Language

The language of “Mid-Air” by Jennifer Allott is fairly simple because the narrative is meant to be described from a child’s point of view. For this reason, the author uses words and expressions which we expect a child to use such as “getting poorly” (l. 164), “wee-wee” (l. 80) or “gurlch” (l. 2).

The choice of words reflects a typical interaction between adults and children, as the author combines narrative passages with dialogue:

“Dad had said, “God, I thought you’d grown out of it. Shit”
“Dad, quickly!”
“Alex I can’t stop here!”” (ll. 7-9)

Imagery

Imagery is a narrative technique related to language which refers to authors creating visual, auditory and sensory images through descriptive words (adjectives, adverbs, nouns, verbs) which help readers imagine the setting and the way the characters interact. Here is one example of imagery from the beginning of the text: “Alex’s puke was pink from the bubble gum flavoured ice cream ...