Sunday, April 27, 2008
A Joke
Nelson Mandela is sitting at home watching TV when he hears a knock at the door. When he opens it, he is confronted by a man, clutching a clip board and yelling,"You Sign! You sign!" Behind him is an enormous truck full of car exhausts. Nelson is standing there in complete amazement, when the man starts to yell louder,"You Sign! You sign!" Nelson says to him, "Look, you've obviously got the wrong man", and shuts the door in his face. The next day he hears a knock at the door again. When he opens it, the man is back with a huge truck of brake pads. He thrusts his clipboard under Nelson's nose, yelling,"You sign! You sign!" Mr Mandela is getting a bit annoyed by now, so he pushes the man back, shouting:"Look, go away! You've got the wrong man. I don't want them!" Then he slams the door in his face again. The following day, Nelson is resting, and late in the afternoon, he hears a knock on the door again. On opening the door, there is the same man thrusting a clipboard under his nose, shouting,"You sign! You sign!" Behind him are TWO very large trucks full of car parts. This time Nelson loses his temper completely, he picks up the man by his shirt front and yells at him:"Look, I don't want these! Do you understand? You must have the wrong name! Who do you want to give these to?"The man looks very puzzled, consults his clipboard, and says:"You're not Nissan Main Dealer?"
Friday, April 25, 2008
To Blk 1 The Ghastly Blank
Here are the pointers for commentary again in case some of you did not have the time to copy them on Thursday. They are NOT exhaustive and are meant only to help you start writing your commentary and to generate responses OF YOUR OWN to the use of language in the text.
1.The use of negatives and words that have a negative meaning (think about prefxes and suffixes, and adverbs)
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except for the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made, antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever-
grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the
midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburra approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it
could come to life again.
2.The use of words that suggest the highest degree, complete truth giving the effect of an overstatement
(think about prefixes and suffixes, adjectives and adverbs)
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except fort the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made,
antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever- grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the
midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburra approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it
could come to life again.
3. Other features of language (consider the effect of the words in bold)
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except for the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made,
antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever- grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, (short clauses) just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburr approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it could come to life again.
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except for the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made, antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever-
grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the
midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburra approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it
could come to life again.
2.The use of words that suggest the highest degree, complete truth giving the effect of an overstatement
(think about prefixes and suffixes, adjectives and adverbs)
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except fort the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made,
antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever- grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the
midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburra approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it
could come to life again.
3. Other features of language (consider the effect of the words in bold)
Here perhaps, more than anywhere, humanity had had a chance to make a fresh start. The land was absolutely untouched and unknown, and except for the blacks, the most retarded people on earth, there was no sign of any previous civilization whatever : not a scrap of pottery, not a Chinese coin, not even the vestige of a Portuguese fort. Nothing in this strange country seemed to bear the slightest resemblance to the outside world: it was so primitive, so lacking in greenness, so silent, so old. It was not a measurable man-made,
antiquity, but an appearance of exhaustion and weariness in the land itself. The very leaves of the trees hung down dejectedly, and they were not so much evergreen as ever- grey, never entirely renewing themselves in the spring, never altogether falling in winter. It was the bark that fell; it dried up and cracked on the tree trunks and then peeled off like the discarded skin of a snake.
Everything was the wrong way about. Midwinter fell in July, and in January summer was at its height; in the bush there were giant birds that never flew, and queer, antediluvian animals that hopped instead of walked, or sat munching mutely in the trees. Even the constellations in the sky were upside down and seemed to belong to another system of the sun. As for the naked aborigines, they were caught in a timeless apathy in which nothing
ever changed or progressed; they built no villages, they planted no crops, and except for a few flea-bitten dogs possessed no domestic animals of any kind. They hunted, they slept, (short clauses) just occasionally they decked themselves out for a tribal ceremony, but all the rest was listless dreaming.
A kind of trance was in the air, a sense of awakening infinitely delayed. In the midsummer heat the land scarcely breathed, but the alien white man, walking through the grey and silent trees, would have the feeling that someone or something was waiting and and listening. The smaller birds did not fly away as they did in Europe. The kookaburr approached, uttered its raucous guffaw, then cocked its head waiting for a response. The kangaroo stood poised and watching. The earth itself had the same air of expectancy, as though it were willing the rain to fall, as though it were waiting for fertilization so that it could come to life again.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
An Outsider's View of Brunei
Have a look at this interesting travel article about Brunei from a British newspaper, the Daily Mail. As you can see from the description of the first picture, not entirely accurate, but interesting to see how Brunei is viewed by the outside world.http://www.travelmail.co.uk/travel/Brunei/Brunei----don-t-just-fly-by.html?article_id=27156
Also, look at this Youtube video, which is from a BBC travel documentary about Brunei
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xvApwmbmdo
Looks like a really nice place, must visit there sometime!!
Also, look at this Youtube video, which is from a BBC travel documentary about Brunei
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xvApwmbmdo
Looks like a really nice place, must visit there sometime!!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Model for Traveller's Check text
The genre of this text is an article from an in-flight magazine. Its tone therefore is likely to be persuasive, as it is in effect an advert for the airlines services, as they only write about places they go to, and only ever in a positive light. It cannot be seen as an impartial opinion.
The purpose is to inform the readers about the North Borneo Railway, in an effort to persuade them to use it, and to use Malaysia Airlines to get there.
There is also a light-heartedness to the tone, which the author establishes early, with the pun in the title, between a possible means of paying for the journey and an introduction to the information to follow about the railway.
The attraction of train travel is outlined in the opening paragraph.: the metaphor “opened up the countryside” makes train travel attractive by suggesting new discoveries or the revelation of something concealed until now. “Head-off” is light-hearted and gives the idea that travel is relaxing and freedom-giving. The mention of Thomas Cook in the second paragraph gives historical accuracy and therefore credibility to train travel as something tried and tested.
The idiomatic usage of “puffin’ billy” is informal which gives the passage an easy feel to it. Train travel is for everyone. The metaphor “paradise” to describe the railway in north Borneo makes the countryside which it passes through seem idyllic., the most beautiful place on earth, or even a beauty which transcends the earth. The structure of the rest of the paragraph makes it easy to follow the rest of the passage because the writer outlines two options for travel on the railway, which then makes it possible to devote a paragraph to one of them. The idiom “trainheads” must mean those who love train travel, again the informal tone makes train travel seem accessible to ordinary people, and the newness of the idiom makes train travel seem modern and possibly an attraction for the young, who are the people who might invent this new slang.
In the fourth paragraph the vocabulary item “narrow rickety” is used to describe the train. Normally these adjectives would not enhance an overall description, but in this case they serve to make the train appear attractively old-fashioned. As if the privilege of having such a historical experience makes it worthwhile to suffer this discomfort. . The “lunatic fringe, fanatical steam train devotees” raises train travel to an almost religious level which is clearly hyperbole. Lunatic fringe is humorous because it suggests that those who like train travel are in some way mentally deranged. Contrast is established when the writer goes on to describe the other, completely different type of travelers (those with only a passing interest) therefore it can be seen that train travel is for all, and so every reader is included as a possible traveller, adding to the persuasive tone of the passage. The vocabulary captures the history and therefore the credibility of train travel in words such as “nostalgia” and “oblivion” with their connotations of long time scales. A simile describing the train as being “like a time capsule’ makers the train seem old-fashioned, by suggesting a trip on it is not only through this part of Malaysia but back through history to a time pre-dating our own modern trains. The metaphor “lifeline” comes from the literal idea of throwing a drowning person a rope with which to be pulled ashore: thus the vital importance of the railway to people’s way of life is underpinned.
In conclusion the writer seeks to persuade people to use these trains through an appeal to their sense of nostalgia.
The purpose is to inform the readers about the North Borneo Railway, in an effort to persuade them to use it, and to use Malaysia Airlines to get there.
There is also a light-heartedness to the tone, which the author establishes early, with the pun in the title, between a possible means of paying for the journey and an introduction to the information to follow about the railway.
The attraction of train travel is outlined in the opening paragraph.: the metaphor “opened up the countryside” makes train travel attractive by suggesting new discoveries or the revelation of something concealed until now. “Head-off” is light-hearted and gives the idea that travel is relaxing and freedom-giving. The mention of Thomas Cook in the second paragraph gives historical accuracy and therefore credibility to train travel as something tried and tested.
The idiomatic usage of “puffin’ billy” is informal which gives the passage an easy feel to it. Train travel is for everyone. The metaphor “paradise” to describe the railway in north Borneo makes the countryside which it passes through seem idyllic., the most beautiful place on earth, or even a beauty which transcends the earth. The structure of the rest of the paragraph makes it easy to follow the rest of the passage because the writer outlines two options for travel on the railway, which then makes it possible to devote a paragraph to one of them. The idiom “trainheads” must mean those who love train travel, again the informal tone makes train travel seem accessible to ordinary people, and the newness of the idiom makes train travel seem modern and possibly an attraction for the young, who are the people who might invent this new slang.
In the fourth paragraph the vocabulary item “narrow rickety” is used to describe the train. Normally these adjectives would not enhance an overall description, but in this case they serve to make the train appear attractively old-fashioned. As if the privilege of having such a historical experience makes it worthwhile to suffer this discomfort. . The “lunatic fringe, fanatical steam train devotees” raises train travel to an almost religious level which is clearly hyperbole. Lunatic fringe is humorous because it suggests that those who like train travel are in some way mentally deranged. Contrast is established when the writer goes on to describe the other, completely different type of travelers (those with only a passing interest) therefore it can be seen that train travel is for all, and so every reader is included as a possible traveller, adding to the persuasive tone of the passage. The vocabulary captures the history and therefore the credibility of train travel in words such as “nostalgia” and “oblivion” with their connotations of long time scales. A simile describing the train as being “like a time capsule’ makers the train seem old-fashioned, by suggesting a trip on it is not only through this part of Malaysia but back through history to a time pre-dating our own modern trains. The metaphor “lifeline” comes from the literal idea of throwing a drowning person a rope with which to be pulled ashore: thus the vital importance of the railway to people’s way of life is underpinned.
In conclusion the writer seeks to persuade people to use these trains through an appeal to their sense of nostalgia.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
A Few Quick Jokes
Teacher: Name two pronouns?
Pupil: Who?, me?
Teacher: I'm glad to see your writing has improved.
Pupil: Thank you
Teacher: Now I can see how bad your spelling is though!
Pupil: I don't think I deserved zero on this test!
Teacher: I agree, but that's the lowest mark I could give you!
Teacher: You copied from Ahmad's exam paper didn't you?
Pupil: How did you know?
Teacher: Ahmad's paper says "I don't know" and you have put "Me, neither"!
Pupil: Who?, me?
Teacher: I'm glad to see your writing has improved.
Pupil: Thank you
Teacher: Now I can see how bad your spelling is though!
Pupil: I don't think I deserved zero on this test!
Teacher: I agree, but that's the lowest mark I could give you!
Teacher: You copied from Ahmad's exam paper didn't you?
Pupil: How did you know?
Teacher: Ahmad's paper says "I don't know" and you have put "Me, neither"!
Shanghai Childhood
The genre of this text is from a novel which has been written from an autobiographical viewpoint. The tone is very much one of nostalgia and gentle humour. The writer’s purpose is to look back on childhood in a nostalgic, sometimes rather comical way. It is incongruous to describe a “mound” as having a “summit”. This shows that to small children a slight incline in the garden seems like a mountain. The writer concedes that his memory is exaggerated in the phrases “even at the time” and “hardly matched”: he acknowledges the “splendour“of the houses round the corner, which are described as “residences” rather than merely houses.
A comical picture of little boys is created. Their game is only running about in the garden and yet they are “worn…out” and are “panting”, in need of a rest. The gap between childhood and adulthood for the writer is shown in the words “around six years old”; he does not have an exact memory because it was a long time ago. Nostalgia is created in his closing his eyes “to bring back that picture”, consciously trying to evoke the past. His parents’ nostalgia for the England they have left behind is shown in their weak attempt to recreate an “English” lawn: the inverted commas show their attempt is not entirely unsuccessful in the climate of Shanghai. It is also important to note that tense shift from past to present which further highlights the nostalgic element in the text.
A comical picture of little boys is created. Their game is only running about in the garden and yet they are “worn…out” and are “panting”, in need of a rest. The gap between childhood and adulthood for the writer is shown in the words “around six years old”; he does not have an exact memory because it was a long time ago. Nostalgia is created in his closing his eyes “to bring back that picture”, consciously trying to evoke the past. His parents’ nostalgia for the England they have left behind is shown in their weak attempt to recreate an “English” lawn: the inverted commas show their attempt is not entirely unsuccessful in the climate of Shanghai. It is also important to note that tense shift from past to present which further highlights the nostalgic element in the text.
To Blk 1: Feedback on 'Toads and Dancing Monkeys'
2 things:
1. Please be reminded about the pointer on seeing the passage as a whole when you write commentaries in future.
2. Here are some more references to humour that I did not have time to cover during the feedback on Saturday 12 April.
Seeing the passage as a whole
You need to see how the various language devices work together to achieve the writer’s purpose of informing and entertaining the readers.
Questions to ask yourself:
• What is the general meaning or message in the passage? (Answer: About his journey up the hills in West Africa in a decrepit lorry in the company of a few West Africans. Although he is anxious for his safety , Durrell takes the journey with a sense of humour and is fascinated by the beauty and vitality of the landscape.)
• How does Durrell use language to get across his meaning/message successfully? In particular, how does he use figures of speech to make the account of his journey vivid, humorous and lively?
• Which figures of speech are used most in the passage?
• Which figures of speech are the most effective in emphasizing/enhancing his description? (answer: in this case, personification is the most important device in contributing to the humour and vivid description. Other figures of speech such as alliteration and onomatopoeia are used together with personification (eg 'It stood there on buckled wheels, wheezing and gasping with exhaustion')
References to humour
(1)
Most West African lorries are not in what would call the first flush of youth... (l.1)
Understatement - this is a sarcastic and humorous way of saying these lorries were practically worn out by old age.
(2)
.....I consigned myself and my loads to it with some trepidation. The driver, who was a cheerful fellow.... (‘ 4-5)
Humour is produced from the contrast between narrator’s fear and driver’s complete oblivion (lack of awareness) to it.
(3)
Secondly, I had to keep a stern eye on the clutch, a wilful piece of mechanism, that seized every chance to leap out of its socket (l 8-9)
The clutch is personified as stubborn and mischievous.
(4)
Not even a West African lorry driver could be successful in driving while crouched under the dashboard in a pre-natal position...., (l 10 )
The word ‘even’ suggests he marveled at the skills of West African drivers but also humorously implies that their skills lay in handling decrepit vehicles. The position ‘crouched under the dashboard in a pre-natal position’ is described hyperbolically for comic effect.
(5)
Home again, home again,
When shall I see my home?
When shall I see my mammy?
I’ll never forget ma home… (l.20-24)
The song sounds like a lamentation (a song expressing grief or mourning) but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves singing it ( ‘the boys lifted up their voices in song’; the driver and the narrator ‘harmonized’ and the driver ‘played a staccato accompaniment on the horn’. Hence humour is derived from the contrast between the appropriate mood of the song and the actual mood of the singers.
(6)
...the driver and I harmonized and sang complicated twiddly bits (l.27)
‘To twiddle’ means to twirl or rotate something without purpose. ‘Complicated twiddly bits’ probably refers to the nonsensical parts of the song that were hard to sing but were splendidly managed by the good-humoured Durrell.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Toads and Dancing Monkeys - Model
Here it is!! What you have all been waiting for with bated breath. Yes, it's Mr David Thomson's model answer for the Toads and Dancing Monkeys text commentary. This is what you should have done.
Sample Commentary – Toads and Dancing Monkeys
Durrell’s autobiographical account of his travels in West Africa during the early 1950s is humorous His intention is to transport the reader from her English sitting room through the brilliantly colourful jungle which teems with life and is full of exotic sights and sounds. Everything here is alive, from the ancient lorry to the sounds of the birds. Everything has a mind of its own, from the sentinel trees and ferns to the willful components of the truck. By bringing the scene so vividly to life, Durrell’s writing serves as a metaphor for the exuberance of life in the jungle. We can see that he considers the jungle to be a single living entity in his image of the forest, a thick pelt of green undulating into the distance. This then is his purpose, to make the scene come bursting alive, and the language which he uses achieves this aim wonderfully well.
In the first paragraph we are cleverly introduced to the pitiful clapped out jalopy of a truck. The negatively expressed and understated not in what one would call the first flush of youth leads us to expect a means of transport perhaps verging on cantankerous and unreliable middle age. However, the antique vehicle which arrives is personified as a geriatric human struggling for breath, and the alliterative wheels, wheezing and onomatopoeic gasping bring to vivid life its asthmatic condition, especially when it cannot cope even with the gentlest of slopes. Its component parts are also alive and possess minds of their own and thus Durrell has to take control of them like a strict schoolmaster watching over unruly pupils with his stern eye. One pupil, the handbrake, is surly, while the other, the clutch, is playful. Here we find the strange simile seized every chance to leap out of its socket with a noise like a strangling leopard. The noise of the clutch is surely a matter for the imagination of the reader, but one function of this simile is to remind the reader that she is in the distant jungle and that the decrepit lorry still has something of the wild animal in it and remains part of the jungle around. Durrell obviously has a high opinion of the skills of West African lorry drivers, as he says that not even they can drive in impossible positions. Here, the adverb even serves to compare West African lorry driver favourably with their counterparts elsewhere. Durrell introduces more humour when he describes the truck as noble, a royal quality it obviously acquires from its sedate and stately speed of 20mph. This is made more humorous with the idiomatic threw caution to the winds and careered along in a madcap fashion at twenty-five. This is a piece of hyperbole as 25mph is anything but fast, but of course to the clapped out wagon it is very quick indeed.
Having brought the lorry to life, Durrell moves on in paragraph two to bring the jungle around him to life and endow the flora with surprising purpose. Here we have the trees standing in solid ranks as soldiers guarding something, but what? Later the metaphor is repeated as the ferns become guardians of a new landscape. Could these provide a clue as to Durrell’s purpose in Africa? In the same paragraph we are introduced to the boys who sing a simple song in a simple dialect. All that interests them is going to ma home to ma mammy. They do not notice and have no interest in the wondrous sights around them. The driver too is deferential to Durrell, worried that he will object to the song. Durrell is obviously the boss, he knows everything about the forest, and compared to his rich and flamboyant language, the natives appear to be little more than simpletons who are merely there to help him on his dark purpose. This paragraph also contains beautiful, evocative descriptions of the love of Durrell’s life, the animals that inhabit the forest. The alliteration of the fricative f in flocks of hornbills flapped brings these exotic birds vividly to life. The onomatopoeia of honking conjures their call, and the simile like the ghosts of ancient taxis evokes a mystical, spiritual rather than physical presence and serves to remind the reader of the other worldliness of this domain. Then we meet the agama lizards who are alliteratively draped decoratively, an image of curtains in keeping with the nature of the forest and one which gains credence when their colour is described as sunset, a myriad of changes from orange through red to deepest violet. Once again the lizards are full of life as they nod their heads furiously. Furiously at what, one wonders – is it simply the speed of movement, or is it their anger and knowledge of Durrell’s purpose? The road too has life, looping its way in languid curves. The lengthy l sounds accentuating the long and lazy path it takes. All of this alliteration and onomatopoeia serve to bring the sounds of the forest to the readers’ ears.
In the third paragraph, we meet a new landscape, that of the uplands. This is much less luxuriant than the lowland forest, but nevertheless is described in vibrant terms. There are tree ferns which stand around plotting and planning with fronds like delicate green fountains, a simile which easily captures how they look and suggests the renewing life giving qualities of fountains. The hills become bare; they shrug themselves free of a cloak, because, of course, they too are alive. We find golden grass rippling, an echo of the undulating forest below. To close this section we return to the lorry, which has, against all the odds, made it to the summit exhibiting all the signs of illness and age previously mentioned. Though by now it truly seems to be on its last legs spouting steam like a dying whale. It is with a sense of relief and release that the passage ends with the closure of switched off the engine.
Whilst the use of language clearly plays the major role in how Durrell achieves his aim, there are some areas of structure which require comment. He uses colons, firstly to explain in detail why this particular lorry was worse than any he had met before. Secondly to list the operations he was required to supervise whilst in the lorry. The effect is to lead the reader to expect that in each case more information will be provided. Durrell also uses present participles rather than finite tenses to de-emphasise actions and thus focus more on the image presented. Thus we find that the agama lizards lay, blushing into sunset colouring: the focus clearly being on the picture of them blushing. Similarly we see massive tree-ferns standing in conspiratorial groups, and the effect helps us visualise them as humans.
Durrell easily conveys his enthusiasm for the forest and its inhabitants through his flamboyant use of language. The experience for the reader is to be transported with him onto the lorry and into the forests of West Africa; to an exotic location where everything is alive and conscious.
Durrell’s autobiographical account of his travels in West Africa during the early 1950s is humorous His intention is to transport the reader from her English sitting room through the brilliantly colourful jungle which teems with life and is full of exotic sights and sounds. Everything here is alive, from the ancient lorry to the sounds of the birds. Everything has a mind of its own, from the sentinel trees and ferns to the willful components of the truck. By bringing the scene so vividly to life, Durrell’s writing serves as a metaphor for the exuberance of life in the jungle. We can see that he considers the jungle to be a single living entity in his image of the forest, a thick pelt of green undulating into the distance. This then is his purpose, to make the scene come bursting alive, and the language which he uses achieves this aim wonderfully well.
In the first paragraph we are cleverly introduced to the pitiful clapped out jalopy of a truck. The negatively expressed and understated not in what one would call the first flush of youth leads us to expect a means of transport perhaps verging on cantankerous and unreliable middle age. However, the antique vehicle which arrives is personified as a geriatric human struggling for breath, and the alliterative wheels, wheezing and onomatopoeic gasping bring to vivid life its asthmatic condition, especially when it cannot cope even with the gentlest of slopes. Its component parts are also alive and possess minds of their own and thus Durrell has to take control of them like a strict schoolmaster watching over unruly pupils with his stern eye. One pupil, the handbrake, is surly, while the other, the clutch, is playful. Here we find the strange simile seized every chance to leap out of its socket with a noise like a strangling leopard. The noise of the clutch is surely a matter for the imagination of the reader, but one function of this simile is to remind the reader that she is in the distant jungle and that the decrepit lorry still has something of the wild animal in it and remains part of the jungle around. Durrell obviously has a high opinion of the skills of West African lorry drivers, as he says that not even they can drive in impossible positions. Here, the adverb even serves to compare West African lorry driver favourably with their counterparts elsewhere. Durrell introduces more humour when he describes the truck as noble, a royal quality it obviously acquires from its sedate and stately speed of 20mph. This is made more humorous with the idiomatic threw caution to the winds and careered along in a madcap fashion at twenty-five. This is a piece of hyperbole as 25mph is anything but fast, but of course to the clapped out wagon it is very quick indeed.
Having brought the lorry to life, Durrell moves on in paragraph two to bring the jungle around him to life and endow the flora with surprising purpose. Here we have the trees standing in solid ranks as soldiers guarding something, but what? Later the metaphor is repeated as the ferns become guardians of a new landscape. Could these provide a clue as to Durrell’s purpose in Africa? In the same paragraph we are introduced to the boys who sing a simple song in a simple dialect. All that interests them is going to ma home to ma mammy. They do not notice and have no interest in the wondrous sights around them. The driver too is deferential to Durrell, worried that he will object to the song. Durrell is obviously the boss, he knows everything about the forest, and compared to his rich and flamboyant language, the natives appear to be little more than simpletons who are merely there to help him on his dark purpose. This paragraph also contains beautiful, evocative descriptions of the love of Durrell’s life, the animals that inhabit the forest. The alliteration of the fricative f in flocks of hornbills flapped brings these exotic birds vividly to life. The onomatopoeia of honking conjures their call, and the simile like the ghosts of ancient taxis evokes a mystical, spiritual rather than physical presence and serves to remind the reader of the other worldliness of this domain. Then we meet the agama lizards who are alliteratively draped decoratively, an image of curtains in keeping with the nature of the forest and one which gains credence when their colour is described as sunset, a myriad of changes from orange through red to deepest violet. Once again the lizards are full of life as they nod their heads furiously. Furiously at what, one wonders – is it simply the speed of movement, or is it their anger and knowledge of Durrell’s purpose? The road too has life, looping its way in languid curves. The lengthy l sounds accentuating the long and lazy path it takes. All of this alliteration and onomatopoeia serve to bring the sounds of the forest to the readers’ ears.
In the third paragraph, we meet a new landscape, that of the uplands. This is much less luxuriant than the lowland forest, but nevertheless is described in vibrant terms. There are tree ferns which stand around plotting and planning with fronds like delicate green fountains, a simile which easily captures how they look and suggests the renewing life giving qualities of fountains. The hills become bare; they shrug themselves free of a cloak, because, of course, they too are alive. We find golden grass rippling, an echo of the undulating forest below. To close this section we return to the lorry, which has, against all the odds, made it to the summit exhibiting all the signs of illness and age previously mentioned. Though by now it truly seems to be on its last legs spouting steam like a dying whale. It is with a sense of relief and release that the passage ends with the closure of switched off the engine.
Whilst the use of language clearly plays the major role in how Durrell achieves his aim, there are some areas of structure which require comment. He uses colons, firstly to explain in detail why this particular lorry was worse than any he had met before. Secondly to list the operations he was required to supervise whilst in the lorry. The effect is to lead the reader to expect that in each case more information will be provided. Durrell also uses present participles rather than finite tenses to de-emphasise actions and thus focus more on the image presented. Thus we find that the agama lizards lay, blushing into sunset colouring: the focus clearly being on the picture of them blushing. Similarly we see massive tree-ferns standing in conspiratorial groups, and the effect helps us visualise them as humans.
Durrell easily conveys his enthusiasm for the forest and its inhabitants through his flamboyant use of language. The experience for the reader is to be transported with him onto the lorry and into the forests of West Africa; to an exotic location where everything is alive and conscious.
See! It's easy really!!!!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Punctuation
Here are a couple of absolutely fascinating links about punctuation. Well, maybe not absolutely fascinating, but interesting. Well, maybe not even that, but they are of mild interest to you. Well, OK then, they are a bit boring, but they are very useful, so have a look at them
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/marks.htm
http://www.correctpunctuation.co.uk/
http://www.iknowthat.com/com/L3?Area=Paintball
The third link is a game which you might like, then again you might not. Please yourselves.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/marks.htm
http://www.correctpunctuation.co.uk/
http://www.iknowthat.com/com/L3?Area=Paintball
The third link is a game which you might like, then again you might not. Please yourselves.
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