A place where no one knows your face by Emily Perkins



A place where no one knows your face by Emily Perkins. Theme Notes:

1. Write a definition of the word ‘theme’.

A moral, main idea, central idea, main message, or what the writer wants the reader to think about as you read the text.

EVERY QUESTION IN AN ENGLISH EXAMINATION IS A THEME QUESTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT IS NEVER YOUR JOB TO WRITE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS IN THE STORY. IF I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS I’LL READ IT MYSELF. IT’S YOUR JOB TO TELL ME WHY WHAT HAPPENS IS IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!! (no plot – all theme).

So what are the themes?

Think about the title.

When does this happen?

When you go to a new place.

What’s scary about this?

You don’t know what’s there.

You don’t know anyone there.

What’s exciting about this?

• It’s cool because you can do anything.

• No one knows your past.

• It’s like you’re on an adventure because it’s new, original and exciting.

• Opportunity to meet new people and get involved with new things and experience things that you’ve never tried before.

• You can change, and become ‘like a new person’. You can be whoever you want to be.

•

The title of the story provides an excellent insight into the themes that the story will be concerned with, namely the opportunity to search within one’s self and reinvent who you are when you go somewhere new because no one knows your past. Because the long journey means she is forced to sit in the car for as long time she has the opportunity to examine herself and is unhappy with what she sees – this sends her on a metaphorical journey of self-discovery.

So how is this shown in the story?

In the story A place where no one knows your face by Emily Perkins the narrator, who is a young girl, goes on a journey of self. Sitting alone in the back seat she has the opportunity to reflect. She is torn between the escapism offered by the fantasy world of castles and of making the leap into the adult world. Just like when you find yourself in a place where no one knows you which can be frightening this can also be exciting as you have the opportunity to reinvent yourself and become a new person, the narrator in the story has the opportunity ahead at the camp site and in the future to become a new person. She doesn’t have to stay the girl punching the brothers of boys she likes who don’t like her – she can change and enter her teenage years with confidence by reinventing herself.

The tragedy of growing up is that we must lose our innocence and our sense of play.

Clearly this is a story about growing up and about the ability of people to make discoveries about themselves and change. One way this is shown is through the symbol of the peach which has a bruised skin but is bursting with life as shown by the juices which overflow but as the narrator gets closer to the hard centre of the peach she discovers two earwigs and is horrified by what she sees. This is similar to what the narrator finds in her own metaphorical journey of self. She too is bursting with life, yes she has been bruised by life (as shown by the fact that she is hurt that Jeremy Lovegrove doesn’t like her) and she discovers that the deeper she looks at herself the more there is not too like. But unlike the peach which is thrown out the window, the narrator can reinvent herself and begin again.

Phrases that might appear in your essays about the theme of the story.

1. A recognition that we can all become someone new

2. Growing up (experiencing the difficulties of growing up)

3. Changing from childhood to the beginnings of adulthood

4. Journey of self, the narrator goes on a journey of self-understanding and self-realisation

5. finding out who we are , realising that we don’t always like what we discover about our selves BUT we also can change and become someone new.

6. self-exploration,

7. we often have to become many people before we find out who we are and who we want to be, this is perhaps best shown by the girl copying her mother’s manners.

8. the story explores new feelings that people have to learn to deal with such as ‘liking’ a boy and dealing with rejection.

Writing the essay: Describe an idea that interested you in each text.

Explain why the idea interested you in each text.

Introduction:

New Zealand has a rich tradition of short stories that capture the difficulty of growing up, this is perhaps not surprising given how young our literary tradition is, we as a country are still growing up and so of course are our people.

An important idea in the short story A place where no one knows your face by Emily Perkins concerns the journey of growing up the narrator experiences. The narrator is forced to examine herself whilst in the back seat of car on a family trip and as she reflects comes to realise that she doesn’t like everything she discovers about herself.

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