harvest

• those of us who've not been up to mischief in the dark'

  Chapter 1 - Walter displays his innocents by distancing himself from the troublemakers, however, we are led to question how does he know that people have been up to mischief in the dark? He must have witnessed this and is therefore partially complicit in the mischief.
• our happiness has deafened us'


  chapter 1 - they wear 'rose tinted spectacles', they have an outer veneer of utopia that conceals darkness within.
• I know at once whom we should blame'

  chapter 1 - how does he know this? He seems defensive and wants to atone his complicity in the crime by involving other characters. The first instance of scapegoating - the coping mechanism of the villagers.
• They'd been mushrooming'


  Chapter 1 - suggests that humans are motivated by pursuits of pleasure. Suggests that villagers often need to relax and take a break from the intense society in which they live. Suggests the flaws and dysfunctionality of the village.
• those scratchings on his board might scratch us too in some unwelcome way'

  Chapter 1 - outlines the pessimism of the villagers. The verb 'scratch' appears an infantile measure of violence. They suggest that outsiders are a different species.
• hand tools clack and chant in unison'

  Chapter 1 - strong sense of cohesion and equally - or at least, the image of this.
• openness and jollity'


  Chapter 1 - what they intend to embody, this is not always the case. Thus 'openness' and the gossip that derives from it yields much tension and danger.
• No amount of openness and jollity could raise our spirits once that fear took hold'

  Chapter 1 - the irony of happiness, it doesn't last. The fear in this cohesive society is wholly consuming
• We shook our heads and searched our hearts'

  Chapter 1 - they didn't find their corruption, suggests how they are completely ignorant and corrupt to the real workings of their society.
• night's black agents are at work'


  Chapter 1 - they fear the night, a time when this cohesion is momentarily dismantled and separated.
• perhaps a dove will simply sit and coo until its feathers are singed black, until it flesh is roasted to the bone'

  Chapter 1 - the killing of the dove is a powerful image that suggests the impossibility of peace within the village.
• beyond our boundaries'

  Chapter 1 - they fear an threats to their exclusion
• These fields are far from anywhere'

  Chapter 1 - the village is an isolated realm of hate
• I'm not the only one who elects to hold his tongue'


  Chapter 1 - the word 'elects' suggest that failing to confront the truth is an instinctive quality of all humans within the village. They all scapegoat in order to 'hide' the scars truths.
• The village is aflame, but not with fire'

  Chapter 1 - assimilations to nature are plethoric throughout the text, human passion can have the same burning and destructive effect as nature.
• the air was swarming with anxieties'


  Chapter 1 - 'swarming' suggests a constant pulsating fear. They are all bees in a hive, suggesting their lack of any individuality.
• We're not a hurtful people... but we feel naked without tools'

  Chapter 1 - they have become accustomed to violence as an instinctive reaction. They have been absorbed into this backward, feudal and agricultural way of life.
• protective of our modest world'

  Chapter 1 - they pretend to be humble and to an extent vulnerable of the threats from the outside world. However this 'modesty' is ironic, many villagers are proud and selfish, especially Walter Thirsk.
• fearful for our skinny lives'


  Chapter 1 - their lives lack any meaningful sustenance and value, once a member of the village, you have to sacrifice your identity. They get little out of life.
• cherished boundaries'


  Chapter 2 - the villagers love and worship their exclusion from the rest of society, they believe that they live in 'utopia' whilst the rest of society lives in 'dystopia
• To touch a stranger's flesh is dangerous'

  Chapter 2 - their paranoia. Highlights the village's exclusive nature.
• contagion is known to be a crafty passenger'


  Chapter 2 - highlights their fear of outsiders that mingles with their paranoia.
• I am now part of it and part of them'

  Chapter 2 - Walter has become integrated in the 'mass mentality' of the village.
• and just like rooks we have begun to sound and look the same'


  Chapter 2 - they are all brainwashed and have become a 'mass
• these walls are fit for men who prefer to crawl rather than stand'


  Chapter 2 - highlights the duplicity and deception one has to engage in within the village. Men have to reduce their status in order to fit in the society.
• We're not a hurtful people, we are, though, fearful, proud and dutiful'


  Chapter 2 - they constantly try to atone their behaviour. This is ironic, their pride, the fear they orchestrate and their dutiful nature make them intimidating and hurtful to others. It is clear that the villagers do not understand the world.
• The mood was murderous'


  Chapter 2 - paints the village as uncivilised, they all see violence as a solution for most problems.
• the blood was marking her cheeks like tears'

  Chapter 2 - the violence ingrained within the village. Violence is inextricably linked to tragedy.
• what caught our women's eyes at once was the velvet shawl she worse round her shoulders... their instinct was to call out mind your cloth'


  Chapter 2 - implies that all women care about is material possessions and aesthetics and that their mind is completely clouded by these artefacts.
• she's dressed beyond her station'


  Chapter 2 - hierarchy and social standing play important roles within the etiquette of the village
• a woman of that kind could not possess a shawl such as that without first stealing it'

  Chapter 2 - humans always anticipate the worst of people. We are an inherently pessimistic species.
• infect their dreams'

  Chapter 2 - their consuming fear of outsiders. The irrationality of this.
• their breeding stock enlarged by some black hair'

  Chapter 2 - connotations of arianism and genetic 'cleansing
• the local women were like land - fenced in, assigned and spoken for'

  Chapter 2 - the village is a patriarchal society. An interesting play on the historical context of 'enclosure', in this situation, rather than animals being trapped, it is the women.
• Like any pigeon, any hare, she was fair game'

  Chapter 2 - misogyny in the village. Women are like animals that have to be captured and tamed. Little value placed upon the lives of women .
• This is not a place for rough manners'

  
  

  'those are the only manners we've seen since we've arrived'

  Chapter 2 - contradicts the 'utopia' of the village, an outsider is truly able to recognise the hostility within the village. The insiders are all brainwashed into conforming without any questions.
• Lanterns through out such deep and busy shadows that my neighbours faces are hard to place'


  Chapter 3 - Duplicity of the villagers. Ironic because although they claim to resent the 'contagion' of strangers, they are all essentially strangers themselves. Their cohesion isn't deep. They don't know anything about each other.
• secrets are like pregnancies.... you can hide them for a while but then they will start screaming'


  Chapter 3 - the futility of this duplicity and the futility of hiding fro the truth. This tendency to hide only essentially will perpetuate problems.
• we are all conspirators tonight'

  Chapter 3 - highlights the 'mass mentality' of the villagers, although they may not admit it, their crimes are committed collectively, the danger of equality.
• avoiding lantern light'

  Chapter 3 - imagery of shadows and duplicity. We often run away from our true identities.