Language

The language of the short story “Owl” by Jackie Key is simple and easy to follow.

Dialogue

Most of the narrative is conveyed through direct speech (dialogue) with very few interventions from the narrator (narrative passages). This allows the characters to speak for themselves, to reveal themselves directly to the readers. The choice of words is related to childhood and adulthood, with many references to age, the past and the passage of time.

When the narrative takes us to the past of the characters, the author uses dialogue to illustrate how children perceive the world and how they interact: “ ‘We said it screeched, didn’t we!’ Tawny said, excited and proud. ‘We did. We named it before the encyclopaedia got there!’ ‘Weird, isn’t it,’ Tawny said. ‘Weirder and weirder,’ I said…” (ll. 19-21)

The dialogue between the characters as adults reflects maturity, the wisdom that comes from life experiences: “ ‘After a while, I don’t think you connect any name to anything any more. It just is,’ Tawn said. She had this way of explaining everything so that everything made perfect sense.” (ll. 142-144)

Imagery

Descriptive passages which create imagery (mental images) are mostly connected with the setting and only used occasionally (because direct speech is the main way of conveying the narrative):

It was only after that strange holiday on the farm, with the fields and fields of rolled bales of hay and the red tractor and the big jugs of milk fresh from the black-and-white cows and the rows of green, muddy Wellington boots outside the porch, and the potatoes that we were allowed to dig up ourselves… (ll. 13-16)

Language devices like similes, contrasts, repetitions, and symbols are used by the author to convey vivid de...