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Analysis of an Article Essay

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Analysis of an Article

The broadsheet newspaper article titled “Muslim Schoolgirls risk careers for their symbolic headscarves”, written by Amelia Gentleman reacts to the new law in France prohibiting the wearing of religious symbols. This article highlights the calamity faced by Samia and her sister in having to choose between a symbol of huge significance (the headscarf) and something as equally vital as their careers. The youth of the girls is emphasised as they are just starting secondary school and “They have to choose what to wear for the first day of term this morning”. The deictic “This morning” points to how close to the present this is and highlights the immediacy of the issue, which …show more content…

This idea of “risk” has warlike connotations, a theme which is echoed throughout the article. For example, in the first paragraph, Amelia Gentleman reports that the girls’ choice of clothing could result in “conflict with the law”, and “could seriously damage their academic future”. The noun “conflict” and forceful verb “damage” emphasis the seriousness of the issue and causes the reader to empathise with “the twins.” The writer attempts to place the reader in the girls’ shoes by giving their personal experiences. The article begins with a very personal account of how an ordinary choice could result in much more than a fashion disaster but rather “a question of life and death.” For example, the lives of two French journalists are in danger of being killed by the Army of Iraq “unless the legislation is revoked.”

The lexis used in the article is emotive, such as the noun “abuse” and adjectives “frustrated” and “threatening”. These appeal to the readers’ emotions. The pre-modification of words such as “radicalism” with “rising” and “damage” with “seriously” also emphasises the seriousness of the situation. The vocabulary is quite sophisticated, as expected due to the type of newspaper and is from a war semantic field, containing words such as “direct breach”, “expulsion”, “army”, “law” and “extremists”.

Direct and indirect speech is

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