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The Wind in the Willows Essay

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The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows (published in 1908) by Kenneth Grahame is a children's fictional novel set in England during the early 20th century. This allegory from the stimulus booklet evokes feelings of magic and adventure but also feelings of reflection as we relate the actions of Ratty, Mole and Toad to our lives.Grahame evokes an imaginative journey within the mind of the reader as he questions "Which journey's do we take that we really want to experience?" Kenneth Grahame conveys this idea through Mole who is being forced to take Ratty's journey instead of his own. This text broadens our understanding of the world today in that it helps us to undertsand the complex interactions between people.

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Camps, villages, town's cities". This vivid description of what he anticipates creates imagery in the minds of the audience allowing them to enter the imaginative realm of Toads journey.

In this extract Kenneth Grahame creates exaggeration within the characters to effectively fuel the imagination of the audience. The audience is sent on an imaginative journey as they picture the different facial expressions, changing body language and personalities of the characters. For example "The rat only snorted and thrust his hands deep into his pocket", "cried the Toad, straddling and expanding himself", "said Toad imploringly", "followed him eagerly" etc. The reader can interprete the nature and personality of the characters more precisely through exaggeration because they are able to picture them in their imagination.
The use of exaggeration is effective as it allows the true nature of the character to be expressed in the writing, for example "said Toad imploringly" illustrates how Toad is desperate and pleaing to Ratty, however if the text only contained "said Toad" then the true nature of Toad would not be evoked in the audiences imagination.

'The Wind in the Willows' uses the technique of anthropomorphism. This feature is visually appealing to the audience as the animals seem less threatening and it sends the reader into a fantasy world full of magical and adventurous thoughts. The audience can effectively engage with the human traits shown by the

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