Blog - Paper 1 Question 2

 The letter is by Richard Branson and is on the topic of happiness. It was made for anyone in general since it is an open letter. The purpose of the letter is to help people understand where happiness comes from and to achieve happiness through encouragement and positive thinking. 

The form of the text is a letter. This is seen by the typical conventions of the form of a letter being seen by the text. For example there is a salutation, “Dear Stranger”. And the presence of a closing is also seen in the text, “Happy Regards, Richard Branson”. 

The structure of the letter consists of short paragraphs. Branson used this type of structure in order to provide structure in the letter while also including straightforward advice or points to the reader. The short paragraphs themselves also contain complex and/or simple sentences which can be seen through the usage of “Be bold.” and “If you…follow”. Since the former sentence is very simple. While the latter is longer and contains a subject and verb and more by including commas. 

The narrative perspective is second person perspective. This can be seen through the usage of the pronoun, ‘you’. This perspective is more personal than the other two perspectives and the author uses it at times to directly address the reader despite the unfamiliarity of the reader and the author. This perspective is useful because the author can use his own experiences along with a direct address to the reader in order to show the relevance of his experiences to the readers lives in terms of getting them to achieve the goal of happiness. The perspective is also used by the author in order to counterbalance the first address of the reader as being ‘stranger’. Since the word seems to correlate with the fact that the reader and the author of the letter are not close with each other in any way.

The tone of the letter is one of encouragement and optimism. Branson’s motives are shown in the fact that he gives frequent advice in a positive manner by using negative stuff in life to build up on. For example, “Be healthy” and “...you will be happier”. This is the type of optimistic guidance that Branson gives to the reader by building them up. The ‘bad’ foundation is seen by the usage of “stressing about nominal things” and “when you’re down”. After all, everyone starts from somewhere, even from zero.

When it comes to language, Branson uses imperatives in order to motivate the reader into following his selfless commands. For example, Branson says “Stop and breathe” and “Be healthy”. He is not being malicious when he is trying to get the audience to stop and breathe or trying to attack them for not being healthy. He is only trying to address the audience more directly in an effort to get them to connect with the letter on a more personal level so that they do listen and follow the advice. 

The noun ‘happiness’ is used very often in the letter. It is repetitive because the letter is about ‘happiness’ so it would make sense to recall it. Branson might have also used it often in order to reflect back on the purpose of the letter once again so that the reader would not forget and recall why they are reading the letter. This is symbolic of the journey of many since change is not simple. It is not easy for people to change and it is really helpful to be reminded of the reasons to want to change and the goal. 

The noun, ‘stranger’ is one of the first words used by Branson to address the audience. The author uses this term as a way to address everyone without it seeming too personal since this is supposed to be an open letter for anyone to view. This makes Branson come off as being more out of reach from the reader. But this is mostly a good thing because it means that Branson’s advice on happiness can be applied to anyone no matter what kind of life they have or their personality. Which will allow the audience to feel more motivation and understand the contents of the letter better. 

There is phonology in the letter as well. This can be seen due to Branson using the lexis ‘OK’ which is not the grammatically correct way to spell it since you can’t have two capitalized letters together like that. So instead it is phonology since it deals with the way you pronounce words which is how we pronounce ‘okay’. The lexis of ‘OK’ also serves to provide emphasis in the letter in order to place greater importance on the sentence it is in which is about being okay with vulnerability and weakness. 

The list of three is also used in the letter in the same sentence of ‘OK’. Which is seen by the usage of the lexis “stressed, scared and sad”. The author of the letter incorporates this list of three in order to engage with the reader by using a topic that everyone can relate to since everyone knows what it is like to feel stressed, scared, and even sad. Another list of three is used in the letter which is seen by the mention of “I am successful, wealthy and connected”. The author uses this in order to provide balance.