Style Model Analysis

The style model I have chosen to analyse is titled, 'Charlotte Hobson: Black Earth City'. It is a piece of travel writing which I believe to be aimed at adults and the purpose is to entertain and inform. 

     Firstly, the piece uses lexis which creates vivid imagery. For example, ‘The entrance hall was underwater green,’ and ‘Rubbish two feet high which rustled in the dark.’ In addition to the creation of imagery, the piece uses subject specific lexis which links in with the idea of pollution. Also, the use of oxymorons is continued throughout the piece, for example the usage of ‘The Komendant walked past in a lordly way and was bombarded with requests.’ This shows the reader that although he appears ‘Lordly’ he is treated as a servant. Similarly, 14 different nationalities are listed in the final paragraph followed by the phrase, ‘A bubble of languages rose,’ the term ‘bubble’ suggests an exclusive circle but the listing of different nationalities contradicts this idea.

         I would also like to draw your attention to the grammar in this text. The author uses a wide variety of sentence structures. The majority of the paragraphs start with simple sentences, such as ‘The human overpopulation was equally intense.’ This creates the feeling of tension. And finally, there is very little variation in punctuation. The only punctuation used is full stops and commas, however as the text progresses speech marks are used and later semi-colons.