This passage is an autobiography from “Growing up stupid under the Union Jack” written by ‘Austin Clarke.’ In this passage the author describes his first day of going to school from a ‘low class’ life. The theme of this passage is first impressions.
Since this is an autobiography, the audience for this passage is adults. The purpose of this passage is to show the reader how it is like going to school when you are coming from a humble family. This purpose is achieved through the various linguistic techniques used by the author.
The author uses many figures of speech to add emphasis and interest. For example; “wildest dreams” is an idiom, “fortunate friends” is alliteration, “white as snow and ironed like glass” are idioms and more. The writer has used vernacular vocabulary as this is a story from a particular culture and to further engage the reader.
There is also a variety of punctuation used which can be seen from the following example: “There was the shining, gold-painted set of compasses; the Rankin biscuit tin, scrubbed clean and looking like a small silver coffin, with a flying fish sandwich in it: and my bottle of ‘clear’ lemonade.” This example also shows the complexity of the sentence structure, which is suitable for adults. The paragraphing is also formal.
The tone for this passage is conversational as the writer describes his feelings to the audience. Overall, the intended effect of this passage is to show the audience how the writer experienced his first day and this is achieved through the language techniques used by the writer.
Froebelian Writers 