Junior Cycle English UNSEEN - Fiction: How is Max's reaction to the fil

Question

How is Max's reaction to the film different from the reactions of the other members of the Carver family? Explain your answer with reference to the passage.

As war sweeps across Europe in 1943, Max Carver’s father moves his family away from the city to an eerie wooden house on the coast.
As soon as they arrive, strange things begin to happen. His father, Maximilian Carver, finds a box of old films that belonged to the Fleishmanns, the previous owners of the house. He decides to open a window to the past. His intent had been to entertain Max and his family by watching one of these old films. However, Max has discovered an even graver full of unusual statues of circus figures.

Suddenly the beam from the lens cut through the room like a spear of light. Max concentrated on the rectangle projected onto the white wall. It was like looking inside a magic lantern, never knowing what visions might emerge from its depths. He held his breath and in a few moments he was alive with pictures.

It didn’t take long for Max to realise that the film they were watching didn’t come from the storeroom of some old cinema. It was not a print of some famous film, nor even a forgotten reel from a silent movie. The blurred pictures, taken away by time, showed what whoever had filmed these images was obviously an amateur.

“What is this?” asked Irina.

“I don’t know,” darling,” answered her father.
The film was a rather clumsy attempt at depicting a walk through what looked like a forest. The person operating the camera moved slowly through the trees; the images jerking from one place to another with sudden shifts in light and focus, so that it was difficult to pick out where this strange path was.

“But what is it?” cried Irina, visibly disappointed. She looked at her father, who was staring in bewilderment at what appeared to be a strange—and, judging from the last minute, boring—film. “I don’t know,” replied Maximilian Carver, despondent. “I wasn’t expecting this… maybe it’s just a mistake.”

“Is that the people who used to live in this house before us?”

Max had also started to lose interest in the film when something caught his eye in the confused rush of images.

“Wait if you if another reel, dear?” Andrea Carver suggested, trying to keep her husband’s spirits up.

“Wait…” Max interrupted as he recognised a familiar silhouette.

The film moved and left the forest and was heading towards an area surrounded by tall stone walls that surrounded pillars. Max knew this place; he’d been there before and was now fascinated, Max watched as the camera operator appeared to stumble slightly and then entered the walled garden filled with statues.

“It looks like a graveyard,” whispered Andrea Carver. “Dear, turn this off.”

“Just a second,” said Max.

The camera panned across the scene. In the film, the garden didn’t look as neglected as it had when Max discovered it. Not in the time before the surface of the ground was clean and smooth; someone had been keeping the place immaculate.

The camera revealed each of the statues standing at the cardinal points of the star that clearly visible. Max guessed that the images were captured from that vantage point, were walking towards the imposing form of the rigid noses adopted by the ghostly figures and the theatrical expressions they wore in their mask-like faces.

The film went from one statue to another, capturing each member of the circus troupe without any cuts. They flared with the filmmaker in silence, for none of them could interfere with the rattle of the projector.

Finally, the family turned towards the center of the star. Standing with back to the light was the figure, resembling a man. He had strange markings on his face that almost seemed to be features of the smiling shroud running through his body where he’d stood in front of it. There was a beam of a white light that pierced his visage. It delved deep into the darkness that lay behind him. Max followed the movement of the flickering light but still tried to work out what it was.

“I’m not sure if this is a film or ever trying to become the projector’s beam.” Andrea Carver urged with unshakable hope. “Can we see some more?” Max asked timidly.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Max.”

How is Max's reaction to the film different from the reactions of the other members of the Carver family? Explain your answer with reference to the passage - Junior Cycle English - Question 1 - 2013

Worked Solution & Example Answer:How is Max's reaction to the film different from the reactions of the other members of the Carver family? Explain your answer with reference to the passage - Junior Cycle English - Question 1 - 2013

How is Max's reaction to the film different from the reactions of the other members of the Carver family?

Based on your reading of the above passage, write a diary entry Max might have written, expressing his thoughts and feelings after this day's events.

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