Breaking the Ice

Text 1: Frank’s Hammer, by Rosalind Sheard

An original short story extract.

Frost had furred every bar of the yard gate, and Edna’s glove stuck to it for a moment as she pushed it open. Seven o’clock, and still half dark. The hens complained from behind their door. The kitchen light she had left on threw a long yellow square across the cobbles, and she walked through it without looking back at the house.

The water trough had frozen over in the night. She took the hammer from its nail, the one Frank had always used, and struck. The ice did not break. She struck again, harder, and felt the blow jolt up through her wrist and into her teeth. On the third stroke the surface cracked, star-shaped, and black water welled up through the break. The two ponies pushed their noses in before she had finished, steam rising from their nostrils.

‘There,’ she said to them. ‘There you are.’ Her voice sounded strange in the cold, too loud, the only voice for a mile. She stood with her hand on the warm neck of the grey and watched the sun come up red behind the bare ash trees. Frank would have said something about it. Frank would have known what the red meant for the weather. She hung the hammer back on its nail, exactly where it belonged.

How does Rosalind Sheard use language and structure to show how Edna feels about living alone on the farm?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.