A Passage To Africa

Question 1

Simple sentences

Answer 1

Aligiah uses simple sentences to state facts, such as “No rage. No whimpering.”:

This then contrasts with his highly personal response to the man who smiles

Question 2

Direct address

Answer 2

Aligiah addresses the nameless man directly in the final paragraph

It focuses the reader’s attention on a single, important individual, contrasting with the “thousand hungry, lean, scared and betrayed faces” Aligiah started with

By addressing him directly, Aligiah acknowledges his own part in dehumanising the people he was reporting about, as he regrets never learning the man’s name

Question 3

Imagery

Answer 3

The language used by Aligiah brings to life the suffering and decay experienced by the Somali people. This is proven in the quotes “the smell of decaying flesh”, “festering wound” and “It was rotting; she was rotting.”

The village is described as “ghost-like” and journalists are described as “ghoulish” This evokes a sense of death in the village and the journalists “feeding off” the dead

Question 4

Simile

Answer 4

The simile “like the craving for a drug” implies the thirst of the media for more shocking stories and footage, as the public and the reporters become increasingly immune to human suffering

Question 5

Rule of three

Answer 5

The Rule of three is employed to emphasise the slow, gradual “degeneration of the human body”

For example, “that simple, frictionless, motionless deliverance”

Question 6

Emotive language

Answer 6

Aligiah employs strong, emotive language not only to evoke pathos in the reader, but also to highlight the realities of reporting from a conflict zone

He describes his reactions being a “mixture of pity and revulsion” at the “disgusting” shutting down of the human body

Aligiah describes this admission as a “taboo that has yet to be breached”, suggesting that even war reporters do not share all the horrible realities of the situations they witness and experience