A passage to Africa

A passage to Africa George Alagiah

VocabularyRevulsion: DisgustSurreptitiously: secretlyInured: hardenedHamlet: a small settlement, generally one smaller than a villageTacit: understood or implied without being statedIntroductionSomaliais a small state inAfrica. It has no functional government since 1990, As a result war, diseases, Piracy and Famine have ravaged or broke out.George AlagiahaBBC TVreporter writes about his experience inSomalia.AnalysisTitleA Passage to Africa

Passage

Paragraph 1

thousand, hungry, lean, scared and betrayed faces.

but there is one I will never forgetParagraph 2Setting Is thereHamletBack of Beyond = HyperboleLong sentence to give directionThe agencies had yet to reach there Ghost Village = SimilieParagraph 3The role of these journalists in those areas.ghoulish hunttrample hutsstriking picturesCraving for a drugsame old stuff the nextmove people in the comfort of their sitting rooms back home

Paragraph 4Pity is gained from the readersPlight of two girlsNo rage, No whimpering = Anaphorasimple , frictionless , motionless famine away from the headlines

Paragraph 5Plight of a wounded woman abandoneddecaying flesh smellgentle V-shape of a boomerang She was rottingStruggling breath

Paragraph 6 Repetition

Paragraph 7 Revulsion of the writer at the feeding centreYes, revulsion,beyond controlling their bodily function.SurreptitiouslyParagraph 8 and onThe woman covers herself up The man does not let go of his gardening hoeThe smile from a man

The smilebeyond pity and revulsion.turned the tables on the tacit agreementposed a question that cut to the heart

What does the smile do?It reverses rolesIt affects the writer very powerfullyIt stimulates actionsIt raises QuestionLast paragraphI owe you one Expresses gratitude, sympathy and thanks to the man At the beginningToneinured and distancedWhat might have appalled us ... no longer impressed us much.Admits it himself - thissoundscallous, the ghoulish manner ofjournalists

Revulsion for the dying and sicka mixture of pity and revulsionThe degeneration of thehuman body... is a disgusting thing.

Death described dispassionatelysameold stuffNo rage, no whimpering, just a passing away that simple, frictionless, motionless deliverance from a state of half-lifeto death itself. It was, as I said at the time in my dispatch, a vision of famine away from the headlines, a famine of quiet suffering and lonely death.

At the endmore personalPities them: they aspire to a dignity that is almost impossible to achieveI had to find out.Regrets the fact that he never found out what the mans name wasI owe you onePurpose

Isolated Suffering Powerlessness Harsh conditions in the village- atmosphere of death, decay and abandonment ViolenceReveals how the news industry/news crew really work View people as subjects No real connection between the two parties Trying to hunt for the most shocking images to captivate readersHow does the writer describe the village ofGufgaduud?

It is a small village.He compares it to a Ghost Village using a simile "like a ghost village" To suggest it was abundant.No Foreign aid is available' A place where the aid agencies had yet to reach.women were searching for wild edible roots. shows how backward the situation was.There was death in the village and death was accepted as inevitable. Example: "only one daughter had died"Language usedThe account is mainly in the first person because he's describing a personal experience. This gives authenticity to the writing. Eg: "I saw a thousand hungry, lean, scared and betrayed faces as I criss-crossed Somalia...."Language #2use of powerful simile "like a ghost village" to compare Gufgaduud to an abandoned village. The effect of this is to hint the reader the suffering, abandonment and lonelinessThe writer has used a lot of emotive words in his description. This brings out loneliness, suffering, neglect and degradation. Example of emotive words include "hungry, lean, a ghost village, quiet, suffering, lonely death, shattered leguse of rhetorical questions brings out the suffering difficulties and deprivation. Eg: "how could it be?","what was it about that smile?Use of sharp effective sentences to grab readers attention. Eg: "then there was a face I would never forget."