Analysis Of Qais Akbar Omar's A Fort Of Nine Towers

At one time it seemed inconceivable to Qais Akbar Omar, his family and his country that the widely embraced and even lauded Mujahideen would push Afghanistan to collapse and destruction. What began for Qais as a blissful life of flying kites and attending school with his cousin Wakeel, would dramatically and tragically lead to death, destruction and despair in Afghanistan. Omar documents his life under these harsh and dangerous circumstances in his memoir A Fort of Nine Towers. He tells his and his family’s story in a way that engages the reader through eye-opening, emotional, powerful, raw and beautiful storytelling. However, much of the credit in telling such a harrowing and impactful story falls to the use of rhetorical modes of description

Identifying the author’s purpose in a text is very significant because it gives the reader insight into why the author wrote what they did and the intended effect of the text. Rhetorical modes of discourse allow for greater understanding of the author’s purpose as they illustrate the goal of the authors writing style. For instance, the narrative mode is used to detail a step-by-step storyline. What message would an author try to convey using a mode focussed on the sequence of events? Their point in using the mode is to explain the order of events, not persuade a person of something or compare or contrast ideas. It would be used to explain or describe a situation or event. In A Fort of Nine Towers, the author uses descriptive and narrative modes of discourse to explain his purpose—to tell the story of a family surviving in a crumbling Afghanistan and emphasize the importance of family in a tragic circumstance. For example, if he used the argumentative mode of discourse he wouldn’t be able to simply share his story; his goal or purpose in writing would be more than that. Moreover, because he used the narrative and descriptive cases, the reader can properly acknowledge the reason the author had in writing the text—in this case to tell a story. Therefore, the modes Omar used were effective in telling his story via the memoir as they helped to convey the author 's purpose, a staple in literary analysis and a very important element of