Discussion
Before the age of Twitter and Facebook, the best way to keep track of your life was through a diary or journal. For most, a diary is a place of private introspection where one can transfer thoughts and feelings onto paper. In some cases, diaries are interesting documents that reveal a story of a certain time or place, like the diaries of Anne Frank and Samuel Pepys.
Candidates should be forewarned: the diary is not the soft, generic, all-purpose option for your written assignment. A diary is not the same as a blog; nor is it a mere exercise in flow of consciousness! Your choice of genre should be grounded on the same two questions that examiners will be asking themselves as they peruse your written task:
1) is the candidate familiar with the chosen text-type?
2) does the text-type matches purpose?
The observations by examiners in their yearly report confirm the relevance of these two questions:
Candidates frequently lost marks as a result not only of choosing an unsuitable text type to fulfil their objectives (for example a private diary entry is hardly the best way of drawing the attention of the world to burning issues) but also because they assumed they were familiar with the conventions of a type when, actually, they were not.
Candidates should be aware that while some adolescents adopt the ‘Dear diary’ form of address, the vast majority of adults do not. The candidate who chooses to write the diary entry of an adult should be encouraged to read some diaries or at least an anthology of diary entries rather than make assumptions about this type of text.
It can be observed that the more inauthentic a task is, the more unsuitable it is.
The last point is worth noting. In practical terms: "Take care when matching your text-type with character or situation!" Characters known for their physical presence or highly active nature are unlikely to to keep a diary (e.g. Stanley in A Streetcar Called Desire). Likewise, not all characters will be introspective or capable of deep thought (e.g. Nelly in Wuthering Heights) and thus will be unsuitable for articulating complexities. Candidates also tend to forget, or ignore, some of the most obvious factors that disqualify a character from writing a diary. Huckleberry Finn, though intelligent and observant, is illiterate. The factory children in Oliver Twist could not possibly have the time or leisure to keep a diary: the environment militates against such activity. And so on and so forth. Examiners will be sure to note these discrepancies, even if you do not.
These are just a few considerations, but you will notice already that some care is needed when matching purpose, genre and character.
Defining characteristics of the genre
- will use a generally informal register
- will include the date and/or day
- will use first person narration
- will have a closing statement to round off the entry
- will avoid self-evident explanatory phrases or sentences, e.g. will use “I saw Alicia”, not “I saw Alicia, my best friend”
- will employ stylistic features such as rhetorical questions, phatic communication, hyperbole, a personal, often intimate and even confessional tone.
Some or all of these features will appear in the sample entry below. The extract is followed by a short commentary.
Thursday, 19 November 1942
Dearest Kitty,Just as we thought, Mr Dussel is a very nice man.[...]Mr. Dussel has told us much about the outside world we’ve missed for so long. He had sad news. Countless friends and acquaintances have been taken off to a dreadful fate. Night after night, green and grey military vehicles cruise the streets. They knock on every door, asking whether any Jews live there. If so, the whole family is immediately taken away. If not, they proceed to the next house. It’s impossible to escape their clutches unless you go into hiding. They often go around with lists, knocking only on those doors where they know there’s a big haul to be made. They frequently offer a bounty, so much per head. It’s like the slave hunts of the olden days… I feel wicked sleeping in a warm bed, while somewhere out there my dearest friends are dropping from exhaustion or being knocked to the ground. I get frightened myself when I think of close friends who are now at the mercy of the cruellest monsters ever to stalk the earth. And all because they’re Jews.
-- Yours, Anne
Comment: In her (here, abridged) entry, Anne Frank starts conventionally with a date, but also addresses her diary by name (Kitty). This would be unusual for an older, more mature diary writer. Anne, however, is a young adolescent writer, and justifies her choice in an earlier entry, explaining that she is alone in the world and has no friend in which to confide. Her diary serves as a surrogate friend. Note the tone, which is confiding and intimate -- even confessional. This is most evident in the last few lines, starting with "I feel wicked...". Her entry is based in what she learns that day about the outside world from a newcomer to the annex, Dussel. Anne records the news of the day and shares her reactions.
This is entirely in keeping with the genre, where events are recorded as they come to pass and serve as a basis for intimate reflection. We see from her reactions that Anne is a very conscientious and engaging character. She is also a very adept writer. This piece reveals a lot in a short space. Right from the start, we are privy to her isolation ("...the outside world we've missed for so long") and her yearning for news. Her confinement is real. We are also given a detailed account of historical events of World War 2 Holland, with the rounding up of Jews. Note in particular the literary qualities of this highly-worked passage, which makes Anne the accomplished and engaging writer that she is. The evocative Countless friends..dreadful fate; balanced repetition combined with alliteration night after night, green and grey ...; parallel structure If so .. If not ....; powerful metaphors cruellest monsters... ever to stalk the earth; escape their clutches; allusions/fruitful comparisons It's like the slave hunts of the olden days. A sense of dread pervades this passage; the precariousness of Anne's situation as a Jew in occupied Holland is palpable. The entry ends with a coda: "And all because they are Jews." which is normally sufficient for a diary, but here we note the final salutation, as in a letter. Here again, there is good reason for this writer to sign off this way. In an earlier entry, Anne explains that it is easier for her to write if she envisions her entries as letters to a dear friend.
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