Boy Giant “The great storm came at night, the waves tossing us, each of them trying harder than the one before to lift the boat up and flip us over. The sea was playing with the boat, playing with us, teasing us before it drowned us and swallowed us up forever. Too weak now, unable to hold on, all of us helpless, we were being thrown one by one out of the boat.”
Storytelling challenge: In the extract above, Michael Morpurgo uses a technique called personification to describe the sea and waves toying with the boat before sinking it. This is where something is given human feelings or intentions to create a particular effect. Here, the storm is given an intent, trying to destroy the boat – rather than this being an act of nature. Can you use personification to describe something or to capture an emotion or feeling?
You should: • Think of a moment in a story which features something that isn’t human: the weather (a storm, snow, a hurricane); a vehicle (a car, a boat, an aeroplane); the sun, moon or stars; a mountain, river or desert. • Describe your scene to a partner, using personification.
You might: • Try to use these descriptions in your storytelling or writing. Perhaps the description you have created could be the starting point for an exciting story or you could go back to a story you’ve written already and add in some personification.
Stuck for ideas? If you get stuck, perhaps you could try using the examples of personification below as inspiration: • The car spluttered and complained as it drove up the hill • Gentle waves danced across the surface of the pond • The mountain called them forward, beckoning to the travellers with crooked fingers
Boy Giant