Sunset song Essay Example

He treats Chris very badly when he is home and then returns to war.Chris receives a telegram that Ewan is dead, Chris has visitors and they try to comfort her by saying that Ewan died for his country. Ewan died because he was trying to get home to tell Chris how sorry he was for the way he treated her when he was home.

In the episode, Chris marries the new minister. The novel is split into four main sections: "Ploughing," "Drilling," "Seed-Time" and "Harvest. " At a first glance, the titles of these sections resemble the cultivators year. However, the titles are an extended metaphor that shows Chris's growing up.

Throughout "Ploughing" Chris is a teenager and then during "Drilling" she has grown up slightly and become more mature. By "Seed-Time" Chris is expecting her first child. The use of the heading "Seed-Time" represents the seed growing inside Chris. "Harvest" takes place after World War One and Chris has become even more grown-up.

One of the key scenes in the novel that shape the main character is the Standing Stones. Chris is found at these in each chapter, she goes to them to think about some of the terrible things that have happened in her life. These stones are everlasting so they resemble something stable in her life. They are very important for the structure of the novel as they are chosen for a memorial to the dead. Chris was able to go to the Standing Stones as somewhere to relax: "Neck and shoulders and hips and knees she relaxed.

" The use of assonance here shows that Chris is tired and she is going to relax. This

quotation was taken from when Chris went to the Standing Stones because her mother had poisoned herself and the twins. Another of the key features which shape Chris and determine her actions is the land. During the novel, there are references made to two Chris's: the Scottish Chris and the English Chris. The "Scottish Chris" had a love for the land; this was like Jean Guthrie, her mother.

The "English Chris" liked school and education and had a dream to be a Teacher when she was older; this was Chris's father, John Guthrie. I think Chris had mixed feelings about education and nature. "Oh, Chris, my lass, there are better things than your books or studies or loving or bedding, there's the countryside your own, you its, in the days when you're neither bairn nor women. " This line sums up Jean Guthrie's feeling for the land. "She tramped bare-footed.

" Jean was happy in nature.She did not always wear shoes when she was a child as they were too expensive but this did not bother her; she said that she was happy when she walked to school in her bare feet and then left school at nine years of age. "Friends? Stick to your lessons and let's see you make a name for yourself, you've no time for friends. " John Guthrie wanted Chris to get a good education and not to bother about anything else. I think Chris slipped between the "Scottish Chris" and the "English Chris" because she was not quite sure what she wanted and both her mother and father had strong views on their own opinion.The main character in 'Sunset Song' is

Chris Guthrie as the novel is based around her growing up.

Some of the important characters in the novel are: John Guthrie and Ewan Tavendale. John Guthrie is Chris's father; he is arrogant and very strict. Through the novel, John is described as a large beast by a lot of different metaphors and similes. In one part of the book Chris was helping her mother wash the blankets, they had a large basin of water and Chris took of some of her clothes so she was only in her underwear. Her father came home and saw her like this; he shouted and told her to put some clothes on.

He also stared at Chris for a long time. "as though she saw a caged beast peep from her father's eyes" Another time, John Guthrie bought an old machine to cut the corn and his son, Will, told him he would be laughed at for using it but father laughed at him "like a spitting cat. " I think Chris must have been frightened of her father if she saw him like a beast and this also shaped her actions when she was around her home because beasts are frightening creatures. Ewan Tavendale was Chris's first husband, he was caring but to begin with he was a little bit shy and got embarrassed easily. He was blushing himself again.

"And then Ewan had crossed the pavement and was standing in front of her, he lifted his cap and said, shy-like, 'Hello! ' Chris said 'Hello,' and they looked at each other, he was blushing. " This was one of the first times Chris and Ewan spoke to each other

so Ewan was a little embarrassed. To conclude, I think the setting has a large impact on Chris because she has mixed feelings about the land and her education. In the end she is forced to give up her education, by one of the Mistresses, when her father died and looks after Blawearie.