Mourning Mandela
South Africa Announces Weeklong Memorial to Mourn Mandela
By: Daniel Politi
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/12/07/mourning_mandela_south_africa_announces_week_of_memorials.html
The author uses diction, details, and syntax to suggest that The former President of Africa was loved by many people and that Africa has suffered a great loss. The author makes the article very clear and to the point but it also makes the reader feel for the people who loved Mandela and relate to them as well.
In this emotional article about the death of the African President Nelson Mandela the author uses diction to suggest that the people loved their former leader and mourn his death. Politi uses words like "flock" and "pay tribute" to show that losing one of their own was a big event. The author also goes on to explain how the people will be putting on a "week long series of events" using the words "week long" to state how much time and effort was being put into the memorial and not just saying "they were doing numerous things for the president" for example.
The details in the article further the idea that the people loved Mandela. When the author says the people were "already paying their respects in diverse ways" it shows that they didn't wait for a formal memorial or funeral and were already started to mourn the president, it also shows that they were doing a lot of different things that may be more personal to one specific family. He also adds the quote "and form a public guard of honor" into the article to show that Mandela was not just respected but honored and needed a "guard of honor".
The author uses syntax to add emphasis to the points in the article and add emotion from the people who loves Mandela. Politi uses many quotes from different sources to give a wider range of examples from different people. The author also uses punctuation to make the sentences flow better so you can focus on the information and the emotion in the piece. In this sentence, "Although many South Africans are already paying their respects
in diverse ways, the week of mourning begins Sunday with a national day of prayer, followed by an official memorial service at a Johannesburg 90,000-seat stadium on Tuesday. " (Politi), the use of the commas make the reader focus on certain words like "diverse ways" and "prayer". The author is using syntax to make words stand out and emphasize them so the reader can feel the emotion of the people that lost their leader.
Politi is very successful in his use of literary techniques to get his main point of the article across. The use of diction, details and syntax stood out the most in the article and even with it being quite short Politi still made the article connect with the reader.
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ReplyDeleteKate,
ReplyDeleteSo far this is good, but the problem is that it doesn't yet sound finished. I'm not trying to sound like a pain in the bisquicks, because I'm sure that you already know that. So as you probably know, you need a conclusion paragraph to tie up the ends. You use a lot of quotes to back your thesis claim up, so that's a smart initiating factor, but you have to do more than just use quotes. I used to do that too in my close readings without even realizing it until a fellow peer reviewer pointed it out to me. I was a little irritated at first, but in the long run I learned to appreciate that person's advice. So hopefully you do too. You're getting there, I have faith in ya:)
Kate,
ReplyDeleteI think you should add more bulk to your introduction paragraph. I do believe that sometimes students are able to score high even with an intro that solely consists of the thesis statement, but then that thesis statement better be a spectacular piece of writing in and of itself. Also, giving a brief background or commentary typically helps the essay flow more smoothly.
Your support with diction and details is good. It does seem like maybe you mixed in detail evidence with the diction paragraph, specifically when you mention a “week-long series of events.” The emotion underlying the tone of this article definitely seems like a strong point to hit upon, but the essay seems to get a little lazy near the end. There should be specific examples for syntax, just mentioning that the punctuation evokes emotion doesn’t really help the reader understand much about the author’s syntax style.
This essay is pretty good overall, but I think it was a bit too brief and you should have gone more in depth in explaining diction, details, and syntax. Your diction paragraph is the best of the three, but I think “week long” belongs in the paragraph about detail, at least because of the way you explained it. Putting it in the detail paragraph would better the paragraph, but then you would probably need another example for diction. I agree with Alexus that this doesn’t sound finished, or at least a bit rushed towards the end. The syntax paragraph is the shortest of the three body paragraphs and definitely needs an example or two. You mention how the author uses different sources, but this doesn’t really explain how syntax is used to convey meaning. You also don’t have a conclusion paragraph. I think you have all the ideas to make for a great essay, but a little more depth is needed. Good overall.
ReplyDelete