Commentary on Lorna Sage’s Bad Blood

Commentary on Lorna Sage’s Bad Blood

This passage, consisting of three paragraphs, out of Lorna Sage’s Bad

Blood, is presented by an all-knowing first-person narrator. It

revolves around a young girl’s, the narrator’s, school life and

childhood experiences. It follows the evolution of a friendship

between the narrator and her dear friend, or shall we say her “sworn

enemy”(l 11), who is first introduced in the second paragraph,

“Gail…had hair in ringlets, green-hazel eyes and pale, clear, slightly

olive skin stretched tight and shiny over her muscles…” (ll 11-13).

The narrator first encounters Gail by having “fierce contests in the

yard, duels almost…” (l 8) against her. At this point the relationship

between them is portrayed by their “duels”, “she was my sworn enemy”

(l 11). However before their fierce contests the narrator thought that

Gail would become her friend, as she refers to Gail as, “the one girl

who might have been expected to be my friend.” (l 9). This

consequently implies that the narrator was hoping to be friends with

Gail suggesting that Gail chose not to be friends with her and to,

instead, have “duels” against her. Gail’s choice of ignoring the

narrator’s hope of friendship depicts her as dominant and prevailing.

This can later be explained by her one-year advantage, “she was nearly

a year older than I was.” (l 13). The narrator also notices Gail’s

dominance, “She’d have won our war in any case…” (ll 13-14). However,

despite her realization of Gail’s overriding actions, she seems to

accept her insignificance in contrast with Gail, “I was convinced at

the start, anyway, that she was simply better at inhabiting her b...

... middle of paper ...

...ely brings the reader into her text more

intimately. Another example of the descriptive detail used is when

Gail is described; “Gail had hair in ringlets, green-hazel eyes and

pale, clear, slightly olive skin stretched tight and shiny over her

muscles…”(ll 11-12). Words, sharing the same meaning, are usually

stacked and repeated in a sentence to emphasize what they are trying

to get across; “not only better at face-pulling, hair-pulling,

pinching, scratching and every sort of violence…” (ll 18-19); in this

case Sage is trying to persuade the reader how much better Gail is

than the narrator at all types of violence. Sage also uses some

metaphors and similes to induce her thoughts and feelings in an

efficient way to the reader; “She’d have won our war in any case” (ll

13-14) and “she made me feel like an unstrung puppet.”