Language, structure, form in My Name is Leon - AQA

• My Name is Leon is a realist novel in the literary fiction genre.

• The story is told in a linear way, which means the chapters follow on from each other in chronological order.

• The novel is written using a third-person limited narrator. The only thoughts and feelings explored are Leon's.

• Most of the language in the novel is child-like, reflecting Leon’s age and understanding of his experiences.

Remember

In your writing, it is important to talk about the effects of language and structural techniques, rather than just identifying them.

My Name is Leon is a realist novel which means that it portrays the lives of ordinary people in ordinary settings in a truthful way. It could be categorised in the genre of literary fiction.

Unlike in a play, because My Name is Leon is written in prose, readers can imagine the characters and settings in their own ways.

One of the benefits of the novel form is that the writer can ‘pause’ the action and spend time developing their characters, exploring and explaining their physical appearance, but also their backgrounds, thoughts and feelings.

Another way in which the writer, Kit de Waal, controls how her ideas are presented is through perspective. My Name is Leon is written from a third-person limited perspective. This means that the narrator tells the story, but only has access to one character's thoughts and emotions - in this case, Leon's.

The narrator shares what Leon can see, hear and think but we never hear from Leon directly.

This controls the reader's perspective on the events and relationships that Leon experiences. It means that they must use inference to work out whether Leon has interpreted a situation correctly or not.

As a child character, Leon often misunderstands things. This challenges the reader to be perceptive and creates empathy with Leon. Sometimes de Waal uses Leon’s misunderstandings to create humour for the reader, like in Leon’s confusion about the Moses basket.

Ironically, Leon himself is often 'voiceless' in conversations. For example, he stays quiet or gives simple "yes" responses to questions from social workers.

The structure of the narrative in My Name is Leon is mostly linear, which means that events occur in chronological order. There are some small jumps forward in time between chapters, but there are no significant changes to the plot or characters in these gaps.

The small jumps in time between some chapters could show how slowly time is moving for Leon at points in the novel.

In some of the chapters, flashbacks are embedded into Leon’s thoughts as memories. These are all linked to Carol or to his father’s family, and come into Leon’s mind as a result of something else happening in the main narrative, just like most people’s memories do. This enhances the realism of the novel.

Motifs are used by de Waal to link ideas together.

For example, the motif of nature is used throughout and connected to Leon. This reflects the joy and comfort Leon finds when he is in nature, even when things are hard for him elsewhere. It could also be symbolic of his literal and emotional growth as the story goes on.

The author, Kit De Waal, also uses foreshadowing to build tension and create dramatic irony. For example:

• When Leon reads the report on Carol, it foreshadows her continued separation from Leon and Jake

• When Maureen arrives at Sylvia's house wheezing and unable to speak, it foreshadows her becoming ill and being taken to hospital.

• Tufty and Castro’s discussions of police violence, and the television reports of unrest elsewhere in the country, foreshadow their violent encounter with the police and the riots that Leon gets caught up in later on.

Most of the language in the novel is child-like, reflecting Leon’s age. It is clear and descriptive. However, this does not mean the language is simple: there are some complex metaphors used that reflect Leon’s vivid imagination.

For example, after Jake is adopted, Leon thinks that:

The empty sound in the house is louder than Jake crying for his bottle.

The individual words are child-like, but de Waal uses the oxymoron "empty sound" and hyperbole within the metaphor to give the reader a vivid picture of Leon’s grief in very few words.

The author uses more complex language when adults are talking and also when describing how Leon feels overwhelmed. The language used by adults in the novel is a mix of formal and informal, reflecting the realist style of the narrative. Leon is always listening and looking out for information, and so there is a variety of language styles presented to the reader through his observations.

References in the novel help to establish its historical 1980s setting, for example in the references to the American TV show The Dukes of Hazzard.

For each quotation, choose the most appropriate inference.

When writing about the language and structure of a novel, it helps to look at a small extract first.

• Read the extract more than once to make sure you have fully understood it.

• When you are reading the extract, highlight key words and short phrases that you think you could explain the effect of.

• Think about similar examples of language elsewhere in the novel.

Writing your ideas about language down in short sentences or on a mind map can help your revision.

Test your knowledge of the language, structure and form of Kit de Waal's novel My Name is Leon by taking this quiz.