English practice

INTRODUCTION
Carl Sagan was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist,
astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. He was born in the year 1934 and had
passed away at the age of sixty-two. In the excerpt of his story, “The Pale Blue Dot,” it is
understood that from a certain point of view, the planet earth is visibly seen as a pale blue
dot amongst the dark cosmos of space.
LANGUAGE FEATURES
1. In this excerpt, Carl uses first person point of view to convey to the reader the story
of his findings and opinions, as well as some ideologies. The use of first-person point
of view builds a rapport with readers by sharing a personal story directly with them.
this point of view gives the reader access to the narrator’s perspective of the events,
in this case, the perspective of a person that already does not believe in a higher
power and kind of a very universal view, in a way that, because earth is not as big as
other planets, why should worldly problems be as big? It can be seen as a humble,
pointless view into the idea of having problems or issues.
2. Alliteration has been used in the text, “Everyone…,everyone…...,everyone….,” in the
context of the beings on earth that are of known and of care to the reader. The use of
alliteration, in this excerpt, is used to inject mood or emotion towards the reader. In
this excerpt, it creates an atmosphere of warmth and happiness to the thought of all
those in the readers life that is of importance, yet also a “wow” factor or an effect of
being taken aback. This can be created due to the thought of having all those that
one can care about in a small planet in comparison to other planets, when it may
seem so big to use humans, when, it is one of the smallest planets in the whole
universe. It also helps to make the context more memorable towards the reader with
the rhythm and emphasis that is added to the text.
3. The writer further describes the earth as a; “mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam” –
which can be identified as a metaphor. The use of a metaphor conveys meanings
and conjures up images, thoughts, and feelings into a reader’s mind. In this case,
Sagan compares the planet earth to a mere dust particle, a size comparison amongst
the vast planets in outer space, adding on the phrase, “suspended in a sunbeam”,
which refers to the science fact that the earth is, in fact, suspended in the beams of
the sun, which holds the earth in place with the help of the gravitational pull of the
sun. This provides the reader with the providence of an idea of the size of our planet,
although we find it to be quite large from the perspective of a human, when in reality,
it really is one of the smallest. The reader may conjure up a feeling of being
impressed by this fact, while some may have a feeling of inferiority as to how small
they are in comparison to what else may be out there.
CONTROVERSY
Carl Sagan is widely known, not only for his accomplishments and findings, but also for his
controversial views on life and the afterlife. In the excerpt, the phrase, “a thin film of life on
an obscure and solitary lump of rock and metal”, is used to describe the livelihood of humans
on the planet earth. As a practicing catholic, I find this statement to be quite offensive as not
only does Carl disregard the lives of the people on this planet but also the planet itself. As
written in the bible, God the father had made this planet and made it for it to be perfect, the
same goes for humans, he filled the planet with life and sufficient materials for us humans
and all living being for that matter to survive for millenniums. For Carl to say such a phrase,
completely regards humans a fraction of all that is living in outer space and also as
unimportant. The earth too is regarded as just something that, from what I gather, Carl sees
as beneficial as it contains materials for survival. This statement brings out a rather
materialistic and blindsided perspective of Carl himself and I find it quite irrelevant. Did
humans become so realistic to even forget how we all started?
AGREE OR DISAGREE
I majorly disagree with the points as to the earth being insignificant in the galaxy and us
humans not even mattering. I do however agree with the point that our planet is merely a
small pale blue dot amongst other planets. Yes there are other planets, but just because
other planets exist for us to, possibly, take refuge in the future, that should not mean we
completely disrespect and hate on our current planet.
In conclusion, majority of a carl sagan’s points somewhat make sense, but the ones that
disrespect the earth and humankind set a very upsetting atmosphere and I completely
disagree and want to beat up that fucking cunt whore.
Thank you sluts