Part A:

A bond for life

My younger brother was born 7 years after me. Just 11 days before my birthday. I now had a
sibling I lived with. My two older half-sisters, Clarissa and Tiana, were much older, and lived in
the Central Coast with their mother. Caleb was the first boy in my family, and he was adored by
everyone. I never really liked him though, that was until he got older.

When he was first born, I refused to even see him at the hospital. I never liked the idea of a
younger sibling crawling around in my home, sucking all the love from my parents. And that was
exactly what he did. He didn’t provide me with anything but ignorance, arrogance and
annoyance. I never had to share a room with him though, and that I was grateful for. But despite
not sharing a room with him, he was constantly in it. Running through and messing it up, just for
me to get yelled at to clean it. This made me despise him even more.

All my friends from school flaunted over him. Playing pass the baby and taking selfies with him. I
never understood the hype though, to me he was just an annoying younger sibling. Throughout
his childhood, he had a lot of illnesses and was often in hospital. He had his first surgery at the
age of two. I remember being so scared for him and staying in hospital with him the whole night.
This however, was the first time I had ever felt any true admiration or care towards him.

As we grew up, he started discovering interests of his own, and distancing himself from me. As
much as I loved the privacy and alone time, I strangely missed him nagging me. Whenever I
tried to talk to him, he would push me away and get angry at me. I thought I had really lost the
chance to bond with my little brother.

When Caleb started primary school, he calmed down a lot. His anger had subsided and he was
a happy little boy. I was grateful for this, as it meant I had more opportunities to spend with him.
We started doing things as siblings, rather than alone. We would go to the beach, to the pools,
to the park, to the shops and even to amusement parks. And we would do it together. Our bond
started hitting an all time high, and we were basically inseparable.

This however, drove my mum absolutely crazy. Whenever one of us did something wrong, the
other would argue and stand up for them. She hated this as it just caused so many more
unnecessary arguments in our household. But I didn’t mind. Caleb would often sleep in my room
with me and we would have movie nights with popcorn. Our bond was better than ever, and I
appreciated that more than anything.

Despite our relationship starting out terribly with no care or kindness between us, I am forever
grateful that it has turned into the sweet, loving connection that we now have. I love my brother
more than anything in the world and that is where I belong. I belong with Caleb.
Part B:

Reflection

Throughout the composition of my narrative, I used some similar techniques to Sally Morgan.
Likewise to her, I used first person narration and description. However I also used some other
techniques such as alliteration, emotive language and imagery.

I used first person narration throughout the text to create a rapport with the audience and allow
them to personally relate with the text if it resonates. Likewise to this, I used imagery and
description in the quote “All my friends from school flaunted over him.” I used this technique to
describe the admiration towards my brother from my friends. I used words such as “flaunted” to
allow them to imagine the situation as if they were there.

Finally, in the quote “He didn’t provide me with anything but ignorance, arrogance and
annoyance.” I used alliteration to fully emphasise the emotions I was feeling from the way my
brother was acting. This technique has an emotive effect on the audience, allowing them to
understand the way that my brother was behaving.