® ENGLISH GCSE – NON-FICTION TEXTS
A passage to Africa, George Alagiah
à Alagiah writes in first person, he’s showing us his firsthand experiences
and his honest reflections of his job.
à One main point he tries to convey is that reporters are emotionless
whilst on a job;” ghoulish manner” (line 8) They’re like ghosts and
ghouls which feed off the dead like which the reports are making
money off other people’s suffering. He also makes it seem like they’re
zombies/predators just on the “hunt” (line 8) and they don’t care how
they get it they “tramped from one hut to another” (line 9) showing
the lack of respect and care as they search each hut for an
interesting story. He likens it to a “craving” (line 11) such as a drug
which the modern audience can relate to. Also, the fact they travel
45 minutes on a dirt road showing how far they are from civilisation
shows desperation and their craving for the most shocking pictures.
But Alagiah could be saying that it’s almost our fault for craving these
pictures as well because we’re headless readers who also crave to
see bad things (analogy of crashed car at the side of the road
everyone slows down to inspect the crash). We make Alagiah and
other journalists become these emotionless ghosts. Simile like the
readers are the puppet masters and the journalists are the puppets
being controlled and made to do things.
à With this ghost theme this village is so far away from civilisation “dirt
track, stay on it for about forty-five minutes” (line 6) it’s “like a ghost
village” (line 7). The simile has a possible two meanings. One could
have death connotations as everyone keeps dying due to their poor
conditions that the village is almost abandoned and the other could
be internal destruction as we can’t see ghosts like this hidden village;
we don’t know about them until we read about it.
à Alagiah uses multiple linguistic techniques such as rhetorical questions
(“what was it about that smile?”-line 52), list of threes’(“simple,
frictionless, emotionless”-line 21), oxymorons(”gentle V-shape”-line 29),
similes(“like the craving for a drug”-line 11), metaphors, ellipses(“host
village.’…”-line 7), sibilance(“stories of suffering”-line 57),
alliteration(“collect and compile”-line 14). Alagiah uses each
technique to allows us to relate to him or sympathise with him but in
much respect Alagiah isn’t looking for pity for him in this it’s more for
the people and Alagiah seems to tell us the cold truth even though
he knows its “callous” (line 13) and he invites our criticism as he wants
us to know the story behind the news story.
à There is also irony in this passage as the one face that changes
®
Copyright © 2022 Revision Guru | All rights reserved
A passage to Africa, George Alagiah
à Alagiah writes in first person, he’s showing us his firsthand experiences
and his honest reflections of his job.
à One main point he tries to convey is that reporters are emotionless
whilst on a job;” ghoulish manner” (line 8) They’re like ghosts and
ghouls which feed off the dead like which the reports are making
money off other people’s suffering. He also makes it seem like they’re
zombies/predators just on the “hunt” (line 8) and they don’t care how
they get it they “tramped from one hut to another” (line 9) showing
the lack of respect and care as they search each hut for an
interesting story. He likens it to a “craving” (line 11) such as a drug
which the modern audience can relate to. Also, the fact they travel
45 minutes on a dirt road showing how far they are from civilisation
shows desperation and their craving for the most shocking pictures.
But Alagiah could be saying that it’s almost our fault for craving these
pictures as well because we’re headless readers who also crave to
see bad things (analogy of crashed car at the side of the road
everyone slows down to inspect the crash). We make Alagiah and
other journalists become these emotionless ghosts. Simile like the
readers are the puppet masters and the journalists are the puppets
being controlled and made to do things.
à With this ghost theme this village is so far away from civilisation “dirt
track, stay on it for about forty-five minutes” (line 6) it’s “like a ghost
village” (line 7). The simile has a possible two meanings. One could
have death connotations as everyone keeps dying due to their poor
conditions that the village is almost abandoned and the other could
be internal destruction as we can’t see ghosts like this hidden village;
we don’t know about them until we read about it.
à Alagiah uses multiple linguistic techniques such as rhetorical questions
(“what was it about that smile?”-line 52), list of threes’(“simple,
frictionless, emotionless”-line 21), oxymorons(”gentle V-shape”-line 29),
similes(“like the craving for a drug”-line 11), metaphors, ellipses(“host
village.’…”-line 7), sibilance(“stories of suffering”-line 57),
alliteration(“collect and compile”-line 14). Alagiah uses each
technique to allows us to relate to him or sympathise with him but in
much respect Alagiah isn’t looking for pity for him in this it’s more for
the people and Alagiah seems to tell us the cold truth even though
he knows its “callous” (line 13) and he invites our criticism as he wants
us to know the story behind the news story.
à There is also irony in this passage as the one face that changes
®
Copyright © 2022 Revision Guru | All rights reserved
