A* AQA ENGLISH LITERATURE B CRIME WRITING UNSEEN EXTRACT Explore the significance of elements of crime writing in this extract?
Received 24/25 marks a*
2020 - Unseen Explore the significance of
elements of crime writing in this extract.
Remember to include in your answer relevant
detailed analysis of the ways the author has
shaped meanings. [25 marks]
2020 - Unseen
Explore the significance of elements of crime writing in this extract. Remember to include in
your answer relevant detailed analysis of the ways the author has shaped meanings. [25 marks]
This extract is from Jane Harperʼs novel, Force of Nature (published in 2017). Aaron Falk and his
colleague, Carmen Cooper, are discussing how they came to work for the Financial Investigation
Department of the Australian Police Force.
What is not said being just as impactful as what is said, – “I did a placement but-“.
The cruelty of the manʼs treatment and his position as a victim.
The representation of a society which focuses on money.
The extract provides the reader with an exploration into the police procedural aspect of crime
where it surrounds two police officers discussing what led them to becoming part of the police
force and their previous experiences. Elements of crime such as victims, hidden memories, and
society are all explored.
As Falk asks Cooper how she joined and police force and she describes her past joining the
“child protection” force, Harper uses the technique of secrecy, and which creates suspense.
What is left unsaid begins to become just as dramatic as what is said with Cooperʼs voice
almost being heard trailing off; “I did a placement, but-“ as though the memories of what she
saw when working in the force still mark her to this day. As the reader is not told what exactly
happened with it only being summarised in her blunt short, sentenced line; “I couldnʼt handle
the frontline stuff over there” we begin to anticipate whether we will get the revelation of this. It
also relates to Samuel Taylor Coleridgeʼs ‘Theory of Disbeliefʼ as although we know that what
we are reading is fictionalised, due to its close links to ‘real-lifeʼ, readers would take their own
knowledge, experiences, and things they have seen to fill in the gaps of the horrors which
Cooper may have experienced. This leads to the blurry horrors seen which leads her and many
other offices to speak “in the same tight voice from time to time” to become personalised to
each reader who fills in the gaps with their own imagination. As H P Lovecraft stated; “the
oldest and strongest fear of mankind is fear of the unknown”, and by not knowing what
happened in the childrenʼs unit we only expect the worst.
With the children hinted at in the beginning of the extract we are introduced to the first victims.
However, the main victim of Falkʼs story becomes prevalent as the extract progresses. Being
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