H is for Hawk Structure Analysis

use of pronouns

'we' at the start to arouse a sense of togetherness but then 'I' to focus second on the writer's personal feelings and involvement with each of the hawks, laying the foundations for us to feel sympathy with her having got us on her side at the start.

And on and on, a desperate, crazy barrage of incoherent appeals.

The hyperbole is ironic because her 'assault' on the hawker is so pathetic we can only laugh at her hysteria even with the pity-arousing adjectives included, all within a verbless sentence to give a sense of her helplessness to do anything about the situation.

There was a moment of total silence.

The last sentence leaves the reader in suspense, wondering whether the writer is allowed to swap the hawks and receive the one she really wants, emphasized by the sentence's abruptness.

The writer uses varied length of sections, changing the pace and tone to interest the reader.

The long third paragraph creates slow suspense as the hawk is revealed before ending with an almost empathetic account of what the hawk will now be able to see. The fourth paragraph is calmer in tone, but the fifth paragraph consists of four short sentences which help to show the shock that it is the 'wrong bird'

'But I really liked the first one. Do you think there's any chance I could take that one instead . . .?' I tailed off. His eyebrows were raised. I started again, saying stupider things: '...I know this is out of order, but I ... Could I?

The use of direct speech, ellipsis show her uncertainty, bumbling cowardice in the face of a really wild animal.

repetition of 'enormous'

adds impact to impress on us the size of the bird, part of a gradual building of the bird's impressiveness.

the use of italics and repetition for 'This is my hawk', 'This isn't my hawk', 'But this isn't my hawk'

emphasise the writer's feelings of disbelief and dread and finally rejection of the wilder bird.

The neutral verbs for the first bird, 'barred and beating...cutting the air, her feathers raised' contrast with the negative verb 'wailed'

gives a feeling of the second hawk's despair and misery compared to the first's normality.

The use of comparatives: 'younger' and 'smaller' versus 'smokier', 'darker'

highlight key differences between the hawks and so intensify the sinister impression of the second hawk

The single exclamatory word 'Oh'

powerful in its ability to suggest a number of different emotions as the writer realises the 'mistake' she feels in her guts.

'I'm sure the other falconer would like the larger bird? She's more beautiful than the first one, isn't she? ...Would it be all right, do you think?'

rhetorical questions show her sense of urgency and anxiety.

A tall, white-faced woman with wind-wrecked hair and exhausted eyes

the final paragraph includes a description of the writer in the third person, showing how the man would have seen her and the reader is invited to pity the woman alongside him, again in a verbless sentence to give a sense of a moment frozen like in a photograph.