The Crow Road is another novel written by Iain Banks. However this time it is a saga about a typical Scottish family that is told by Prentice McHoan, one of the sons. The book reveals the unforgettable joyful and difficult moments Prentice has throughout his adolescent life. Not only does the book disclose Prentice life but it also discloses Iain Banks rich writing style. Throughout Prentice narration, Iain displays several themes concerning adolescents growing up and his gifted use of excellent diction, descriptive details, senses, concrete language and many other writing techniques.
This can be seen in a number of passages throughout the novel. One of the passages in which it can be perceived has been analyzed. In this chosen passage, Prentice shares with us how last night the girl he loved hooked up with his brother. Through this passage we are presented to the theme of brother rivalry and how love is a new and meaningful problem adolescents experience. Not only are we presented to themes but also to Banks remarkable use of personification, diction, senses, comedy.
In the passage Prentice shares with us how last night the girl he loved, Varity, was with his brother.Prentice first real love is Varity, he can not stop thinking of her, and he is always inpatient to see her. However on new years eve, he is inpatient to see her, looking every where for her, and when he finds her she is making out with his brother. He tells us sadly " I saw the woman I loved wrap herself round his older, smarter and wittier brother like clingfilm around a sandwich. " Prentice does not know what to do; he is heart broken and lost since his older brother has taken the woman he loves.
Through this passage Banks, is showing us a very common problem every adolescent goes through. Every child falls in loves of a girl but of course the love is not reciprocal or someone else takes her. I perfectly can feel how Prentice is since I have had the same problem. I did not feel like living anymore, as I asked myself why is life like this. I was lost and heartbroken that I just wanted to go away to another world, and he Prentice is also lost and heartbroken however he mangoes to go to another world getting drunk.Banks is also trying to let know that it is ver hard to forget and get back to a normal status when girl we love is taken, since Prentice has hard time forgetting about her he asks his friends what should he do to forget her.
Through this passage also presented to theme of brother rivalry. Since Prentice brother hooks up with Varity. Banks is trying to shows us that there is always a sense of competition between brothers. Also to show us jealousy between brothers, since Prentice is very jealous of his brother, jealous that he is more handsome and can get more girls, especially get the girl he loves.And also to show us that older brother are always the luckiest and more power than smaller.
Thus banks includes this passage to display how competition and jealousy between brothers as the main and normal problems adolescents experience in their first love. Throughout the passage we perfectly understand Prentice love experience, we know how he feels and reacts. The fact that we understand Prentice and his emotional feelings makes him a realistic character, a person just like us, that the readers admire and get close to.To make Prentice even a more realistic character Banks makes him narrate in his dialect Scottish language. For example he says "I'd conked out some time before everybody else" and he calls shoes "Docs". Prentice is also seen as a practical and amusing character when he says bad words.
In the passage he says, "I felt like shit" and at the end of the passage he says, "Fuck it". The use of bad words also makes young readers interested to read on since they find it "cool". When Prentice shares with us his heartrending love experience the tone is very depressing.However Iain Banks does not want to make the story sober so he includes some comedic lines which make it more joyous for the readers. The comedic lines are seen when Prentice asks the girls what he should do to forget about Varity, and one of them answers "you must think of her on the toilet.
" The answer makes the readers have a laugh and thus makes the book's tone joyful. Usually Banks uses black humor but his time he just includes a comedic line to make the passage more cheerful but also used to make sure the readers do not get bored and get attached to the book.Through this passage we are not only offered comedic lines but also lines of writing representing Banks use of diction and descriptive details. In the passage Banks presents remarkable descriptive details in order to give the readers a clear depiction of the events. In the beginning of the passage Prentice is taking an early walk in the hills.
Through Prentice, Iain uses descriptive details, describing how "the day was fabulous; clear and cold, the sky crystal blue and reflecting in the waters of the hill-cupped lochans and the glinting length of Loch Add.Iain Banks uses all these striking visual details and meticulous description to permit the readers to have a better image of where Prentice. The image of how the sky was clear with absolutely no clouds it was so clear that it bright and clear blue reflected in the water falls up in the hill. The image is very romantic scenery, makes the atmosphere seem calm far from population, lonely.
Which actually fits Prentice state of mind since he is lost and needs time to forget about Varity, so he wants to stay away from the pubs and the city just wants to relax and forget everything about life.Banks goes on even further and gives the hill and sky wonderful characteristics. He shares with us how "on such days the hills hold a mixture of azure and gold never seen at any other time of year; the cobaly sky is more intense than it ever is in summer, and the straw-colored hills shine strong in the light from the low winter sun. " He adds these characteristics to enhance the passage and writing style.
It gives the passage a joyful and bright mood.But why does banks give the passage a bright mood when Prentice state of mind is depressing he should have made the atmosphere dark just like Prentice sate of mind. However Banks want to include this happy and bright mood to not keep the readers all sad and depressed and feel pity for Prentice. We should know that Prentice does not feel good and is lost but he does not want the readers to feel all pitiful and depressed want them to have good and joyful time reading the book.
Not only is diction used to enhance the passage but also concrete language.Personification and similes are used in order to. Give enchanting content of imagination to readers. When describing the water up in the hills that go down the spillways he uses a personification. He gives water a human characteristic by describing it as "Marching water" hard to imagine stamping water.
In addition, he also uses similes in the passage. For example, he says the girl he loved wrapped herself round his older brother "like Clingfilm around a sandwich. " This simile is kind of humorous if it can be imaged, seems weird when imagined.But since it is weird it makes it pleasing and fun to imagine. He also uses a simile to compare the noise of water to stamping feet, he says "The water cascaded down the face of the spillway again, the noise like a million stamping feet heard from a long way off.
" Through this simile we have to use are sense of auditory. In conclusion, the analyzed passage displays points on brother rivalry and love while in the same time displaying Banks remarkable use of personification, diction, senses, and comedy.This passage is much like other passages in the book because through out the story Iain Banks uses remarkable visual details to give the readers a perfect image of the situation Prentice is in. throughout the novel Banks makes the tone and mood of the book more cheerful, even though the characters are in a dark and sad state of mind, he does this and make sure the readers are not bored and are still attached to the book.
