Paper 1 “Why Fight For Russia”
The following extract that I have received is a leaflet, or
one could see it as a brochure. This is decided due to the structure of the
extract as well as the heading of the extract, which seems to be advertising
the author’s point of view. On the bottom of the page, certain information was
given to us about the extract received indicating that the following extract is
a leaflet made by a British pacifist in 1914. Since the extract talks about
fighting and due to the date given to us, we can now understand that this
leaflet revolves around the First World War. This essay is an attempt to analyze
this extract identifying the author’s purpose and intended audience as well as
different persuasive language and also differ literary features that the author
has used in the leaflet provided to us.
As we already understand from reading the text, the extract
is a leaflet given to British soldiers as well as the British general public,
persuading them to not fight with Russia and not fight the war in the first
place. It also attempts to persuade the people to protest against thee war.
From this we can then go to understand the purpose of this leaflet is to inform
the general public as well as the soldiers about the author’s true opinions on
Russia, as well as to persuade the people that fighting in this war would be
against British morals. The leaflet talks about Russia’s unethical values so
this then helps us understand the purpose of the extract. We can also learn who
the authors intended audience are, which from what we already know, are the British
general public as well as British soldiers. We can see this from the authors
attempt to inform and educate the public and the British army as well as the general
public, and the due to the author explaining to the army to not fight with
Russia and to not fight the war if they can, and to protest against the war.
As we have learnt from the previous paragraph as well as
from the information given to us on from the extract, we come to understand the
extract is a leaflet or a brochure which acts as an advertisement used to
advertise the authors ideas and point of views about Russia and why he believes
that fighting with Russia and fighting in this war is unethical and goes against
British morals. He also talks about how the Russians go against all of the British
ideologies about liberty and justice, due to the fact that he talks about how
the Russians treat their soldiers and how they don’t match the British
ideologies of the western world. The leaflet goes on to explain how the country
they should side with if they are forced to fight , are the Germans due to
their similarities and how the Russians
are different to the Germans and they they are slaves of a corrupt autocracy
and they are just violent people in genera and they again go against British
ideologies of liberty and justice. The author goes on to explain how he is
against the what and actually persuading the general public to take part in protests
against England taking part in the war.
As we can see from reading the extract that the author uses
a persuasive as well as an informative tone. This is a sort of tone that a
teacher would use with their students. The author uses a type of vocabulary
that most people would understand and doesn’t use any complicated words, thus
we can understand that he is attempting to communicate with everyone in the
general public from all different educational levels. The author also uses a
large, bold font to catch the readers eye and to grab their attention as he
uses sentences such as “A WAR for Russia is a War Against Civilization”, as
well as “British Stand Clear”. These types of phrases draw the reader into
reading the leaflet and make the leaflet seem more interesting that it actually
is. It also shows and acts as if the leaflet is trying to inform the people of
a really important situation and a crucial piece of information. The author
uses a interesting title that say simply “Why fight for Russia?”, Which then
makes the audience curious as to find out what the answer of this rhetorical
question is as it has been on peoples minds as thy observe the leaflet to read
the authors point of views. It also makes then curious as they want to see if
the authors point of view might change their opinion about the war or not. This then sets an educational mood and it
seems as if the audience are learning something and gaining information about Russia’s
true colors. It also sets an opinionated tone, which then causes the audience
to change their point of view on the war itself.
The author uses many literary devices as well as persuasive
language to aid in his persuasion of the British public and the soldiers in not
fighting the war as well as not fighting with Russia. The author uses logos as
he explains and talks about the amount of money they spent. They also use logos
later on as the author explains the amount of Germans compared to the amount of
Russians to show they if they ere to fight the war, they had to fight with Germany
as they are outnumbered. The author also uses pathos as he explains the
audience about the similarities between them and the Germans and how that the Germans
are outnumbered thus persuading them to , if they had to fight the war, to side
with Germany. The author uses Rhetorical questions to keep the audience
thinking and interested to find the answer. The author uses rhetorical
questions such as “ What is Russia”, and “Why fight for Russia”. The author
uses persuasive language to help in shaping the audience’s opinion about
Russia. The author also uses persuasive language as he explains how Russia are
cruel not only to others, but also to their own people and how that goes
against the British ideologies of justice and liberty. The author then uses
ethos as he identifies how the Russians are unethical thus instigating an
ethical appeal.
The author uses and unorganised structure of different
paragraphs which shows unprofessionalism in the leaflet. He also uses bold and
large font titles to help catch the reader’s attention as they receive the
leaflet or walk past the leaflet on the street.
The author uses a simple, easily read sized font that is easy to read so
that the general public could read the information with no constraints and
helps connect with the audience in an easier way. The author also doesn’t use
too many words and keeps his information simple and goes straight to the point
so that the audience doesn’t get bored whilst reading the leaflet.
In conclusion, we have reviewed the audience and purpose and
that the author used this leaflet to help persuade the audience and help shape
the audience’s opinion in order to match his. The authors use of literary
devices as well as persuasive language has been explained and how the author
used the persuasive language in order to persuade the audience that his point
of views and ideas about the war and about Russia are the right ideas and the
better opinion.
