Blog Post #8 - The Globe and Mail

This weeks article is from the Globe and Mail.

I read this article in preparation for an assignment for another class. But, it is just so well written, I thought I'd share my thoughts on it here.

This is a feature story written by Stephanie Nolen. Her story is about the growing problem of poverty in India and the measures that the government is taking in order to address this growing problem. Specific to this problem of poverty, is the growing number of beggars in Old Delhi and how the government is dealing with them in advance of India hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Nolens use of description throughout the piece is simple and tightly written. Nolen gives the reader a real sense of the atmosphere and the environment and also creates a sense of movement in the story. Also, she paints (at least in my mind) a colonial picture, placing the reader in Old Delhi and using words like magistrate and mendicant (I looked it up just to make sure I understood it). I like the angle with which she approached this story. Instead of giving the reader a lot of facts, figures and statistics, she paints the problem from the point of view of the people who are tasked by the government to clean-up the problem. She gives this story a human element, not just by telling the story from the perspective of the police whose job it is to arrest beggars, but by telling the story of some of the beggars too. Ultimately, Nolen creates great pace through her story and provides the reader with a great sense of where she is and what she saw without involving herself directly in the story.