LANGUAGE CHOICES
The novel Skellig, written by David Almond develops meaning in a variety of ways. One of these ways is the use of language. David Almond uses simple vocabulary, active voice, simple description (unless he is describing an object that is important to Michael) to create a childlike tone and hence fitting the character, Michael. These language choices help the reader to see things through the narrator eyes and understand the character himself. Because of this childlike tone, this gives importance and significance to the character Michael and his perspective on life and also help us see through the eyes of a child.
Examples of the language he used are:
SIMPLE DESCRIPTION: ‘At lunchtime I went to her front garden. She was sitting there on the lawn, on a spread-out blanket beneath the trees.’
The language demonstrated here is every plain and undescriptive. This fits the tone and thought of a child.
ACTIVE VOICE: ‘I was with the baby.’
This is what you call active voice. Active voice is when the subject of the sentence does the verb action thus being ‘active’. Active voice is very easy and commonly used hence a child using it. This helps the idea of the child being a child because people who are older would usually use passive voice (when the verb is being done by the subject)
SIMPLE VOCABULARY: In this book Michael only used simple words. When complex words come to play it is because someone else is saying them. Yes, Michaels vocabulary does begin to evolve but most of the time he will use simple words. Another point that helps with the childlike tone is the colloquial language. Children are stereotyped to say a lot of colloquial language and Michael fits this stereotype. Some examples of colloquial language he uses are: fag, daft sod, bollocks and etc.
Both the simple language and colloquial language help develop the character Michael and the reader understand what type of child Michael is.
MOTIF:
A motif is a special kind of symbol. It is a symbol that reoccurs to create an effect. One of the motifs of the story is the blackbird, the blackbird is the central motif. The blackbird is first mentioned when the father found four birds stuck in the chimney: 3 pigeons and 1 blackbird. Straight after, Michael meets Mina. Michael then meets Mina but this time she is drawing the blackbird. She describes the blackbird as ‘they’re common, but nevertheless very beautiful’. After that, he goes sees Skellig and is suspicious of his shoulder blades (because he has wings but Michael doesn’t know that yet).
The blackbird represents 2 things: each of the main protagonist and signifies mystery and that something is going to happen. The three protagonist each have a characteristic of the blackbird: ancient (Skellig), wise (Mina) and Michael (the odd one out of the four birds found in the chimney).
HOW DOES SYBOLISM OPERATE
Symbolism occurs when the author uses simple images, objects and words to convey greater meaning. The author uses a lot of word symbolism and most of the symbolisms in the book are either related to birds or a religious context. Some examples of symbols in this book are:
THE NAME MICHAEL:
Michael is the narrator of the story. Michael has an archangel name. The archangel Michael is widely known for being the angel of protection and courage. The character Michael shows more protection than courage because he ‘protects’ the baby and Skellig.
THE NAME SKELLIG:
There is no concrete reason why Skellig is called ‘Skellig’ but in Ireland there is an island called Skellig Michael which is no coincidence because the two main protagonist of the story are called Michael and Skellig. The island is known for its monastic history (monastic means people who live under religious vows) thus making sense that Skelllig symbolises the religious context of the story.
THE NAME MINA:
Mina is another protagonist in the story, she is small and has dark hair. Mina is named after the the bird ‘Myna’. Both Mina and the Myna have dark characteristics: Myna bird is commonly dark and Mina has dark hair.
THE ROAD ‘FALCONER STREET’:
Falconer street is the road that which Michael moved to. A Falconer is a person who trains birds. This is a link to all the 3 main character they are all associated with wings. Michael is named after an archangel (obviously, angels have wings), Skellig has wings and finally Mina is named after the bird ‘myna’.
There is symbolism in the houses. The old house represented Michael's childhood and how it was good and enjoyable. When they move houses, everything starts to pile up. This new house represents him moving into the scary world of maturity. This is expresses through the crumbling of the garage and the wreckage of the house.
