Which text is more successful in showing what it is like to move to a different country? You may choose wither Text One or Text Two but you must explain your choice carefully. Give two reasons why you chose this text and one reason for not choosing the other text. By Wishka Syed

I believe that text two is more successful in showing us what it is like to move to a different country. Text two’s style of writing is descriptive which lets the reader feel, hear, smell, see and touch all the character’s feelings and emotions as he moves to a different country; “white house with its perfectly mown lawns and flowers lining the entrance and a carpet in every room”, “a landscape so white, so pure, could only dazzle us, blind us, intoxicate us.” By reading such description, the reader for example, feels as if he himself is standing with the landscape right in front of him. The author uses description to create an image in the reader’s mind and to give him a closer look of the story.

 

I also chose text two because of the amount of figurative language used in it; “like a mother duck, she walked ahead of us”, “garment over another, layer by layer, like the homeless”, “The town of Granby sheltered us.” FOS makes sure that the description does not bore the reader and from time to time adds sparkle to the text. The author uses them to captivate the reader and give them something to relate to.

 

The reason I did not choose text one was because of the abundant usage of short sentences like, “The taxi pulled up outside the hotel.”, “Alen watched television.” These short sentences although might add emphasis, but over usage of them makes it look like the author is an eight year old! Short sentences lack proper description which, I believe, cannot give the reader a full show of what it is like to move to a different country.

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Comparison Question: Survivors of a life threatening situation by Azwa Azwa

Both Text One and Text Two do an excellent job of presenting information regarding the difficulties and hardships encountered while moving to a different country, but I personally felt that Text Two was more superior and successful in it’s portrayal of the topic. Text One and Text Two are both book extracts.Text One was written by Benjamin Zephaniah, while Text Two was written by Kim Thuy.

The purpose of both texts is to inform and they have a general audience.However, Text One is tailored to suit a wide range of audiences, while Text Two has a more sophisticated audience. Although the language used in Text One is simple,clear and easy to understand, I prefer Text Two. Text Two has a more mature perspective and uses vivid imagery to enhance it’s appeal. There are also well-chosen adjectives e.g.”A landscape so white, so pure”,”short-sleeved orange pullover” which allow the reader to create a clear image in their mind.

Text Two is more interesting and amusing and is able to effectively grasp the reader’s attention making it overall more enjoyable to read. Text One lacks this quality and hence it appears more dull and fails to maintain the reader’s interest.

Text One contains a majority of short sentences and short paragraphs. This makes the writing seem more simple and childish e.g.”but there were no people”,”Alem watched television” etc. Text Two allows the reader to relate to the author and feel more attached to the text. The long sentences and relatively longer paragraphs enhance logos significantly.

Text One comparatively contains much less figures of speech than Text Two. Text Two is therefore much more alluring e.g.”like a mother duck” Text Two is made much more beautiful and enchanting.

Text One although reader-friendly has a major flaw-it lacks vivid and crisp descriptions. It is simple and this simplicity does not appeal to me as much as Text Two. Text One and Text Two have an informal tone and both relate personal experiences. Text Two is more successful as it effectively presents the hardships in a more graceful manner.

Another reason why I prefer Text Two is because of its wonderful vocabulary that is very impactful and entrances the reader immediately. I also feel that Text Two contains more information and essential details. It is extremely well-written in my opinion. Text One lacks these redeeming qualities which make it very inferior in comparison.

Comparison Question: Survivors of a life-threatening events by Esha Anjum Khan

Passage One and Passage Two both focus the life threatening situations faced by different people at different times. The explanation of various threatening situations is also given , which will help the reader to know and gain knowledge of all that can happen in a forest.

I like Passage Two better, entitled,”Angels in the wilderness” which was interviewed by “Amy Racina”. I like this passage as it is a story of personal experience, which details every single misery the person has gone through. For example, “dragging myself along with my hands.”line 8, the use of ethos is done, which emphasis the audience to feel sympathy for the person. It also uses description such as,” Onto solid hillside crumbled beneath me.”.The range of audience is very wide as she is basically teaching the audience not to give up for instance,” I survived for four days and nights, dragging myself along with my hands refusing to give up.”and ” Making a plan kept my mind focused on what I could do to help myself.”. Due to these statements many may get inspiration and would not give up. Her final statements impress many as she says, ” Just a few final thoughts. Love your life. Never give up. And always believe in miracles.” which encourage people to believe themselves and to achieve something in life.

Text One is ” The Soul Survivor” written by, “Sally Williams”. I did not choose Text One because firstly its not narrated by the victim itself as if it was narrated by the victim in Text Two, if it was narrated by the victim there would be more sympathetic appeals as well as description. The description of the misery is not given clearly, which may cause the narrator to loose a lot of sympathies. Secondly this text does not contain anything which would inspire or make the readers feel sympathetic, the ending is also very vague,”It was pure chance that they came that day.” whereas the feelings of the girl are not described,which may not urge the audience to read further articles and feel for her.

Therefore, I prefer Passage Two better than Passage One as it fills in every aspect of sympathy. Both poetry same objective ,yet Text Two is better.

Comparison Question by Shayan Malik

Comparison Question by Shayan Malik

Comparison Question: Moving to another country by Ilsa Tariq

I chose Text Two because it gives a very descriptive view of what it feels like to reside in a foreign country. The writer has used the ethos technique to sway the reader on feeling the same misery as the writer, for example, “I felt naked, if not stripped bare.” The reason for the writer to use this technique is to emphasise on the character’s situation and what they are going through.

Another reason I chose this text is because it provides us with both the benefits and the cons of living abroad. The positivity in the passage does not only overshadow the hurdles of living away from your country but also lifts up the energy of the reader, for example, ” A landscape so white, so pure, could only dazzle us, blind us, intoxicate us.” The writer through such techniques intends to excite the readers and bring out the pros of the situations that can seem difficult to cope with otherwise.

On the other hand, the reason I did not chose Text One is because it is more of a narration than the idea to what it is like living abroad. The writer is giving an outline of his experience which can often uninterested readers, for example, “They spent the evening in the hotel room.” Such trivial details do not matter to the reader and can intend to bore the them.

Comparison Question: Which text is more successful in showing what it is like to move to a different country? You may choose either Text One or Text Two, but you must explain your choice carefully. By Zaina Shahab

I believe Text Two, as compared to Text One, is more successful in showing what it is like to move to a different country. The purpose of Text Two is to entertain, as well as to inform the reader of what it is like to be a refugee and move to a completely foreign country. For e.g. “In the airport, I was surprised by all the unfamiliar sounds that greeted us and the strange food”. The intended of this purpose is to involve the reader on an emotional level and show him what it is like to move to a different country.

 

In Text Two, the writer uses a variety of figures of speech, such as similes, metaphors and personification, which make the text more interesting. For e.g. “A landscape so white, so pure, could only dazzle us, blind us, intoxicate us”, “Like a mother duck, she walked ahead of us”. By using this technique, the writer intends to keep the reader involved in the story till the very end.

 

Text One, though an effective story including dialogues, fails to impact the audience as strongly as Text Two. Written in third person, Text One does not seem to involve the reader as much as Text Two, which is written in first person. For e.g. “Alem thought it was all very bizarre”.

Comparison Question: Moving to another country by Esha Anjum Khan

Text one and two focus on the difficulties faced by people who move to different countries as refugees, in their childhood. As they are children, there are many questions in their mind regarding the environment of the different countries.

 

I like Text One ,” Refugee Boy” which is written by “Benjamin Zephaniah”. I like Text one better as it gives the description of everything which will or would seem unusual to a new boy. For example, ” It was so straight and wide; the ride was so smooth, no potholes, no wild bends, just the sound of the engine.” It tells the feelings of a child who is new in the environment, “Alem thought it was a;; very bizarre.” The writer uses different types of adjectives to grasp the attention of the audience, “chilly October day, black taxi’s interior, damp strange smell etc.”. Text One can be associated with any kind of audience such as an article or even a book. The range of audience is very wide. It even provides information for its audience for example,” Marble Arch, Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, The houses of Parliament and the Tower of London.”. The writer uses simple language for the people to understand.

 

Whereas Text Two does not have a detailed description of the refugee crises, although it emphasises on the feelings of the child it does not give a clear idea of the surroundings. It does not emphasise on the relief he got by changing his life. It even has a very vague ending, ” For a whole year, Granby represented heaven on Earth, I couldn’t imagine a better place in the world.”.Whereas it had to tell about its experience and how did he settle in anew world. The passage does not include a lot of adjectives and attention-grabbing words as well.

 

Therefore, I like Text One better then Text Two as it fills in every aspect of an article.Both poetry the same objective yet Text One has a better content.

 

Comparison Question: Moving to another country by Mustafa Rabbani

Both test one and text two seemed to express the feeling of moving to a different country very well if you ask me. They were both shown through the eyes of a child, which I felt was a different perspective.

Despite the quality of both texts I still feel as if text two conveyed the feeling of moving to a different country in a better manner. I especially like how in text two Kim explains the childs experience of the plane descending into the Mirabel airport and how he is amazing by the amount of snow, I was also fond of how the author described the sound and environment of the airport. For example: “When I saw my first snow banks through the porthole of the plane at Marbel Airport,” “In the aiport, I was surprised by all the unfamiliar sounds that greeted us and the strange food, yet I knew this was a plane of delights.” By reading these examples you can tell that Ru is amazed by the difference between Vietnam and Canada and that also in all perspectives.

The second reason why I chose this text was that the author explains what it was like for the child at school and how he was happily surrounded by colours, drawings etc. I also liked how the author described the language barrier and how Ru felt alienated when it came to speaking. For example: “the haven where we would be children again, simply children, surrounded by the colours, drawings, trivia,” and “My mother wanted me to learn French as fast as possible, English too, because my mother tongue had become useless.” These examples show how school was different from Vietnam and how language is a big part in moving to another country.

The reason why I did not choose text one was because although Alem was a refugee he did more sightseeing and moving around than a refugee would. For example, “In central London they boarded a sightseeing bus.” I felt as if Alem was a tourist and not a refugee. This text also did not explain how we went from day to day life.

 

Comparison Question: Moving to another country by Rafia Sajjad

Comparison Question: Art of handwriting by Rafia Sajjad