“Broken Lives” By Estelle Blackburn Essay

The chapter A nonher Gun, Another unlocked ingress is a chapter from Estelle Blackburns expository text Broken Lives. This chapter focuses on one night of Eric Edgar Cookes murderous sprees where he steals a rifle and shoots a baby sitter, once again going the city of Perth in the hands of fear and danger. The purpose of this chapter is to fight for Cookes guilt. It shows that he had no fear of being caught and was a devious man when it came to him stealing, putting to death and the plans he came up with. Through peculiar(prenominal) aspects of its construction including stoppage of view, structure, language, soulality presentation and tone, our response to the ideas conveyed atomic number 18 able to be shaped and moulded to the ideas that are presentedThe point of view in Another Gun, Another Unlocked Door is from a third person all-knowing view, looking in on the world skirt Cooke. However the point of view is no ordinary third person point of view, it is in fact shifting, jumping from one character to the next so that we can get into the minds of all the characters and the emotions they are experiencing at the time of the gunmans rampage. The point of view is shifting as to present the views of the many characters we go into contact with throughout the chapter. All people views on Cooke come to fruition and to our realisation. The fear that Cooke spread throughout Perth is exposed and our response to him and our feelings moulded. He shoots an innocent fille studying, through the point of view we can look in on his emotions and thoughts and the evil side of him. He had a rifle and was in a cleansing mood This suggests that Cooke had been in this mood before when he has killed people previously and asks us the question, what sort of man is he if he gets in a cleanup position mood. If Broken Lives was written from a first person point of view, we would not see the same emotions and feeling that we do from a third person omniscient view.The language goes hand in hand with the point of view. The sort of language that is used in Another Gun, Another Unlocked Door is one to bring over people of Cookes guilt when it comes to these murders and shows how much ofa crazed killer he really was. It also proves how he enjoyed the fear of being caught and the fear that mortal could see him. He could see a short woman sitting in the lounge.He loved the riskWhat is this saying around Cooke? That he is a quiet, hygienic-mannered, law abiding citicen? Or that he is a crazed madman that enjoyed the risks of robbing people and killing them without any remorse. The language even describes the look on Cookes face or the route in which his heart was beating. Even though some of this is fictionalized, it has been incorporated to shape our response towards Cooke so that we feel the same appearance in which Blackburn does about him.Another Gun, Another Unlocked Door is structured in such a way so that many points of view and characters are pres ented. The chapter jumps from one character to another, which results in many feelings and attitudes being presented. Through the numerous amounts of characters being presented we are able to see that it was not only a smattering of residents of Perth that feared for their lives, but it was all people, ranging from the better off people to those that werent as well off.Through the way she has structured Another Gun, Another Unlocked Door Blackburn has successfully conveyed many ideas into one small section. By structuring the chapter in this way, Blackburn can also select the details that she wants to include, those that will support her view, and exclude other, those that will counterbalance her view. By selecting certain details from certain characters, Blackburns point can be made stronger without her need to fictionalise or fabricate some of the facts that she is presenting to the reader.The way in which the characters are presented in Another Gun, Another Unlocked Door shapes our response and how we react when Cooke take the lives of people. When we are first introduced to Shirley Martha McLeod we are told of how she is a ponderous working science student at St Catherines College. She is presented in such a way that sets visual pictures in ourhead of scarcely what McLeod would have been give care. She had a satchel of books with her and toldDowd how she planned to work very hard forThe rest of the university yearThis sets up an image of a young girl who concentrates on her school work and is well mannered and polite. Dowd felt comfortable leaving baby Mitchellin her careThe way in which McLeod is presented sets up the fact that Cooke stole the lives of innocent, caring people that he did not know and had everything going for them. This proves that it was a case of wrong place, wrong time. By giving us this information, Blackburn can shape our response by performing on this. Blackburn can emphasise how much of a caring young lady McLeod was and ask us to question how Cooke could take the life of a person so innocent.Then there is also the way in which Blackburn portrays Cooks personality. She describes him as a monster that was only out to kill and vigor else. The feeling of power began to come over him asran his fingers along the barrelThis is describing the feeling that Cooke got when he found the .22 rifle that would eventually lead to his demise. Through describing Cooke like this, Blackburn is reinforcing her previous opinion of Cookes personality. By doing this we are once again being shaped into responding in a particular manner. Does Blackburn know how Cooke felt or has she once again fictionalised sections to fight for the innocence of John sack?By putting a serious mood and tone to Another Gun, Another Unlocked Door Blackburn is setting up the fact that this was all real and it was not something she made up. Some sections of Broken Lives have a good-natured feel about them, especially when they are speaking of John B utton. An example of this is Lifes a swelling where the tone is less serious as Blackburn is describing John Button and how he was a fine upstanding member of society. However by using a more serious mood and tone when speaking of Cooke, Blackburn is influence our response to the ideas she presents.If Another Gun, Another Unlocked Door was presented in a lighter mood such as Lifes a Ball the chapter would not be as effective in proving Cookes guilt. Seeing as the purpose of Broken Lives is to assure us that Cooke was guilty and Button innocent, Blackburn would not go and put a humorous tone on something as serious as a young girl being slay, especially when it was Cooke that murdered her, the one she is trying to prove guilty.Another Gun, Another Unlocked Door succeeds in its purpose of assuring us of Cookes guilt. Blackburn does this be presenting particular characters in particular aspects. Or including certain information that supports her argument or even just through the lan guage she chooses. This chapter argues for Buttons guilt and just proves what type of a man Cooke really was. These particular aspects of narrative construction all shape the way in which we respond to the ideas the Blackburn is presenting.