Questions about The linesman by Janet Frame
             a) How does the extract begin? Paying close attention to the tone and the detail of the first paragraph, discuss what kind of mood this creates.
             The first paragraph starts out as a factual recount. It is a statement of facts, and almost sounds mechanical. It is about three men coming to repair the telephone lines. It sounds common, and will not arouse much interest, as the repairing of telephone lines is quite usual and it is a very ordinary part of life. The man was watching people doing public works, which were mundane.
             Very soon, the focus is drawn to the third linesman who had stayed outside the house to work on the telephone lines. From here, everything he does is in precise detail. Features such as the telegraph pole being 'twenty-five yards from the house' and 'iron rungs which are embedded at intervals in the sides on the pole' showed the immense detail in which the narrator was describing the linesman. However, there is no sense or mood of curiosity of all, and the reader has no idea why the narrator would put so much effort into describing something so commonplace.
             However, the next line changes this mood. The line 'he was not likely to fall' is the first hint that the narrator was unreliable and a part of the answer of why the narrator was observing the linesman so closely. The narrator was observing the linesman because he wanted him to fall down from the pole! This gives you the impression that the writer was mad and thus, unreliable. The use of the word 'likely' conveys a tone of disappointment, as the narrator would gladly like the linesman to fall, but the fact that he had his safety harness made it unlikely for him to fall.
             The next line, 'I did not see him climb the pole' has a tone of disappointment. The narrator was disappointed that he did not see the man climb up the pole. Thi
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