Maestro

2009 Question: Discuss the ways distinctively visual communicates distinctive experiences in Maestro and ONE other related text of your choosing. Throughout Maestro, distinctively visuals communicate distinctive experiences. These distinctive experiences include sexual maturation, difference between appearance & reality, and coping with grief & loss. Distinctively visual communicates distinctive experiences in Maestro such as Paul’s sexual maturation. The image of Megan’s “smooth bare shoulders” in the “afternoon light” “diffracting softly through the edges of that hair and around the downy edges of her skin” demonstrates Paul’s sense of sexual immaturity. His tone illuminates his desire for her “smooth bare shoulders”, portraying an immature Paul, who is unable differentiate lust and love. Afterwards in the novel, Paul eventually sleeps with Megan. It is at this point that Paul realises his error and desperately pedals to Rosie’s house due to his fright of losing Rosie. The image of him being “terrified that [he] might lose her” demonstrates how he has realised his love. Paul’s sexual maturation can be seen from the beginning of the novel. As the novel progressed, he became more and more matured and ended up having a family of his own at the end. The difference between appearance & reality can be seen through the distinctive visuals throughout. The first impression of Keller’s “red glow of his face – a boozer’s incandescent glow” depicts him as a drunk. This metaphorical image of him with “pitted, sun-coarsened skin” and eyes as “an old man’s moist, wobbling jellies” further administers this implication. However, as the development of the Keller continues, he’s shatters this first impression. The reality is; he is a professional pianist, the Maestro. When Paul visited the Swan Hotel, he “stood transfixed at the door, overwhelmed, goose bumps rising”, shocked by Keller’s fantastic playing even though the “room was in darkness”. This image of Paul validates the difference in his first impression and current impression of Keller. The thought to be ‘drunk’ playing in the dark off memory gives him a shock as he realises the vast difference between appearance & reality. The distinctively visuals evidently points out that coping with grief & loss is an important distinctive experience. This is because the loss of a loved one has greatly distorted Keller’s life, turning it upside-down and inside-out. The first illustration of Keller, demonstrates his inability to cope with the loss of his loved ones, drinking away his lifetime at “the beer garden”. This image of him at the beer garden evidently points out his depression and sadness, mourning over the loss of his wife and kid. In conclusion, these distinctively visuals demonstrate how they can affect oneself, causing sexual maturation, a realisation between appearance & reality, and the coping with grief & loss. These distinctive visuals enable the communication between the reader and the distinctive experiences.