A Passage To Africa

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Each episode is given greater poignancy by the author’s on-the-ground experience and insight, using his journalistic eye for an unbiased story. One way the writer creates horror is by describing the “ghost village” as if people are dead; however they are alive (barely). Also he creates horror by using words such as “festering wound the size of my hand”. I saw that face for only a few seconds, a fleeting meeting of eyes before the face turned away, as its owner retreated into the darkness of another hut. In those brief moments there had been a smile, not from me, but from the face. It was not a smile of greeting, it was not a smile of joy — how could it be? — but it was a smile nonetheless. It touched me in a way I could not explain. It moved me in a way that went beyond pity or revulsion. enervating’ choice of language shows the life is drained away from the Somalien people through hunger This shows the difference between our normal world and the one affected by the famine. The fact that he writes about the terrible things in Somalia and there are people who don’t care what is happening increases the pity. George Alight successfully increases the pity in the extract by telling us how much he has seen. He talks about a mother and her two starving children and the mother loses one of her daughter because of hunger and that happens while she was out looking for food.

The writer also creates pity by describing the old woman “the smell of decaying flesh”. With this quote George Alight is able to engage the reader as they are imagining the smell of the decaying flesh. One way the writer creates horror is by describing the “ghost village” as if people are dead; however they are alive (barely). Also he creates horror by using words such as “festering wound the size of my hand”. The repetition of 'smile' in these paragraphs shows his fascination with it, then when his translator explains the smile it is revealed that smile was an 'apology' for being in such a bad conditions, as though 'you had done something wrong.' This makes the reader feel pity, and shame themselves because the man feels that he has to apologise for himself, despite having done nothing wrong. like a ghost village’- simile suggests its almost soulless and depressing and barely alive emphasises poverty There was the old woman who lay in her hut, abandoned by relations who were too weak to carry her on their journey to find food. It was the smell that drew me to her Immediately the introduction shows where the focus of the passage will turn to, the 'one I will never forget', which interests the reader about why he will never forget this face.

The journalist observes, the subject is observed. The journalist is active, the subject is passive. But this smile had turned the tables on that tacit agreement. Without uttering a single word, the man had posed a question that cut to the heart of the relationship between me and him, between us and them, between the rich world and the poor world. If he was embarrassed to be found weakened by hunger and ground down by conflict, how should I feel to be standing there so strong and confident? The first example of Amina Abdirahman and her family is particularly moving for the reader, describing how she left her daughters to search for food, yet one them dies of hunger in her absence. The title itself is significant. The noun ‘Passage’ is ambiguous; of course the obvious meaning would be that the following is an extract, a piece of writing. But it could also be interpreted as a path, a way, a journey to Africa. Also the use of the word ‘to’ imply that the passage is not a mere informative work on Africa, but a dedication to the country. George Alagiah is describing a visit to Africa. He is discussing the horrors that he saw on his visit and how they have haunted him since. context He lists incidents that he has seen over the years that will forever be in his head. It is as though he is traumatised by all he has seen, from a mother with her children to an old woman. structure

George Alagiah writes about his experiences as a television reporter during the war in Somalia, Africa in the 1990s. He won a special award for his report on the incidents described in this passage. His cynicism is again shown in how he refers to the famine which permeates the place as ‘a famine away from the headlines,’ as if all of the desolate scenes around him are not gruesome enough anymore to act as material for news. The ghastly horror of slow death does not hold the strength to leave an impact on anyone. Emotive Language is any language that makes you feel something for a person or situation. It is an umbrella term and there are many different devices that create emotive language:The village is called a ghost village bringing emphasis to how empty the village is devoid of people, peace and slowly dying. While recounting the case of Amina, the use of her name make the readers more affected by her plight, the name reminding the readers, that this is a story of a person, with feelings and pain just like everyone else. George also gives details about the situation to provide more context, like the mud floor that tells us how impoverished the population there is. The child dies without any sound, “ No rage, no whimpering, just a passing away” thus reminding the readers how helpless the people are, too starved to even make a sound or move. “No rage”, again emphasising that they are beyond the point of anger and resistance, even if they want to resist and change things around them they are simply denied any chance to do so by the structures and nature around them, no one to lend a hand and no one to listen. It was rotting; she was rotting' changes 'it' from 'she' to show how broken and dehumanized she is by the famine, she has no basic no human rights. This also shows how we dehumanize those across the world who are suffering, and, like the writer, need reminding that they too are human. The passage then breaks into two with a short sentence to show the change in focus to 'the face I will never forget' There’s pity, too, because even in this state of utter despair they aspire to a dignity that is almost impossible to achieve. An old woman will cover her shriveled body with a soiled cloth as your gaze turns towards her. Or the old and dying man who keeps his hoe next to the mat with which, one day soon, they will shroud his corpse, as if he means to go out and till the soil once all this is over.