Comparative Analysis

Paper 1 : Comparative analysis

This comparative analysis is based on two different texts where Text 1 is an extract from an autobiography and text 2 is from an online brochure and a book . Text 1 is by Paul Theroux and Text 2 is by Lonely Planet and Cristian Bonitto . Text 1 is in 2008 and and text 2 is in 2015 . Both texts are set in Singapore , although text 2 is by Lonely Planet which is a travel publishing company from Australia talking about Singapore. The order of the text is audience and purpose ,content and theme ,stylistic devices and structure .

Text 1 has universal appeal because it appeals to the people who previously lived in singapore, people who currently live there and people who plan on visiting them and appeals to Theroux’s readers which would help inform them about the state of singapore and the vast changes singapore is going through .

Text 2 is targeted to the people who want to visit singapore and the two texts might be set in singapore but target completely different audiences , also targeted to Lonely Planet followers and Australians .Text 1’s main purpose is to show the juxtaposition from the past to present singapore and how much it has changed while Text 2’s purpose is to persuade people to visit singapore through lonely planet and Cristian Bonitto.

Text 1 is a serious , depressed and frustrated tone trying to make the people realise the truth about the government of singapore and  saying that a certain law is inconvenient and leaves people living with no privacy and in a constant state of fear and also very satirical in the last lines . Text 2 is a joyous persuasive, and confirming  tone trying to persuade people to visit singapore and also a very satirical , shown by lonely planet when they say “  “Singapore, boring? Pah-lease”.

Text 1 causes anger and infuriates  the readers who have a connection to singapore showing the reality of singapore pf how good it was before to what it has become and also disappointment for the people of singapore and people finding out how irrational the government of singapore is .

Also very heartbroken after finding out how the people were treated by the government .Text 2 is very dreamy mood created showcasing how wonderful singapore is through its food , scenery and country in general . Also excitement for the youth through the first and second paragraph through the use of food and cocktails and the exciting and anticipated things to do in singapore .

Through Text 1 the author is trying to tell how Singapore has changed so much that he living there in the past wasn’t able to identify it was Singapore itself.

He talks about the peoples appearances and behaviours ,for example he says “the toothy men hurried clumsily after them, down futuristic streets, giggling into mobile phones, pigeon-toed in their haste.” through which he meant how the men were so busy with their endeavours no one cared about the other person and everyone was busy in their own lives , on their phones , on their toes moving from here to there with no co-operation between the country men and women and they way their bodies and income state are showing that Singapore was portrayed to be perfect like in Text 2 but in a completely different context .Also shows the stereotype the author has of the men and women of singapore  Also points the fact how the government hasn’t changed for 41 years with an 83- year old leader , which showed the back ward minded thinking of the government and the constrictions and the types of snitching robots the laws of the governments were making . Due to they’re irrational measures the whole country was suffering.

On the other hand Text 2 Lonely Planet is trying to persuade people to go to singapore by portraying its best attributes and showing why its a perfect destination for all kinds of people irrespective of their age .

He praises their cuisines , night-life , and the countries environment and atmosphere in general . He is also portrays singapore as a “Garden State. ”

They also use Crisitian Bonitto , a famous author as reference for the audience as he writes in his book why he loves singapore which shows assurance to the audience that singapore really is worth a visit .

Text 1’s main themes was the destruction / denial of the human rights in singapore and the lack of trust among the people and the lack of privacy for the people of the country . The author shows us how the people had no privacy and were spied on all the time and had lost in their own ones as many people were reporting on their fellow causing large distrust among the country . Also the irrational laws passed by the government showed the denial and destruction of basic human rights for the people of singapore .

Text 2’s main theme was the essence and beauty of singapore . Lonely planet and Cristian Bonitto show throughout the text how perfect and is the best destination to travel through various examples and by talking about their food , greenery (as singapore is the greenest city/country in asia) , wildlife and the diversification of the country . Also they use Cristian bonitto's praise as a marketing strategy to attract people through an author’s opinion .

Text 1 uses many literary devices such as metaphors , alliteration , similes and irony .Alliteration is identified through “ tweaked and tinkered “ , “ fox- faced “ etc. Irony when he says singapore is a place of solitude but also calls it lonely later.  Juxtaposition is used throughout the piece by contrasting the past and present Singapore. Also uses fear mongering a propaganda technique by scaring the audience through the government and how bad they were .