The piece of text I have decided to analyse is Black Earth City written by Charlotte Hobson. This is a piece of travel writing about her experience once arriving to her new room which she describes in a very negative way. She does this through various style models which i will be now analysing in detail.
Hobson uses the subject specific lexis 'coffin-shaped' 'shouts of horror' and 'possessed her so completely' to mirror the image of a hell-like surrouning. The effect of this makes the reader almost feel like they are also expericeing the terror of the evnivorment Charlotte Hobson has been introduced to. The use of the adjective coffin-shaped makes the coupboards sound deadly and in a way haunted. Closets are often dark and compact which is very similar to a coffin and for that to be in someones room is not a pleasant thing to experience as she would have to wake up to the reminder of death. This could show her constant emotion of hatrid towards her room as she is always waking up in a poor mood. Also the shouts of horror add to the image of a living nightmare as she is constantly being interuppted by people shouting down the corridor. These people shouting could infact be her emotions drving her crazy and causing her to become dilusional.
In addition, the phonology she uses also reflects the way she feels about the place she is currently being placed in. Hobsom explains how the televeision in her room 'crackled and buzzed' which clearly shows it is very old and not very practicalr nor functional. This links to her emotions as it mirrors the lack of hope as everything around her is falling apart which means she will soon too. The simile ' the fridge chugged like an idiling truck' also echos how she feels like there can be movement and improvements made but it will take a while to get to the goal she wants to desperatley achieve which is to make the area she is in a nice place to stay. Sibilance is also used when she desribes the air as having a 'stale sweaty smell'. This is used to slow the reader down to show how miserable they are feeling as the sibilance slows the reader down and often a slow pace is related to sadness and no motivation. The adjective sweaty also shows how she must be feeling very hot and uncomfortable which ties with the theme of unhappiness and stress,
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