What is the importance of the opening of Martyn Pig?

Key Points:

• 1st person narrative – Martyn’s voice • Martyn tells us his story • Martyn is painted as a victim • Tension is created when he tells us he

has killed his Dad • Reveals Dad’s charcater • Reveals Aunty Jean’s character • Reveals Alex and Martyn’s relationship • Shopping centre used to reveal Martyn

Point 1

Martyn is painted as a victim…

• “It wasn’t just the name calling it was everything” • Mum has left • Dad is an alcoholic • Set at Christmas – a time for family and

celebration – the most wonderful time of the year yet Martyn states “Christmas meant nothing to us”

• We learn about the court case with Aunty Jean

Ultimately sympathy is created for MARTYN from the onset.

Point 2

Martyn’s character is revealed by Brooks

• Forced to clean up after and care for Dad • Shopping centre reveals his fragile state • Brooks focuses on Martyn’s negative view on

everything • Martyn is sick of everything – desires escape

The only positive is Alex…yet he is jealous and obsessed.

Ultimately sympathy continues to be created for MARTYN.

Point 3

Brooks uses the opening to create tension

“Did I hate him?”“I never meant to kill him” Sherlock Holmes and The Big Sleep

Martyn gives us snippets of information before revealing how he murdered his father. By this point our sympathies already lie with Martyn as we get a sense that the whole thing was an accident and that Martyn has no other choice.

Conclusion

Like all murder mysteries the writer Brooks begins with the murder, however the opening to Martyn Pig has a number of purposes. It is used by Brooks to reveal key information about each of our characters. He also uses it to create tension as we are left wondering how and why a teenage boy could kill his father. Ultimately Brooks utilises the opening of Martyn Pig to paint a picture of Martyn as a victim, our sympathies lie solely with him from the onset.