Small Gestures That Reflect the Spirit of Sharing and a Difficult Vow for Parents - Essay Example

Gulf Daily News Monday, 3rd September 2007 Small gestures that reflect the spirit of sharing It is often the little things in life which give us a larger insight into the culture around us, particularly for expatriates in a foreign land. News reports are often about the bad things that happen, since good news is no news (example of assonance: good news no news) at all. In Bahrain we read a great deal (another example of assonance: read great deal) about crime, or about the abuse of foreign laborers, housemaids and other workers, under (example of assonance: other, workers, under) the sponsorship system which gives employers so much power.(assonance continued: employers, power) We do not read about the sponsors who look after their workers, because that is not news, in other words we take the good for granted (consonance) and highlight the bad. This is not a criticism. Newspapers should highlight injustice or anti-social trends and hopefully will continue to do so.(assonance: to do so). (Up to this point, the piece discusses the depiction in the media of the news, but this is only to make the point that good exists in many ways in society, although it is not highlighted publicly. From this point on, the writing is structurally focused on the spirit of sharing reflected in small gestures among ordinary people and how this is revealed through the sharing of the most precious commodity in the desert countries – water). But if we open our eyes, there are also those around us doing good for others away from the limelight and without seeking any recognition. (At this point, the focus of the article shifts from the negative impact of the media to the small acts of kindness which are not broadcast). Just round the corner from our home, live a Bahraini family who, in the heat of the summer always put a full water cooler outside their home, with a cup attached, for any passer-by who may be thirsty. Elsewhere, up near the Talk of the Town,(alliteration) Adliya, a householder has provided for several years a constant supply of drinking water for passers-by, with a purpose-built (passers-by and purpose-built is a consonance and alliteration, because the first letters and b of the respective words are similar) fountain, with a metal cup attached by a chain. (The use of drinking water supply with attached cup for passers by is a deliberate repetition, to emphasize the significance of the act of kindness extended by some Bahrainis to strangers.) This is a part of the world where water has always been precious and where in the days before modernization, people had to walk to wells to get their daily supply (Consonance) (historical imagery of the past and people walking in deserts to get their water supplies). These seemingly gestures of making water available to passing strangers who may be thirsty can be seen all over Bahrain and they are a small but significant symbol of the survival of community spirit. (Another repetition of the act of making water available to strangers to symbolize sharing and the good existing in society – also a historical allusion to the community spirit that existed in Arab culture which is continuing). You may give someone in need food to ease their hunger, clothing to keep them warm, or money that they will be easily parted from, but give them water and you are giving them life (use of imagery). In the days of desert nomads (historical allusion), that was literally the case and I am sure that this distinctly Arab gesture in our now modern world is a throwback to those days. It will soon be Ramadan, when the sharing spirit (example of consonance) comes to the force, with neighbors going from door to door with food for others and we are reminded that there is a lot more good out there than bad – we just don’t always see it. (The language used in this piece is simple and easy to understand. There is a message that is being conveyed about the value of sharing. The tone of the piece is non judgmental and positive, pointing out the absence of good news coverage but adopting a non critical stance. It sets out the message at the outset, about how small things reflect the spirit of sharing. After first pointing out how the media fails to reflect the good existing in society, thereby portraying a negative image, the article then rebuts this negative impression by highlighting how the community spirit still exists, as exemplified in the simple gesture of freely sharing precious water. This is a thought provoking article and conveys a positive uplifting message about the existence of good in the world and our need to pay greater attention to it.) Gulf Daily News Thursday, 6th September 2007 A difficult vow for parents… I have to confess that while as a child I undoubtly loved my parents, I did not like them very much. They were simply not fun. They were always worried about us, telling us not to do this or that (consonance: this that) and, as we grew, urging us to study and save (alliteration) for the future. All they were doing was trying to prepare us for life, but to me they were boring, blind to life’s adventures and obsessed with “security”. As a teenager I swore I would never like the, that if I ever had children I would never shout at or smack (alliteration) them, that I would make their lives fun and excitement. (use of ungrammatical diction) But now I hear my mother’s words almost everyday, only it is my lips they are coming from. Our daughter Noor is old enough – at just turned two – to be pushing the barriers of tolerance and experimenting with what she can and cannot (consonance – can, cannot) do – or get away with. Just the other day she pushed away her food after barely a mouthful and before I could stop myself I was blathering on about “all those starving children out there”(use of imagery) – my mother’s favorite refrain.(consonance) To expect a toddler to think about the hungry of the world is put in front of them is nonsense, yet still the words came out. Noor’s ability to climb (assonance: ability, climb) is already alarming and the old “don’t come running to me if you break your legs” (use of imagery and onomatopoeia – the very act of breaking legs is synonymous with not being able to run) has already escaped my lips – words shot (onomatopoeia) at me so often in my mischievous childhood. I had promised myself that I would never shout as my mother did, for what is the point with such an innocent child, but it is a vow already broken, thanks in no small part to the nature of my own upbringing. (the phrasing here uses rhetoric – the asking of a hypothetical question and provision of an answer “what is” and “it is”) It is very easy to look at the “mistakes” of our parents and say we will never repeat them, but it is a pledge not so easy to keep.(allusion – questioning whether the mistake was actually a mistake. The use of pledge, to reinforce the vow mentioned in the previous para is deliberate, to highlight the significance of not making pledges before actually having had the experience of parenting) There is one promise I have to keep – to fill Noor’s life with the hugs and kisses which were so lacking in my own childhood.(Yet another repetition of “promise” but this time to underscore the underlying message of the piece, that children need love and affection and this should not be denied by the parents). She can’t resist at the moment, but I suppose the time will come all too quickly when an adolescent Noor will push her soppy dad away in embarrassment. (The tone of this piece is somewhat wry and humorous, although there is a very important message it conveys about the need to provide children with love, even while worrying about their security and their future. It uses an informal style of writing, and in some areas the diction becomes colloquial rather than strictly grammatical, in order to maintain the author’s friendly link with the readers.) PART B: Column 1: 1. The topic of this column is: “Small gestures that reflect the spirit of sharing”. 2. This is an inspirational article that is geared towards providing an uplifting message to readers about the existence of goodness in the world. It also provides information about Arab culture and the role of water in the history of the people. 3. The article also appears to be targeted at the local Arab population, to enhance their pride and satisfaction in their own culture and to heighten their awareness about the value of small gestures by ordinary people. 4. The unintentional secondary audience in this case is the expatriates, about whose exploitation there has been bad publicity in the press. This article appears to contradict these reports by pointing out the Bahraini spirit of friendship and hospitality towards strangers in their land. 5. The general tone of this piece is soothing, positive and conciliatory. It seeks to promote a positive appreciation of Arab culture and the good deeds of ordinary people. 6. The article highlights the value of simple acts of kindness, which often go unsung and are never picked up in the news, which is focused on negative events, especially on the exploitation of expatriates by the local Arab population. This is followed by a brief description of the acts of ordinary citizens who demonstrate their spirit of generosity and hospitality by freely sharing the most precious resource in the desert – water. The author points out how this practice fosters the ancient Arab spirit of hospitality to strangers and ends the article with a reminder that there is still a lot more goodness in the world than the bad. 7. The article presents the argument that there is much more good than bad in the world, although the good does not often find its share of the limelight. 8. The author uses repetition very effectively to get his point across. The act of sharing water freely assumes significance because water is a scarce commodity in the desert. The author illustrates this through the use of historical allusions and imagery about nomads. The author also uses a fair amount of assonance and alliteration to add style and substance to the passage, so that despite the simplicity of the content, the material reads well because it plays well phonetically on a reader’s inner mental ear. The tone of the passage is also in the general spirit of the message the passage tries to convey – that of brotherhood and kindness towards others. In such a context, the author refrains from a critical approach to the media in their portrayal of the news, but rather seeks to quietly highlight what they have missed and makes the simple narration more palatable to a reader through stylistic imagery. Column 2: 1. The topic of this column is: “A difficult vow for parents.” 2. The purpose of this piece is to both educational and informative. It is educational because it points out that parents need to provide lots of love and affection for their children. It is informative because it shows that individuals unwittingly tend to copy the parenting styles of their own parents. 3. The target audience for this article is new parents, who dislike the parenting styles adopted by their own parents and seek to do things differently. It helps prepare them to arrive at a better understanding of the motivations of their own parents in their manner of parenting. 4. The secondary target audience for this article is teenagers and young people who may be able to understand from this piece how parents often act out of their love for their children, even when these actions may across as restricting or incomprehensible. 5. The tone of this piece is wry and humorous; the author points out how he is resorting to all the tactics he most disliked in his own parents. Yet the underlying message also reflects the love and concern that parents feel for their children. 6. This passage has been written by the father of a two year old child. He is trying to come to terms with the fact that he is repeating the parenting style of his own parents, something he had promised himself he would never do. He points out how as a child, he disliked the constant restrictions his parents placed upon him, although it was only for his own safety. He then compares this with his own experience with his daughter, which only shows how he is repeating the patterns of his own patterns in the way he deals with his child. After pointing out all the parallels in his parenting style and those of his parents, he then ends the passage with one important note of difference between himself and his parents – his understanding of a child’s need for affection and love, a feature that was missing in his own childhood, but which he is making up in his parenting. 7. The argument presented in this passage is that despite any vows to adopt a different parenting style from their own parents, people often end up repeating the same patterns. 8. This opinion column entertains and raises awareness at the same time. The author’s style is entertaining and the use of diction is colloquial in order to maintain the informality of the piece. The author uses consonance, assonance and alliterations to add interest and readability to the piece. He structures it in such a way that the writing leads up to the message he wants to convey – the need for love and affection that children experience. He does this by first discussing his experience with his parents, then his own parenting experience, before pointing out the vital difference – he is trying to ensure that his child receives lots of affection and love. Read More