Language

“Are We Nearly There?” by Kate Smalley Ellis is conveyed by combining narrative (discursive) passages with dialogue, making it more dynamic. Using direct speech also functions as a character-building tool (the way the characters speak reveal aspects about their characterisation).

Imagery is used sporadically; from time to time the author conveys mental images about the setting or the character’s actions, helping readers to visualise what is being narrated: “I flick back front. There is a lorry ahead that’s so tall I can’t see its roof. A moving skyscraper. Plastic green side panels flap in and out with the wind like sideways trampolines.” (ll. 27-29);

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Metaphors, similes, and symbols are other important language devices that convey more details about the characters and the story’s themes in a creative way.

Metaphors

Three metaphors are eye-catching in the text. To suggest that the narrator is anxious while driving and that her perception is altered, the hyperbolic metaphor “moving skyscraper” (ll. 27-28) is used to describe the truck in front of her.

The other two metaphors use the act of peeling (remove the outer covering or skin) to describe the narrator moving away from her boyfriend after sex, or the narrator’s mother taking away her keys: “peeled my stomach away from his” (l. 10), “peel the keys from my fist” (ll. 137-138).

Similes

A series of similes convey the narrator’s perspective on what she experiences and the other characters.

To convey the idea that the narrator does not feel in control while driving, the motorway barrier is described moving “in and out of the grass like a beige snake.” (ll. 14)

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Symbols

The main symbolical elements in the text are the dead cat, the car ride, the truck, the roundabout, and the car keys.

The dead cat symbolises the death of a part of Jen; having sex for the first time made Jen lose part of her innocence.

The car ride becomes a general symbol of the narrator’s first sexual experience, as she often compares the two.

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