A passage to Africa, George Alagiah Flashcards
1
Q
Author
A
George Alagiah
2
Q
Genre
A
Autobiographical report
3
Q
Audience
A
to everyone, but is directed to rich people to make them reflect
4
Q
Subject
A
poverty, stravation and suffering, hopelessness, guilt, loss of dignity
5
Q
Structure
A
- one-sentence introductory paragraph
- then the writer zooms in on the tales of individuals
- several paragraphs begin with “There was…”
- one-sentence fragment paragraph
- focus is on the old man whom Alagiah addresses directly and humbly in the
final paragraph.
6
Q
Purpose
A
- to engage the reader and encourage reflection
7
Q
Perspective
A
1st person, past-tense
8
Q
Alagiah’s thoughts and feelings
A
- Sympathizes for the Somali people
- News crews become apathetic
- We don’t deserve the comfortable lives we have
9
Q
Sympathizes for the Somali people
A
- triplets and listing creates an image of great suffering
- clinical tone “Habiba had died.” emphasizes how commonplace death is
- contrast (paragraph 7 and 8) between their suffering and their attempts at maintaining their dignity, evokes empathy
10
Q
News crews become apathetic
A
- “ghoulish”, like macabre stuff, criticises journalist.
- “no longer impressed us much”, need more shocking images
- “like the craving for a drug”, show addiction
- “require heavier and more frequent doses”, compares with the necessity of reporters.
- Simile exposes the greed of a reporter
- “Same old stuff”, dismissive tone highlights the apathy of the media. Dehumanizes the subject(people) of these images
11
Q
We don’t deserve the comfortable lives we have
A
- Contrast between the “comfort” of our living rooms with the frank description of the feeding center
- Rethorical questions engage the reader and encourage reflection
- “And then it clicked”, short sentence to denote clarity of thought / sudden realization.
