Implicit & Explicit Meaning
What does explicit mean?
Expressed in a way that is very clear and direct.
People who live privileged lives often look down on others.
Find a quotation from the text to match that statement.
‘Alinta rolls her eyes when I ask her how she manages to live here.’
‘I suspect she gets a bit tired of outsiders like me assuming that the people of Coober Pedy are a long way behind the times.
‘But still I wonder how long they can last.’
‘The town feels like it is living in the past rather than looking to its future.’
otherworldly
a strange world
comically
amusing, laughable
suspect
think
What does implicit or implied meaning mean?
When a writer suggests something rather than stating it directly.
The concluding paragraphs are a key structural feature of travel writing. This is where a writer usually reflects on what they have learnt from their travels.
Give the effect of the last part of this article including:
- The writer’s feelings about Coober Pedy
- How she feels as she returns to her room.
- Feeling: The writer did not seem to like Coober Pedy or feel comfortable there. Even after talking to Alinta, she is still quite negative about their lives.
- Returns to her room:
1. The writer notices the noises of the city and the pining of her phone when she returns home and wonders if a more peaceful environment like Coober Pedy is a good thing.
2. She is more reflective when she returns home and seems to wonder if her judgements were too harsh.
She did seem rather closed-minded when she visited— perhaps irritated by the lack of modern technology.
It seems as though she was not willing to give it a chance, but she changed her mind a bit when she was back in her own environment.
Glamorous
attractive, appealing, exciting
appeal
attractiveness
outsider
stranger
What effect does this have on your impressions of the town and its inhabitants?
The fact that it toook the writer three days to get there shows how remote the area is and how far from her normal life. She stresses it is 1,800 miles from Canberra and likens it to Mars.
Inhabitant: Saying people live in dugouts makes their lives seem incredibly hard, which makes them seem desperate.
It seems to be full of people who are only there temporarily to try to get rich rather than a settled community who have tried to establish a proper town.
Why do you think the writer introduces Alinta at this point in the article?
She is resident of Coober Pedy, so she can offer a true perspective on the town.
She is only 17, so she adds a young adult’s views.
She shows that life there is harsh but not as strange or impossible as the writer has implied.
The fact that she is going to Melbourne to study shows that she is educated and a normal teenager.
She also mentions her parents having a business and that they have electricity, which shows that their lives are not as difficult as the reader has been let to expect.
Her frustration with people’s assumptions that they are considered backward also adds a new perspective.
Scattered
sparse, spread
Inhabitant
a person or animal that lives in a place
Partly
half or partially
What the writer states about the area and what is being implied about Coober Pedy?
The writer implies that the area is very basic and undeveloped.
An area which lacks modernisation.
It does not look real but more like something from a science-fiction film. As a result, it is quite discomforting.
The writer also implies that the weather makes the area really hostile and unpleasant and that people only live there to try to make money.
Ex4: Read the following example response to Activity 3.
What makes it perceptive?
(someone who is perceptive notices things quickly and understands situations and people’s feelings well).
The response identifies explicit information but looks at deeper meanings behind the details.
Appropriate quotations are used to identify key points.
It interprets the writer’s feelings and intentions from the words.
Put up with
tolerate, bear, endure
Extended Metaphor
A metaphor that is used, repeated and developed in a piece of writing.
Inventive
Creative
Your initial impression of the writer’s voice and attitude. Provide evidence.
The writer‘s voice is negative, using expressions such as effectively a hole in the ground to describe the sleeping conditions.
She also sounds uncomfortable in the area, as though she finds it really creepy. She says she was the unwilling heroine which shows that she doesn’t really want to be there.
It sounds as though she didn’t enjoy her trip there.
Choose quotations carefully to support your ideas.
Otherworldly images: makes the landscape sound alien and strange
long stretches of dusty red landscape: links to Mars as the ‘red planet’
strange hills of white soil: colour contrasts with the red
randomly scattered mining holes: makes the place sound chaotic and messy, as though humans visit, mine then leave
winter are colder than Mars: very hostile and brutal
this place of extremes: stresses how hostile it is and how difficult it is to live there
Like a deserted film set for a Martian movie: makes it sound empty and abandoned.
Precious
valuable, expensive
perceptive analysis
showing that you have understood what a writer means by their word choices.
drone
the humming sound of the traffic