Bad Dreams literary devices

An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly

Eg: “What costume, Bo Peep?” (an abduction)

A past event is narrated at a point later than its chronological place in a story

Flashback in silk brocade or under the sign of the moon

The creation or construction of a fictional character

Eg: “Edith was thirty-four and lively, and not bad looking” (deeds not words)

Be a warning or indication of (a future event)

Eg: “She said she was heading inside to find her Jokari set” (an abduction)

Visually descriptive or figurative language

Eg: “The wings of her spirit, which had been beginning to soar, faltered and flung her to earth, because, after all, she had been doing her best, nothing else…” (an abduction)

The relationship between texts, especially literary ones

Eg: “In the real book she loved, Swallows and Amazons…” (bad dreams)

The expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite

Eg: “People seemed to take me more seriously – as if I’d been initiated into something after all, although nothing had happened.” (experience)

A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable

Eg: “But you could shed your skin over and over.” (flight)

A dominant or recurring idea

Eg: Books/Swallows and Amazons (bad dreams)

The attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human

Eg: “The moon sank below the wall.” (bad dreams)

Future act of development is presented as If already accomplished

Eg: “Jane Allsop was abducted when she was fifteen, and nobody noticed.” (an abduction)

A figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind

Eg: “Her freckles startling as the camouflage of an animal.” (an abduction)

The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities

Eg: “Fresh sunlight” (represents the fresh knowledge of discovering Fiona and Daniel) (an abduction)

Unnamed characters, perhaps suggesting a lack of personal identity / agency e.g. ‘the child’ and ‘the child’s mother’ in ‘Bad Dreams,’ ‘Carrie’s mother’ in ‘One Saturday Morning’

Protagonists often paralleled / juxtaposed with other women e.g. Jane & Fiona (‘An Abduction’), Laura & Hana (‘Experience’), Marina & Wendy (‘The Stain’), Claire & Susan (‘Flight’)

Hadley’s dialogue is presented without quotation marks, instead introduced by dashes. This gives it an air of distance (as if it’s being indirectly reported to the reader)

• Hadley also makes use of asides (parentheses) to comment on a character or scene, reminding readers of the observational nature of the stories (again creating distance, preventing the reader from strong emotional engagement)
• e.g. Jane in ‘An Abduction’ is described in parentheses as not being ‘clever or literary’ and as ‘nervous of new words’