How many marks is this worth (GCSE language paper 1 Q2)

Language Paper 1 Question 2

The writer structures the language to emphasise her huge discomfort and fear of her surroundings. The writer characterises her fear by specifying the relationship she has with her surroundings of pure trepidation when it mentions that “The mountain breathed back at her”. The writer personifies the mountain to have a dominating effect on Zoe inducing fear upon her as she is overpowered by the mountain. This could suggest that the mountain is combative of her every move and therefore could forebode it raging a further unanticipated attack upon her. Furthermore, the writer emphasises the experience as “clear and pure as ice”. The simile heightens the experience as it shows that her fears have become a reality through the adjective “clear” suggests that it’s a direct experience with no room for any feelings and could imply that the entire experience is what happens in actuality and could characterise her fears further as frightfully jumping at her. Also, the verb, “trapped” suggests that there is no mode for escape and establishes ominous undertones for the entire experience at hand. This further personifies the mountain, reinforcing the idea that it’s potent and controls her emotions entirely as well as the writer maybe indicating that the mountain is the director of her fate. Furthermore, the comparison to the noun, “ice” is emphatic of the fact that it has rendered her emotionless and unable to manoeuvre through this experience, let alone escape. The fact that she’s trapped in the scenery as well as her own emotions hyperbolises the effect of the experience to exacerbate her fears.

The idea that she experiences huge, unwavering discomfort is present in the short sentence, “everywhere was snow and silence”. The preposition, “everywhere” is hyperbolic of the immense volume of snow getting to her and rendering her afraid. The fact that this is a short sentence directly addresses the indomitable scenery as she could be trying to collect her thoughts. The sibilance in “snow and silence” emulated the sound of the snow falling as well as the way that “the mountain breathed back at her”. It could suggest that the winds are enough to stray her of course. Furthermore, the noun “silence” being ubiquitous could give eerie overtones over how the scene causes Zoe to react. This is intensified as the phrase “snow and silence” is a diacope, exaggerating the ominous atmosphere that Zoe is subject to. This is followed by the metaphor “pre-echo of death” which intensifies the atmosphere and causes fear upon Zoe since her danger is assured. The fact that it’s a “pre-echo” suggests that the sound is continuously repeated and fails to leave her and exacerbates her fears since they caution her massively. This leads her to react with “I am alive. I am an eagle” which shows that despite the fears she tries to convince herself to push on and doesn’t allow her premonitions to get of her. Also, the anaphoric phrases show that this convincing is continuous and she tries to combat the atmosphere of the mountain. In spite of this, the skis have a “brilliant red” colour pattern and the adjectives could emulate blood and signify that her death is assured, implicitly.