COMPARISON TEXT

‘From in the Empire of Genghis Khan’ by Stanley Stewart and ‘From a Passage to Africa’ by George
Alagiah are both passages about what it is like discovering the way of life in different countries and
cultures from a foreign perspective. Of course, they both use different ways of presenting their
experiences and perspectives. Let’s take a look and analyze and compare these two seemingly similar
passages. For the sake of shortening and simplification, we will simply refer to the Empire of Genghis
Khan as Text One and a Passage to Africa as Text Two.

It should be noted that the setting of these two texts are entirely different. Text One takes place during a
normal Mongolian wedding ceremony. Text Two, on the contrary, quite literally takes place in a warzone
in Somalia.
This makes clear that there is a very big difference in the tone and emotion of the two passages.
Text One uses a very curious and comical tone when describing the wedding – “The bride’s elder sister
fell headfirst from the tailgate, bounced twice and came to a rest, smiling, against a door post.”
Text Two on the other hand, is far more serious, distressing and grim in its choice of words, “I saw a
thousand hungry, lean and betrayed faces as I crisscrossed Somalia…”
Both passages use appropriate tones and language for the topic at hand.

Text One uses similes to make comical comparisons between Mongolian and British things, “Over the
past few weeks the ger had been lovingly prepared by relations. It was like a show ger from Ideal Gers…”
(Joke reference of the British magazine).
Text Two uses rhetorical question when the writer mentions a Somali man smiling at him, “It was not a
smile of greeting, it was not a smile of joy – how could it be?” This is used to enforce his feelings of
shock and disbelief that a man in such a war torn environment would smile at him, for whatever reason.
This is used to show just how bad of a situation the Somali people are in (the civil war is still going on to
this day).

Moving on to vocabulary, Text One uses adjectives to show the funny bizarreness of Mongolian
weddings from a foreign perspective; “On a low stool stood a mountainous plate of sheep,” “The back of
the truck had been crammed with wedding guests in such a state of dishevelled merriment…” This gives
the reader an amusing portrayal of what the wedding must have been like.
Text Two uses adjectives or verbs associated with gross things, such as ‘rotting’ and ‘festering’, to show
how bad hygiene and health is for Somali people. This makes the reader feel pity.

Now on to punctuation – Text One really doesn’t use any special punctuation at any point in the text, as
it doesn’t need to make any kind of dramatic effect or to emphasize a certain point.
Text Two on the other hand, is a stark contrast, with dashes being effectively used to add greater
emphasis on some of the writer’s words, “…Gufgadud. Go another fifteen minutes approx. – like a ghost
village.”

Finally, sentence structure. Text One uses detailed sentences to give the reader a good idea of what the
scenes looked like, “Biscuits, slabs of white cheese and boiled sweets had been arrayed on every surface
in dizzy tiers like wedding cakes.”
Text Two on the other hand, again contrasts this by using short sentences and paragraphs to add
dramatic effect to pull in the reader, “And then there was the face I will never forget.”

Tausiful Islam Choudhury, Class X (Trailblazer)

In conclusion, both Text One and Text Two are very different from each other. Text One is an
entertaining take on Mongolian life and culture, and Text Two presents the harsh reality of war.
However, one thing is for certain – they both were good at describing the topic at hand.

Tausiful Islam Choudhury, Class X (Trailblazer)