Memory

This task is about using evidence to visualise and make inferences about a character and his setting.

You will read some extracts from 'Memory' by Margaret Mahy, one extract at a time.

After reading each extract, answer the questions that follow.

The first extract is:

A night wind, patrolling the city, rushed at him, its paws on his chest, slapping his face with an icy tongue. Jonny, revived, got to his feet and pushed against it out into the main road opposite yet another intersection. Street lights looked down at him from long, slender necks of concrete, curving over at the top as if light were too great a burden to be held. Factory fonts were illuminated. Fences warned that they were protected by electronic devices, security services, or guard dogs. Fingered by light, Jonny felt ______________________  and _______________________ and _______________________ .

a)  Suggest three words that describe how Jonny could have felt in this scene:

  1. ____________________________

     
  2. ____________________________

     
  3. ____________________________

     

To infer what Jonny felt, you used evidence from this text. You might also have used evidence from your own experiences, or from other texts you've read or seen.

b) In the chart below, give details about the evidence you used for knowing and understanding each of Jonny's feelings:

Feelings from a) i) Evidence you used from this text. ii) Evidence from your own experiences and/or other texts, e.g., books, video clips.
1)     
2)     
3)     

 

 
 

The second extract is:

The wind idly stirred rubbish in the gutter. Brittle paper twitched, scuttled, grew still. Jonny watched it, then lifted his eyes to the street sign, and nodded as if, somehow, he had expected to find himself there, the only man in a _______________________ world.

c)  If you were Jonny, and had the feelings you described in the first extract, what sort of world would you see in your mind?

     Suggest two words to describe it:

  1. ____________________________

     
  2. ___________________________

 

The third extract is:

He crossed the road and set off down the opposite street, which was lined with buildings, loading bays, fences of steel pipe and wire mesh. A beach or a hillside might be deserted and still seem completely itself, but an industrial street depended on cars and people. Without them it became both ____________ and ____________,  its true function lost until morning.

d)  Suggest two words that the author could have used to judge this scene:

  1. ____________________________

     
  2. ____________________________

     

e)  In the chart below, give details about the evidence you used for judging this scene:

Words
from d)
 i) Evidence you used from this text. ii) Evidence from your own experiences and/or other texts, e.g., books, video clips.
1)
 
 
 
 
    
2)