landmines in angola analysis
FND Unit 2 Text 2| Stephan Hegglin | August 31st, 2000
To all FND module participants:
I have just completed one of my first assignments and would welcome any comments. Or would there be anyone willing to share their assignments with me?
FDN Unit 2 Text 2: "Landmines in Angola" (p. 57)
1) Genre label: charity appeal for money
2) The title already indicates the problem. There are landmines in Angola.
From listening to the daily news the reader might know that the war is over but the landmines have remained. Para 1 exposes the problem of thousands of civilians quite clearly. The mentioning of children links to the final question of the paragraph, changing the pragmatic pattern. By asking the reader if he knows what happens to a child when it steps on a landmine, the problem is no longer just the dilemma of civilians far away from us, but slowly involves the reader in an issue, which had probably not occurred to him earlier.
Subsequently, the text operates on both pragmatic levels; they are interwoven (as I will show in point 3) to serve the purpose of raising money.
On level one (the problem of the people in Angola) paragraph 2 points out that from a landmine's perspective there is no difference between a soldier and a child. The agony of a child is described in nauseating detail, in an attempt to draw as clear a picture as possible.
The vivid imagery of paragraphs 2 and 3 (especially emotive words like "mangled", "unrecognisable lumps", "bloody," and emotive similes like "burst open like an overcooked sausage") aim at the compassion of the reader, evoking his empathy and his will to respond to this desperate situation.
Paragraph 4 introduces the Mines Advisory Group by saying that there is someone out there that knows the problem and has taken measures to de-mine the war-stricken country. At the same time the people are being taught how to live as safely as possible on their mined land. It is a relief for the reader (level 2) to hear, that there is a special focus on children. This is at the same time a response for the children involved (level 1).
Paragraph 5 extends the range of the operating areas of the relief workers beyond Angola and, at the same time, giving the reader the impression that all possible measures are taken to teach the children about the dangers. This is to a certain extent also an evaluation of the activity of the Mines' Advisory Group, because they seem powerful enough to act on a big scale. However, by saying that they use "every darn thing we can think of", the problem of level 2 is expanded. Although action is taken, the problem is almost too big to be dealt with.
The need for money in paragraph 6 suggests the urgent solution to carry on this life-and-death work. This is a consequence, evoked by a response the reader is by now convinced to be absolutely necessary to cope with the disaster (level 2). The bare "We need" as a start of the paragraph functions as very suggestive and powerful token to involve the reader in the solution process.
Paragraph 7 evaluates the response of level 2. Even the tiniest donation will be multiplied if they can raise the meager UK core costs.
3) This text speaks as poignantly about the problem of children having to suffer from the effect of landmines as it does about the need for money to cope with the disaster. In fact, the text, starts off capturing the reader's attention for the dilemma of the victims in Angola (level 1) and follows by showing effective solutions the reader, as a consequence, cannot resist supporting the cause. However, this insight confronts him with a new dilemma: Unless the reader supports the badly needed relief programme (that he has instinctively approved) financially, the help cannot be maintained. The reader is addressed now for the first time as "you" and might even feel guilty, one of those who know and play ignorant. In contrast to the devastating emotive language of paragraphs 2 and 3, the lexis of paragraph 7 evokes very positive feelings ("releases", "generous").
I'm looking forward to receiving your email.
Best wishes
Stephan
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