I denne study guide kan du få hjælp til at analysere Andrea Levys artikel “This is my England”. Udover analysehjælpen kan du finde et summary af teksten samt idéer til perspektivering.
Præsentation af teksten
Titel: “This is my England” (2000)
Afsender: Andrea Levy
Genre: Artikel
Andrea Levy (1956-2019) var en engelsk forfatter med med jamaicanske forældre. Hun er især kendt for romaner som Small Island (2004) og The Long Song (2010). Hendes værker handler ofte om jamaicanske personer og berører temaer som etnicitet, kultur og identitet.
Artiklen “This is my England” blev udgivet i den britiske avis The Guardian i 2000.
Uddrag
Nedenfor kan du læse et kort uddrag fra vores study guide til teksten:
Pathos
Levy frequently appeals to pathos in her article, trying to spark emotions such as anger, frustration, or hope.
For example, Levy mentions how her parents were treated when they came to England. They were given bad housing and bad jobs, despite their knowledge of English ways and their ability to speak the language (ll. 45-53). This is meant to inspire anger. The allusion to Stephen Lawrence’s death (l. 191) and the argument that “every day seems like a battle against racism, and hatred, and the quiet, polite hostility that holds many black and Asian people back from fulfiling their potential” (ll. 191-192) are also meant to inspire outrage in the reader because racist attitudes continue to exist.
Pathos is also used at the end, when Levy presents the anecdote with the Scottish woman who tells Levy “ ‘I could just tell you were Scottish’ ” (l. 209). This contrasts with the first anecdote, when a white New Zealander implies Levy does not “look English” (l. 8) because of the color of her skin. The example is meant to inspire a feeling of hope, showing that there are open-minded people who understand the complexities of someone’s identity, and are willing to embrace a diverse, multicultural society.
