A critical analysis of the biography of Nick Vujicic with specific reference to linguistic and structural features

A critical analysis of the biography of Nick Vujicic with specific reference to linguistic and structural features


Nick Vujicic is travelling the world holding motivational- and inspirational speeches in schools, churches and so on. He was born without limbs, and despite his struggles he has been able to cope with this major disability and has become a cultural icon or inspiration to others. I am going to study his biography which provides information about him told in the third person. It is written in a formal style with a serious tone. This accentuates that the audience is people who are interested in learning more about Nick Vujicic, which we can presume (because of his story) are students, teachers, leaders in Christian churches, people with disabilities or other obstacles in life.

In the introduction of the biography interrogative sentence structures are used. “What would you do? How would that affect your everyday life?” This creates a sense of inclusion and engages the reader as he/she is addressed with the second person pronoun “you”. Interrogatives are also used to make the text more dramatic or to influence the reader more. “How would their son live a normal, happy life? What could he ever do or become when living with what the world would consider such a massive disability?” Rhetorical questions like these are used to provoke a thought process in the reader. 

The language used in the biography is emotive, and cohesion can be seen in the lexis used as they are all in the lexical field of motivational speaking or the body, as Vujicic doesn’t have any arms or legs. When looking specifically at grammar the verbs used are associated with positivity (to inspire, to motivate, to realize, to be able to, to accomplish, to overcome), while the nouns are more negative (disability, depression, loneliness, frustration, struggle, problems, failure). In terms of adjectives many of them are superlatives, such as most powerful, biggest, and most effective. They also tend to be attributive (pre-modifying), for example limbless son, happy life, massive disability, amazing ability, and biggest dreams. This enhances the fact that even the biggest obstacles can be surmounted, and it influences the reader more.


Furthermore the text is grammatically cohesive as we can find anaphoric references and conjunctions. The conjunction and is the most important cohesive devise used, and makes the discourse flow more smoothly. Without conjunctions the discourse would seem disjointed. In addition to these grammatical features, modal auxiliary verbs are also used to emphasize the utterances, especially in the interrogative utterances in the introduction where ‘could’ and ‘would’ are used. This suggests the tenor of his message as being enquiring.

The text has a standard structure for a biography or Bildungsroman and the tense change is reflective of his past life and continuing present. It starts with an introduction, where Nick Vujicic is presented, and a direct request to the reader. It continues by telling about Vujicic’s childhood and his struggles and obstacles whilst growing up. This is told in the past tense. Further on the biography relates details, using the present continuous, about his years of studying, and it concludes by telling about his life now and his work, using the present tense and the present continuous. It is structured in this way in order to let us follow Vujicic’s life in a chronological order, which also contributes to make the text cohesive.


English Language Coursework Year 12 - Julie Egeland, 2012
Written text analysis

Flight tickets booked

I'm so excited! I have finally had time to sit down, look at flight tickets, talk to my host mum and my teacher and book the tickets - and everything in less than 3 hours, thanks to technology.

I'm going to Madrid with my Spanish class in March, the week before we start our easter holidays in Norway, so I needed to know when we will come back. And I obviously needed to know that my English family were alright with me coming and staying with them. So... I'll return from Madrid either on the 22nd or the 23rd of March - and I'm off to England on the 24th of March. Busy Easter - but I really can't wait! It will be amazing to get back there and meet everyone again :)

Photo by Vox Efx

Why I favour the English school system

The first thing I reacted to when I started school in England, was that the teachers were focused on what we had to learn from day one. They made it clear to us what we had to do in the exam, how the exam would be structured, and how we should work throughout the year to achieve a good grade at the end of the year. I found this really helpful. From day one it was "this is the subject - this is what you have to do in the exam - and you WILL have to do the exam". In Norway teachers aren't that focused, because here our grades are based on more than only our exams. The focus is different, and we might not have to do an exam in that teacher's subject. "If you have to do the exam blah blah blah"...

Secondly I loved how the teachers really wanted us to do well in the subjects (that is, to do well in the exam). They were always willing to offer us extra help if needed, either during lunch time or after school. Whether that is because they care about the students and their future, or because of the exam league table ranking I'm not sure, but I choose to believe it is a mixture. Either way, it is definitely a good thing. Everyone in my Spanish class had individual speaking lessons once a week, as preparation for our oral exam - and it did help a lot. To be completely honest, I don't feel like my teachers in Norway care as much about how I do in the exam. Some might, but certainly not everyone...

Before I continue I have to mention maybe on of the biggest differences between the Norwegian and English school system. In Norway students in year 12 and 13 do 4 mandatory subjects (norwegian, history, religion and P.E) and 3 chosen subjects (like sociology, MFL, chemistry, etc...) - whereas in England year 12 and 13 students only do 3 or 4 chosen subjects.
The timetable is very different as well. In Norway you've got between 5-8 lessons every day. That is, depending on your subjects, you've probably got between 2-4 free periods every week (because you're supposed to have 30 timetabled lessons a week). In England I had (talking about myself now) about 15 timetabled lessons a week, and 15 study periods/free periods. Obviously this implies that you have to do a lot of independent studying - you can't be mucking about because then you will lag behind. This system makes you a lot more what we in Norway call a "student"(person that goes to university) and not an "elev". For me I prefer being a "student", because I then have the opportunity to dispose my time and work as I please and do some extra work where needed. As my situation is now, I haven't got the time nor the work capacity to do any more work than the homework I get. I think I can say that most days I do schoolwork from 8 am to 7 pm (obviously I have breaks and procrastinate a bit..)

Furthermore I think it is admirable how English schools give praise to good achievement and behaviour. They do this for example through awards and positive postcards. For me this is something very encouraging, making me want to work hard and do well, because people notice what I do and how much effort I put into my work. Obviously I can see the negative side of it. Those who don't do that well, and don't get awards, might not be as motivated to work. In Norway schools and teachers should try not to make differences between the pupils because "it's not fair". No student should feel better or worse than the others. Which, to be honest, I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad thing.

One year later...

Where did time go?

26.08.11: Veldig spente på Gardermoen - vet ikke helt hva vi går til...

Juni 2012: Fornøyde med fullført skoleår på Hastingsbury

Exam results

Eksamenskarakterene mine har omsider kommet frem fra skolen min i England. Jeg er veldig fornøyd med resultatene mine, og stolt av å ha oppnådd det jeg har gjort. Skulle ønske jeg hadde fått bedre resultat i Spansk, men jeg har gjort mitt beste, og da får det være nok.

Spanish: C (exam) + D (exam) = D

Sociology: B (exam) + B (exam) = B

English Language: E (exam) + A (coursework) = C

Maths: C (exam)

I England er standpunktkarakterene kun basert på eksamensresultat og ev. coursework - derfor er det utrolig viktig å prestere. Er du syk den dagen du skal ha eksamen, kan jo det ødelegge veldig.
Engelskeksamen var kjempevanskelig (forsåelig.. I'm foreign!), og jeg gjorde det dårlig (but I did pass!) - men så gjorde jeg det bedre enn alle de andre i klassen min på coursework, som utjevnet karakteren min til en C.

I miss being called dʒuːliː ɛgglænd ...

Experiences for life

Før jeg dro til England, hadde jeg aldri hatt en normal samtale med en engelsk person.
Jeg likte ikke egentlig å dra alene noe sted.
Det ville ikke falt meg inn å dra på dagstur til en annen by (mest fordi det er så store avstander her i Norge....)
Jeg likte ikke å snakke engelsk med andre (med unntak av engelsktimene på skolen).

Når jeg var i England, opplevde jeg å føle meg som en skikkelig outsider.
Jeg opplevde å føle at jeg ikke klarte å ha en normal samtale.
Jeg gråt meg i søvn (riktignok bare to-tre ganger! takk og lov)
Jeg lærte å takle hjemlengsel og savn - og opplevde å føle at det faktisk kan være godt å savne noen/noe, og også vite at man var savnet.

Jeg lærte meg selv bedre å kjenne, i forhold f.eks. egenskaper og grenser.
Jeg dro til mange forskjellige steder i Storbritannia; London, Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Wales (Snowdonia), York, Scarborough...
Jeg tok tog flere ganger enn jeg har gjort i hele mitt liv.
Jeg drakk flere kopper te enn jeg drakk glass med vann.
Jeg begynte å gå i kirka hver søndag - rett og slett fordi jeg fikk gode venner og en tilhørighetfølelse der.
Jeg lærte å bruke penger, og føre budsjett og regnskap.
Jeg tok ansvar for meg selv.
Jeg bodde hos en familie, og var som en del av den - så jeg var ikke left on my own!

Nå har jeg blitt mer selvstendig.
Jeg er mer selvsikker. Tror mer på meg selv.
Det kommer helt naturlig å snakke engelsk.
Norsken min blir noen ganger blandet med engelsk, og til tider spansk (særlig om jeg har vært veldig fokusert..)
Jeg savner folk fra 'mitt andre hjemsted'.
Bedford vil nok være 'min andre hjemby' i lang tid fremover.
Minnene og erfaringene jeg har med meg fra England, vil alltid være med meg. Det er ikke noe som bare blekner etter en stund.