Question
Carry out a close linguistic analysis of the following two texts, Which text do you consider the more literary of the two, and how did you
reach your decision?
Text 1
After that day, Amina was freed from the exigencies of running her
home. Reverend Mother sat at the head of the dining-table, doling out
food (Amina took plates to Ahmed, who stayed in bed, moaning from
time to time, ‘Smashed, wife! Snapped – like an icicle!’); while, in the
kitchens, Mary Pereira took the time to prepare, for the benefit of their
visitors, some of the finest and most delicate mango pickles, lime
chutneys and cucumber kasaundies in the world. And now, restored to
the status of daughter in her own home, Amina began to feel the
emotions of other people’s food seeping into her – because Reverend
Mother doled out the curries and meatballs of intransigence, dishes
imbued with the personality of their creator; Amina ate the fish salans of
stubborness and the birianis of determination. And, although Mary’s
pickles had a partly counteractive effect – since she had stirred into them
the guilt of her heart, and the fear of discovery, so that, good as they
tasted, they had the power of making those who ate them subject to
nameless uncertainties and dreams of accusing fingers – the diet provided
by Reverend Mother filled Amina with a kind of rage, and even produced
slight signs of improvement in her defeated husband.
(Rushdie, S. (2011) Midnight’s Children, London, Vintage, pp. 190–191)
Text 2
“First time eating Indian Food, Nice Surprise”
Reviewed 8 April 2013
My husband and I decided to try this restaurant. Neither one of us know a
thing about Indian food, but a friend who does had recommended this
place. […]
Along with the pita, we started with the Fried Okra. I love okra and
wanted to taste how it was handled in this cuisine. We shared this dish
and it was by far the star of the evening. We actually kinda fought over
the final bites. It had a coating that was similar in consistency to the
breading found in most stuff artichokes, but was spicy and tasted in a
very exotic way. Nice.
I had the Butter Chicken. It was tasty, but nothing too special. Again, I
know nothing about the cuisine per se, I just am making my own 15
assessment. My husband had the Murgh Saag Tikka and is still talking
about his meal well over a week after eating it. He likes food that has a
lot of heat. He might have asked for extra heat. I don’t recall.
[…]
(Trip Advisor United Kingdom (n.d.) First time eating Indian Food, Nice Surprise
[Online]. Available at http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g34153-
d2460345-r157013729-Chutney_Pickle_Fine_Indian_CuisineCoral_Springs_Florida.
html [Accessed 25th June 2014] )
