A Passage To Africa

Question 1

Line 1 - “I saw a thousand hungry, lean, scared and betrayed faces”.
Line 2 - “but there is one face I will never forget”.

Answer 1

• The use of emotive language makes the reader feel sympathetic towards these villagers. They are described as just ‘faces’ and we do not even know who they are, yet this and the additional use of a tripartite list, juxtaposition and negative adjectives paints the image and setting of the story already; these ‘faces’ are helpless and are suffering dearly.
• The use of the statistics “a thousand” highlights the effects of the war in Somalia, but also highlights how the face he describes later on is so unique and unforgettable, engaging the reader as we feel intrigued to know who this ‘face’ is.
• The use of a short sentence further emphasises the importance of the face he describes later on in the text.

Question 2

Line 7 - “like a ghost village”.
Line 8/9 - “In the ghoulish matter of journalists on the hunt for the most striking pictures, my cameraman and I tramped from one hut to another”.

Answer 2

• The use of a simile and negative imagery describes the emptiness of the town as most have died and abandoned their homes, also mirroring Alagiah’s previous description of the towns setting. Alagiah highlights how he is surrounded by death, yet he keeps recording and following the instructions given to him for the news story; he is hoping that the reader feels disappointed by his actions as he hopes to expose the negligence and dehumanisation behind his profession in journalism.
• The use of supernatural imagery is an example of how he is insulting the profession he is working in himself; the noun “ghoul” negatively connotes to the fictional creature that feeds on human flesh and terror, suggesting that journalists are like ghouls that feed off of the death and misery of other humans in order to get a headline for the news story back home. This makes the reader feel anger towards all of these other journalists as Alagiah exposes the truth behind his profession, he truly believes that what he is doing is wrong and shameful.

Question 3

Line 11 - “The search for the shocking is like the craving for a drug”.

Answer 3

• The use of a simile highlights how addictive this profession and the hunt for new headlines can be. Alagiah exaggerates the nature of his profession; how journalists have to continually go on the hunt for ‘new prey’ can be seen as a reference to a wild animal as Alagiah believes what they are doing is so wrong and unacceptable they have a similar behaviour to that of a wild animal.
• In addition to this, the use of the verb “craving” makes the reader feel disgusted by Alagiah’s profession as it negatively connotes to and further suggests how journalists need these stories in order to survive as the feelings conveyed by journalists to their subjects are similar to the urges faced during the withdrawals of drugs and alcohol.

Question 4

Line 59/60 - “The journalist observes, the subject is observed. The journalist is active, the subject is passive”.

Answer 4

• The use of antithesis (direct juxtaposition) highlights to the reader the type of relationship that exists between journalists and the people suffering; their subjects. Alagiah strengthens this idea through the use of anaphora in hopes of raising awareness from the reader and the rest of the Western world, making clear on what the world has come to now. Alagiah also exposes the nature behind his profession, almost as if the journalists do nothing but standby whilst the people are suffering and helpless.
• The use of the objective noun “subject” and verb “observed” suggest that the people in Somalia are seen as only mere objects to the journalists and only as a source to get a story back home but nothing more, also suggesting that they are not even seen as human, drawing out the readers frustration to the Western world turning a blind eye to those suffering elsewhere.

Question 5

Line 71 - “Yet meeting him was a seminal moment in the gradual collection of experiences we call context”.
Line 73/74 - “So, my nameless friend, if you are still alive, I owe you one”.

Answer 5

• The use of natural imagery highlights a key moment in the text; Alagiah has come to terms with the importance and significance of the mans smile and presence. The use of the adjective “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 individual classes, making the reader feel in awe of what this one man has been able to accomplish.
• The sudden and unexpected use of direct address and second person narrative further highlights the importance of the mans smile and presence to Alagiah, and how it has changed his view on his profession and outlook on life. Alagiah 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 know the mans name? As a result of the culture and viewpoint from the Western world, Alagiah may view being his “friend” as a possible favour to a helpless Somalian from a rich, Western journalist.