How does Yen Mah use language and structure to present her feelings and emotions ?
Example : Yen Mah presents the idea that she is nervous and scared at the idea of meeting with her father. This is made clear to us when she explains how, ‘Timidly, I knocked on the door’ and then later she takes a risk, ‘Please, Father,’ I asked boldly, thinking it was now or never.’ The fronted adverbial ‘ timidly' reflects her movements and shows her terror at being anywhere near her father. The sentence starts with the verb and Mah shows that this is the most important and first emotion that she feels, and we feel it too. The fact that later on Mah uses the adverb, 'boldly’ and the alliteration ‘now or never,’ is interesting as it creates an image of strength. Mah draws on all of her courage to even ask her father a simple question suggests that she has not done anything like this before but that this time it was worth the risk. In this way, Mah's use of structure and semantics emphasises to the reader just how nervous and scared she is when faced with her father, something which is quite upsetting to us.