Sky-High (HSC Prelim - Area od Study)

The text, ‘Sky High,’ is presented to the responder as an autobiographical short story. It combines the elements of an autobiography in that it is written in first person, incorporating personal experience with a nostalgic tone as the composer reflects on a significant memory from her childhood. As a short story, the responder is taken through a series of events which are not presented in chronological order due to the nostalgic tone of the text. It is rich with vivid imagery and the constant use of literary devices, such as similes (“ like spectators” and “..shirts like colored flags”), metaphors (“the line-etched story of life in scars and wrinkles” and “small pilot light burning somewhere inside”), personification (“a struggling sapling” and “its boughs stretch out to me beseechingly”) and alliteration (“semaphore secrets” and “silver skeletal”). The effect of the alliteration of the ‘s’ constant soothes and calms the reader, suggesting that ...