Costumes,
candy, and carving pumpkins, all are staples in one of the most prized
traditional holidays. Halloween is known as one of the most popular holidays in
the United States and it generates billions of dollars in revenue every year. But
the United States is not the only country that celebrates Halloween. It
originated in Europe, created by a group known as the Celts who were located in
the areas of current day Ireland, Britain, and northern France. As time passed Halloween’s popularity died off
in France, but remained in Ireland and Britain (halloweenhistory.org). According
to the article “France Goes Batty over Halloween” on CNN.com the holiday has
become popularized in France again. This article was October 26, 2000 for
CNN.com for online news. There was no listed author to the article. The choice
of plain style allows a wide variety of readers to understand and enjoy the
article. With this being said I believe the plain style was used very
effectively in this particular piece. The article’s simple language and to the
point sentences it works well within its activity system and thus makes it
overall effective in its language.
As I said the article has no notable
author mentioned. It was published on the internet over 10 years ago with no
indication of any other publishing. With no noted author I am going to guess it
was a staff writer. It was listed under the travel section. With all of these
factors in play its assumed audience is those not only with access to the
internet, but those who may normally read or watch CNN. They may just have an
interest in Halloween. Considering that it was listed under the travel section
the readers may have an interest in travel or foreign countries. Based on the
simple language and the depth of the explanations given in the text the readers
most likely do not have a lot of knowledge on the topic. There is not a
particularly narrow group of people this article was written for. It is not
limiting by knowledge or profession. It is more based on interest or general
readership. There were no pictures to accompany the article. Either way the
article is written in a way that suits it readers well for their needs and
interests.
The plain style suits this type of
article well. As a news article it is meant to be straight to the point and
give its reader the information they need as quickly as possible. The article
is only about a page and a half, maybe two pages, yet it gives quite a bit of
information. If the author makes a reference or statement that the readers
might possibly not understand they explain it as clearly as possible. The plain
style is much like technical or professional writing in the sense that it is
clear and concise, but plain style has a more relaxed feel. It seems a bit more
conversational or less formal. The Flesch-Kincaid grade level was 10 and was an
average grade level of 10.5. The SMOG index was 9.8. With SMOG score this low
it is easy to see that the article was written very clearly. The characters per
word is 4.6 which is a tad high for plain style however that can be explained
by the fact that the word “Halloween” is used often. Since that is the topic of
the article it is not particularly surprising. The number of words per sentence
comes out to 19.6. This is a bit high, but this is again explainable. The
author tends to use a lot of quotes from people. When people talk they are
often more long winded in their sentences and use smaller words.
"The American Dream," a bar and
restaurant near the Opera Garnier, has been celebrating Halloween since 1982.
In the beginning, it had to give its customers leaflets explaining the
tradition. "No one knew what it was," says the manager, Charles
Lellouche. "But in the last three or four years, many people of all
nationalities have come here to celebrate Halloween."
In
the passage above it is easy to see how the sentences can be long, yet still
simple in their language. The grade level being 10.5 is fine for plain style in
this context based on its intended audience. It can be assumed that more people
that go on to the internet to seek out news stories are most likely educated
enough to understand the article, and may be past the 10th grade
level. The style the author uses not only serves its audience well, but it also
serves well for its contextual norm.
The quotation above shows a hint of
conflict. When Charles Lellouche says that people of all nationalities come to
the bar to celebrate Halloween it is somewhat contradicting the idea of the
article. The article is meant to focus on how France as a country and culture has
begun to celebrate Halloween. This quote contradicts this idea by saying that
all different nationalities come to celebrate. This raises the question of
whether this whole thing is specific to France as the article is making it out
to be or if it is an attraction for many cultures that just congregates in France.
Those are two very different ideas. If you do not read closely, it is something
that can be easily overlooked. Regarding the quote, Lellouche could have a
whole different agenda for this article. His intention is presumably to call attention
to his business. It may be better for business to say that it is a place that
many different people go to celebrate this holiday. It could be very excluding
for potential customers for him to say that it is exclusively French people who
go there.
The article is very appropriate
considering its topic and timing. It is appropriate for its venue because it
deals with more foreign affairs that a more select audience would want to know.
It is appropriate to place the article on the internet rather than anywhere else
because it is not a breaking news story. This is more of a trivial, fun article
for people to read. It is not crucial information or world changing news. So the
venue is appropriate. Also, the topic is very appropriate regarding the timing
of its publication. Since it was published in October, close to the holiday
itself, it makes it very time appropriate. No one would want to read an article
about Halloween in the month of May. The only time this subject would be
relevant is in October. So the author did a good job keeping the the article on
track in this sense.
This piece fits the norm for news
articles very well. By effectively using the plain style of writing it conveys
the messages and information quickly and easily. Good news articles use a
similar format and language style, therefore fitting the norm for news
articles. It functions well in the norm by giving the news with no other filler
or fluff in the writing. They give statements, facts, and quotes to tell the
story or inform about the topic of the article they do so using what they need
and no more. . This may be common knowledge, but it is important to show how
well it fits each part of the norms criteria. By sticking to the norm of news
articles this article satisfies the objective which in this case is relaying
new information to readers in an efficient way. One more important way this
article fits the norm is by giving the readers a story that they do not already
know about. No one would want to read a story that they already know about. Reading
redundant information is boring and would not suit the norms for a news story.
Frankly, if it is old information that people know, then it is not news. It is
fair to say that most Americans would not necessarily know if the French did or
did not celebrate Halloween. By writing the article on this topic the author is
satisfying the need of their reading community while conforming to the norms of
this type of writing.
By working well within its activity
system this article has a positive outcome, I’d say. It achieves the desired
outcomes of the activity. The article is relaxed, yet informative and reaches
its desired audience. The article is successful because it is worded in a way
that keeps things simple enough to be understood yet is still professional
enough for news. The plain style is used
well in this article leading to a coherent message and a well meshed activity
system. With all of this being said this article was less of a trick and more
of a treat.
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