Thesmell of the powder and the cream mixed together was de-licious and sweet. Toby smeared butter on the handlesof taps, and mustard on the doorhandles. We sprayedthe lounge room with deodorant and flyspray, and thespooky mist settled on the furniture. We untuned theradio and lost the picture on the TV.
imagery - engaging smell, touch, sight
I ran down the stairs and across thegreen lawn, past pink concrete flamingos and white tyreswans, past coppery skinks sleeping on sunny rocks, pasthibiscus flowers scattered on the grass, and leaped overthe blue water, into my uncle’s arms
Imagery - this last paragraph almost feels like a dream. The imagery creates a bright vivid picture that leaves us with a lasting image and feeling at the end of the story.
made my stomach swirl like the sea.
showing how horrible and nervous she feels.
I nearly swallowed my wobbly tooth, my tongue andboth my ears as well.
Metaphor - not literally
my teetering fang
metaphor
but the apartmentlooked like a doll’s house that had rolled down a street.Clothes flopped on the floor like exhausted ghosts, thedining chairs stood on their heads, the newspaper wastorn into a thousand pieces of confetti. The dresserdrawers hung out like tongues, the kitchen cupboardswere gasping mouths, the bathroom was completelyshell-shocked. Foamy faces grinned from the mirror; allthe pictures hung upside down
A litany of metaphors and similes, all combining into a big piece of imagery. The list before tells us WHAT they did. This paragraph paints the picture for us.
The similes and metaphors also do another subtle thing - it makes it feel silly. They use a lot of childish references here. This will contrast against how seriously the adults ended up interpreting the scene.
Toby opened a bedside drawer andfound money folded in a metal clip, and we argued aboutit in whispers. He wanted to sticky-tape the money to theceiling, but we didn’t have any sticky-tape; so we emptieda bottle of lemonade down the sink, put the money insidethe bottle and screwed the cap back on.
Without knowing what Toby and Sonya did, it seems like someone * Broke into their room * Searched the place * Stole their money
sometimes I need to hide myhead in a bucket
Again, doesn't actually hide her head in a bucket.
I don’t care to, eventhough my face will go Santa Fe pink
Her face won't literally go Santa Fe pink - this is a metaphor for blushing, to show how embarrassed she is by this memory.
Hu-man Cannonball with us in the pool.
This is the first mention of Human Cannonball. We don't know it yet, but it kinda ends up representing the freedom of childhood.
I used to wish I would never come down, that I couldstay in the sky forever. I wished the Christmas holidayswould not end, that we’d never make the long journeyback to the ordinary world. I wished that Santa Fe wasmy home, and that I could spend my life chasing skinksand picking frangipani and soaring through the air.
The literal feeling of freedom (flying through the air) is being using to represent the figurative feeling of freedom (being a child and having idyllic holidays with no problems)
I remember my brother tumbling through the air, a tangleof arms and legs, the sky very blue behind him, the poolsparkling below
Using imagery to highlight this moment of Human Cannonball, which helps us to focus on it as a symbol, and understand why Sonya loves it so much.
Toby and Itrailed them like ducklings
Showing how much Toby and Sonya were hanging out with their uncles.
we liked theglittering pool at Santa Fe. We liked floating about onthe li-los that Father Christmas gave us each year
Repetition (cont. on next page too). Paints a picture of what life is like at Santa Fe - idyllic.
Idyllic- means that life is perfect "extremely pleasant" especially as a way to describe a place or a time during a place.
PINK as sunburn, PINK as Barbie’s lips. Being at Santa Fe waslike living in a ball of fairy floss
Using similes to express HOW pink everything is.
Living in thegarden were tiny black-and-copper skinks. On the lawnwere flamingos made of concrete, and curvy swans madefrom car tyres. Everything that didn’t already have a brightcolour of its own was painted pink
Imagery - usually sight, especially bright colours, to paint a picture.
whose flowers looked like dresses for dolls
Helping to paint a picture for the reader
namesare changed to protect the innocent.
Language technique - hyperbole. Hartnett is exaggerating to make the story seem really dramatic
the kind thatmakes you want to hide your head in a bucket wheneversomeone mentions it.
Language technique - metaphor. You don't want to LITERALLY hide your head in a bucket. It means that you are super embarrassed.