THE HAPPIEST REFUGEE
Expository texts, by definition, analyse and explain information to enlighten or educate its readers. This type of text often provides readers with deeper insights about a subject. In The Happiest Refugee written by Anh Do, his experiences are used to show the struggles to live a new life in a foreign country. With the conventions such as first-person perspective, colloquial language and anecdotal evidence, Do's expository text positions readers to be inspired and amused. At the same time, Do's use of the conventions effectively allows the text to be influential in our attitude towards our lives and thus, make the world a better place.
Writing in first-person narrative allows Do to engage with his readers, which makes it easier for him to be persuasive and to therefore make a difference. It gives the text its warmth and intimacy and makes readers feel a personal connection with Do.
In the book, Anh Do talks about his near-death experience that happened at the mere age of two, "Bang! Bang! The patrol boat began shooting at us, and the women on our boat screamed." The use of onomatopoeia in this quote paints a picture in the mind of the readers and lets them experience the fear of bullets whistling past their heads, clanging in to the side of the only thing that could get them to a better life. Sharing this experience, with the use of first-person point of view, positions readers to be grateful of their lives, especially if they didn't have to be in the same situation. Do also accentuates the fact that we have to appreciate and recognise the lives that we have to make the world a better place.
The Happiest Refugee is a text written in an informal and colloquial language, which enables...