Home Fire – Chapter 2 Extract Thoughts

Tuesday, 02.03.20

Extract from Chapter 2 of Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie:

‘I mean it. You betrayed us, both of us. And then you tried to hide it from me. Don’t call, don’t text, don’t send me pictures, don’t fly across the ocean and expect me to ever agree to see your face again. We have no sister.’ (Page 44)

  1. What point is the writer conveying about communication?
    1.  Showing that Aneeka believes that saying ‘we have no sister’ makes it true
    2. It shows that the communication between the two of the sisters are important to them, that family values and the
    3. ‘we’ spoke on behalf of the rest of the family
    4. make family divided
  2. What techniques does Shamsie employ to explore the concept of communication?
    1.  litotes, lists of negatives
    2. anaphora, repetition of ‘don’t’
  3. How has Shamsie transformed earlier versions of Antigone, and to what effect?
    1. In this extract, Shamsie has taken the relationship of Antigone and Ismene from the earlier versions of Antigone and modernised it and put into context with the version of the story. Antigone and Ismene’s relationship is important to them, just as it is important to Aneeka and Isma. So the betrayal, and the dissagreements about their brother, is very impactful to the pair of them and I think that is shown quite well by Shamsie in this extract.

 

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *