My Essay
In the ‘Ace of Diamonds Gang’ written by Owen Marshal, the author uses symbols to represent significant ideas. Two of the symbols he uses is the Ace of Diamonds which represents the confederacy of the gang, and the Library Card which show’s the reality of the gang.
The Ace of diamonds also represents the freedom and outgoing nature of the gang. After a raid this is placed to mark their superiority and power of the gang. The Ace of Diamonds is also usually the top card in a card deck. This is another reason why it was chosen to represent the gang and to show that they are the best gang. This is backed up when the narrator compares the gang to other high profile heroes. The Ace is usually red, this symbolizes courage, love and revenge. The Ace of Diamonds is a chance for the boys to escape from being a 13 year old in a provincial town to go conjure heroism and live their dreams. They also made masks the Ace of Diamonds on them which gave them anonymity. This gave a special felling. They also use military language for example
“like wraiths, Ace of Diamonds…”. And the quote
“…we would rendezvous in the centre of the old macrocarpa…”.
These two quotes proves that the gang think of themselves as professionals. They are proud to be in the gang and we know this from the quote
“Not handkerchiefs with red diamonds smudged did we acquire, but anonymity, confederacy, a clear exception to approved society”.
Another symbol the author uses is the Library Card. This is meant to show the reality of the gang. During the last raid of the gang they accidently swap the Ace of Diamonds with the Library card. This ends their fantasy. The Library Card shows that they are a bunch of kids, they are nerdy and boring and the gang is just a fantasy. The author gives us hints that the gang is mundane, like during the early raids the gang vandalise a wall in a park and leave they’re calling card, the Ace. They return a week later and find the card still there, they assume that the police have given up. The author also shows us the reality of the gang by showing us that they are ordinary kids. Some of the ways the author shows us is by Ashley’s wind, Bernie’s glasses and when he has to be home by 9pm. This shows us that they don’t have the power to be heroes of history they are just plain, normal kids carrying a library card.
At the end of the story, when they got caught from making the mistake of substituting the Ace of Diamonds with the plain Library Card. I didn’t like this because the Ace of Diamonds was their fantasy life but the Library Card showed their true identity. It also meant an end to free imagination. The author used these to symbols, the Ace of Diamonds and the Library Card, to show to us the gap between fantasy and reality.
By Rayan Ahmed