Talk in life and literature timed essay

Talk in life and literature Text A is a transcript of work colleagues talking about their children. Although the setting is not mentioned we can assume that the conversation takes place in a work environment. The conversation involves Elaine and Richard whose relationship doesn’t seem to be more than just work colleagues, which is evident is the vague responses from Richard. We can also assume that the conversation is private and includes an internal audience who are the speakers themselves. The conversation is spontaneous and has several purposes. Elaine’s purpose is to tell Richard about her children and their chores, and in a way gain approval from Richard when it comes to parenting. Richard’s purpose is to show Elaine that he is involved in the conversation by responding correctly. By contrast, text B is an extract from ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ by Mark Twain. It is set in the Mississippi River valley, where the author spent his own childhood. Tom is an orphan being brought up by his aunt. Unlike text A, text B has several purposes. The authors purpose is to show readers the new relationship that is being formed between Tom and his aunt and to show how the aunt is newly learning of how to deal with a small boy which is expressed in his writing. The purpose of Tom is to trick his aunt and avoid her punishments. While the purpose of the aunt is to catch Tom and eventually punish him without going back on her word as she normally does. Both text A and B share the theme of children and the struggles of raising them, however, this is conveyed in different ways by both. The conversation in text A is interactional and somewhat collaborative. The conversation is seen to be dominated by Elaine who starts off speaking with an interrogative, ‘don’t your kids do chores.’ This sets the agenda for the conversation and shows that Elaine has an interest in Richard’s children. Also by starting off the conversation with such a question means that