Honors Reading Assignment #1

The author's persona, tone, and intended audience.
Which persona does the author adopt? How does the author manipulate tone to serve his/her purpose? Who is the intended audience for this book? How does the author tailor his/her argument to suit the intended audience?

"My fascination comes from traveling around the globe with Darwin, but also from soaking up the clues he left about the social value sand practices of his time and tracking how these have changed"

Chapter 1: Dancing at the Dead Sea
by Alanna Mitchell, p. 20

The book I am reading is: Dancing at the Dead Sea. The author in this case is Alanna Mitchell and she is the narrator throughout the whole book. She talks about the places that she has traveled to and what the environment is like in that area. In the first quarter of the book she talks a lot about Darwin's On the Origin of Species. The author's tone is constant throughout this part of the book. She speaks very strongly and wants you to fully understand what she is talking about. You can really tell that she is very passionate about this topic which makes the story easier to read. The intended audience could really be anyone, not just someone interested in Darwin and nature. I have never really been interested in nature or anything of the sorts but I still find this book very interesting and easy to read so far.