Text a and b both cover the subject 'childhood'. Text a is a fragment adapted from the short story 'the boat' by Alistair Macleod. In this fragment he is taken to the boat for the first time. Text b is a poem by Edwin Muir, a little boy fascinated by movements caused in nature and water. Text a was written in 1968, text b in 1925. Both authors of these two texts write about childhood and both boys share the connection of water. Text a starts with a boys first recollection of his father. You can tell by reading the first sentence that this boy really looks up to his father. You also know that there has to be some kind of connection with the sea, because the word salt is repeatedly connected with his father. 'it tasted of salt, and how it smelled of salt'.
             From this first paragraph we learn that the father probably plays an important role in the boy's life. The second paragraph also consisting of one sentence tells us about the half-mile trip to the wharf, where the boy will go for his first ride in he boat. Again the odour of salt is mentioned which links his father to the sea. The boat trip isn't really told, which shows that the boy wasn't really impressed. It was told in one sentence: 'we made our little circle and returned'. Yet the boy learns in the following paragraph that the boat is really important. Last paragraph is again a very detailed one about his father. His ever- ready chair shows he is waiting for something. The last sentence confirms this. 'He seemed never to sleep, only to doze, and the light shone constantly from his window to the sea.' The boy is fascinated by his father, his big impressive father with his gigantic rubber boots which occur throughout the text. You learn a lot about these boots, they are gigantic, red soled and make a galumphing noise when his father walks on it. The writer gives us a clear picture off the fathe
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