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How Does Hill Create a Sense of Isolation in the Woman in Black

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The Woman in Black (TWIB) is a story about isolated people in an isolated place. Not least TWIB before she died. Janet Humfrye was isolated by her plight as a mother of an illegitimate child, which was frowned upon by society in the early 20th century when the story is set. Even the town’s people of Crithin Gifford were isolated on the marshes and almost described as though they lived in another dimension, another part of the world set apart from the rest of society. The sense of isolation runs like a thread right through the whole book. Hill does this by creating vivid pictures in the reader’s mind. She uses detailed descriptions or imagery with frequent use of metaphor, simili and personification techniques. She also uses short and …show more content…

In the journey North, Arthur KIpps (AK) expresses his sense of isolation when the branch line train to Crithin Gifford has stopped to wait for a passing train. “I tried not to sound concerned but was feeling an unpleasant sensation of being isolated, far from any human dwelling and trapped in this cold tomb of a railway carriage.” Here Hill has used a metaphor by describing the train carriage as a cold tomb which gives a sense of forboding and forshadowing of death as well as isolation. The sighting s of TWIB at the funeral gives a picture of a lonely isolated figure. She appears and disappears without trace and stands away from the proceedings. The details of her appearance by Kipps also adds to this sense of her isolation. “only the thinnest layer of flesh was tautly stretched and strained across her face.” In across the Causeway Hill uses the effect of sound throughout the chapter to create a sense of splendour and Isolation. “The only sounds I could hear above the trotting of the pony’s hooves and the rumble of the wheels and the creek of the cart were sudden harsh weird cries from birds near and far.” Kipps description of his journey across the Causeway adds to a sense of isolation. “Emptiness stretching for miles, the sense of space, the vastness of the sky above, passing no farm or cottage, no kind of dwelling house at all in three miles. All was emptiness.” The description of Eel Marsh house also adds to a sense of

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