| Collection
Introduction (2) | Selling Manhattan, 1987
A child is giving an account of evidence - emotional appeal
The grown-up imperfect world is perceived through the eyes of a child |
| Subject | The domestic violence scene is being retold from the child's view |
| Form (4) | Three heptets
Dramatic monologue
Ventriloquism - insight into the mind of a child, increases pathos
Prose-like sentences, rather than verses |
| Theme (3) | Aggression is seen through the innocent eyes of a child - childhood is being marred by adult imperfection
Juxtaposition between the innocence of the speaker and brutality in the father's language
Loss of innocence
- Childhood
- Living in a foreign country, otherness
- Women's rights and positions in society |
| Motifs (2) | "Da was drunk again"
"shouting the bad bits" |
| Diction; Language (3)
Lexical fields (2)
Dialect
Transferred epithets (2) | Innocent (child) - 'da', 'bad bits'
Brutal (father) - 'I'd better be dead'
Colloquial - 'God's truth', 'sweating blood doing it'
Religious - 'Jesus Christ', 'flesh', 'crucifix', 'devil' (cultural background)
Family environment - 'mantlepiece', 'apron', 'floorboard' (concrete nouns)
Irish - 'dance for the Queen's men', 'mammy, mammy'
'dangerous moon', 'clenched face like a big fist' |
| Imagery and Symbolism; Pictorial (2)
Visual
Associational (2)
Auditory | "Jabbed his finger to the north" - harshness of adult life
"flung it on the fire" - violence (symbol of destruction)
"her apron was a map of Ireland"
"sweating blood" - indicative of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross (parallel to mother's sacrifice)
"clenched face like a big fist"
"There! There!" - desperation and homesickness |
| Rhythm | Rushed tempo matches agitation of the father; "he said/I'd better be dead, picked up the old clock/from the mantlepiece and flung it on the fire" (enjambment) |
| Rhyme (2) | Masculine, end-rhymes
Monosyllabic pararhymes; 'him', 'time' |
| Tone (3)
Mood | Fear of the abusive father
Pity towards the mother
Sympathy towards the child
Tense, agonising atmosphere |
| Conclusion (3) | Sad, traumatic view of childhood
Invasion of childhood by negative adult experience
Duffy refers to childhood as 'The Other Country' |
