The children want to suggest that they receive tokens when a
piece of their art is taken for the gallery.
'we were all pretty scared of her'
Miss Emily had power over the students at Hailsham,
this is reinforced by the adjective 'scared.'
The pronoun 'we' shows she had power
over ALL the students at Hailsham.
'it took some nerve to go and see her'
Miss Emily was more powerful and it took
someone brave to go and see her.
When Madame sees Kathy dancing
'And the odd thing was she was crying.'
This is a power shift because usually the guardians are in charge but Madames actions of crying shows her vulnerability.
'she just went on standing out there ,sobbing and sobbing.'
The repetition emphasises how strange it was for Kathy to see an adult crying
Kathy feels uncomfortable as she doesn't know what
provoked Madame to cry and this reinforces the fact that
even in Madames most vulnerable state she still exerts
power over Kathy
'I froze in shock.'
The use of the full stop and simple
sentence shows Kathys reaction was
quick and this suggests she was scared.
'framed in the doorway'
Madame is in the middle of the doorway therefore
blocking Kathy's only way out OR she isn't actually
in the room so therefore creating a divide
between herself and Kathy reinforcing the
dominance.
Kathy explains the power Ruth had other her friends
'everyone was waiting for Ruth's response'
This shows they needed Ruths approval before they could comment. Showing power.
'-which was usually what happened whenever something a bit awkward came up'
This had happened more than once before. This shows
that Ruth has consistently had power over people.