Cockleshell

Answer the following questions based on Winton’s short story p113:

1. Briefly describe the setting (place) portrayed by the author and explain how it has
affected the characters involved.

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2. Explain why does Brakey’s mother say the world is ‘a treacherous place’. p116

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3. What was the real reason for Agnes Larwood to go fishing at night?

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Cockleshell

4. What can you say about Agnes’s character? How does pulling spines off fish prefigure
her future, especially of what she becomes in life?

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5. What mystery does the author construct for the reader? Describe the narrative
technique he uses.

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6. What other aspects of the story would you like to highlight? How has the story
influenced you?

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7. Briefly compare and contract ‘Cockleshell’ to one other story you have read in The
Turning.

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Cockleshell

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