HL Paper 1 - Structure and Introduction

Commentary Structure

Paragraphs 1 and 6 are the conclusion and introduction.

Paragraph 2-Audience and Purpose:

·         Text 1 from the 20’s, text 2 from the 2000’s-difference in audience and their mentalities.

·         Audience is the same- Wealthy people who use “exotic” islands as a vacation. With that being said, their purpose is different:

o   Text 1: Encouraging people to travel to these places for a vacation, exotifying the islands and encouraging people to go on vacations.

o   Text 2: Discouraging heavy vacationing, making these “exotic” places seem like homes instead of vacation spots.

·         Colonial vs. postcolonial lens.

Paragraph 3- Content and Theme:

·         Text 1:

o   “The Great White Fleet” has summer trips that go from New York to countries such as Panama, Cuba, and Jamaica.

o   It’s targeting a high class that goes on vacations like this usually.

o   Theme- Using a certain luxurious lifestyle to sell a product.

·         Text 2:

o   Squatters vs. Developers.

o   Emphasizes the idea that there is a competition between people who have homes in the “vacation spot” of other people.

o   While text 1 sells the idea that these places are exotic, text 2 shows them as homes that should not be considered vacation spots.

Paragraph 4- Tone and Mood:

·         Different tones in the sense that text 1 is very happy and enthusiastic in order to sell their idea while text 2 shows it in a very bad and detrimental light.

·         Text 1: In regard to the people that live there , they are very disregarded. The high class is treated well.

·         Text 2: There is a sense of pity when talking about the squatters. When talking about the developers, there is a sense of annoyance.

Paragraph 5 - Stylistic Features:

·         Advertisement vs. Article- both still used to sell an idea.

·         Text 1- Uses visual and pictorial imagery.

·         Text 2- Uses literary imagery.

·         Both using glittering generalities, plain folks, and manipulation.

·         Explain the visual devices in text 1 (font, color, pictures).

(Main ideas- Compare between audience and some stylistic feuatures, contrast between tone, purpose, and theme). 

Introduction: 

While many issues have stayed the same over many years, the way they are viewed has greatly differed. Text 1 is an advertisement from 1922 from a steamship company that is advertising their annual trips to "exotic" places like Panama and Cuba. Text 2 is an article from the Miami Herald in 2007 that discourages heavy vacationing and "developing" in the Caribbean Islands because of the poor living standards for people living there. Considering that text 2 is almost 90 years after text 1, it is clear that they will both have different viewpoints when it comes to this topic. While they both target the same audience, text 1 seems to encourage the audience while text 2 seems to discourage them. Comparing them from a post colonial vs. colonial point of view then puts these two texts in context. While both texts target the same audience and refer to the Caribbean Islands, text 1 encourages the audience to look at these places in an overly exotified and luxurious manner in order to sell their product all through a colonial lens while text 2 takes a postcolonial perspective in order to downgrade the worth and extravagance of these “vacation spots” and discourage the developers in looking at these places as uninhabited and exclusive by using imagery to evoke an emotion of sympathy for the squatters.