The Similarities And Differences Between Billy Cart Hill And Remembering Aunt Marie Essay Example

going to crash into Mrs Branthwaite's garden simply because he was a child. Nichols didn't know what her Aunt's reaction would be and was curious to find out. I think James's story is much more graphic and gives a better description to the reader even though Nichols spent more time trying to describe the scene. I think this is because James uses exciting words like 'disastrously' and 'skidded' unlike Nichols's description where she doesn't use any outstanding words.

The language used in Billy Cart Hill is significantly more exciting than the plain descriptive language used in Remembering Aunt Marie. Clive James puts rhetorical questions and suspense to good use in his book, he uses them so well that they create an exciting sense of tension, - 'Why did I ever suggest the Irene Street turn? ' and 'I should have left it at that but got ambitious. ' I think these sentences make the reader wonder, what's going to happen next?Likewise Grace Nichols also takes time to build up suspense - but in a different manner, 'I got the chance one day...

' Nichols uses a lot of description, which makes the reader ask, what is it building up to? Also she uses certain words like, 'impatiently' and 'rushed,' this creates tension as well. Another technique Clive James uses is personification. At one point in the story he uses it to describe how the long train of carts swung round and scythed the poppies, 'The monster lashed its enormous tail. ' I particularly like this description because I can imagine it well.Alternatively, Grace Nichols does not use such mature language, perhaps because she is trying hard

to tell it through the eyes of a child, as a child would not use that sort of language.

This is another difference between the two extracts - Billy Cart Hill uses much more sophisticated language than Remembering Aunt Marie. Both authors make good use of hyperboles as shown in James's extract when he uses, 'Extending her empire,' to describe Mrs. Branthwaite's garden, and Nichols uses hyperboles when her Aunt says she is never coming back again but the following week she comes back.The two extracts have a fairly similar narrative structure. James's extract quickly sets the scene and then starts building up tension.

The story reaches the peak of excitement and then tails off. The same happens with Nichols's extract only in Nichols's she spends a longer time describing the characters and not so long building up the tension. In conclusion, despite the fact that both extracts are popular and high quality, I prefer Billy Cart Hill (by Clive James) to Remembering Aunt Marie (by Grace Nichols.I like Billy Cart Hill because I feel more drawn towards his style of writing; I think this is because he uses a larger range of language skills such as similes, metaphors and hyperboles, while Remembering Aunt Marie uses straightforward language skills which are still enjoyable but not as exciting. My preference is also due to the narrative structure and content of the two extracts, - Billy Cart Hill goes almost straight into the main story whereas Remembering Aunt Marie takes a long time to set the scene very descriptively.

Also, I think James has chosen to talk about an exciting subject, which I would rather read about, because

although I can relate easily to Remembering Aunt Marie, I do not think she has chosen a very interesting topic to talk about. However, Billy Cart Hill does have some flaws, one of them being, that because he describes the poppies so carefully from the first paragraph, you know what's going to happen - the poppies get destroyed!