The Crow Road

The Crow Road

The opening passage from The Crow Road by Iain Banks is very unusual in the way that the Narrator has detached himself from the setting, both literally and through is tone. The passage describes his family at his Grandmothers cremation in their home town of Gallarach. The opening sentence 'It was the day my grandmother exploded.' Would be seen as humorous because without reading the rest of the extract, the reader may imply it as the grandmother's temper exploding, however when you read the rest of the extract the reader would realise that it may be in relation to the grandmother's cremation itself. Due to this the style of the passage would be seen as black comedy. The tone throughout the passage suggests that the narrator is trying to distance or isolate himself from the scene in front of him and his immediate family. This may be because he is unsure of how to deal with the events of his grandmother's death. As the reader you can also see that he is trying to distract himself by commenting on what his relatives are doing and wearing. The imagery used in this section of the passage would link back to the comedy used. The imagery that is used is so unusual that it's original and very vivid. An example of the imagery used is'...sporting a dramatic black hat shaped like a flying saucer. The UFO dipped...' This simile is talking about the mother's big hat that she is wearing for the cremation. What makes the image so vivid is that the simile is so strange and unique that it would be very hard not imagine the hat as an UFO. It suggests that the narrator may have ill feelings for his family and so he finds what they are wearing as ridiculous. What also suggests that there may be problems with the family