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Skyline Chapter 1

This document provides background information and a summary of Chapter 1 of the novel "Skyline" by Patricia Schonstein-Pinnock. The chapter introduces the main characters - a girl, her younger sister Mossie, and their mother who live in an apartment building called Skyline in Cape Town. It is revealed that the girls' father recently left them without explanation, addressing the social issue of children growing up without fathers. Mossie seems to suffer from autism as she does not speak but makes weird sounds. The chapter also describes the first painting mentioned in the novel, which portrays the noises and colors of Cape Town city life.

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Lianne Hugo
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1K views2 pages

Skyline Chapter 1

This document provides background information and a summary of Chapter 1 of the novel "Skyline" by Patricia Schonstein-Pinnock. The chapter introduces the main characters - a girl, her younger sister Mossie, and their mother who live in an apartment building called Skyline in Cape Town. It is revealed that the girls' father recently left them without explanation, addressing the social issue of children growing up without fathers. Mossie seems to suffer from autism as she does not speak but makes weird sounds. The chapter also describes the first painting mentioned in the novel, which portrays the noises and colors of Cape Town city life.

Uploaded by

Lianne Hugo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SKYLINE (written by Patricia Schonstein-Pinnock)

Background of the novel:


The story takes place in and around Loop Street in Cape Town. A block of flats,
called “Skyline” is situated in Loop Street.
Most of the inhabitants of “Skyline” are people who have fled their countries of origin
to come and start a new life in South Africa. We also meet a mother and her two
children (one, who is nicknamed “Mossie’) who also live in “Skyline” although they
are from South Africa originally.
CHAPTER 1
In chapter 1 we meet a girl (whose name is never mentioned throughout the novel),
her younger sister, Mossie and their mother. We also get to know that their dad has
just left them without notifying them, “simply and without explanation.” This is one of
the social issues that is addressed throughout the novel: the circumstances and
consequences children, who grow up without fathers, have to suffer.
Apparently the mother is a heavy drinker and although she attempts to find her
husband, her search was in vain. A second social issue is addressed: unhappy
marriages and how everyone involved suffer.
The older girl tries to comfort her younger sister, Mossie, who cries sadly for her
daddy. The older girl says, “Daddy is gone and we never say his name again.” (p3)
These words of the older girl imply that she is living in denial about the void that the
vanishing of the father left in their home. Denial, in this instance is a coping
mechanism for the older girl. The reader also begins to wonder whether Mossie
perhaps suffers from a form of autism, seeing that she does not speak, but makes
weird sounds.
 1st painting
The first painting described in this novel is called It is the Cape Town city and
resembles a painting titled Street noises invade the house. At this stage of the novel
we do not know who the artist of this painting is. The South African painting portrays
city life in Cape Town, with bright colours and the feel of an African goat drum
beating. By looking at this painting one could easily imagine the gentle tingling of
brass bracelets and a mixture of noise made by cars and people.
Glossary
 azure – blue colour of a clear, unclouded sky
 plumbago-blues – plumbago is a shrub that grows about 2 metres tall
 cacophony – a noise caused by a mixture of sounds
 leguaan-blue – the colour of the Nile monitor, a reptile found in most parts of
Africa.
FIGURES OF SPEECH
 “Outside the traffic is screaming” – personification (p2)
 “The traffic is crying now” – personification (p2)
 “The traffic is the wail of a madonna stripped and bleeding” – metaphor
(Explanation: In the same way that a madonna, who is a beautiful and
virtuous woman, will cry when she had been assaulted, in the same way the
traffic sounds as if though it is crying with pain.) (p2)
 “The traffic is a flock of birds crying in the evening” – personification /
metaphor (Explanation of metaphor: In the same way that birds fly to their
nests at night, the same way the cars in the traffic are taking home people at
night. (p3) The cars in the traffic look like a flock of birds going home.

QUESTIONS
1. Refer to paragraph 1 of chapter 1. What is the first social issue that is
addressed in this paragraph? (1)
2. Why is the mother spending so much time on the telephone? (2)
3. How does the older girl react to her mother, who spends so much time
on the telephone? (2)
4. Mossie talks to 2 imaginary friends. Why, do you think, does she do that? (1)
5. “The traffic is crying now and its sorrow pours onto the veranda and in through
the windows, splashing everything with tears.” Rewrite this sentence in your
OWN words. (2)
6. What is Mossie’s reaction to the fact that their father is not coming home? (2)

The first painting

(Street noises invade the house – Umberto Boccioni)

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