Above the fields

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

The basket jerked free of the field. Marianne’s fingers closed around its rim so firmly that pale marks appeared across her knuckles. She fixed her eyes on the knot beside her boot.

“Do not tell me how high we are,” she said.

The aeronaut did not answer. For several seconds, Marianne watched the knot tremble as the basket swayed. At last, she looked over the side. The hedges had joined into green squares; the road had thinned to a pencil line; the house in which she had eaten breakfast was no larger than a matchbox. Her stomach seemed to have remained on the ground.

A current of air carried them beyond the church. Sunlight opened across the river, turning each bend into a strip of beaten silver. Marianne’s hands released the rim, one finger at a time. Soon she was leaning forward to see where the river disappeared between the hills.

“Shall we descend?” asked the aeronaut.

“Not yet,” she replied, and this time she looked down as she spoke.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to show Marianne’s reaction to the balloon’s ascent. Support your answer with references to the passage.