In the book "About a boy", Nick Hornby uses many techniques and a clear style to make sure that the reader thoroughly understands the characters and the actions being written out in the story. To do this Hornby uses techniques like humor (ridiculous situation, irony, vivid imagery), hyperbole, imagery,symbolism, questioning sentences and flashbacks.I will be analyzing examples of these and what effect they have on the reader.

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Nick Hornby covers significant issues surrounding his book which are highlighted within a humorous context. Hornby uses this humor in a subtle way so that he makes the book funny "while simultaneously incorporating and challenging the reader to think about serious issues such as mental health and relationships."(1) Irony is common throughout the book, Irony is humour based on "opposites and contradiction, which makes us laugh due to the sometimes mismatched characteristics of specific situations"(2). An example of where irony is used early on is in the scene in which Will is asked to be the godfather of his friends new baby, the author had already told us in Will's thoughts aloud that he dislikes children and the author had put across the idea that Will was one-dimensional and dull. So when the moment comes of Christina and John asking Will it is very humorous. His dislike for children is made clear in the text previously, "any desire for a family of your own yet?” said John. “I would rather eat one of Barney’s nappies." And the author shows that will is shallow during the conversation "we've always thought you have hidden depths,’ said  John." Ah, but you see I haven't. I really am this shallow." Will's answer is sarcastic which highlights the irony in them asking him to be a godfather.

Another example of where humor is used is in ridiculous situations. This when the story-line turn to the unexpected which can create a funny shock for the audience. An example of this is  in the dead duck scene, the chances of Marcus hitting and killing the duck are near to impossible, and the method which he does this is ludicrous; throwing a rock-hard baguette into the pond for enjoyment. It is also funny because after having clearly caused the tragedy himself, Marcus doesn't blame himself but blames the "pathetic duck", "How come he managed to pick a duck that pathetic?".



Hyperbole is also used throughout the book to add emphasis and vividness to the descriptions, "I would rather eat one of Barnies dirty nappies he thought". This exaggeration of the hatred to have a family sums up Will's teenage like approach to relationships, families and children. Especially his use of immature wording in the hyperbole "dirty nappies" suggests how Will is still a teenage boy at thirty-six. This line sets his overall personality at that time of his life; immature, silly and funny. It is necessary to set that image because by the end of the book Will is living with a family. This shows how much he changes and matures between start to finish making the audience aware of the power of being around children when you are child-like yourself. 



Imagery is apparent all through the novel however it is in the first half when it is used to best effect. This is because the first half of the novel is before Will starts changing, the imagery Will (who is the narrator) creates is the  can be the paramount indicator of his personality and what goes on inside his head. An example of imagery at the start of the novel is "Will, Suzie, Megan and Marcus stood on the path at the edge of the lake, staring at the dead body floating in the water.” This creates a ridiculous image of four people randomly staring at a dead duck.This is humorous as it provides a "vibrant illustration which aids in generating a ridiculous scene."(3) Towards the end of the novel when everybody's situation starts to get more serious is the imagery of Ellie (Marcus' crush) and Marcus sitting on the train together awkwardly looking out the window and not talking, "they sat in silence for a couple of stops. Marcus looked out the window and tried to work out how to explain Ellie to his dad". This image perceives a more mature Marcus then the one who killed a duck with a loaf of bread. This shows another contrast of how Marcus has changed over the course of the book as well as Will's change.

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Direct questioning is effective during long novels especially because it keeps the audience engaged into the topic of conversation. This is because by asking the reader a question it is more thought provoking, this can open up different ideas and emotions according to the audience. It is used many times in the novel "why did they wish to compound the original error by encouraging their friends to do the same?", "why wasn't there any warning?", "because they can just pretend that, can't they?". This constant use of thoughts aloud questioning sentences from the narrator who is Will suggests that the audience is the only people that Will can come to or talk to. This fact emphasizes Will's loneliness and sadness. It also suggests that most of his opinions and thoughts he doesn't say out loud, this sheds light on the loneliness as a single middle-aged man.

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The flashbacks that are included in the writing add to excitement of piece because the reader is constantly being brought into different scenarios and situations. Given that new ideas and story's intrigue most people, it is a very effective way of keeping the audience engaged. "He'd tried to get the highest score on the Stargazer machine in the kebab shop on Hornsey Road-nothing", this line was relating back to how Will had tried many things and failed previously in his life. This line also depicts his earlier life as being sad and meaningless because of the action of trying to get a high score on a game at a kebab shop. The flashbacks also show how Will is trying to prove his age by accounting so many experiences however we still find that most of his flashbacks have been situations were he has failed in some way as shown in the quotation I used. Will wants to prove his age because deep down i believe he knows how immature he is just by judging on his own lifestyle.

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It is evident that Marcus and Will both have a personality change through the course of the book and both mature because of one another's actions. Although the book needed humor to keep the audience fixed and engaged, Hornby could also incorporate deeper meanings that evoked more heart-felt emotions.Hornby has used the techniques that I have shown to keep the audience thinking and bring whole new dimensions into the plot.
 

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Referencing: (1) http://www.skoleforum.com/stiler/essay/det.aspx?id=4601 - date accessed: 29/05/12- date of article: 3/4/2009

                     (2)  http://www.skoleforum.com/stiler/essay/det.aspx?id=4601 - date accessed: 29/05/12- date of article: 3/4/2009

                     (3) http://210.59.19.199/mediafile/4170016/editor_model/446/about-3.pdf- date accessed: 29/05/12- date of article: 27/2/2008