How does Rees use Language to Make the Reader Empathise with Mary? Essay

In the bal atomic number 53y, Witch Child, Celia Rees uses many different components of fitress to take a leak the ratifier empathise with the main character, bloody shame. Witch Child is a al-Quran, compiled of diary entries, written by a young fair sex called bloody shame, who lived in the 17th century. Rees uses empathy to make the book look more(prenominal) personal, akin the reviewer is the only one reading it. Empathy is in any shield important, because it is when you see and identify with person elses problems or emotions, and if the indorser notes a adhesion with Mary indeed they ar passage to continue reading the book.It keeps the book gripping and stimulating. Celia Rees creates empathy in many ways, using a clever solely subtle modal value. She uses factors such as conviction structure, emotive delivery and tone to provoke a hearting, similar to the one she has created for Mary. Reess style mean that without the indorser realising it, they suit hooked. In this es take, I will be fathering out how she uses language to do this and will be including iterate from the book.At the beginning, before the story begins we atomic number 18 addicted a little background information. This information is not true but we are t grizzly that the diary entries were found hidden and that they are a true story. Witch Child is in fact totally fiction but this prologue helps with creating empathy because if the ratifier believes it is real then their emotions are likewise more in all probability to be real. If someaffair is realistic then you are going to believe it w here(predicate) as if you spang it is do up, then you will not relate to it.Also the way that it is in diary format helps as well. It makes it take care more personal and make the reader feel determine because they view as been allowed to read personal thoughts and depressions.The language Celia Rees uses has a large sum on the way the reader interprets her talki ng to. Some of the language is in the style of how it would confirm been written in the time the book is set. Sometimes the wrangling in the sentence are in a different locate to what is familiar today, and sometimes she fitting uses uncommon discourses. However, Rees has used a modify language, to appeal more to her tar nark audience, of teenage and older children. This is sensible because a diary in the 1600s would read been written in such a way that modern children/teenagers may strike struggled to understand the convey behind her words. Celia Rees intentionally chose this language, and it has helped the book appear more realistic.Mary goes by heart and soul of a lot as she grows from a girl to a woman. At the beginning her grandmother, who was her main guardian and who she was very close to, was killed after being accused of being a witch. This is a key part of the story, and is carried finished the story. It makes the reader empathise with Mary because her grand mother is her only family, and the only one that has ever cared for her, so when she is taken away it would have been very upsetting. whizz plagiarize from the book that I animadvert illustrates this well is The men watched, as the woman did this and my grandmother was forced to stand before their gloating eyes, a naked old lady This quote is from when her grandmother is going by means of witch tests. The reader empathises with Mary at this vertex because Mary empathises with her grandmother.The words naked and old make her grandmother seem conquerable and helpless. She laboreds vulnerable because she is naked and being watched by strangers. The way she is described as old makes her seem defenceless, which to some extent was in all likelihood true. She had no dignity in front of the men and was probably embarrassed and ashamed. The word forced makes it honest like the men have bullied her into it. Rees posits the story so that the men seem higher and superior (but cruel) and her grandmother seems humble and this makes her strait innocent. The men seem kinda sick and perverted for pauperisming to watch an old woman naked. The word gloating makes it sound like they are proud of themselves and beaming that an old woman is being hurt. The mens eyes are described which implies that they are watching intently.We feel empathy for Mary because she moldiness have been in that location, to k directly the story is such detail, and the reader feels bad because they bonk thither is zip she piece of ass do. Also the reader feels guilty because the way Mary has written my makes it sound like she is kind of protective of her grandmother. Also you take a shit the impression that, understandably, Mary resents the woman that is hurting her grandmother and as I have already said, the reader automatically thinks the woman and men are cruel and the bad ones, thus again the reader empathises with Mary. This is also nearly the initial time the witch theme is m entioned. The quote seems so terrible it makes you think that they wouldnt sound do it to anyone. This makes you wonder whether she was actually a witch, and this question is continued to be asked through and through and throughout the book.another(prenominal) quote from the book is, I seized on this, turning the leaves, hoping that here I would find the answers to peace my heart. The first thing the reader thinks or so and pictures is Mary, searching in desperation. This shows she is curious to find out about her past. You get the idea she is so frantic that she has forgotten her surroundings and is lost in her own world. You think of her searching because Rees says find answers and turning the leaves. The whole quote creates a demented and quite depressing atmosphere. Seized on this makes her sound even more fraught because it makes it sound like she authentically noticed it, and immediately thought it could decide her uncertainties.The way Rees uses the phrase ease my hea rt makes you realise that Mary must have been fretting over it for a long time. Ease my heart is also an example of emotive language because it is powerful and provokes a reaction from the reader. Another example of emotive language in the quote is hoping and both of these makes you feel empathy with Mary because you feel her longing, and at that placefore create a stronger bond with her. emotional language adds to empathy between the reader and Mary because if you feel a bond then you are going to understand her emotions and link it to yourself. Rees also uses quite an old fashioned style of language.She uses the word leaves which these days is unlikely to be used, a more familiar word would be pages. This makes it more realistic, which means the reader is more likely to connect with Mary and feel empathy. You feel empathy with Mary because well-nigh people have really cherished to know or find something out. The reader also feels empathy with Mary because the quote is quite pe rsonal and, I think, quite obviously from a diary. This makes her emotions seem mad and unchanged, and this makes the bond stronger between her and the reader because it sounds like her feelings are truly culmination from her heart. The bond strengthens as the quote goes on.This is because with each clause she adds more detail, creating a more intense movie and making your emotions more extreme and that therefore increases the level of empathy between Mary and the reader. In this quote you also lucre to get the impression that Mary is an outsider. This is because she has just boarded the boat she will be travelling on and is sat on her own looking through a case at this point instead she could be showdown juvenile people or exploring the boat. This is a theme that is carried on throughout the book.Rees carries on portraying Mary as an outcast throughout the book. The reader wonders why this is. It could be because Marys grandmother was killed, or it could be to do with the fac t that she has to cover up any signs of her supernatural background. The next quote shows the way she has to hide her abilities in order to try and concord in, I have seen his past. I have seen his future. I know how closing will come to him and I feel the knowledge like a burden. Grandmother said never to reveal the manner of someone dying. This quote continues both the witch and the not fitting in theme. It goes against the common tactual sensation that witches dont exist because its saying she has seen an extraordinary thing, and has powers. It makes the reader wonder whether she is actually a witch or whether she was hallucinating. The reader feels unfit for her because she has just seen something very important and she has to keep it to herself. The reader empathises with Mary because she cant do anything about the powers she was given, she didnt ask for them, she was just given them, and all she wants to do is live a mean(prenominal) life, and she cant. She is toilsome to be good and please everyone, her grandmother wouldnt have wanted her to tell but she is probably wondering if it would be the best thing or not. The whole quote creates a stressed atmosphere and there is definitely a sense of confusion, while she is trying o lay down out what to do for the best. The way Rees says like a burden makes it sound like Mary really didnt want to have that vision, and now she has to keep it to herself its even worse. It also makes it sound like it strains her, which probably means she has had more than one of these visions. You also get the impression that she has had numerous visions because it says Grandmother said which make it sound like her and her grandmother talked about how to deal with them. The fact that she has had several premonitions intensifies the empathy connecting the reader and Mary because she must have been put under a lot of stress. The quote sounds well-nigh like she is keeping something to herself, and that she is not really sayin g how she feels about the event. She doesnt say whether she is angry, proud or any emotion. This could be Rees cleverly linking in the time when the book was supposedly written. In the 1600s, the norm was not to show what you were feeling inside. This would explain why she has not written it. However this explanation has a weakness because the book is composed of diary entries, so why would she tally her feelings back. The quote has quite a few short sentences in it. These make it dramatic and it gets to the point. It can mean a point is emphasised, and in this case it does. It means that there is only one point in the sentence and so the readers attention cant be diverted.Mary never seems to be sure of what she is meant to be doing. She doesnt really stand up for herself and nearly always does what other people tell her. A good example of this is, I do not know what this place has in store for me. The ship is familiar to me it has been home to me. This quote is appropriate because Mary doesnt want to leave her comfort govern, but will when everybody else goes. She doesnt really stand up for herself because she has got on a boat and is now in America, with no-one she knows. This quote makes the reader feel empathy connecting themselves and Mary, because most people have been reluctant to do something and to leave their comfort zone which is exactly what Mary is feeling at the moment. Sentence structure plays a key part in how the sentence comes across. Short sentences often sound more dramatic and can add pace to a sentence. enormous sentences can be used to add detail and make an image in the readers mind. Witch Child uses both short and long sentences add different effects, including empathy. In this quote short sentences help the reader to understand Marys emotion. The short sentences make it sound like she is speechmaking fast which could be linked to panicking and not wanting to do something you have to. This adds to the empathy because if she is pani cking it means it is something she really doesnt want to do, which makes the reader feel almost guilt. The short sentences add pace and make you realise she cant go back. You feel guilty because even though it isnt your injury you feel like your taking the only thing thats rule away from her. The word familiar makes you think the boat is comforting and she is quick-witted on board. The quote also makes you realise that even if she did protest, they had already made the journey and there was nothing she could do about it, she was stuck in America. The reader also questions why Mary doesnt want to leave the boat, whether it is just that the boat is familiar or whether there is something more to it. The reader could wonder, by chance she doesnt want to have to make a whole new life, maybe shes scared of being rejected by the others or maybe shes scared the new people will find out shes a witch. Again her emotions are not all the way written about instead the style in which it is w ritten means you can pick it up from the context. It could be as before, the age problem, naught then talked about their feelings. Another explanation could be that she doesnt want to come to terms with her feelings because they will upset her. If that were true then there would be a stronger sense of empathy because the reader would feel sorry for Mary, not being able to display her emotions openly.Rees uses powerful words to get through to the reader. In each of the quotes I have chosen so farthest I have picked at least one word out, and I probably could in most of the book. My few precious things. All I have to show for my life so far lived. There are powerful words in this quote that are very important, without them, the quote wouldnt mean the same thing. The words precious and few makes the items seem very dear and valuable to her and makes it sound like shes needy. They are all shes got, which makes her sound like shes alone. You also get the impression that she relies on t hem and this makes her sound vulnerable. The outcast theme is continued here because she is alone and has been rejected by the group. This is a depressing part because she has nothing positive in her life. However she values what she has and is not being a brat by saying that she wants more. The words all I have also makes her sound weak. The reader understands Marys feelings at this point because she sounds vulnerable and susceptible which makes her sound innocent and the reader is more likely to trust and feel close to her if they think she is innocent. The reader also feels empathy with Mary because she has been rejected by a group, which is what she has always feared, and this makes the outcome even more damaging. The quote again is written in an old fashioned/ unusual style. This time it is not the words used but actually the word order so far lived is an unusual way of arranging the words, the normal way today would be lived so far or just simply so far.Celia Rees uses many e ffects to get the reader to feel empathy, and they have all worked. She cleverly made choices so the reader was drawn in and made to feel a connection and familiarity with Mary. From analysing quotes I have learnt a lot more than at first glance.