Notes from a Big Country

Text 3 is an extract taken from the essay collection 'Notes from a Big Country', published in 1998 and written by Bill Bryson. It deals with the ethical topic of hunting moose, about why 'shooting a moose is not an achievement'. Text 4 also deals with the same animal, however, unlike text 3, it displays the moose in a different light. Being a poem, the text is very emotional and uses adjectives and figurative language in abundance as he describes the lifespan of the' bull moose'. Both texts therefore share the common theme of moose and their relationship with people. Being of different genres, text 3 an essay and text 4 a poem, they clearly do not share the same focus and deal with the subject matter in contrasting ways.

Both texts use their structure to introduce a new event or aspect of the topic. In The Bull Moose each stanza introduces a new event as death draws near. In the first stanza the moose has enough energy to move. In the second stanza the moose was 'too tired to turn' and was only able to move 'to the other end of the field' and wait. In the fourth stanza it has even lost the power to react to people abusing him as he's repeatedly 'letting' people do as they please until finally in the last stanza it loses his life energy entirely as he gets shot. Text 3 however, has not a very specific use of text structure as text 4. Bryson uses the paragraphs to introduce a new aspect of the topic. He starts off with a description of a moose by using contrasts as he depicts a moose as 'magnificently ungainly' and 'endearingly hopeless' instead of 'wily and ferocious' as hunters say. In the next paragraph Bryson describes the moose's 'boundless lack of intelligence' by giving a slightly fabricated example of a moose reacting to ostensible danger. In the third paragraph the long history of the moose is discussed and in the last paragraph the opinion of the author is clearly stated 'hunting and killing an animal as dopey and unassuming as a moose is just wrong'.

Besides the different use of text structure, both texts have dissimilar tones and moods. Bill Bryson for example starts off his essay with a mocking tone by humiliating the moose. This tone is especially felt when he compares a moose to a 'cow drawn by a three-year-old', thus saying that he thinks a moose is a deformed cow, for three-year-olds are not commonly known for their artistic assets. Such a mocking remark of the moose's appearance is yet made again when he compares the moose's antlers to 'oven gloves' which lack 'the sharp points that look wonderful in profile and command the respect of adversaries' indicating that a moose is a weak creature unable to gain respect from others. After mocking his outer form Bryson continues the assault with the inner form of a moose, which is distinguished by 'its almost boundless lack of intelligence'. He explains this lack of intelligence by fabricating a story on how a moose reacts to danger, while exaggerating the denseness of a moose as he first 'squints at you for a minute' before 'abruptly hieing off' while following the highway and not realizing the '10.000 square miles of safe, dense forest on either side of the highway'. This mockery results in quite a humoristic passage, primarily by quoting the state of mind of the moose, 'Hey - woods. Now how the heck did I get here?', and fully disgrace the intelligence of a moose. The mood created by this mocking tone is very light-hearted and carefree as the writer seems to play mickey on the moose. However this mocking tone takes a hundred eighty degrees turn when nearing the last paragraph when the tone suddenly becomes serious, stating the factual problems on culling, and even frustrated when Bryson speaks out his mind 'hunting and killing an animal as dopey and unassuming as a moose is not an achievement'. Text 4, on the other hand, has a slow and even tiring tone as the end of a moose's life is portrayed using words as 'too tired', ' the musk of death', 'let them stroke/pry open/plant a purple cap of thistles' all to describe the lack of strength to live, which indirectly results in a sad and weary mood. The tone and mood changes in the end just like text 3 as the tone suddenly sounds proud and the mood perhaps even happy when 'the bull moose gathered his strength like a scaffolded king, straightened and lifted his horns so that even the wardens backed away' accepting his death without regrets.

Despite being two entirely different texts, they both share the same audience and purpose. Both texts are confronting hunters or more specifically moose hunters. Whereas text 3 directly confronts the audience as Bryson clearly states his opinion 'Shooting moose is not an achievement', Alden Nowlan takes an indirect approach to these hunters. He targets people in general by making them feel sympathy for the lives of moose. This sympathy is clearly evoked by emphasizing the harmlessness of a moose, for he spends his entire life away from civilization in 'the purple mist of trees on the mountain' and 'through forests of white spruce and cedar'. When he