Language Analysis Feedback Please.

[xsangan]

Hey,

This is a language analysis piece I decided to just do since I was bored of reading my Medea notes . Feedback much appreciated (a score /10 if you could). Also goodluck to all doing English tommorrow morning (fingers-crossed you get the prompts you wanted).
The piece is titled "Nitty Gritty of the Inner City"  from lauren's Exam 2 (2014):
With the surge in urban area expansion, entails qualms about the status quo of country living and the implications that will rise as a result of this action. Online journalist Liz Bates recently published a blog on "New Horizons", titled "Nitty Gritty of the Inner City" suggesting to country dwellers in an objective tone that the city life has many perks and on the contrary to many beliefs it is ultimately better than rural life. The article is accompanied by three images depicting picturesque urban and country living.

The onset of the blog considers the "clean country air and wide open plains" asserting that is is "retreating further... from civilization". Bates then imposes if "the sea change [is] worthwhile?" In contrasting the 'quiet' and 'tranquil' country lifestyle as being one of dejectedness from human interaction, she attempts to synonymise country living as 'mundane' and one of 'exclusion'. The doubt of whether escaping for the quiet life is worthwhile is bolstered with the rhetorical question as Bates coaxes readers into a position that induces uncertainty. Bates downplays the severity of "city-life involv[ing] smog, car horns and impoliteness", suggesting the "inner" life is "surprisingly peaceful". However, she does assert that "perhaps it is not as quiet as an empty paddock" to enforce an objective tone. The two visual aids contrasting skyscrapers against a paddock, readdresses her discussion and provides clarity to her argument.

Bates continues to suggest that the city is "full of surprises", inspiring with awe through "architectural brilliance" and the "sunset reflect[ing] off 50 storeys of plexiglass and black marble". This is juxtaposed against her experience of the country side, "empty space" and "simply wasted potential". Thus, encouraging the reader to imagine city life as brimming with spectacles whilst country life as one of sadness and misery. Bates attempts to discredit the rural area through exacerbating the grandeur of urban living. This is again fortified through advocating "the era of globalisation and interconnectivity" where one cannot "reject the manifold beauty of a city" which "inspires" rather than being a "blank canvas claiming to be giving your eyes a much needed break from seeing". Through Bates appeal to progression, she portrays rural living with negative connotations of 'pretentiousness' through the employment of the apprehensive word "claim". This elicits readers to perceive country living as deceptive and ingenuous.

Furthermore, Bates employs an anecdote which advocates one benefit of living in such a dense population. She asserts that her "grandmother...had a minor heart attack" in public and withing "30 seconds several people rushed to [her] side". Thus, appealing to safety by entailing the 'life-saving' nature and "efficiency of city networks and its residents". To further reiterate the benefit of a large and helpful community, Bates emphasizes "safeness of... friends and neighbors being close" rather than having to "wait hours for any assistance". This attempts to distance viewers from living in rural areas by highlighting the "happy, healthy lifestyle' offered through urban living and rebuts the earlier claim of "impoliteness", "reaffirm[ing] the belief in the good of people". The accompanying image of the city and the picturesque buildings that showcase people walking in groups reinforces the "happy, healthy [urban] lifestyle" again and the strong sense of community present there.

By closing the blog with "we city-slickers are thick as thieves'' not only reinforces the strong sense of belong but validates the 'coolness' or 'contemporary' aspect of urban living that is implicit from the term 'city-slickers'. This is bolstered by Bates clear stance that she is "glad to be home" which evokes a sense of genuinity that is permeated throughout the piece. Her links through the onset of the blog to closing demonstrates comprehensive structuring that elicits clarity. Throughout the blog, Bates attempts to use an objective tone by acknowledging the other side, however her underlying coddling towards city life may cause readers to perceive her as overvaluing urban life. Ultimately, Bates through her delivery of the blog advocates to readers the positive complexities of urban living that is absent from the 'quiet' rural life.