The Room by Melissa S Born

Read this description of a room. You will see that the language is complex and contains a lot of
inference.

Tasks

1. Identify and record the meaning of all vocabulary that is new to you
2. Identify at least 3 words/short phrases which contain inferred meaning.

Eg. ‘the make-shift bed’ the use of the adjective make-shift’ demonstrates that the bed is
temporary. This suggests the inhabitant lives in poverty and that they do not have a
permanent place to sleep that is safe and secure. It also suggests that the inhabitant lives a
transient lifestyle and that he/she does not rely on fixed routine in their daily lives.

The Room by Melissa S Born

Damp, dirty, blue-grey bricks held the cold inside the room as if it were
collecting it.  A single dancing light, projected from the last dying candle,
flickered across the walls, moving to an unseen rhythm.  The lone
window, high on the outside wall, allowed only one tiny gleam of
moonlight in to pronounce the time of day.  Scratches in the stone and
rusty chains hung with eerie decoration as a reminder of the past.  Thick
white spider webs flowed across the room, shimmering in the candle
light, and a lone live victim struggled against the intricate design that
swung gently in the wind.  Wrapped tightly in silk threads its will faded as
the owner of the beautiful, but deadly, creation approached carrying
hunger in its many eyes.  Rats squealed and padded across the hard
floor, their nails scraping the ground as they scattered away from the
crystal webs as if in fear they would be caught too.

A tray of bread and water sat untouched beside the thick rotted wood
door.  A rough, worn leather mat, still warm, with a balled-up blanket
thrown carelessly on top, as if forgotten, sprawled out beneath the
window.  Beside the make-shift bed a broken chunk of brick left a chalky
residue, that formed drawings of a small stick-figure wrapped in a
blanket, surrounded by tiny stick forms with wings, in the thick dust on
the floor.  The only indication of life, bare footprints, those small enough
to be from a child, imprinted in the dirt next to the mat, glowed with tiny
sparkles that lead to the window and disappeared into the night.
 The Room by Melissa S Born

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