Analysis of Gerald John Emerys text

The predators against foreigners

Many of us are familiar with the expression “language is power”. This suggests that if you
understand the possibilities a language holds, you will have a great opportunity to convince
others of sharing your meanings about a certain topic. This is what the travel writer Gerald
John Emery tries to say in his text. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss how he uses
language features and literary devices to enhance his message.

Overall, Emery tries to convince the reader that we should put away our prejudice when
encountering people from other cultures. We should not be afraid of strangers but rather
accept them and try to live in harmony. The travel writer has written a personal and
persuasive text in which he tries to make the reader share his opinion.

To convince the reader, he emphasises the fact that he has “lived in multiple countries” and
therefore understands “more cultures than just the one I was born into” (line 1.2).
Furthermore, he repeatedly returns to his travels and meetings with other cultures. If we
close-read the text, we can see that he repeats several words and sentence constructions to
enhance his point. “I” is repeated numerous times and so is the phrase “It has taught
me”(line 6). This anaphora stresses his knowledge about the topic. Together with the fact
that he is a travel writer, these three aspects make him trustworthy. In other words, he builds
his ethos to make the reader agree with him.

Emery continues to use a personal appeal and even stresses his knowledge about different
cultures further when he in line 18-19 contrasts his view of foreigners with the view of more
sceptical people: “The dark view sees refugees as menacing being clamouring for our
attention whereas I see people in need stretching out a hopeful hand”: He has already
established his ethos and thus makes it easier to “trick” the reader into agreeing with his
opinion rather than the sceptical peoples opinion.

In the same paragraph. he uses literary devices such as similes and metaphors. He uses
similes to describe other peoples prejudice against foreigners: “Foreigners are seen as
threats, thugs and terrorists” (line 18). However, he uses metaphors to describe his
optimistic understanding of the same people; “but I see hearts, hope and humanity” (line 19).
Both of these devices appeal to the reader's feelings (pathos) and make abstract concepts
more concrete. It could be argued though that a metaphor is stronger than a simile because
it is more direct. Consequently, this contrast enhances his positive attitude towards different
cultures to other more sceptical people's attitude.

So far, this analysis might come across as establishing Emery as slightly self-centred and
not willing to accept other people's view. Nevertheless, he manages to moderate this
understanding by using rhetorical questions and personal pronouns. In line 6 he asks: “What
has this taught me?”: In this way he invites the reader til stop and in a way forces the reader
to reflect about what he would have learnt if he was in his position. The high occurrence of
the personal pronouns “we” and “us”, makes him come across as respectful of others. He
tries to create a connection with the reader. This is especially evident in the last paragraph
where he writes: “In the end it is not a view but a vision I have, we have, because I look into
the eyes of my brothers and sisters and feel, just as you feel, (...)”. This pathos appeal
highlights his message that we should try to avoid looking at foreigners with prejudice but
rather think of them as normal, kind-spirited people like you and me.

In conclusion, this analysis discussed how Emery used different language features and
literary devices to enhance his message. The language features like anaphora, contrast and
rhetorical questions are used to build his ethos. The literary devices, simile and metaphor,
were used to illustrate the attitude of other people. Overall, the message about human
equality is well represented in the text.