← Back to Articles

CASA

Jamie Z 2025-04-22

Learning goal

Analyse extracts from Lola in the Mirror using the C.A.S.A. framework.

What is C.A.S.A.?

  • Context: The text’s context and plot moment, plus relevant author and world context.
  • Aesthetic feature (AF): A feature used to evoke emotion and deepen meaning.
  • Stylistic device (SD): A structural or compositional choice that shapes meaning.
  • Audience positioning: How readers are invited to think or feel, and the author’s intent.

Model C.A.S.A. on a quotation

“A woman never knows exactly what she is capable of, sweetheart,” the mum says, “until she knows exactly what she is capable of.” (p. 366)

  • Context: After Lola kills Brandon and is on the run, overwhelmed about what to do next. She imagines a girl viewing her violent artworks at the Met. Dalton explores self‑protection in extreme threat.
  • Aesthetic feature: Paradox — seemingly contradictory until meaning is applied. It suggests people discover unexpected capacities under duress. It connects to Lola grappling with the reality of murder.
  • Stylistic device: Characterisation — the imagined viewer and the mother’s voice reveal Lola’s hope for a future self and her momentary dissociation from present danger.
  • Audience positioning: Readers recognise that dire circumstances push people beyond limits and across moral boundaries for survival. Lola is seen as capable and complex, while we mourn her shrinking chances of an ordinary life.

Model C.A.S.A. on a thematic passage

“The world turns for us all... You’ll call it fate. You’ll say it was meant to be.”

  • Context: After saving Danny on the bridge and looking over the river where Erica drowned, Lola reflects on Erica’s words and on her own life.
  • Aesthetic feature: Extended metaphor of the “world turning” contrasts the downside and upside of life, promising eventual restoration for hopeful people.
  • Stylistic device: Repetition and cumulative syntax build a persuasive, forward‑leaning rhythm that mirrors the turning motion.
  • Audience positioning: Readers are invited to admire Lola’s undying hope. Meeting Danny appears as a light in the darkness, aligning resilience with future grace.

Your turn: build a C.A.S.A. table

Choose 1–2 sentences from an extract and complete:

  • Context — where in the plot and what wider context matters?
  • Aesthetic feature — name and explain its effect.
  • Stylistic device — name and explain how it structures meaning.
  • Audience positioning — what are readers led to think or feel, and why?

Link to PCIAS

  • P — Point: State your argument.
  • C — Context: Locate the evidence in the text.
  • I — Interpretation: Connect to CASA ideas and the concept of identity.
  • A — Analyse: Explain how AF/SD construct meaning and position readers.
  • S — Synthesise: Conclude insightfully to advance your central idea.

Sample paragraph: How Erica shapes Lola’s identity

Parental figures often become the strongest forces in a child’s life, even when the bond is unconventional. In Lola in the Mirror, Lola’s identity is profoundly shaped by Erica Finlay’s steady belief in her future as an artist. Reflecting after saving Danny on the bridge, Lola recalls, “One day you’ll wake up and you’ll realise the world has turned back upright for you and every bad thing you didn’t deserve on the downside is made up by every good thing rushing at you on the upside.” The extended metaphor of the turning world reframes suffering as temporary and purpose‑bearing, while the rhythmic repetition positions readers to share Lola’s resilient hope. Through this voice, Dalton shows that Erica’s influence persists beyond death, guiding Lola to integrate trauma with aspiration. Consequently, resilience becomes relational: Erica’s hope anchors Lola’s sense of self and directs her toward a future identity that refuses despair.