Narrative Techniques

1. Give a definition and example of the following narrative techniques.

If you cant remember, search for it on the Internet!
TECHNIQUE
Personification

DEFINITION

EXAMPLE

Emotive
language
Metaphor
Simile
Onomatopoeia
Imagery
Colloquial
language
Hyperbole
Alliteration

2. a) What technique has been used to improve the following

sentence?
The men were killed
vs

The victims were executed in

cold blood.

b) What does the technique used in the second sentence do? How
does it make you, as the reader, respond differently to the text?
Similes can enhance work, but be careful to avoid clichs when using them
as this can bring the quality of your work down.
E.g. as black as a sheep, as blind as a bat
3. What are some other clichs?

Zusak occasionally uses emotive language and similes in The Messenger

to enhance his writing. This is effective because he doesnt overuse these

techniques: they are embedded in his casual first person narration and
colloquial language, making certain scenes stand out. You may choose to
write this way for your assessment.
Activity one:
Open The Messenger to page 82.
Read pages 82 to 87. As you read, look out for the use of emotive
language and personification. When you see these techniques used,
highlight them.
When you have done this, copy down your three favourite uses of
emotive language and two uses of personification. For each
example, answer the following questions in one or two sentence
answers:
a. How does that particular word/words make you feel?
b. What does this particular word/words do for the sentence?
c. How does this language help us to understand the fear and sadness
exerted in the excerpt?
Activity two:
My heart applauds inside my ears, first like a roaring crowd, then
slows and slows until its a solitary person, clapping with unbridled
sarcasm (p. 141).
Annotate the above quote from The Messenger.
Highlight/make note of the use of
Personification
Metaphor
Simile
Answer the following questions:
1. What is the effect of each technique?
2. What technique do you believe is the most effective? Why?
3. Do these techniques used make the language more
emotive/sophisticated/interesting? How?
CREATING YOUR OWN SIMILES:
You will now create your own similes.
Steps:
1. List 10 random verbs and 10 random nouns
2. Match each verb with each noun.
3. Try to create similes that describe Audrey, Ed, Marv or Ma by
putting the words: as, like or like a/an/the in between,
creating a simile. If you need to play around/change verbs/nouns
in order to make similes more effective feel free to do so.
4. Ask yourself: could you use any of these similes in your
assessment?

Activity three: METAPHORS.

As we would have found earlier, a metaphor is a direct comparison of two
unlike persons, places or things without using the words like or as.
Your task:
Using the below table, come up with ten metaphors each, starting with the
words she is a/an/the or he is a/an/the or I am a/an/the. Each
metaphor should refer to the character in the left column of the table.
E.g. AN example of a metaphor that could be used for Ed, is:
I am the lonely desert moon
Try to use more than just one word to construct your metaphor. For
example, he is the lonely desert moon is preferred to he is a bird.
Character

she is a/an/the or he
is a/an/the or I am
a/an/the.

Noun

Ed
Marv
Audrey
Richie
Man from Edgar
street
The bank robber
Eds Mother
The Doorman
The Messenger?
Keith OR Darryl
Q. How could you uses one of the above metaphors in your
chapter/excerpt?
Activity four:
Personification hunt. You have already briefly looked at the technique:
personification. (A figure of speech where human qualities are given to
animals, objects or ideas: In other words, representing a non-human thing
as if it were human.)
Zusak uses this technique extremely well (and often!) in The Messenger.
You will now analyse examples of personification from the text.

Steps:
1. Read pages 27, 81,122, 141, 166, 265 of The Messenger.
2. Locate, highlight and copy down 5 uses of personification from
these pages.
3. Once you have located and copied down these techniques, you
are to answer the questions:
a. How does Zusak use personification in The Messenger?
How does this affect your reading of the text?
b. How could you use personification to enhance your
chapter?
c. List three examples of personification that could be used
in your chapter in the below table.
1.
2.
3.