Analyse a short text

Så fungerar det

We want to explain not only what happens in a text but how the writer creates an effect. An analytical paragraph makes a point (the claim), supports it with a short quotation (the evidence) and explains how the language creates the effect (the analysis).

Useful terms: narrator, setting, imagery, contrast, tone, foreshadowing. Use the present tense to discuss literature: The writer uses …, The image suggests … Keep quotations short and always comment on them.

The writer uses the image of an empty platform to suggest that the narrator feels abandoned.

The last train

THE LAST TRAIN The station was empty except for the clock, which was ten minutes fast, as it had been for as long as anyone could remember. Ada sat on the bench at the end of the platform with her suitcase between her feet. It was the same bench where her grandfather used to wait for her every Friday when she came home from school. The last train was late. Somewhere beyond the hills, she imagined it moving slowly through the dark, carrying strangers who did not know that the town was holding its breath for one more evening before she left it for good. When the lights finally appeared, they were small and yellow, like two tired eyes. Ada stood up. She looked back once at the bench, and for a moment she thought she saw a shape there, a hat, a newspaper, a hand lifted in a wave. Then the doors opened, and the warm air of the carriage pulled her inside. FROM A STUDENT'S ANALYSIS In "The Last Train", the writer creates a strong sense of loss through the setting. The station is described as "empty except for the clock", which immediately suggests loneliness: the only thing keeping Ada company is an object. The clock is also "ten minutes fast", which could symbolise how time is moving on too quickly for Ada. The bench links the present to the past, because it is where her grandfather "used to wait". The phrase "used to" tells us that this routine has ended, and the reader may infer that her grandfather has died. Finally, the personification of the train lights as "two tired eyes" reflects Ada's own exhaustion and sadness.

Källor

1. Kursplan i engelska, Lgr22, Skolverket