The Crow Road Commentary

"The Crow Road" Commentary

This extract from The Crow Road by Iain Banks illustrates for the reader a quite cynical view upon a family gathering for a funeral in the town of Gallanach, Scotland. Prentice, the narrator, is the grandson of the now deceased grandmother, affectionately title "old Margot" (Line 43), and appears to be young in the manner he comments on the gathering as well as his attire. Instead of commenting on the apparent grief and somber nature of the funeral, he instead discusses the dysfunctional nature of his family, in the distance between him and his parents and brother. In the mean-time he shows a level of affection for his aunt and uncle which portrays the image of a very estranged family and gives the reader a sense of loss that does not entirely emanate from the loss of his grandmother. Although opening with the unexpected and slightly ludicrous statement, "It was the day my grandmother exploded", Banks' coherent narration, attention to detail and the innocent nature of the narrator make the extract very approachable and compelling.

The disconnected and dysfunctional nature of this passage is what stands out the most clearly when read. Prentice illustrates the distant relationship he has with his close family by using surprising detail. "...sitting two rows away in the front line of seats..." (Line 4) is the first indication we get as to the physical distance between Prentice and his close family members. We begin to see more distance in the way he describes his brother as "without his walkman...distinctly uncomfortable, fiddling with his single earring." (Lines 13-14) showing us that he has only seen his brother in a single aspect and finds it uncomfortable personally that he is different. This comes across as quite odd, since the departure from such a close family member is so prominent. Next Prentice moves on to his mother who is described as "upright" and "trim". This description is quite cold in nature, showing a mutual distance between mother and son. Banks uses this phrase to symbolize Prentice's alienation from his family even further, with his mothers "dramatic black hat shaped like a flying saucer" (Line 15) as it dips to talk to his father. The sense of loss from his family is felt quite strongly when this action passes since it provokes Prentice to remember the many times he was alienated from the conversations his parents had. This statement is backed-up when Prentice states "I felt a pang of loss that did not entirely belong to my recently departed grandmother" (Line 17). To further the sense of disconnection from his close family, Prentice continues, "...yet was connected with her memory. How her moles would be itching today if she was somehow suddenly reborn!" (Line 17-18). From this statement we can clearly see that his grandmother played a very important role in his life and was more accepted by her than his actual parents.

Apart from the obvious tension between Prentice and his close family members, the narrative also shows a connection between Prentice and the location in which he is in. As stated in the first few lines of the text, Prentice and his family members are in a crematorium in the town of Gallanach in Scotland. The author uses clearly detailed adjectives to describe his surroundings and the immediate effect that it has upon Prentice. The first details come in the description of the chapel, "...cold, echoing", which gives a solemn and grim mood to the location. The author reiterates this constant temperature when he describes Prentice's "...cold high room" (Line 22) and how his "...breath had smoked" (Line 23). The cold aura that surrounds Prentice and the events he witness' is further established by the view over Gallanach which is a "crystalline mist." (Lines 24-25). The temperature, however, is not the only factor that gives the crematorium in Gallanach such a somber nature. In line 3, Prentice states that "it always seemed to be death that drew me back to Gallanach." which reveals to the reader that this is not the first funeral that Prentice