Genre Piece Analysis - Essay Example

The genre that I carefully and critically developed is known as an autobiography. The piece centered on the life of the Late Nelson Mandela. Autobiographies are factual works of literary and they are utterly based on events that actually occurred in history. Through the autobiography, it was clear that Nelson Mandela was a Nobel Peace Prize Winner and the first democratically elected president of the Republic of South Africa. The literary work portrayed the Late Nelson Mandela as a global hero who dedicated his entire lifetime struggling against the apartheid policy that was ripping the nation apart during the late 20th Century. The commitment that Nelson Mandela showed in serving humanity made him a recognized political figure across all the continents of planet earth. The project proved to be an effective tool that can be used by both the current and future leaders to learn the exemplary leadership skills that the icon Nelson Mandela possessed. Despite all the obstacles that Nelson Mandela faced during his prime age, the project clearly illustrated that the legend remained at the center of the most inspiring and compelling political drama in the universe. The project has proved to be a convenient tool that will preserve the priceless legacy of the Late Nelson Mandela generations after generations. The project captured its audience through the selected publishing avenue. The role of this paper is to demonstrate the rhetorical awareness of the piece, it also makes intricate and analytical claims concerning the style of writing deployed in developing the factual work, which was successful at the end.

Starting from the introduction of the autobiography, I was able to enhance the appeal of the story as I took the audience through the different stages of the life of Nelson Mandela. Writing a factual work is a very interesting task, to make the storyline progress, one has to show how different events that take place at different times in history are interrelated (Brown, 2015). Writing about the timeline of the Late Nelson Mandela provided me with a great opportunity of connecting different events that occurred in his life and whose outcomes were very critical. The father of Nelson Mandela was a principal counselor of the acting king whose subjects were the Thembu People. The family that he was born into primarily shaped the foundation of his political background. When his father died in the year 1930; Nelson Mandela was only twelve years and by right, he was made the ward of the Jongintaba Dalindyebo. At such an early age, the legend was getting prepared for greater leadership skills in South Africa. As he grew up, Nelson Mandela could hear the valor that his ancestors demonstrated as they fought the war of resistance. Nelson used these stories as great source of motivation as he faced obstacles as he fought for racial equality in South Africa. He faced many obstacles at different stages in his life to a point that he faced capital punishment but he was willing to die fighting for the freedom of his people. An autobiography is totally based on events that actually took place. Consequently, writing this genre piece provided me with an opportunity of reviewing history books that contained factual information related to the life of Nelson Mandela. In addition to books, I also relied on documentaries as reference materials to draw useful information that was very imperative in developing an accurate storyline about the life of Nelson Mandela. Different reference materials demonstrated differences in highlighting the actual time that Nelson Mandela’s father actually passed away but a reliable source actually proved that he died when Mandela was only twelve years old and it is at this time that he first got into civil leadership. The project also gave me the opportunity to understand the great value that our culture places on individual human experience, expression and achievement. I capitalized on this knowledge to develop a storyline that captured all the experiences that Nelson Mandela faced as early as 1942 when he was very much interested in politics. The project outlined the experiences that Nelson Mandela had to face and the achievements that he was able to meet; this made the piece more effective in capturing its target audience.

While working on the autobiography I discovered the main limitation that I faced as the author had to stick to the third person point of view. As the author, I had the free reign throughout the entire piece and plenty of relevant information was at my disposal (Brown, 2015). It was a problem determining the exact point to illustrate action and when to shift into the main character’s mind. Marion Dane writes in What’s Your Story that at most times, writers who learn to use the third person point of view face difficulties attempting to get into the main character’s mind so as to reveal feelings and thoughts (Brown, 2015). In addition, the third person point of view failed to offer me the liberty of writing in the present tense format. I addressed this limitation in my final project by writing the project in past tense format. The storyline progressed chronologically and at each point, I wrote every relevant event that took place in the past tense reporting format. Writing in the third person point of view made it possible for me to write about any character at any time. It did not prohibit me to stick on writing about Nelson Mandela only but it also made it possible for me to write about the other characters for instance his father and mother. Therefore, the understanding of the autobiography by the reader was not constrained by the personality of the main character in the final project (Brown, 2015). The third person made it possible in developing a reliable narrator who was effective in addressing the audience as the audience without harming in any way their suspension of incredulity. Initially, I perceived that the first person point of view was the only effective method of getting into the character’s feelings and thoughts. Representing a fact to the audience rather than just stating how things were was an evocative and an involving task. However, in coming up with the final project; the third person point of view proved to be the easiest way of clearly communicating with the reader how the events took place. The third person point of view made it possible for me to account how Nelson Mandela felt greatly motivated by the stories of valor, which his ancestors demonstrated as they fought the war of resistance. The paper heavily uses imagery to draw a clear picture how different events took place during the different life stages of Nelson Mandela. Imagery is a stylistic device that succeeds in drawing a clear mental picture about the different struggles that Nelson Mandela had to go through. Imagery clearly gives an account of how Nelson Mandela was expelled from the University due to taking part in protest. It also shows how he was able to get out of the country under someone else’s name and how he had to face the treason trial, sent to prison, acquitted and the victory that he had at last.

The project mainly aimed at addressing the audience on the exemplary leadership skills that were portrayed by Nelson Mandela during his lifetime. The traits, which the Late Nelson Mandela portrayed, were very effective in bringing change in South Africa. At several occasions, Nelson Mandela was approached and offered conditional terms so as to be released from prison earlier than it was expected (Brown, 2015). However, due to his selflessness; Nelson Mandela rejected these offers and was dedicated in ensuring the apartheid policy was totally abolished in South Africa. In selecting the target audience, one of the factors that I considered is choosing the prime age gap where most current and aspiring leaders belong. This prime age gap starts as early as twenty years and extends to as late as forty years. At this age gap, most individuals are normally very energetic and have the full potential of fulfilling their goals. In most developing nations, there still exist a lot of struggle for outright democracy and justice and it is the second factor, which was considered in developing the piece of writing. The project was carefully constructed t o be a motivational piece of work through which the audience would derive the energy to move on in their struggle without giving up no matter the external and internal obstacles that might come in between the way. The final project communicated to the audience in a clear manner how Nelson Mandela preserved all the challenges and setbacks that came his way as he led in the fight against the issue of racial inequality and for a multiparty policy in the Republic of South Africa. The target audience characteristically derives much information and current affairs from the media press and the online newspaper editions. It was critical to consider this as a factor in choosing the best route in establishing the literal link between the literary work and its target audience. One of the publishing venues that was deployed were the newspapers and their online editions. A synopsis of the autobiography was published in the newspapers and their online editions so that the readers would be able to preview what the whole project is all about. This was very effective in encouraging the target audience to get a copy of the literary work. The target audience are known to be individuals whom are known to frequent occasions such as political rallies and meetings. This was the main reason why flyers and brochures were chose as the second publishing venue that would be used in capturing the attention of the target audience. Nowadays, television sets are common in almost every household and due to this; I chose television screening as the third publishing venue. An edited film that summarized the entire project was recorded and aired on the television. The film was very effective in capturing the attention of the audience and most people were aware of the book through this venue.

Reference

Brown, D. (2015). RWS 305W Writing in Various Settings.