Hieroglyphics By Eilidh Stewart

Hieroglyphics by Eilidh Stewart

“Hieroglyphics” is a short story written by Scots writer Anne Donavan. The story is humorous but also portrays a serious message about dyslexia and the struggle the main character Mary has coping with this learning difficulty whilst dealing with an unsupportive family, lack of educational support and a continuous loss of friends. The writer conveys these problems through various techniques such as imagery, use of language, key incidents, and mode of narration, to give a more visual understanding of her circumstances resulting I the reader feeling sympathy for Mary.
Sympathy for Mary is almost immediately felt from the opening paragraph. In the first paragraph the reader is informed of Mary being dyslexic. This opening gives the reader a better understanding of the impact her dyslexia is having on her.
“Ah mind they were birlin and dancing roond like big black spiders. A couldnae keep a haunle on them fur everytime ah thoat ah’d captured them, tied them theigither in some kindy order they jist kept on escaping.”
The words such as ‘birlin’ and ‘dancin’ is used to personify Mary’s lack of control she has over the words on the piece of paper. The comparison of the words to spiders shows that the words are obvious and she fears them. ‘tying them together’ suggests her struggle to write a simple word down. Overall, this first paragraph was an effective introduction to Mary’s dyslexia. This is because it clearly shows Mary’s dissatisfaction with being dyslexic and how hard it is making her everyday life. This therefore demonstrates how awareness of Mary’s learning difficulty evokes sympathy to be felt by the