Young and Dyslexic

Question 1

Chronological order and anecdotes

Answer 1

• Establish his credibility by showing he has had first-hand experiences of the education system not accomadating him
• Shows how he learnt overtime that his dyslexia can be used to his advantage

Question 2

‘Young and dyslexic?’

Answer 2

• Rhetorical question
• Shows his intended audice is young people with dyslexia which means everything he says in this text is practical advice

Question 3

‘As a child I suffered’

Answer 3

• Emotive language
• Evokes sympathy for him as an misunderstood child

Question 4

‘We are the architects, we are the designers’

Answer 4

• Paralell sentence structure with repetition of it at the end
• Highlights how despite having dyslexia you can be highly successful and creative

Question 5

‘No compassion, no understanding and no humanity’

Answer 5

• Tricolon
• Emphasises how difficult his life was as a child due to his dyslexia

Question 6

‘The idea of being kind and thoughtful and listening to problems just wasn’t done’

Answer 6

• Polysyndeton
• Highlights how it was a systemic issue in the education system and there were endless things they could have done to improve their accomodation of neurodivergent individuals

Question 7

‘The past is a different kind of country’

Answer 7

• Metaphor
• Shows how dyslexic people nowadays have more hope but for him in his time it was a nightmare which sets a positive tone for his audience
• The word ‘kind’ demonstrates how unkind the past was

Question 8

‘At school my ideas always contradicted the teachers’

Answer 8

• Contrast of personal pronoun with a common noun
• Shows how he was up against his teachers and they were trying to bring him down

Question 9

‘If I was God I would have designed sleep so we could stay awake’

Answer 9

• Bold statement challenging accepted wisdom
• Shows how he is able to think critically and independantly due to his dyslexia

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Question 10

‘Shut up, stupid boy’

Answer 10

• Reported speech and sibilance
• Highlights how the education system did not accomodate free thinkers and the harsh reaction that would come if you tried to have an open mind

Question 11

‘She would say, “how dare you challenge me?”’

Answer 11

• Reported, direct speech
• The authoratative ‘how dare you’ shows how teachers do not accept anybody with an open mind like those with dyslexia and the harsh reaction they come down with when you have one

Question 12

‘I had poems in my head’ and ‘I could read very basically’

Answer 12

• Juxtaposition
• Highlights how despite his rudimentary reading skills he was already destined to be a great literary figure, showing to dyslexic kids that it is an advantage despite what you might think now

Question 13

‘“I don’t want to be like that”’

Answer 13

• Monosyballic lanugage
• Makes his thoughts very relatable, especially to dyslexic readers and shows his observance to the world around him

Question 14

‘prison population’ and ‘architect population’

Answer 14

• Juxtaposition
• Shows how despite how dyslexic people do not fit in with society, they are at the same time extremely creative and intelligent

Question 15

‘They missed theirs, didn’t notice them or didn’t take them’

Answer 15

• Tricolon
• Emphasises how all people with dyslexia have the possibility of being successful, it is just that society does not accomodate most

Question 16

‘“How do I write that?”’

Answer 16

• Rhetorical question
• Dyslexia doesn’t go away, but you can enjoy it’s benefits while still suffering from it’s downsides

Question 17

“Brunel University”

Answer 17

• Proper noun
• Ironic as it he is now in the teachers shoes, which is definitely not a position his teachers would have expected to see him in, showing dyslexia can be an advantage

Question 18

‘professor of poetry’

Answer 18

• Uncapitalised and alliteration
• Shows how he does not see himself above his students even now that he has achieved much, further highlighting that he still sometimes struggles but that does not impede on his life
• The plosive alliteration highlights his success despite dyslexia

Question 19

“When I go to literary festivals I always get an actor to read it out for me”

Answer 19

• Complex sentence
• Shows how he has not made his problems go away but has found ways to use them to his advantage and consequently achieve success

Question 20

‘If you’re dyslexic and you feel there’s something holding you back’

Answer 20

• Personal pronouns - direct adress
• Shows how Zephaniah is didatically trying to apply all that he is saying to readers with dyslexia nowadays

Question 21

‘It is a strange step to go from that to a squiggle which represents a sound’

Answer 21

• Sibilance and synecdoche
• Shows how our language system is difficult so it is not a person with dyslexias fault and they are not stupid or unnatural, resassuring any dyslexic readers

Question 22

‘So don’t be heavy on yourself’

Answer 22

• Imperative sentence with a didactic tone
• Resassuring and encouraging tone that they do not have to let their dyslexia hold them back

Question 23

‘Us dyslexic people, we’ve got it going on’

Answer 23

• Collective pronoun, repetition of title and colloquial phrase
• Shows to everybody who may be reading that there is not only hope, but very good prospects for the future due to the potential advantage dyslexia provides

Question 24

‘“Bloody non-dyslexics, who do they think they are?”’

Answer 24

• Ironic rhetorical question
• Shows how the tables can turn and non-dyslexics can be seen as somebody with an inherent problem, which allows the passage to end on a light and encouraging note