Tiasha Fernando

Written Explanation
The purpose of this piece of writing is to depict and clearly portray the impact that the war in Afghanistan has had on the lives of innocent people, not just living in Afghanistan, but around the world. It also aims to provide an insight into the distress and overwhelming emotions that a person goes through, when confronted with extraordinary and heightened situations of conflict. The audience that my piece is directed towards is a well-informed adult audience who have experienced intense situations of conflict first hand, or are interested in broadening their knowledge of the complex emotions experienced when confronted with extreme circumstances. I have chosen this audience as the themes and content explored in my piece of writing are well suited towards an audience that shows interest in the effects and consequences of war and intense conflict. To effectively convey the personal struggle experienced by the protagonist of the story, I have chosen to employ a short autobiography as the form for my piece of writing. This form would allow the reader to get a first-hand interpretation of what the character goes through enabling them to have a clear understanding and comprehension of the many conflicts that he/she faces and endures through. In gathering ideas for this piece of writing, I have drawn on the many views about conflict explored in the text "The Rugmaker of Mazar-E-Sharif" by Robert Hillman and Najaf Mazari. Many of the conflicts encountered by the protagonist in my piece of writing are very similar to some of the struggles that Najaf himself had to face, while he was living in Afghanistan. The kidnapping, subsequent torture, and miraculous release of both Najaf and the protagonist at the hands of the Taliban provides the link between the text and my piece of writing. The manner in which the protagonist, who is a missionary, chooses to go to Afghanistan, risking his own life, in order to assist others to either avoid or protect themselves from conflict situations provides the link between my piece of writing, and the prompt we can never avoid conflict, we have to face it one way or another. I have chosen to narrate this piece in first person narrative in the point of view of the main character. I utilized this type of narrative as it suits the form I have chosen, an autobiography, as well as being effective in describing the inner thoughts and emotions felt by the character. In order to describe the many complex feelings, as well as to allow the reader to see through the eyes of the protagonist and bring the story to life, I have used many descriptive words, enabling the reader to visualise and feel a part of the atmosphere in which the piece is set in. I have also utilized many emotive words to provoke the reader to sympathise with the character and feel the pain that he/she is going through. Another technique that I have used in order to keep the audience engrossed is a flashback which allows them to see how the character gets caught up amidst this conflict, in a more interesting and attractive way. The piece is written in present tense, with only the flashback being narrated in past tense. All these techniques that I have made use of in this piece of writing enables my audience to place themselves within the story, and gain insight on how conflict affects us all, no matter how hard we try to avoid it.