Snowdrops – A Discursive Case

The writer of the “Snowdrops” conveys the boy’s world by using a number of different techniques. As the writer uses many different techniques this makes the boy’s world become clearer to the reader (us).

The main point in which you can tell that the author is conveying the boy’s world is by describing his world by using, third person narrative. The way in which you can tell that the author is talking in the third person narrative is in the way in which she uses words like “the boy”. This shows that she is talking about the boy.

Another way in which the writer conveys the boy’s world is by using childish vocabulary. An example of the childish vocabulary the author uses is when his father enters the room, “his father came in and filled the room with bigness”. The word “bigness” in this sentence shows us that these are words that a child, like the boy would use. An adult would not use words like bigness to describe things, they would use much more descriptive words.

The writer shows the boy’s feeling in such a clear way. An example of showing the boy’s feelings is when he says “Miss. Webster is going to show us the snowdrops today”, this shows us that all he is thinking about is the snowdrops. It also shows us that he is not feeling sad about the Meredith boy’s death, as he does not know anything about the death. All he is thinking about is going to see the snowdrops. Another example of the boy’s feelings is ” He squatted down to look at the snowdrops. He felt a low, sad disappointment.” This shows us that he is disappointed with the snowdrops, because he imagined them to be different. The boy was excited all week to see the snowdrops.

The writer shows us in the story the lack of awareness of the boy. An example of this is when the boy’s parents are talking “This one was very friendly with that young teacher up at the school, Webber, is it? Something like that.” This shows us that the boy is probably quite young, if he was a little older he would be able to know that his parents were talking about Miss. Webster. This also shows us that he is not really concentrating or listening to what his parents are talking about. In a way he is in his own world.

The author gives us the boy’s world through his eyes. You can see this by reading the first sentence of the story “Today Miss. Webster was going to show them the snowdrops growing in the little three cornered garden outside the school-keeper’s house, where they weren’t allowed to go.” This shows us that the writer is describing what is going to happen from the boy’s point of view. She also describes the boy’s friends, family, teachers etc.

We see the way in which adults speak to the boy. An example of this is “that’s nice” “said the mother, looking out of the window at the grey morning.”(*There are speech marks on this because it is a quote.) This shows us that this technique that the writer uses is to show that the boy is a child, because if he was older the mother would pay more attention to the boy and just not really ignore him.

The final technique that the writer uses is by describing other children’s behavior, such as Edmond Jenkins. Edmond said “I don’t care, because I’ve seen some growing in my Aunt’s garden.” This shows us that he is showing of and he is probably lying. The author has done this to show that some children are very smart (Edmond) and some aren’t so smart (the boy).

As the writer of snowdrops has used many different techniques of conveying the boy’s world, the boy’s world has become clearer to us (the reader). We have seen how the boy behaves, how he reacts, what type of vocabulary he is likely to use etc…. As a result we can see the boy’s world more clearly.