Daily Maverick Article on Alleged Harassment of a Young Reporter

In this essay I am going to be analysing the Daily Maverick article which is about the alleged harassment of the paper`s young reporter by South African icon, Mbongeni Ngema, which was published on the 4th of March 2019. I am going to look at the way the article is written and demonstrate how the structure and the author`s language choices add meaning to the article. The structure of the article is divided into three, the introduction which begins from line 1 and ends at line 43, the body is from line 54 to line 75 and the conclusion of the article is from line 94 to line 126.

In the introduction it is the writer/author`s words, the author sets a scene by using words here they are to indicate that there is a group of people in this scene. In line 1 the author uses hearty intake which paints a scene of cheerful young writers of the paper. Using hearty suggests that these young writers are warm and vigorous.

By using the dashes in line 2 they help break the ideas of the writer as she uses these to add more information. In line 2 she uses the word blossom telling the reader that these young writers are still coming into their own in the industry. From blossom in line 2 she uses a comma and then uses the word angst which means unfocused, and here there is a juxtaposition because it is a contrast from the word (blossom) used in line 2. In line 3 she uses the word forge which means to create your own path, meaning the writers are still finding their own footing.

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The theme relevant from line 1-3 is enthusiasm shown by the young writers. In the same line she uses jaded which means lack of enthusiasm to show how different the more experienced journalists are from the young ones who are still full of passion and are eager to learn. These elders watch the young journalist with excitement, here she uses thrilling to prove this point.

In line 5 she uses conference which is a formal meeting and from this the reader can understand the setting of the scene, the environment they are in. Line 6 the use of keen which is an adjective meaning enthusiastic to emphasise that the young writer is looking forward to seeing Woza Albert. Using revival and classic explains that the play has been around for a long time is constantly being improved. In line 7 using iconic, which means widely recognised and well established, emphasises the word veteran, which means experienced, these two words suggest the same concept and this highlights the stature and position of Mbongeni Ngema and Percy Mtwa. In line 10 continues to tell the readers that history is always a guest, using the word guest here is a personification because history is nonhuman, and the whole sentence shows that in their meetings they always bring up and talk about history. Lines 11-12 further tells of how the older and young generations always come together and how that partnership is mutually-beneficial to both parties, the experienced and the beginners. By using enduring, which means long lasting, in line 13 shows how the play is an important part of our history. The word original in line 14 is written in capital letters to emphasise the idea that the cast is going to be the same one that it was when the play first started. Line 15 uses elders, again, this is a redundancy as it has been used before and it is no longer needed. In line 18 the writer uses caution, which is warning, they voice out their concerns and I believe from this specific word the tone of the meeting or discussion began to change from excitement and describing Ngema in a positive light to a negative one. This is the turning point of the discussion. In lines 19-36 as the tone has changed, Ngema`s desputes and accusations are bought up, to deter from Ngema`s iconic reputation. Line 43 is a short sentence builds up tension and keeps the reader wanting to know what happened next

The body of the article is from lines 54-75 and the victim is the speaker, she describes the events that took place that evening in her own words. The writer used inverted commas to directly quote the victims words. In line 57 she uses relatively to describe how the interview went, however, using this word shows that it went well, but, to a certain extent, it didn`t entirely go well. Using the comma and the word although, which is a conjunction, adds extra information and could, perhaps, infer as to why the meeting didn`t entirely go well. In line 60 using only person emphasises that no one else was consuming alcohol except Mbongeni. In line 62 the word requested suggests that Ngema politely asked for her number, to request is to politely ask for something.

In the 63 the sentence I thought it was for professional purposes shows the young writer`s state of mind at that time, explaining why she gave him her number. Shook our hands in line 63 explains that they shook hands, shaking hands is a common act done at the beginning or end of any meeting, nothing here raises any alarms rather professionalism is shown. In line 67 the word pulled explains how he exerted force on her to draw her against him as she did not do that willingly. I`ll call you later directly quotes Ngema with the apparent use of inverted commas, these were Ngema`s own words, not alleged ones, using these makes a strong argument to the allegations. In line 70 before emphasis that she wasn`t home yet, this shows how quick Ngema made the call to her. In lines 71-73 the use of words like deleted and blocked, these are verbs, which are an action to show that she did not want to talk to him. In the same lines the words tried and attempted also show Ngema`s actions, these words are descriptive of the action that brought about her reaction to block and delete his number. Line 74 disgusting and disrespectful emphasise and describe the victim`s feelings on the situation.The conclusion is the writer of the article giving her opinion on the matter. In line 94 the back-to-back usage of the dashes from unable to-at all-comprehend, there the at all in between is the additional information which puts emphasis that Ngema was not able to fathom what he`s been accused of. Deeply in line 95 is an adjective which modifies problematic, to show how him not being able to understand the severity of the accusation is a problem. In line 95 the uses of the adjectives, corrosive and toxic, describes the situation in a more negative light, explains in detail the consequences of the situation. The use of the words damage and threatening in lines 96 and 97 show negative impact of negative human thoughts. In line 98 the word awash, which means to cover, in that sentence it emphasises on the idea that all around the world there are priapic predators meaning male sexual excited exploiters, using this description paints alight the negative nature of a patriarchal human brain. Lines 99-100 the writer still expresses her subjective opinion.

Line 102 old and decaying means it happened in the past and is slowly deteriorating, these words describe that such behaviour has been relevant even in history. In line 103 words meeting and crashing suggest the old and new worlds meeting but this time not working together to benefit each other like it was relevant at the beginning of the article. The phrase of sorts, of stasis, of ossified in line 105 illustrate in a bad way the thoughts of the older generation. In line 106 invasion, which means to force your way, explains still in a negative light the mindset of patriarchs. Lines 110-113 the writer poses a question to indicate her strong emotional reaction and opinion. Lines 114-115 there are rhetorical question which create dramatic effect to emphasise the writer`s point, not necessarily to get answers.

In line 117 the sentence inexorably woven into the fabric of South African history explains how the play is an important part of history, it is impossible to not mention it in the history of South Africa. Line 118 continues that the play being a part of South African history, but now in line 119, using the word crapped infers that Ngema destroy the legacy of the play. Line 122 the writer suggests that women should play the leads in the play, this suggestion implies that women might brings something else that men cannot bring to the play. In lines 123-124 there is a rhetorical question to further prove the point made by the writer on her feelings about the matter. The last line leaves the reader with the you decide, that ultimately the reader must draw their own conclusion. The overall tone of the conclusion in the conclusion is disappointment and shook and the writer expresses these feeling with her continued use and play on rhetorical questions.