Letter to Daniel: Despatches from the Heart (BBC)

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More tiredMore tired, yet , yet more happymore happy than I have ever known her…”than I have ever known her…” reflect on the world his newborn son has entered;reflect on the world his newborn son has entered;4.4. use the letter as a sort of ‘time-capsule’ for his son to open use the letter as a sort of ‘time-capsule’ for his son to open

I am I am painedpained, perhaps , perhaps hauntedhaunted is is a better word, by the memory … a better word, by the memory … of each suffering child I have of each suffering child I have come across.’come across.’ There is one last memory of There is one last memory of Rwanda … beaten to death.’Rwanda … beaten to death.’ Keane effectively continues the tone set by his experiences as a war correspondent and having witnessed children's suffering to reflect on his own childhood in the third stage of the letter. The letter changes from first person narrative to third person and Keane begins the paragraph saying, " It begins thirty five years ago in a big city". This sounds like the start of a gritty fairytale. The tone of happiness and joy reinforces the universal theme of fatherhood effectively and the closeness of the bond between father and son is clearly established in the opening paragraphs. Keane ends his letter with a more Keane ends his letter with a more hopeful tone. He is looking forward hopeful tone. He is looking forward more to the future as he thinks more to the future as he thinks about how his own father would be about how his own father would be proud to hear his grandson.proud to hear his grandson.This I feel is one of the most moving sentences in the story and helps me to recognise Keane’s universal message of the love bond between parent and child. Daniel has given Keane an understanding of his own father, and at the very end of the letter he describes his son as “the sound of hope” and uses wordchoice such has “innoncence” and “freshness” to show the stark contrast between his child’s innocence and the darkness that he previously described. I feel that Keane’s choice of theme throughout the letter is very important in conveying his emotions at this time as it shows how important his son is to him. It begins 35 years ago in a big city on a January morning with snow on the ground and a woman walking to hospital to have her first baby. She is in her early twenties and the city is still strange to her, bigger and noisier than the easy streets and gentle hills of her distant home. She's walking because there is no money and everything of value has been pawned to pay for the alcohol to which her husband has become addicted. Throughout the letter Keane uses repetition. He says, " We had wanted you, and waited for you, imagined you and dreamed about you". Repetition of the word "you" reinforces the personal aspect of the letter and it also highlights Keanes feelings of joy and pride towards his son.

His reporting has been honoured with His reporting has been honoured with an Amnesty International Press award an Amnesty International Press award and an OBE for services to journalism. and an OBE for services to journalism. But, Daniel, time had some bad surprises in store for them. The cancer of alcoholism ate away at the man and he lost his family. This was not something he meant to do or wanted to do, it just was. When you are older, my son, you will learn about how complicated life becomes, how we can lose our way and how people get hurt inside and out. By the time his son had grown up, the man lived away from his family, on his own in a one-roomed flat, living and dying for the bottle. He died on the fifth of January, one day before the anniversary of his son's birth, all those years before in that snowbound city. What people say about What people say about us is reason enough to us is reason enough to gamble with deathgamble with death.’.’ Here Keane gives detail about the Here Keane gives detail about the wounds and hardships the children wounds and hardships the children in war torn countries are suffering. in war torn countries are suffering. The detail of this anecdote and The detail of this anecdote and image makes the text more emotive image makes the text more emotive and engaging.and engaging.Keane compares his new life to a 1. Keane compares his new life to a long sentence – why is this long sentence – why is this appropriate given his occupation and appropriate given his occupation and how does he develop the idea?how does he develop the idea? Surely FOOC - as we correspondents call it - was the place to talk about our experience of other people's lives and countries, not to reflect on our own. As the story goes on the reader discovers Keane's father is an alcoholic and died before he met him. Keane speaks about the regret he has about not meeting his father. He says "And all the things they might have wished to say ... left unspoken". This is very thought provoking as he is describing something that is very private and personal and because it is a sensitive subject it makes it even more thought provoking. This This gloriousglorious dawn sky dawn sky makes me think we’ll call you makes me think we’ll call you Son of the Eastern Star.”Son of the Eastern Star.” What tone is created in the 1. What tone is created in the apartmentapartment2. What has the birth of his son 2. What has the birth of his son brought Keane?brought Keane?1. What does the writer mean in his 1. What does the writer mean in his use of “days have melted into night”?use of “days have melted into night”?

learning a new grammar, a long sentence whose punctuation marks are feeding and winding and nappy changing and these occasional moments of quiet. Emphasises pain and suffering in Emphasises pain and suffering in the world. Helps explain the world. Helps explain protectiveness of his son protectiveness of his sonAlcohol is an occupational hazard for journalists; for me it went from being the comforting, relaxing presence that calmed the aftermath of witnessing bloody violence, to a self destructive compulsion, that taken to its logical conclusion would have taken my life just as I had seen it take the careers, marriages and lives of good friends and colleagues in newspapers and broadcasting. Daniel wrote this book in the sixth century B.C. It records the events of Daniel’s life and the visions that he saw from the time of his exile in 605 B.C. ( 1:1) until 536 B.C., the third year of King Cyrus ( 10:1). Theme He describes his fathers condition as “cancer”, in other words he sees it as a disease and knows that it could not be helped. This metaphor shows no sense of blame towards his father and also shows that it is killing him. The phrase “it just was” also gives me a sense of his acceptance of his fathers condition. He loved his family, but he was “living and dying for the bottle” and the love he had did not save him. He understands what it would have been like for his father to be separated from his family, as he now has one of his own. I think that this is why he decided to reveal that it was his father at the end of the letter. He personalised it because he now understood. He was not just “a man” anymore, he is “your grandfather”. The clever way in which the writer has used this tone makes me realise what emotions he feels.

And I replied that nothing anybody says about it - good, bad or indifferent - matters a damn in the long run. The setting also has a significant role to play in triggering an emotional response from the reader in the opening paragraphs. Keane creates a peaceful and tranquil setting in the opening paragraphs through his word choice. He says " there is a soft quiet in our apartment". This highlights the calm silence of his apartment and also emphasises the MetaphorMetaphorWord choice – effect of Word choice – effect of “occasional” and of “occasional” and of “moments”.“moments”.And having known that pain I could only feel compassion and that word which we tough, battle weary journalists of the war zones find so hard to use...love. His book on Rwanda, His book on Rwanda, Season of Season of BloodBlood, won the George Orwell Prize , won the George Orwell Prize for political writing.for political writing. In Fergal Keane's "Letter to Daniel" the writer is protective ofhis newly born son. He wants to protect him from the outside world that can be