Analysis of An Area of Darkness
Are the envisionments of your dreams bright? In An Area of Darkness by V.S. Naipaul, the writer, describes two different areas. He first describes Kashmir, saying ‘Kashmir was coolness and colour’ which took me by surprise in that he detailed a place as colour itself. This was further incorporated into the writing saying that Kashmir had ‘yellow mustard fields’ and ‘milky blue sky’ with vague descriptions of the place including the colour; this gave me the impression that the writer was envisioning or maybe literally seeing Kashmir from a distance. The mood given of a calm and placid mountainous region seen from afar, a bright place in a bright mindset.
This envisionment, literal or not, is soon broken in the writing of the second paragraph which begins by describing the sightings again, but in more of a proximal bias. Discussing the smells of ‘charcoal, tobacco, cooking oil’ and ‘human excrement’. The lexical choice is mostly urban and dense smells, all descriptions make a rough patch in the cool scent of Kashmir. To further the harsh descriptions the writer says in the forefront ‘[Qazigund] was also dust in the sunlight’ again wording a place with traits that would be on an object, first with colour now literally objectifying Qazigund as dust in the sunlight. This makes a hazy description of the place that is better thought of as a dark shadow in the light of Kashmir.
From a chronological standpoint this would make sense, if the idea the writer has of Kashmir stands as this beautiful place, then a bad impression of the gate into it would in fact hinder the brightness of Kashmir’s beauty. Not only does it shade the sunlight, as interpreted as Kashmir, dust would also get in the eyes of those near it. This idea is supported by the recollection of ‘Buses packed with men… going in the direction from which [the writer came]’. Notably, this is the only time bystanders are mentioned in the writing and they are all leaving Kashmir, figuratively the dust that is Kashmir is driving people from it.
On a different page, this last sentence gave us more than just information about the place that the writer is entering, the writer also gave us a clue as to when the time of the writing may be. By including ‘Buses’ we know that this writing has to be within an era of automobiles.
AO1 was a four. You had a detailed understanding of the meaning/audience/context, with an effective reference to characteristics of the writing, you provided the proper quotes and their size was short and simple. Your lack of buzzwords made the text slightly harder to understand exactly what your points were in writing. You did however, have a detailed analysis that was coherent and fluently structured separated by ideas. I also believe you had an effective selection of elements of form, structure, and language for analysis due to your quotations which I had aforementioned to you. In the third bullet point for AO3 I was stuck between three and four marks. You did have a clear awareness, but you didn't give enough detail. For this I have given you a three in the third bullet point. You missed sections of the text which may misrepresent the authors purpose and mood he was creating. You did in fact receive a level three for the fourth bullet point in the rubric. You mentioned lexical fields, the chronology of the text all among other things, besides the lacking buzzwords, your points were made clearly which is why you were given a three on the fourth bullet point. For this total you have been scored 18/25
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