When the Wasps Drowned - A*

When the Wasps DrownedFrom the start the heat is being described repeatedly - the ache of cars moving slowly in the hot sun' and ' dried out in the heat, listless in the still air'                             

This setting is a pathetic fallacy that creates an oppressive and almost negative tone.

The heat is sinister, sapping both energy and life: the children never seem to be able to escape as there are repeated references to 'heat' and 'sunlight' throughout the story. 

The description of the ashing hanging in the garden as 'listless' and 'dried out' even implies that somethings decaying and this foreshadows the discovery of the dead body and the sense of danger coming from Mr Mordecai's garden.

The threat of the wasps seem to be the main event of the story - 'broke the day' , 'screaming' . 'shrieked' 'shocked' 'smashed' .

These negative descriptive words create an extended metaphor that suggest the fear that the children feel as wasps indicate danger for small children.

However, they are not the real danger. Wigfall structures the story so that the wasp attack is described just after we are told that they dug up Mr Mordecai's garden. The absence of explanation creates a mystery. Which is added to by the macabre connotations of Mordecai's name as it suggests both death as 'Mor' is french for death and 'decai' sounds like decay.

Again on an ominous tension foreshadows what he children are to discover. Life contains hidden dangers which may not always be obvious at first. Dangers may  be hidden and concealed just like the dead girls body. 

The uncovering of the body is the KEY EVENT of the story - 'Suddenly the day around us seemed unbearably quiet, as if everything was holding its breath'.

This metaphoric description emphasizes the children's shock that they do not comprehend what they have seen.

She projects onto their surroundings. 'the hand reached towards us' is this a cry for help or accusatory. They feel a guilt that they cannot explain and this moment is when he childgood fear of 'wasps drowned' and an inchoate realisation of the real dangers of life begins.

They cannot articulate the discovery - 'we said nothing ' unable to share their secret with their distant mother they are trapped in their own private world - a reaction repeated when the police show them the dead girls picture - 'we all looked and shook our heads'. 

Therese has a nightmare about the dead girl about 'the arm growing up through the soil' . 

This symbol communicates what the children cannot articulate.

They have been traumatised by what they have the arm growing is a surreal manifestation of their guilt. Could they be next? Is the arm reaching out to pull them into a similar grave. 

The narrator sees the arm but for her does it symbolise a guilt for her as well? - The secret of the ring she wears 'only ever when mum was at work; grows into guilt as she wants the gold and diamonds. She seems poor and they ;very occasionally' have sweets. She makes her own bikini and lipstick. Does the ring represent a life that she desires?

At the end of the story the children wander back out into the garden - 'we stepped back out into the sunlight of the garden'

This repeats the two extended metaphors of heat and sunlight that create the sense of foreboding.

Repeating these images at the end of the story conveys a sense that the children will be haunted by the trauma of that summers discovery. Wigfall subverts our attitudes as gardens and summer are associated with carefree and happy memories.

The garden also becomes a symbol as we were told at the beginning 'the garden walls seem confining' and the garden and the heat represent how they will be trapped in this memory as they grow up.

- shows a shocking discovery in childhood traumatises the children - trapping them in a guilty secret.

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