Sophisticated knowledge

Point of view is the defining feature of narrative because between the story and the reader is the narrator,
who shapes what will be told and how it will be perceived. Examine how narrative point of view shapes

1. Relationship to topic or task

Highly sophisticated demonstrated understanding of the task; sophisticated knowledge of implicit or

embedded aspects.

2.Knowledge of literary/ critical concepts. Good demonstrated understanding of critical concepts and how

these can be applied to texts.

3. Development of independent critical argument. Some originality and insight in identifying, generating

and communicating a coherent critical argument.

4. Analysis of narrative strategies, literary technique, theories (rather than paraphrasing plot) Superior

analysis of narrative strategies/literary technique/theories.

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5. Appropriate use of technical terms Highly sophisticated use of technical terms.
6. Evidence of secondary research. Ideas well integrated into and supported by published research.
7. Selection and analysis of examples from text(s): Superior analysis of texts: analysis moves beyond the

obvious towards nuanced or original insights.

8. Presentation (language and expression) Spelling, grammar and punctuation of a high standard.

Superior expression.

9. Referencing and bibliography

Consistent, highly accurate use and detail of appropriate scholarly sources.

Point of View

In his novel The Fire Eaters, Almond writes the story of a world that feels threatened.
The setting is around the Northumberland Coast. Robert Burns is one of the residents of this
area. He is the adult narrator, who now looks back to the occurrences that surrounded one
autumn when he felt the end of childhood threatened. Bobby Burns has quite recently turned
eleven years old. He has had a radiant summer, coming from a tour to the city with his mother.
He met Mcnulty there, a smashed soul, bringing home the bacon turning traps for the customers
as a strongman fire eater. There is something about Mcnulty, yet Bobby simply cannot express it
in words. He feels some force, there is power however there is additionally an astonishing pity
and much dejection (Cooper 1297). What’s more for Bobby, this gathering with Mcnulty has a

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significant impact, for it matches with numerous changes in his own, heretofore happy go lucky,
adolescent life.
Robert is eleven or more and is going to start at the primary school, a shockingly
disheartening foundation, brimming with order and flogging. This training will certainly remove
him from the nearby, yet poor group in which he exists. His most established companionship,
with Joseph an insubordinate neighborhood kid, specifically, is getting to be strained and
strained. His adoration for Ailsa, a coal-scrounger’s girl, feels as if it is under risk from an
approaching, disconnect prospect. Bobby’s father is secretively sick. Furthermore out of sight,
the Cuban Missile emergency spreads a wet billow of hopelessness and fear in all areas of his
life (Crow’s Nest NSW par 5). It appears to be as though all that he knows and affections
including the extremely world itself is in incredible danger. There are numerous devils, both
private and open, for him to stand up to.
In his fifth novel, The Fire Eaters, David Almond has put down an epitaph. Almond has
been acclaimed as the Gabriel Garcia Marquez of youngsters’ writing (Crow’s Nest NSW par 5).
What is more, that could well be correct. His is, for sure, a brand of enchantment authenticity of
the most capturing kind. His composition is influential, enthusiastic and melodious. Yet most
importantly else, it is brimming with confidence. Yet you could likewise partner his work with
the significantly more mundane exposition of an alternate highly lauded kids’ creator; Jacqueline
Wilson, for Almond like her bargains in circumstances established in the brutal, true. As Wilson
has expounded on contrast – most outstandingly manic melancholy in The Illustrated Mum – so is
distinction an intermittent topic in his books (Crow’s Nest NSW par 5). Both journalists recall
the individuals who are so regularly forgotten – the sick, the harmed, and the missing. The Fire
Eaters talks about contrast, it investigates the way of class in this nation, and it talks with

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affectability of a young person’s reasons for alarm, grief and nerves. But it is never bleak yet
rather, constantly excellent.
It is remarkably an exceptional sort of imagination, The Fire Eaters, set profound in all
actuality. It helps us to reach out for clarifications of the conundrums of our livelihoods and for
improvement of their composition (Crow’s Nest NSW par 2). It’s part of the way dream-story,
incompletely superstition. Furthermore generally as superstition lies unequivocally in the middle
of apprehension and trust, so does the planet in which Bobby resides. Maybe not for the youngest
adolescent readers, regardless of how excited dissimilar to Skellig, the first of Almond’s novels
is. The Fire Eaters is a testing book, swaying kids to go up against partiality, alarm and sorrow. It
is not reluctant to pose the hard inquiries. Additionally, it is not hesitant to permit them to
discover their answers. Hence, alone, it is an achievement. It would formulate a magnificent
content for a perusing gathering in school, however it maybe best appreciated unaccompanied
and in concealment, vicarious world traveled to just by method for the best of books.
David Almond composes for the spirit, not for the mind. He composes – delicately and
creatively – of enchantment and the reclaiming force of adoration. In The Fire Eaters, what is
mostly seen is the exceedingly bad side of mankind; however, we additionally see the best.
Furthermore, I feel that it is this current man’s particular ability. He perceives that man is maybe
not the most agreeable of nature’s descendants. He slaughters for no particular reason, he takes,
and he is well on the best approach to decimating the planet. However, dissimilar to whatever
other animal, he knows where it counts the profundities of his failings. Now and again, he tries
deliberations to put things right. Kids, specifically, frequently have a blazing craving to correct
things. This is the reason his words are so engaging. They are targeted at the heart of our reasons
for alarm and fears; the things which so frequently are the reason for our transgressions. Also

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with those coasting, dreamy words he directs his readers to acknowledge those reasons for alarm
and the ache they convey, then set them aside. Everything it takes is adoration, and a tad bit of
Almond’s specific brand of enchantment.
The Red Shoe
The Red Shoe is the story of three young ladies, matured 6, 11 and 15, living in a remote
house at Palm Beach in the 1950′s. Matilda is the most youthful, then there is Frances, who is
declining to go to class, and Elizabeth, enduring a mental breakdown. The story is told from the
point of view of Matilda, the most youthful sister, and Dubosarsky has caught the six year old
perspective skillfully. One interesting component is Matilda’s nonexistent companion, Floreal.
He is not the regular change personality; however is a 22 year old Argonaut who has left the
radio. As opposed to being ameliorating, he is regularly limited and mocking, however he serves
to be an editorial on occasions she doesn’t understand. The disconnected nature of the book
comes on the grounds that Matilda’s adolescent personality is regularly depicting occasions
outside her ability to grasp.
We, as readers, are offered signs to these outside occasions utilizing the gadget of
intertextuality. The book incorporates portions from the Sydney Morning Herald from April
eighth to 30th, 1954. These daily paper articles concern the Petrov Affair, Einstein and the
Atomic Bomb, the Cold War and the polio plague of the time.
There are three fundamental plot lines which are joined in ‘The Red Shoe’. These are the
lives of the three young ladies, their guardians’ relationship and the legislative issues of the
outside world. Dubosarsky skillfully intertwines these by utilizing suggestive symbolism
including red shoes. There are the red shoes of Hans Christian Anderson’s tall tale, told toward

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the start of the book to Matilda, the red shoes of their mother, and the red shoe of the wife of
Russian spy, Vladimir Petrov. This symbolism inspires a climate of premonition and secret. We
feel more that something frightful is going to happen.
I feel that this book has a more constrained gathering of people than a percentage of the
others on the short rundown. It is suggested for development under studies and progressed
readers. Likewise, it would presumably claim more to young ladies than young men. Grown-ups
who existed in the time of the fifties will appreciate remembering the historical backdrop of that
period.

The Point of View

The point of view of The Fire Eaters is the first person. The novel is, therefore, told in
the form of first forms of words like I, our, and us. The story is also told in the first point of view
in the form of a child. While Burns is already a child, he does not look at the events surrounding
his novel in the eyes of an adult (Boardman 19). Instead, he makes use of this child in the book
as a strategy both to win the acceptance of children and in his bid to win the feelings of his
readers. In doing this, he has succeeded.
Like in the case of The Fire Eaters, The Red Shoes is written in the point of view of a
child. The novel is friendlier to children than The Fire Eaters. It uses a language that is easy to
understand and one that is involving to the child. By using the first person point of view, Almond
shares stories that are close to the child’s heart. He tells us about the fears of the child
(Boardman 19). The reader does not see the politics of the time in the eyes of an adult. Instead,
he cultivates the point of view of a child throughout the novel.

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Almond’s third person point of view gives the writer hope that the main character has
survived the events that surround him. While the atmosphere of the novel is tense, there is hope
that things will be all right. The reader only reads on to see what is lost in the process and to see
how the loss was escaped.
By Dubosarsky’s using the third person point of view, the main character can ask
questions and get them answered. Matilda who is at the center of the novel shares with the reader
her likes and dislikes and still move on with the story. At the end of the introduction, we are left
at a point where we either compromise or not compromise with Matilda about the death of
Karen. She feels that Karen’s going to heaven is not a good ending. To her, it implies that Karen
died. She is also not comfortable with the concept of having Karen not being allowed to wear her
shoes. This way, she expresses her disgust about the injustices of the story without affecting its
progress.
By using the first person point of view, Almond helps us to share the story with the
narrator. The reader gets the feeling of having a controlling point of view in the narrator’s hands.
The reader gets firsthand information, about the context of the novel (Adams 324). Them being
memories of childhood, they risk being both baseless and dear to the writers heart.
“The Red Shoe” is a mind-blowing story with the child’s perspective at its core. Set
around Easter 1954 and thinking again to a critical occasion of the past Boxing Day, we see a
family in a period of emergency. There are three girls matured 6, 11 and 15, mother, father who
is regularly missing on his boat, and Uncle Paul. Around them are reports of Russian spies, kids
passing on of polio, and different Sydney homicides and misfortunes, caught in daily paper
clippings put between a large portion of the parts (Dubosarsky 23). Yet, there is additionally the

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likelihood of heading off to the Royal Easter Show, family picnics, and excursions to the
shoreline and school parades.
The shadow of the war is still there in the individual of their harmed father. His
extravagant free sibling both helps and upsets their recuperating. At the same time for the most
part, there is regular life which each of the three girls manage in their own specific way. The
youngster’s perspective provides for us misjudging, privileged insights, children’s stories, and
fanciful companions and, on account of Elizabeth, calm pre-adult anxiety. Notwithstanding, at
last the kids show information of reality past their cognizant comprehension. It is this hole that
makes the story genuine and delicate.
Regardless of the youngster’s perspective, this story manages a few genuine issues. The
father is experiencing the delayed consequences of trauma so his dejection and the stunning
plausibility of suicide make dreadful scenery to the story. Thinking again on “The Red Shoe” is
similar to review a vast woven artwork that uncovers more prominent profundities as you move
from catching the 10,000-foot view, to researching each one definite corner (Baker 281). There
is much to find here.
Both authors, while using different point of views make us aware of things that are
important to children. For the most part however, the stories do not merely deal with simple and
mundane elements of life. Instead, the article uses a variety of perspectives which include the
issues like war, disease and death.
In conclusion, both texts have expressed a variety of perspectives through the use of
different points of view. While using a child’s perspective, the two authors communicate grave
matters of war, death and disease. Duborsaky uses the second person point of view. Through this

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perspective, he takes us through the lives of various characters with an all-knowing attitude. He
delves into their secret lives and shares them with us while at the same time keeping them from
each other. He also takes us through the worries and fears of the main characters. On the other
hand, Almond uses a first person point of view. The first person point of view is relieving in the
difficult times of the novel. We at least believe that he is alive to tell the story. The two authors,
through their different points of view do not hesitate to share the most important matters to
children. Issues like family and love are kept in the middle of their stories.

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Works Cited

Adams, Lauren. “David Almond The Fire-Eaters.” The Horn Book Magazine 2004: 324.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

Baker, Deirdre F. “Ursula Dubosarsky: The Red Shoe.” The Horn Book Magazine 2007: 281.
Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

Boardman, Edna. “Almond, David. The Fire-Eaters.” Kliatt 2006: 19. Literature Resource
Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

Cooper, Ilene. “Almond, David. The Fire-Eaters.” Booklist 2004: 1297. Literature Resource
Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

Crow’s Nest NSW Dubosarsky, Ursula. The Red Shoe. Crow’s Nest NSW: Allen & Unwin,

2006. Discovery eBooks. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

Dubosarsky, Ursula 1961–. n.p.: 2014. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

Dubosarsky, Ursula. The Red Shoe. n.p.: Allen & Unwin, 2006. Bibliotheksverbund Bayern.
Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

Gordon, Suzanne. “Dubosarsky, Ursula. The Red Shoe.” School Library Journal 2007: 142.
Business Insights: Essentials. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

Kirkus Reviews “Almond, David The Fire-Eaters.” 2004: 323. Literature Resource Center. Web.
22 Oct. 2014.

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Kirkus Reviews “Dubosarsky, Ursula: THE RED SHOE.” 2007: Literature Resource Center.
Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

Practically Primary “The Red Shoe.” 2 (2008): 44. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

Publishers Weekly “The Red Shoe.” 2007: 94. Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

The Christian Century “The Fire-Eaters.” 25 (2004): 24. Academic OneFile. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

The Horn Book Magazine Almond, David. “The Fire-Eaters.” 2005: 31. Literature Resource
Center. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.