Like a house on fire-Flexion PDF

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Summary

Some questions about Flexion and their answer....

Description

Flexion Cate Kennedy Character

Item, action, description (from the text)

Frank Slovak

Item: 01 Action: Because a patient(? Description: Frank Slovak is a farmer who lives on a small farm in rural Australia with his wife, Mrs Slavock. His spine was injured when his tractor overturned, which made him dependent on his wife for help. He is a heartless man who refuses to accept the mercy of others.

Mrs Slovak

Item: 02 Action: take care of Frank Description: Mrs Slovak feels pain and despair over her relationship with her husband. She imagined that she would be relieved when her husband died and enjoys the kindness of her neighbours, but then she realizes Frank's helplessness and vulnerability when she becomes the dominant figure in the family and reaches a reconciliation at the end of the story.

Frank

Mrs Solvak

adj

evidence

page

adj

evidence

page

irritability

“Don’t bloody start that nonsense…”

13

quiet

The quiet one

2

cold

“Turn it off.” His voice like a bad phone connection

2

independent

She puts the casseroles in the freezer for when she might need the more

5

emotionless

He’s lying there with his face as emptied as a ransacked...

3

traditional

Stay married Cook, iron

rigid

“I’m not going to be a burden on anyone is that clear?”

6

forgiving

But she finally reaches over and takes his hand.

15

selfish

Frank had decided that nobody was to know

5

anonymous

After almost twenty years of nearinvisibility Don’t have a name and define by her husband

4

courageous

‘Phone numbers. You’ve got some calls to make.’

13

Close Reading Questions 1. Highlight the ten sentences that you believe are the most significant in this story. Justify each of your choices. It’s as if the locked strongbox inside has burst open…(p3 After almost twenty years of near-invisibility(p4 ‘We’re putting this behind us.’(p4 She might even get a carer’s pension(p7 She standing there nodding like a doll, hating him so much she can’t trust herself to open her mouth. (p8 Limited mobility is actually going to suit Frank, she thinks(p9 ‘What - just turned up and did it? That’ll be the day.’ (p9 ‘I’m not stupid,’ he mutters, but his eyes are following her every move, the pupils dilated. (p12 But she finally reaches over and takes his hand. (p15 She raises her arm with Frank’s and gently fluxes both their elbows together. (p16 2. Reread the paragraph starting with ‘Limited mobility is actually going to suit Frank…’ (p. 9). How does Kennedy give Frank’s mobility a double meaning in this paragraph? The meaning of Frank's mobility in this phrase indicates the difficulty in moving due to Frank's injury and the relationship between him and Mrs Slovak. 3. How does Kennedy describe the farm? Can you find some words or phrases that remind you of the Slovak’s marriage? At the beginning of the book, Kennedy uses a very cryptic side-by-side description of the place where they live — a farmhouse in a small remote Australian mountain village. 4. How does Kennedy create a lack of sympathy for Frank? Kennedy described that Frank's attitude towards Mrs Slovak is very cold as he vocally and physically torments hisher wife and forced her to conceal the miscarriage occurred a few years ago. 5. Would you describe the ending as hopeful? I think there is hope for the ending of this story, after all, in the author's description we see Frank from the beginning very cold to Mrs Slovak and difficult to accept the fact that he was injured, then in the ending he accepts the fact and also has a different view of his wife; and Mrs Slovak hates Frank at the beginning, but at the end of the story Mrs Slovak raises her arm with Frank's and gently flexes both their elbows together, which gives us some hope that their relationship will get better in the future. 6. What do you think Kennedy wants her reader to learn after reading this story? nuance I think Kennedy hopes that after reading this story, readers will learn to be brave enough to communicate with others because, in this story, their relationship only gets better after Mrs Slovak gets up the courage to ask Frank to call the phone for thank.

Literary Devices - Similes Complete the sentences analysing the similes (literary devices). The first one has been done for you. 1. [page 2] Kennedy uses a simile to describe Frank’s voice as being “like a bad phone connection”, to emphasise not only his pain but also the distance his wife already feels from him. 2. [page 3] Kennedy uses a simile to describe Frank’s reaction to pain as being like a “locked strongbox inside [that] has burst open”, showing that Frank’ hide his emotion until they explode 3. [page 8] Kennedy describes Mrs Slovak as “nodding like a doll” while she watches Frank’s unexpected recovery, with the simile revealing Mrs Slovak silence 服从 and states as a plaything to be manipulated. 4. [page 15] After Frank’s admission that he had hoped he would die while his wife was gone, Mrs Slovak imagines his hand having a “soft smoothness like a beach after a stormy receding tide”. This simile highlights that Frank becomes softer not only physically but mentally after the big change happened in his life.

Analysis Task Read the following paragraph and note key structural and language features that you remember as important in text response essays. In “Flexion”, Kennedy shows that despite individual flaws, humans are inherently good. Do you agree? In “Flexion”, Frank Slovak and his wife are shown to be flawed individuals, however, Kennedy reveals that both characters can possess kindness when they develop mutual understanding. The Slovaks unhappy and distant marriage is made evident early in the narrative when Frank is injured and his wife realises “just how bad it must be” because he does not shout at her. Furthermore, when Frank is in hospital, his wife even thinks of him “with bitterness” and refers to him “readily in the past tense” as she imagines telling doctors to turn off his life support. Kennedy paints Frank as a cold and unloving husband, and his wife as unforgiving and removed. Although readers are made to initially feel uneasy about Frank’s wife’s willingness to “let him go”, his cruelty and forced isolation are unveiled through

her memories, allowing readers to further sympathise with Frank’s wife and her lonely existence in their marriage. In particular, Frank’s refusal to fully acknowledge or allow his wife to mourn the loss of their baby, emphasises his cruel nature and her submission to it. Despite these negative traits, in particular Frank’s, by the end of the narrative, Kennedy positions the reader to still see some goodness in both characters. While Frank’s power and control are diminished upon his return from the hospital, his wife’s is heightened and she discovers a newfound strength in her responsibility to care for Frank. Despite being a cold and unloving husband, as the couple “lie rigidly side by side”, he admits that he had wished death on himself while she ran home to call the ambulance, saying “that’s what I could give you”. Frank evidently understands then, the burden he would place on his wife’s life and the only way he could relieve her. Frank’s wife takes his hand which “doesn’t even feel like his anymore”, the physical change becoming a metaphor for his emotional shift, as she “flexes both their elbows together” and places his hand “over his heart”. In this small moment, Frank and his wife show a quiet empathy and understanding for each other, which is represented metaphorically through their flexion together--the significance of the story’s title becoming apparent in this ending. Kennedy shows that even unlikable individuals such as Frank, and repressed individuals like his wife, are redeemable and can show goodness through developing empathy and understanding of others. Notes: Pink highlight denotes verbs/verb phrases that you can use to show when an author has done something to make the reader think/feel a particular way. Green highlight denotes quotes from the text. Quotes should be short, relevant and embedded into your own sentence. Blue highlight denotes literary techniques that the author has used....