Q) “Jamie made his landing”
T) Metaphor
A) Jamie is compared to an aircraft descending to its destination. The idea of him arriving from a unknown destination gives the idea of him being a unworldly gift
Q) “Ploughed straight back into the earth”
T) Extended metaphor / connotations of immense speed and lack of control
A) Jamie’s life is in jeopard. A plane crash if incredibly destructive and rarely ever leaves survivors.
The idea of “back into earth” alludes to burial of the dead
Human life is presented as very fragile
Q) “They caught him by the thread of his one breathe and pulled him up”
T) Word choice / “by the thread” is a metaphor
A) They caught him suggests the activity of the medical service in saving jamie as he had trouble breathing, meaning they had to have skill to save something if coming at you at also an immense speed.
“By the thread” is a metaphor because a solitary thread would be easy to break
The medical teams last minute intervention saved Jamie, they have a significant effect in jamie’s saving
Q) “somehow out revving every engine in the universe”
T) Word choice at somehow
Contrast for the rest
A) Somehow suggests it’s hard to believe and how miraculous jamie’s survival was
At Jamie’s birth his lungs were confined to only some solitary breathes but now he is powerful and strong, the speaker suggests they are superior to anything man made
What are some central concerns in The Thread?
Theme of fatherhood/ transformative parenthood
Theme of suffering
Q) “All that trouble to just turn up dead”
T) Typography
Q) Emphasises the lasting trauma associated with this trauma
“All that trouble” suggests difficulty in conception and emphasises the personas mindset which is cruel
“just to turn up dead” suggests that the personas anticipated the worst.
Q) “now the thread is holding us together
T) Extended metaphor
A) Suggests a bond is holding the family together, there unified by the trauma and suffering they all went through together.
They are strengthened by their unity
