Our Flowers And Nice Bones Analysis

The passage “The Interrogators” is a short extract from “Our Flowers & Nice Bones”, written by Christopher Middleton. It describes a cold, isolated village, apparent suffering from the aftermath of conflict. The village is likely in a Northern, Eastern-European country, due to its weather and inhabitants. The passage follows two interrogators and their search for a secret thought to be kept by the town. Their goal is met with resistance from the residents. This resistance is due to obvious conflict between the outsiders, the interrogators, and the starving, oppressed villagers. These villagers have formed a close community, likely because of their isolated location and shared hardship. These themes will be explored through the discussion of the cold and harsh setting and its human inhabitants. The narrative technique also gives glimpses …show more content…
The theme of resistance is clearly shown in the ending of the passage.

Initially, a picturesque, winter landscape is presented to the reader. However, this is quickly replaced by a far harsher environment through Middleton’s use of imagery. At the beginning of the extract, the narrator describes the surrounding trees: “The pines are wedges of silver.” The metaphor compares the pine trees to plain blocks of silver. The use of “wedges” suggests that the trees are being viewed from a distance, and the narrator is unable to see their true detail. At this time, the reader is only aware of this scenic image. The simplified trees create the image of a perfect painting, concealing the reality of the environment. This idea of simplicity is shown soon after with, “layers of green, silver, and air.” This constructs a stylised image of the three sections of the landscape: the ground and leaves, the snow, and the sky. The colours blur out any imperfections and conceal the unforgiving environment. The scenic description creates a tranquil atmosphere, but