be viewed as scornful, shown in the line "he is sure to remember her dying face", suggesting she wants a seemingly innocent woman to die ugly, simply because she spoke to a man she should not have by the woman.

The journey that Browning portrays the woman to forego in the poem is likewise important when describing how the story is told, this is because the woman is shown to become evidently increasingly menacing as the poem continues. This is shown through the contrasting lines, where the woman says "you call it gum", showing she is exciting as questions provoke connotations of excitement, therefore suggesting she is thrilled by the thought of murder, but will struggle when attempting the task itself. However, as the play draws to a close the reader becomes increasingly aware that the woman is no longer excited about the prospect of eradicating the women from the man's life, but instead she is now examining the possible effects of her act, shown in the line "can it ever hurt me?". This suggests she wants to get away with her treacherous, consequently suggesting that the woman now knows what she will do.


Browning's ending to 'The Laboratory' helps to finalise his poem, he does this by furthering the readers understanding of the woman's psychopathic//self indulgent nature. Browning does this in the line "kiss me, old man, on my mouth if you will", this reinforces the suggestion that the woman is seen to believe she is the 'powerful' character within this poem, as she assumes that the man would want to 'kiss her', whereas after reading the poem it becomes evident that the unspoken character of the man is the more dominant in the poem. This is due to the fact that the woman has accepted she must end two women's lives in order to keep control of a man, who may or may not have a strong//stable relationship with her, showing her to be the less dominant character between the two of them, suggesting why she must attempt to act a higher standard than the professor as it will satisfy her overall need for authority in the poem.

Blog Questions- for 19/03.

Foreshadowing is employed on Page 62 through the boy playing with his toy truck, McCarthy writes that the boy “made truck noises”, it is used to build tension within the page as on the same page the man is said to wake from the noise of a truck and people on the “cracked macadam”. This allows the reader to look back and realise that the truck was foreshadowed by the boy as seemingly moments before (almost a night, but due to contracted time it is portrayed in seconds), the boy was playing with his toy truck on the same road. The men in this sequence are shown to be unorganised, shown through their use of “clubs” and “pipe” allowing them to be viewed as non military, the characterisation of the men also shows them to be infected as it were shown through their “coughing”. This suggests to the reader that no-one is seemingly safe from whatever is destroying the world, as some of the men are in “canister masks”, a “biohazard suit”, suggesting there is no escaping the death that has befallen the land within the novel.

McCarthy uses the simile “lumbering and creaking like a ship” when describing the diesel truck that has appeared on the road as it can be viewed in a twisted biblical sense as the opposite of a saviour, as it is unlike in “Noah’s Ark” carrying men/weaponry/animals that will not save/rebuild the world, but destroy it even further. On page 65 the man and the boy meet the Road Rat, he is described in much detail in my opinion as it is the first character that they meet on their journey within the novel, he also shows how desolate the human race has become, as for example McCarthy describes him to look like “an animal inside a skull looking out the eyeholes”, a very dark image.

The Road Rat is shown to be very explicit whilst the man is very implicit as I believe it shows the diversity in intelligence between the pair, this is shown as the man is indirect in saying he is going to shoot and kill the Road Rat, shown in his line “yes they will, but you won’t” when describing the gunshot to the Road Rat, whereas the Road Rat simply asks the man if he “is a doctor”, suggesting he is not intelligent in the ways he gets information. Through the man’s exchanges with the Road Rat on pages 67/68 it is learnt that he is extremely intelligent through his impressive knowledge of the human brain, shown in the line “you will need a frontal lobe and things with names like colliculus and temporal gyrus”, it is inferred that he may have been a doctor. However, on page 68 the Man performs a drop, roll and shot before shooting the Road Rat in the middle of the head, this suggests that the man may have had a more sinister profession than this is, as to perform this without previous training etc. would be a virtually impossible task, the man may now be considered to be FBI etc.  

The line “A single round left in the revolver. You will not face the truth. You will not” is the man seemingly echoing his dead wife’s words earlier in the novel, I believe the Man utters these words in a futile sense to punish his wife, but I believe they are equally said in a motivational sense, this is because she has told him he cannot do it, but humans are programmed to attempt to defy others expectations of them, meaning he may be saying in to push himself to save his own and his sons lives to prove his cowardly wife wrong. It seems strange that after killing their friend the other survivors do not attempt to find the man and his boy, however this becomes clear on page 73/74 as the other men have seemingly eaten their friend that the man and the boy had shot, this suggests that the reason they did not give chase was because they did not need to waste energy and risk being killed, as their next meal was laying there in front of them, dead. This clearly shows the cannibalism and savagery that has taken over the world in turmoil, and that friendships etc. no longer matter, but instead murder and cannibalism are more prominent.

On page 68 the Road Rat is shot dead, the dead man’s “gore” and “brains” go all over the young boys face, despite this it is not until page 77 (9 pages later) until we see the man wash the boy clean. In my opinion, this is because cleaning the boy is not one of the man’s basic primal instincts, however finding food, keeping warm and staying safe are. This shows the man to be juxtaposed to his actions on the previous page, as he spoke about the brain etc. with superior intellect, but yet is still basic enough to not see the Road Rats brains all over his son as a situation that must be dealt with, nevertheless it is still a fact that cleaning the boy is not as important to him as staying alive. There is also a simpler explanation to why the man did not clean his boys face, this is that he could simply find no water to clean the boy that did not have a risk of killing him in the process, this is shown on page 15 as McCarthy writes there is “black water running”, reiterating the point that it may be hard for the man to find clean enough water to bathe his boy in, this still links to the point that the man has to keep the boy safe and not put him in any danger, else his wife would have seemingly been right in saying the man cannot look after the boy.

Write about the ways that Browning tells the story in My Last Duchess. (21 Marks).

0 3 Write about the ways that Browning tells the story in My Last Duchess. (21 Marks).


The poem, My Last Duchess, tells the story of the Duke of Ferrara and his previous wife, who unknown to the audience at the start is perceived to be dead. The poem tells the story of a powerful Duke who is showing a servant of another rich family around his home, in order for him to be able to plan the wedding of the Duke and other wealthy man's daughter. The Duke explains how his last wife did not suit his preferences as she was "too easily impressed", therefore why the reader can assume the duchess was murdered by the Duke of Ferrara.


The opening of My Last Duchess is significant to the way Browning tells the story, here he describes the Duke to be powerful, dominant and possessive. This is shown through the Duke use of "my" within the opening line, beginning to describe how the Duke could be disturbed and obsessive, as to modern readers it is not considered proper to describe a woman as if you own her, as she is her own person. The Dukes character is further shown within the opening line as he describes his last Duchess as "painted on the wall" , suggesting the fact that she cannot leave, and he seemingly controls her every move. Browning once again uses the opening in order to add to the mystery surrounding the Duchess, he describes her on the second line by saying "looking as if she were alive", overwhelmingly suggesting that she is no longer with us, but also by using "looking" it can be inferred that the Duke is hung up by the fact that he saw his Duchess as too flirtatious, and despite not even now being real she still portrays sexual glances at everyone other than the Duke.


Browning also uses Characterisation in order to help portray the story of My Last Duchess, he does this by showing the Duke of Ferrara as insane. This is shown through hints the Duke makes throughout the poem explaining his dislike for his own wife, as she is too flirty, shown in the line "such a  glance came; so, not the first". Suggesting that despite the fact she is no longer there he is still hung up on her, therefore suggesting the Duke may be a misogynist, as it seems that he does not believe the Duchess should have her own thoughts and opinions. Browning too characterises the Duchess in order to further tell the story within the poem, he describes her through the Dukes eyes. For example, the line "Just this or that in you disgusts me; here you miss or exceed the mark", allows the reader to feel pity toward the Duchess as she has little say in what she does, and even then she has done the deeds he tells her to perform wrongly, further characterising the Duke as delusional and insane, but the Duchess as a feeble woman who can do nothing correct in the Dukes eyes. This enforces the idea of patriarchy within the play as the Duke seems controlling over the Duchess at all times.

A sense of time is also used by Browning in order to add to the telling of the story of My Last Duchess, this is shown through the enjambment within the poem. For example, "E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose never to stoop", this helps to tell the story as it gives a sense of urgency to what the Duke has to say, as if he needs to get what he knows off his chest, almost like a weight will be lifted if he does so. It enforces the possibility that, as the Duke wants time to pass quickly in order to release his revelations, Browning may be suggesting that the Duke is guilty of the murder of his "last Duchess".  

Robert Browning uses the ending of his poem, My Last Duchess, in order to help finalise his poem, he does this by seemingly moving away from the subject of his last Duchess as if she was never spoken of. Browning does this in the line "Notice Neptune, though, Taming as sea-horse", however despite being in context irrelevant to the reader, it may be the Duke foreshadowing, through the sculpture showing power and dominance, that he may need these traits in his next marriage, as he was unable to acquire them in his last one. Therefore, this brings the telling of the story to a close, as it adds a new tone to the poem, as in it was a warning to the servant of the horror that may fall his masters daughter if she does not live up to his expectations.