When the Wasps Drowned
Analysis
Author: Clare Wigfall
By Jasmine Love, Emily Lunnon, Izzie
Lewis & Louise Hatton
A background on Clare Wigfall
• Clare Wigfall was born in Greenwich, London. During her early childhood, she moved to America and grew up in Berkeley,
California, before moving back to London.
• She began writing at an early age. After an early role as assistant and editor to the late President of Mensa, she graduated from the University of Manchester in 1998.
When the Wasps Drowned
• ‘When the Wasps Drowned’ is part of Wigfall’s debut story collection, The Loudest Sound and
Nothing. Often, the characters in Clare
Wigfall’s stories appear to be searching for something and a dark or sinister aspect of life is revealed.
In what way is the title suitable for the story?
• The title of the story doesn’t give anything away, it leaves you wondering what the story will be about.
• The title is quite strange, usually you can tell the main theme of the story from the title but with this one you its not that straight forward.
Who is the main character?
• The main character’s name is only mentioned once, her name is Eveline.
• She is the oldest sibling and she looks after her two younger siblings.
How does the author handle characterisation? • We learn about the characters only by name and Evelines name is only mentioned the once, is this significant?
• She talks about what she is wearing whilst she is sunbathing.
Characterisation continued…
• There isn’t much conversation between the characters, for all of the story we are inside
Evelines head with her thoughts and feelings on the action.
• “I said finally” [L66] and “I said eventually”[L80] shows that she’s thinking about things in her own head, it also shows her authority.
• There is a lot of action in the story, but not much dialogue. Who tells the story?
• The story is first person, its as if we are actually Eveline, we see everything from the point of view that she does.
Primary Action
The main, significant action of the story takes place in the garden, which represents:
• The confined life that Eveline lives in and how she has no means of escape from it
• The idea that what happens in the garden stays kept a secret within the garden
• The growing-up of the plants and the children within it
• The change from a safe, secure place to a dangerous one Time Span
It isn’t made explicit exactly how much time the story covers, but we can assume that it covers the majority of the summer holidays:
• “It was maybe early August when”
• “The holidays began finally to peter to a close”
• Page breaks
Inciting Incident
The inciting incident of the story occurs when
Therese discovers a wasp’s nest and the wasps come out and sting her, so Eveline drowns them with a hose pipe:
• The title ‘When the Wasps Drowned’ links to the inciting incident of the story rather than the primary one
• The event represents the danger, sadness and death to come in the climax and dénouement
• The nest represents the same confining concept as the garden Rising Action
• The rising action is the action where we find out Tyler and Therese are digging a hole near the garden wall.
• This part of the story is only 4 paragraphs long, but the action is still significant.
• Only one of those paragraphs [L47] is actually about the digging the rest is just leading up to it and “setting the scene”.
Climax
The climax of the story occurs when Eveline sees the ring and the hand under the ground and the aftermath of this discovery:
• Disrupt in peace/happiness of the times in the garden • They go inside the house rather than in the garden
Story ending
It is quite effective because it leaves the reader to think as they just act like
