From a Passage to Africa Flashcards
(13 cards)
what is the writer’s purpose for ‘A passage to Africa’?
Alagiah’s purpose is to inform us about the realities of Africa, as well as to challenge the audience about the way that we tend to react about news and disasters.
what is the writer’s audience for ‘A passage to Africa’?
His audience would be adult and mature; readers who are interested in the media and world events.
what is the writer’s form for ‘A passage to Africa’?
This text is from his autobiographical book and recount of his experiences
what is the writer’s tone for ‘A passage to Africa’?
Alagiah’s tone is initially very detached, formal and stoic until it becomes reflective, emotive and conversational towards the end
what is the effect of the title “A passage to Africa”
- meaning 1: he has dedicated a passage to his experiences in Africa
- meaning 2: “passage” has connotations to a transition, where it shows how Africa was extremely significant to him and his life so a ‘rite of passage’ for him
what is the effect of the opening sentence “I saw a thousand hungry, lean, scared and betrayed faces… but there is one I will never forget”
- repetition: personal pronoun “I” is repeated, creating a sense of intimacy and gives the sense that this story was very personal to him
- triplet: “hungry, lean, scared” shows the suffering that the Somali people are facing
- juxtaposition: there is a contrast between the “thousand” faces and that “one”, which emphasizes how important this one face is to his development throughout the story; foreshadowing
- single sentence: shows how much there is to talk about and there is more to the story, where the complex sentence shows the significance of this portrayal on Africa
what is the effect of the phrases “like a ghost village” and “ghoulish”
- semantic field of death: shocks the reader as it exposes the commonality of death in Gufgaduud.
- It also presents the idea of the journalists “feeding off” the dead
how does Alagiah show his detached view on Somalia through these quotes, “What might have appalled us…no longer impressed us as much” and “she’d been shot in the leg…”?
- “What might have appalled us…no longer impressed us as much”: shows how being exposed to so many gruesome sights everyday leads to him growing desensitised
- “she’d been shot in the leg…”: he adopts a journalistic tone as he is actively reporting her suffering
what is the effect of Alagiah saying, “The journalist observes, the subject is observed. The journalist is active, the subject is passive.”
- anaphora: “journalist” and “subject is constantly repeated, showing the rhetoric and rules that is emphasized in journalism, however skewed.
- detached tone: the use of the noun “subject” reduces the suffering lives as mere entertainment that can be documented on
- juxtaposition: “active… passive” shows the manipulative and conniving norms of journalism
what is the effect of the sentence “By the time Amina returned, she had only one daughter. Habiba had died. No rage, no whimpering…”
- series of short, declarative sentences: evokes a sense of detachment as Alagiah adopts a detached tone, as if he is simply reporting her death.
- short sentence: “Habiba had died” is effective as it is mimetic to Habiba’s short life
- anaphora: “no” is repeated as it shows the lack of feelings, depth and importance that Habiba’s death carried, serving as a reminder of the tragedy that was the Somali’s lives
how is the single sentence paragraph “And then there was the face I will never forget.”
- isolated, single sentence: isolates itself from the rest of the long paragraphs, which shows the significance that the face had on him - volta: shows his turning point in which his tone shifts from detached and journalistic into emotive, reflective and personal
what is the effect of the statement “it was not a smile of joy - how could it be? - but it was a smile” ?
- dash: is effective as it separates his logical train of thought with his doubt and uncertainty in “- how could it be? -“
- rhetorical question: references his doubt that in these difficult situation, someone could smile, where this action changes everything for him
what is the effect of the sentence “I owe you one.”
- colloquial, casual lexis: shows how his tone changes from detached to emotive - shows the transformation of his character throughout the story
