The Explorer's Daughter (Edexcel IGCSE English Language A)

Revision Note

Written by: Deb Orrock

Reviewed by: Kate Lee

The Explorer’s Daughter Analysis

Students studying the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Language A qualification must study all ten of the non-fiction texts in Part 1 of the Edexcel IGCSE English Language Anthology in preparation for Paper 1. You will be given one of the ten texts in your exam, along with another unseen text, which are thematically linked. Section A, Question 4 will specifically be about the anthology text, and Question 5 will ask you to compare the anthology text with the unseen text.

The following guide to The Explorer’s Daughter by Kari Herbert contains:

The Explorer’s Daughter overview
The Explorer’s Daughter summary
Themes, ideas and perspectives in The Explorer’s Daughter
How does Herbert present her ideas and perspectives?

The Explorer’s Daughter overview

The Explorer’s Daughter by Kari Herbert is an account of Herbert’s return to a region of the Arctic, near Thule in North Greenland, where she lived with her family as a small child among the Inughuit people. In this passage, she describes her experience of watching a narwhal hunt. Herbert is a British travel writer, photographer, polar explorer and television presenter.

The Explorer’s Daughter summary

The description begins in medias res (in the middle of the action), with two pods of narwhal returning to a fjord and the hunters dotted around in kayaks in the evening light. The writer then provides information regarding the narwhal and their importance to the people of the High Arctic, before returning to the observation of the hunt itself. Herbert reveals her mixed feelings in this piece of writing, recognising how crucial it was to the people to catch a narwhal in terms of their survival, but also wanting the narwhal to escape and survive. It is this dilemma that the passage ends with; Herbert raises both moral and environmental questions about the process of hunting for survival.

Themes, ideas and perspectives in The Explorer’s Daughter

Paper 1, Question 4 will ask you to explore how the writer has used language and structure to present a theme or idea within their text. Paper 1, Question 5 will ask you to compare how the writer presents their ideas and perspectives with the unseen text.

What are the key themes in The Explorer’s Daughter?

Theme	Analysis
Humanity versus nature	Herbert faces a dilemma in this passage: She is torn between respect and understanding for the Inughuit people and her empathy for the narwhal “This dilemma stayed with me the whole time that I was in Greenland.”
	The passage therefore does not focus on building tension or drama, but rather focuses on description and Herbert’s feelings and emotions: “My heart also urged the narwhal to dive, to leave, to survive.”
	Herbert’s informative description of the narwhal conveys her respect and admiration for the creatures: “The narwhal…are intelligent creatures”

Cultural differences	Herbert’s time spent in her childhood living with the Inughuit people means that she understands their way of life: “I understand the harshness of life in the Arctic” She recognises that this difficult terrain and way of life means the people live in a way that those outside of the culture might find barbaric “One cannot afford to be sentimental in the Arctic”
	The writer reveals that even she has been questioned about the Arctic way of life: Negative images of animal hunting portrayed by the media have increasingly turned other cultures away from polar hunting Whale hunting in any form is an emotive issue, but it is justified by the Inughuit because they do not kill for sport “They use every part of the animals they kill”
	The difficulty and desperation of this way of life is conveyed by how anxious the women are while watching their husbands hunt: “It was crucial to her that her husband catch a narwhal” Hunters are described as “lucky” if they land a catch, which in itself is a dangerous activity The area itself is so remote that the people have to rely on what they hunt for survival, as there is “only one annual supply ship” and “hunting is an absolute necessity in Thule”

How does Herbert present her ideas and perspectives?

Herbert uses a variety of language and structural techniques to present her ideas and perspectives.

Technique	Analysis
In medias res	The passage starts in the middle of the hunt without build up: This creates a sense of immediacy and emphasises that the focus is on the hunters and the hunted
Imagery	Herbert depicts the beauty of nature using imagery: She describes the narwhal as “catching the light in a spectral play of colour” conveying an ethereal atmosphere She also conveys how small the hunters are in comparison to the natural world, by describing their appearance on the water as a “vast, waterborne game”: The simile implies that there will be winners and losers in this “game”
Metaphor	The writer uses the metaphor of “glittering kingdom” and compares the evening light to “butter-gold”, conveying the awe she feels and the preciousness of the sight Her conflicting feelings are also conveyed as her “heart leapt for both hunter and narwhal”
Declarative sentence	The declarative sentence “Hunting is still an absolute necessity in Thule” is an emphatic reminder of the fragility of the Inughuit people’s existence and the importance of hunting for their survival
Long paragraphs	Long, informative and descriptive paragraphs convey the patience and time required by the men on the hunt, and their wives to watch and wait
Facts, information and specialised language	The writer provides factual information about the narwhal and why they are an “essential contributor to the survival of the hunters”: Her use of specialist language reinforces her first-hand experience and makes her a reliable witness
Different perspectives	Herbert presents the information and description in the passage from the point of view of the hunters, their wives and Western society: This suggests that it is difficult for the writer, or us, to reach a moral judgement, as there are different sides to the story
Emotive language	The paragraph about the “women” uses emotive language as they are “clustered” and “focusing” on a husband or family member: They “gasp” or “jump” if they spot a hunter near a narwhal, suggesting the dangerous nature of what they were doing but also how important it is that they succeed