Comparing a Time Traveler's Wife to the Time Machine - Effects of Setting

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An author can alter atmosphere in a multitude of ways using varied techniques; examples of this shall follow in the following extracts I will analyse: ‘A Time Traveller’s Wife’ (pages 29-30 and 72-73), and ‘The Time Machine’ (page 83). – All of which I will compare and contrast for a summarised conclusion; stating how setting can create/alter both atmosphere and the reader’s emotions. The first extract I will analyse is ‘A time Traveller’s Wife’ (pages 29-30); which features Henry when he time travels to the Natural History Museum in 1968. He ‘travels’ and lands half drunk in the museum, bewildered at first but, after coming to his senses, quickly organises himself appropriately. Firstly, Niffenegger makes use of continuous present tense to convey an atmosphere of panic and urgency in the text. – She further emphasises this via inputting a lexical set of dynamic adjectives; as the reader constantly sees Henry moving and doing physical actions such as: “I sprint”, “I reach” and “I get up”. The use of superlative: “Supremely” at the start of the extract immediately creates an atmosphere of high intensity for the reader. Asyndetic listing in “Tile icy under my feet, gooseflesh and all my hairs standing up.” Shows how Niffenegger has purposely not used ‘syndetic listing’. – This has the effect of making the reader read the extract quicker, therefore emphasising Henry’s urgency and desperateness in the text. Secondly, The museum is described as “Absolutely silent”, implying the fact that Henry is completely alone. This conveys an atmosphere of loneliness and eeriness. Furthermore, one could assume that Niffenegger says this to centre our focus solely onto Henry as he is alone. – Making any of his actions ever more meaningful and emotional once evaluated by the reader. Finally, there is also a use of humour in the extract when Niffenegger exemplars the

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