A Ugandan warlord abducts children and forces them to join the military. Invisible Children, a US organization, created a YouTube video called Kony 2012 opposing the actions of Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army. John Naughton wrote an editorial praising Kony 2012 in the Observer in March 2012. Children from other countries are compelled to enlist in the military as well. Ishmael Beah became a soldier when he was young. He wrote a book, A Long Way Gone, detailing his harsh life as a child soldier. The editorial and the book had different structures, but both had the secondary purpose to persuade against child soldiers.
Text types caused differing structures. Naughton wrote an editorial. In contrast, Beah wrote a book. …show more content…
In the editorial, Naughton used several stylistic features to influence readers’ opinions. He wrote “Its goal was to raise awareness of the activities of Joseph Kony … in the hope of bringing him to justice.” Naughton used the euphemism “bringing him to justice” instead of writing “causing him to come before a court for trial” or “him receiving punishment for his misdeeds.” As “justice” has a positive connotation of stopping evil, the euphemism made readers believe stopping Kony is a good and just thing. In addition, emotive language portrayed Kony in a negative light. The editorial stated, “... by Kony and his goons.” Goons are bullies or thugs who are hired to terrorize or do away with opposition. Instead of writing soldiers, Naughton wrote “goons” to depict Kony as a villain. Additionally, the text used a metaphor, “... that this Kony is a monster….” to dehumanize Kony in the minds of readers. Similarly, Beah depicted someone negatively and tried to influence readers’ opinions. Beah wrote, “... his red eyes and dark face twitching. He bared his teeth as if he was preparing to attack ….” Beah wrote “red eyes” and “bared his teeth” to depict the corporal as an animal or monster. Similar to how the editorial dehumanized Kony, the book dehumanized a corporal. Both of those people are military leaders who force children to become soldiers. Beah repeatedly wrote how nervous he was when he wrote, “my legs began to shake,” “I hesitated a bit,” “with trembling hands,” “but afraid to look at it,” and, “it frightened me.” He emphasized his nervousness to make readers pity
Text types caused differing structures. Naughton wrote an editorial. In contrast, Beah wrote a book. …show more content…
In the editorial, Naughton used several stylistic features to influence readers’ opinions. He wrote “Its goal was to raise awareness of the activities of Joseph Kony … in the hope of bringing him to justice.” Naughton used the euphemism “bringing him to justice” instead of writing “causing him to come before a court for trial” or “him receiving punishment for his misdeeds.” As “justice” has a positive connotation of stopping evil, the euphemism made readers believe stopping Kony is a good and just thing. In addition, emotive language portrayed Kony in a negative light. The editorial stated, “... by Kony and his goons.” Goons are bullies or thugs who are hired to terrorize or do away with opposition. Instead of writing soldiers, Naughton wrote “goons” to depict Kony as a villain. Additionally, the text used a metaphor, “... that this Kony is a monster….” to dehumanize Kony in the minds of readers. Similarly, Beah depicted someone negatively and tried to influence readers’ opinions. Beah wrote, “... his red eyes and dark face twitching. He bared his teeth as if he was preparing to attack ….” Beah wrote “red eyes” and “bared his teeth” to depict the corporal as an animal or monster. Similar to how the editorial dehumanized Kony, the book dehumanized a corporal. Both of those people are military leaders who force children to become soldiers. Beah repeatedly wrote how nervous he was when he wrote, “my legs began to shake,” “I hesitated a bit,” “with trembling hands,” “but afraid to look at it,” and, “it frightened me.” He emphasized his nervousness to make readers pity