“Horrible Histories” by T. Deary and P. Hepplewhite Essay

Horrible Histories: Awesome Egyptians Scholastic Books, 1993, is considered to be a selection of historical issues concentrating on unusual, trivial, or gory events. The historical genre of the books makes the work to be informative being written in a simple understandable language. Terry Deary and Peter Hepplewhite, the authors of the work, strived to reflect the peculiarities of Egyptian history in the most adaptive manner. The text can be characterized through its informative style written in the form of interesting and interconnected stories.

Linguistic Features

The section devoted to ‘Phascinating Pharaohs’ is disclosed through such linguistic features as informative manner and language peculiarities. It is necessary to underline the fact that informative manner of text presentation is demonstrated through historical involvement of the reader into Egyptian ancient period of development. The text covers the peculiarities of Pharaoh’s times and the rules of appropriate behavior and moral standards within the society. The authors demonstrated the facts through specialized terminology and language being presented in a simplified and understandable form. The usage of proper names and dates within the storyline is a bright characteristic of historical genre in writing. It is necessary to stress that the book is not filled with facts but discloses the detailed information through descriptive linguistic manner. The period of ancient Egyptian development is disclosed on the basis of leaders’ achievements, conquers, peasants’ descriptions. It is interesting to note that the book is written in a simplified manner being illustrated with maps and photos of ancient leaders. Such linguistic characteristic adds functionality to the data presented by the authors making the histories informative and instructive.

Inference from the Text

Ancient Egypt experienced the epoch of kings and queens, pharaohs and warship leaders, living in accordance with strictly regulated standards developed in the society. The authors demonstrate the atmosphere of that period as the time with fixed norms and rules. Everything was dependant on the leader’s decision, behavior and actions.

Evidence to support Inference

It is necessary to underline the fact that the author brightly illustrated the period of pharaohs heading in ancient Egypt; the explanation of king’s duties allows the reader to understand the level of seriousness of norms and standards established for the representatives of ruling class. Thus, ‘How to become a king’ discloses the steps of obligations for a king whose position depends on the family status. The author disclosed strong dependence of the state on its king. It is necessary to underline the fact that the identification of the king as a god is perceived as the higher power embodied in one person. Strong regulations were concentrated around religious aspects and higher rate of power which Egyptian king had.

The authors’ Inference

Terry Deary and Peter Hepplewhite disclosed the inference, that modern person with modern mentality and world look can hardly become an Egyptian leader because of our vision and perception of norms and regulations in the society. “If you don’s, then the sun won’t rise and the world will end” (Deary, & Hepplewhite, 1993). It is necessary to underline the fact that the authors strive to compare modern generation with the ancient one disclosing various tricky situations and offering the reader to select the most appropriate way. Current perceptions of a man and the ancient one are completely different; the authors managed to illustrate bright comparison of a king with the God, being the higher power in religion in all times. So, the basic inference the authors strived to reflect is concentrated on the coincidences and links between ancient leaders and current governing power.

Rewriting Manner

The possibility of rewriting the text under analysis is dependant on the linguistic manner of its presentation. Simple words can be substituted with specialized jargon and historical terms in order to make the text more professional.

The first passage beginning with “The most awesome sight that you can see in Egypt is the pyramids…” can be disclosed in the form of the tale, rejecting the elements of informative character and historical involvement. In this case the authors could avoid the instructional manner demonstrating no comparison of modern and ancient times indirectly. The histories are aimed at audience being slightly skilled in history of ancient world; so, the authors showed an attempt to make the text more involving and functional. The inference is predominantly expressed through different types of rhetoric questions and statements being thought-provoking and making the reader switch to imagination. In case of this method reject, the storyline will change the inference completely and will demonstrate strictly the flow of historical events in ancient Egypt. The emotionality and expressiveness of the text are connected with provoking manner of its presentations. In case of making the histories filled with the facts, the text will sound more formal and neutral for the reader with the complete change of the authors’ inference (Deary, & Hepplewhite, 1993).

References

Deary, T. and Hepplewhite, P. (1993). Horrible Histories: Awesome Egyptians. Scholastic Hippo. 12-15 p