A Game of Polo with a Headless Goat

Author: Emma Levine

→provides an outsider’s persepective, contrasts the western culture that the author and the audience are used to with the unusual asian culture.

Genre: Travellogue

Purpose: informing and entertaining the audience by describing the experiences of the writer

→ theme of adventure, evocatively(in a way that evokes emotions) portrays sporting ways of life rarely seen in the western world, concept of sport and its exciting nature, exploring asia’s unique and traditional sports.

Author’s main thoughts and feelings:

1) the race is chaotic and thrilling

2) unlike Western culture

How does the author engage and interest the reader?

1) by describing her experiences and adventure

2) by describing the race as chaotic and thrilling( exciting)

3) using humor

Analysis:

Title - sets up the audience’s expectations, the sport ‘Polo’ which has connotations of high sophistication contrasts with the bizarre, unusual, barbaricimage of a ‘headless goat’ that has connotions of something uncultured and reckless.→ Antithesis of one another. this exemplifies how the writer intends to constantly compare the western culture with the asian culture and suggests that the sports are going to be really unexpected→ exciting thrilling naturebarbaric image

element western gaze, certain amount of judgement, deliberately(intentionally)

The extract begins in medias res (latin: in the middle), it creates a sense of adventure because the audience is immediately thrown into the beginning of a journey.

The plural pronoun ‘we’ suggests a collective group on a quest, which adds to the adventurous tone.

Th dialogue in this paragraph illustrates that they are planning and scheming to achieve their goal→ more adventure.

This whole opening paragraph is about the thrilling build-up an preparation.

Allusion of ‘wacky races’( a american cartoon) helps the western audience to understand and foregrounds the excitement and chaos, builds the tension, anticipation and suspense, reader understands what to expect. Shows that Writer is excited.

The writer adresses her accompany as “the two lads” , the very colloquial language and the conversational one. Lads has connotions of youth and unexperienced people. This adds to the thrilling chaoticness of the race later on.

The image of a villager on a wobbly bicycle is a litote that breaks the tension build-up, adds humor to the text.

dialogue: the ambiguity of the response ‘coming, coming’ builds tension because the reader does not know when the donkey race is going to appear.

*Note: if talking about tension, be specific. Don’t write: It creates tension because the reader does not know what’s going to happen next. Write: It builds tension because the reader does not know when the donkey race is going to take place. (specific reason)

The noun phrase ‘a cloud of fumes and dust’ echoes the Wacky Races allusion, adds to the thrilling nature, build-up in the atmosphere, and excitement

Imagery- humorous juxtaposition between 2 donkeys and following 50 fifty vehicles, scale and sophistication, unexpected by the western audience

→the spectators behind the donkeys around them create the thrilling nature, the chaos.

dynamic verb ‘roaring’ zoomorphism, associated lions aggression, power, violence, suggests that the spectators behind the are more dramatic and powerful than the actual donkey race, builds tension because of the shift from anticipation(sitting and waiting) to action, tension is now in the actual events happening.

‘neck and neck’ This cliche phrase indicates the closeness, no clear winner, thrilling nature of the race.

Sensory language : horns tooting,bells ringing, the special rattles. This list of a range noises, cocaphony of sounds, reference of special rattles, analogy to maracas) ispecial rattle: importance of race to the culture, adds to the exciting atmosphere of the race

Imagery of man perching out of the taxi, Lexical field of dynamic verbs( “standing, hanging, perched, cheered, shoited, jostled) creates excitement, thrilling chaoticness.

the writer builds up the huge scale image, atmosphere by shifting focus to the entourage, then shift of focus to yaqoob enhances the chaos, building the thrilling nature.

analogy to “Formula One” connotations of sophiscation and thrilling, dangerous, without rules, semantic field of lawnessness, chaotic and thrilling

“city centre rush our”, “traffic rules” analogy to cars, common sense , disorganised, dangerous chaos.

experience as a spectator, emphasis on spectating aspect of sport makes it inspiring and exciting.

‘Young driver’- connotes that he’s inexperienced, adds to the thrilling nature&tension.

survival of the fittest-darwin allusion, adds to the thrilling nature, tension, dangerous, also western gaze, raw, animalistic

Listing skills and sematic field of skills confidence, boldness of yaqoob”quck reflexes” “nerves of steel, “effective horn” suggests he enjoys the risk element of it.

“no lane discipline” humor

multiple races, donkey race and spectator’s race

semantic field of lawnessness juxtaposes with Yaqoob’s joy dynamic verb “rellished”, euphemism” language growing more colourful, highlights the thrilling and excitement.

focus is on yaqoob. *yaqoob is racer, echoses the allusion to formula one without rules.

parenthetical humor “for a main road” highlights the difference western vs asian

the finishing line is “the hostpital gate” storm of danger is running to the hospital, a place you would expect to be safe.- humorous irony.

Contrast between sentence length. Short sentence “ the race was over.” anticlimatic? suddenness reflecting the chaos? Disappointed tone?

paragraph begins with a short sentence “the trouble has begun.“ heightens the tension, subverting expectations as the reader assumed the race was the most exciting event.

Tricolon- “Voices were raised, fists were out, tempers rising” creates a threatening, dangerous atmosphere.

Yaqoob and iqbal, people who represent local knowledge getting nervous around “volatile situation” indicates the severity of the situation.

Comic relief, humor : yaqoob is an underaged driver

dialogue revelation of this adds more drama, we see the even more tension. he wasnt just inexperienced, he was illegal driver. creates humor

modal verb of “could” suggests possibility, litote