Keeping to the track
1.
Read the following:
‘Keep to the path through the
wood and don't ever stop. That way, you will come to no harm.’
2. Does it sound familiar to
you? Where do you think it might have come from? If you don’t know, Google the
phrase to find its source.
3.
Now look back at the beginning of ‘The Darkness
Out There’ and highlight or note down all the references to ‘the track’ or to
Sandra keeping to the track while on her way to Mrs Rutter’s house.
4.
Why do you think Sandra is so keen to stay on the
track?
5. What
connections do you think Lively might want us to make?
The cottage
1.
List all the fairy tales you can think of in
which there is a cottage.
2.
Who or what is often inside a fairy-tale cottage?
3.
How is Mrs Rutter similar to or different from
the thing/person you usually find in a fairy-tale cottage? Explain your answer,
listing the similarities and/or differences.
4.
What is Mrs Rutter’s cottage like? Is it a warm,
friendly place or is it sinister? Pick out some details from the story to
support your view.
5. Do
you think Lively intended the reader to make these comparisons, or do you think
it’s just a coincidence?
Light and dark
1.
Read the beginning of the story (up until the
arrival of Kerry). Highlight or make a note of all the references to light.
2.
Now decide what the references to light might
represent in the story.
3.
Next, highlight all of the references to darkness (both up until Sandra meets
Kerry and right at the end when they leave Mrs Rutter’s cottage).
4.
At the beginning, Sandra is afraid of the dark.
What exactly is she afraid of?
5. At
the end of the story, Sandra is still afraid of the dark. However, it is now a metaphorical darkness that she’s scared
of. What is the ‘new’ darkness that scares her?
Other contrasts (and comparisons)
Besides light and dark, the story uses lots of other
contrasts and comparisons. For example: past and present, fields and forest.
1.
Think
of two more contrasts.
2. Now choose four of the most important areas
of comparison or contrast and explain how they work.
Simile and metaphor
1. The story uses both simile and metaphor to
good effect. Skim read the story and find all the similes. Now pick three and explain
the effect of each one.
2. Lively uses metaphors more often than she
uses similes. Here are three of them:
·
‘a
creamy smiling pool of a face’
·
‘a
no-man's-land of willowherb’
·
‘a
man with a toothbrush moustache, his army cap slicing his forehead’.
For each of the metaphors above:
a)
find
it in the story (this will help you put it in context)
b)
identify
the person being referred to (not applicable to the second bullet point)
c)
explain
the effect
d) evaluate it – do you think it works well or
not?
Colloquialisms and formal language
1. Pick out five examples of
free indirect discourse from the story.
2. What effect do you think this has on the story?
3. Now find three very formal
‘literary’ sentences or descriptive passages.
4. Why do you think Lively mixes
these two types of language? (To help you with this, think about narrative perspective.
Whose viewpoint are the ‘literary’ parts in and whose viewpoint are the
‘informal’ parts in?)
5. Do you think this strategy is
successful or not? Explain your answer.
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