a passage to africa Flashcards
(24 cards)
“I saw a thousand hungry, lean, scared and betrayed faces”. ( LANGUAGE AND STRUCTURE )
Emotive language, triadic structure (three parallel words)(list of adjectives) and juxtaposition, and use of negative adjectives
painting the image of the setting and story, the people are helpless and are suffering
highlights the effect of the war in Somalia, use of ‘ thousand ‘ later highlights how the face described later on is unique and unforgettable
’ but there is one face I will never forget ‘ ( STRUCTURE )
Short sentence - highlights and emphasises the importance of the face he is going to describe later on in the text
however only 1 face suggests he didnt care about the 999 other
only 1 intrugues the reader and makes us want to read on
stay on the road for about fourty-five minutes,
list of instructions of where to go shows its clearly a remote place
’ like a ghost village.’ ( LANGUAGE )
Simile and negative imagery - shows the emptiness of the town as most have died also how it is abandoned + mirrors the towns setting with this quote. Can suggest the writer is surrounded by death
’ in the ghoulish matter ‘
Supernatural imagery -an example of how the writer is insulting the profession he is working in, negative connotation as a ‘ ghoul ‘ is a creature that feeds on human flesh, also suggests that journalists are like ghouls and feed off the death and misery of other people in order to get a headline for the news back home.
previous quote supports this idea
’ The search for the shocking is like the craving for a drug. ‘
Simile - highlights how addictive this profession can be + the hunt for new headlines, how journalists have to continually go on the hunt for ‘new prey’ can be seen as a reference to animals as what they are doing is so wrong and unacceptable they have the behaviour of animals.
use of ‘craving ‘ holds negative connotation that can further suggest that the journalists need these stories in order to survive , as the feelings conveyed are those similar faced during the withdrawals of drugs and alcohol
’ leaving the two young girls lying on the dirt floor of their hut. They had been sick for days, and were reaching the final, enervating stages of terminal hunger. ‘
Creates sympathy towards the young girls with the use of adjectives and verbs, trying to make the reader understand what he was seeing in lots of detail. highlighting their death is also near for both girls
‘By the time Amina returned, she had only one daughter. ‘
Euphenism - sugarcoating her daughter’s death numbing the reader from a more dramatic or detailed death
’ Habiba had died. ‘ (STRUCTURE )
Short and simple sentence - mirrors how short Habiba’s life was and how quickly it ended due to lack of food
’ No rage, no whimpering, just a passing away - that simple, frictionless, motionless deliverance from a state of half-life death itself .’ (STRUCTURE )
Triadic structure - shows how quickly people move on after a death. highlights how there is no time to mourn, and that they need to move on or her other daughter will die
additionally it shows how common death is and how it can be emotionally drowning for the people involved and how it can destroy them emotionally however they have to get over it or it could lead to more deaths
‘festering the smell of decaying flesh ‘ ( LANGUAGE )
Graphic, vivid and horrifying imagery - highlights how bad the state of the girl really is ; she is alive but is rotting. additionally that the young girl is helpless and nothing can be done for her to be saved or get better
suggests the potential injuries at a time of war
‘It was rotting; she was rotting.’ ( STRUCTURE )
Parallel structure - doesn’t even look human anymore, lost her humanity + creates an uncomfortable situation for the reader, demonstrates the writers experience so the reader can feel what he was feeling
additionally use of ‘ it ‘ then ‘ she ‘ suggests that the writer almost forgot she was human then uses ‘ she ‘ in order to remind his readers that what he is witnessing is very much real and true
’ You could see it in her sick, yellow eyes and smell it in the putrid air she recycled with every struggling breath she took. ‘ ( LANGUAGE )
Sibilance ( hissing sounds or alliteration with ‘s’ sounds ) - can further suggest to the readers the girls agony and pain and that she also might be struggling to breathe
‘And then there was the face I will never forget. ‘ ( STRUCTURE )
Short factual paragraph - use of conjunction ‘ and ‘ highlights how this face s stood out from the rest of the faces he encountered, meaningful
’ Yes, revulsion. ‘ ( STRUCTURE )
Short fragment sentence - mirrors his feelings of shock when meeting the people in Somalia, also could be seen as a culture shock as he is not used to something like this back home however with this being said use of ‘ ghoulish matter ‘ also suggests the writer is no longer shocked to the sighs he has seen and has numb the pain away
’ sucked of its natural vitality by the twin evils of hunger and disease, is a disgusting thing.’ (LANGUAGE )
Personification - highlights how disease and hunger can kill , use of ‘ evils’ can suggest that these two forces can be seen as a villan type figure in this text
‘It was not a smile of greeting, it was not a smile of joy - how could it be ? - but it was a smile nonetheless. ‘( LANGUAGE )
Repetition - highlights his shock and also demonstrates how much this smile moved the journalists as it was so unexpected in the circumstances given ( a famine and a war )
‘It moved me in a way that went beyond pity or revulsion.’ ( LANGUAGE )
Metaphor - highlights how different this smile was and again conveys his emotions of shock as to why a person is smiling in a time like this
’ What was it about that smile ?’ ( STRUCTURE )
Rhetorical questions - use of a rhetorical question is another example that demonstrates his conflict, confusion ( almost thought process ) as to why a man is smiling during a famine and civil war
’ And then it clicked.’ (STRUCTURE )
Short sentence - shows to the reader that the writer finally gained an understanding as to why the man was smiling in a time like this. A simple way of highlighting this moment before going into detail and describing the mans reasons behind it.
’ The journalist observes, the subject is observed. The journalist is active, the subject is passive.’ ( STRUCTURE )
Repetition, Anaphora, Antithesis -highlights to the reader of this text the type of relationship between journalists and the people suffering the use of repetition strengthens this idea so the reader is made clear on what the world has come to now. almost shows the journalists are doing nothing and the people are helpless.
use of ‘subject’ and ‘ observed ‘ can suggest that the people in Somalia are seen as only a mere object to the journalists and only as a source to get a story back home but nothing more. can suggest they are not even seen as human
’ heart of the relationship between me and him, between us and them, between the rich world and the poor world. ‘ ( STRUCTURE )
Juxtaposition ( Antithesis ) + triadic structure - can further demonstrate the differences between the writer and the people in Somalia that he is seeing
can further showcase the different relationships between different countries, types of people as well as social classes ( divisions )
’ Yet meeting him was a seminal moment’ ( LANGUAGE )
Natural imagery - Key moment in the text, writer has come to terms with the importance and significance of the mans smile and presence.
Use of ‘ seminal ‘ can be compared to when a plant or flower grows in the spring time and goes into full bloom. the mans smile has changed the writers perspective on his profession and the world and has so called ‘ bloomed ‘ him into a different man with a changed outlook on our world and different classes.
’ So my nameless friend, if you are still alive, I owe you one.’ ( STRUCTURE)
Direct address - changes to second person
highlights the importance of the mans smile and presence to Alagiah and how it has changed his view on his profession ( reporting ) and outlook on life
becomes informal compared to the rest of the text, as he refers to the man as his ‘ friend ‘, but is he really Alagiah’s friend if he doesn’t even known the mans name
possibile favour to a helpless somalian from a rich western reporter
oxymoron- nameless and friend are opposites but in this situation he makes it makes sense
