Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

english language

1. She was on a spaceport bus. There was a lot of people around her. There was a ‘ship’. She was travelling in an open field.

2. John Wyndham uses a simile to compare the spaceship to ‘an isolated silver spire’. This immediately reveals to the reader at this shop is viewed negatively. The adjective ‘isolated’ could imply that the spaceship is stood alone. Furthermore, it could also suggest that it is one of the first times the spaceship is going to mars, building up anticipation within the reader, mirroring Mrs Felthams emotions. The colour ‘silver’ is also very industrial and high-tech, reflecting this journey and links in with how this narrative is set in the future. Silver is also a precious metal, highlighting wealth and success that Wyndham views in the future. This description of the spaceship shows that the spaceship is quite prestigious. Finally, ‘spire’ describes the ship as if it were towering over everyone, which is quite intimidating and creates a daunting image of the ship. Adding onto this, Wyndham describes Mrs Feltham as ‘glaring at the scene, at this moment loathing it, and all the inventions of men, with a hard, hopeless hatred’. The verb ‘glared’ creates a vivid interpretation of Mrs Felthams views towards the journey to mars. It represents the anger she feels towards the journey. It also has undertones of aggression and keep the reader on edge, what is she going to do next? The use of alliteration in ‘hard, hopeless hatred’ not only reinforces the idea of hatred, but also makes it permanent and sticks in the readers mind. It also forces the reader to wonder why she hates men and the ‘inventions of men’ so much. ‘Inventions of men’ also helps reflect that Mrs Feltham has more traditional views of men and women, juxtaposed to the high tech journey.

3. Wyndham has structured the text to focus the readers attention on the surrounding, then to Mrs Felthams thoughts. First, the spaceship is introduced to set the scene, then it shifts in focus to Mrs Felthams opinions on everything. Perhaps Wyndham has introduced Mrs Feltham first to signify her importance further, and to show her impact on the journey and Alice’s life. One example of the focus on Mrs Felthams thoughts is ‘she hated him, too’. This short sentence is right after a long ongoing sentence, and could have possibly been used to snap the reader out of Mrs Felthams ongoing thoughts. The short sentence fastens the pace, maybe matching the pace of everything happening around her. Wyndham possibly did this to juxtapose the paces of how fast the world is moving, and how slow Mrs Feltham is thinking, foreshadowing that the future will be high tech and fast. Alternatively, the contrast in the long and short sentences could also show that Mrs Feltham is trying to prolong the time she spends with her daughter, slowing the pace of the story down. However, when she is snapped out of her thoughts, the pace imitates her fast she loses her daughter. This triggers sympathy in the reader as we are not only exposed to her negative thoughts and character, but we also understand how she is feeling.

4. I agree with this statement as Wyndham has created a great contrast between Alice and Mrs Feltham’s characters. This is demonstrated when ‘the girl held a protesting silence’. This one like paragraph clearly states that Alice is a stubborn and determined character. It also illustrates Alice as a powerful and independent character, as this quote is a one sentence paragraph. The oxymoron ‘protesting silence’ immediately reinforces the idea that she is determined to get what she wants. It also shows that her silence is more powerful than words, therefore it is a one sentence paragraph. Adding onto this, Alice is described as a ‘girl’, this implies that Mrs Feltham views her as naive and innocent. This represents her views of Alice, which is completely different to how Alice and the reader views her. This clearly shows that mothers and daughters with strong personalities have different views of the world.
Wyndham also goes on to describe Mrs Feltham as a character with traditional views. When trying to convince Alice to cancel the journey and not go to Mars, she states that Mars is ‘absolutely primitive. No kind of life for any women’. This immediately reflects the difference between Mrs Feltham and Alice, where Alice wants to go to Mars and explore science, Mrs Feltham believes that it isn’t a place for a girl and this creates tension between both the characters. ‘Absolutely primitive.’ This short sentence explicitly represents Mrs Feltham as a character with strong views. ‘absolutely’ exaggerated her point and suggests that she thinks she is right. ‘No kind of life for any women’ reinforces the idea that Mrs Feltham has strong, tradition views and she believes that only men should be doing ‘primitive’ things. Furthermore, Mrs Feltham is only known by her husbands last name, and not her own suggesting that she isn’t independent. This is highly contrasted with Alice, as she is an independent and powerful character, whereas Mrs Feltham isn’t even known by her own name, instead her husbands.
Finally, Alice is described as ‘pale; her lips firmly set; her eyes fixed straight ahead’ when Mrs Feltham is darting a swift-glance at Alice. The description of Alice is very detailed and the semi-colons help create a sense of detachment between Alice and Mrs Feltham. It is almost as if Mrs Feltham is slowly saying goodbye to Alice’s features. ‘Pale; her lips firmly set’ also highlights that Alice isn’t showing any emotions, which is contrasted with Mrs Feltham, who has been agitated and filled with hatred all throughout the extract. Alice’s lips being ‘firmly set’ could also reflect that she has made her decision, and she isn’t going to change it. This could highlight that Mrs Feltham has lost hope as she knows she can’t do anything about Alice going to Mars. ‘Her eyes fixed straight ahead’ also reinforces the idea of her being stern with her descison, she isn’t going to change her mind. Wyndham has juxtaposed Alice and Mrs Felthams characters throughout the extract, and so I agree with the statement that mothers and daughters with strong personalities have different views of the world. Whereas Mrs Feltham sees the world in a traditional aspect, where women don’t hold significance, Alice wants to go to Mars.