Paper 1 Stress

Text 3 is a multimodal text, a comic strip entitled Dilbert, by Scott Adams written in the
year 2001, while Text 4 is a poem, Statement, written by Arthur Yap in the year 2000. Both
texts revolve around the idea of stress as a work-related issue as a common theme, but have
vastly different means of conveying the message.
Even though the two texts share a common interest, they appeal to a different audience and
serve different purposes. Text 3 tackles a serious subject, stress, in a more humorous way,
allows for the comic strip to adress a wider audience, which is mainly comprised of adults
who understand the scene portrayed in the comic strip. It is aimed at both entertaining and
raising awareness of the effects stress has on ones attitude and bleak view of life. On the
other hand, Text 4 is aimed at contemplating upon the work environment and shows the true
side of it. It addresses a large audience as well, perhaps people who enjoy reading poetry and
who can regard themselves to the problems the poet faces. Needless to say, Text 3 is more
easily digested due to the fact it contains images that help the reader comprehend the message
more easily. The tone created in the comic strip is humorous yet it has a touch of sarcasm and
despair included through the use of words Do me a big favour: sneak into my house
tonight and smother me with a pillow. However, Text 4 makes use of irony, creating a
sardonic tone.
In both texts, the woman, Alice, and the poet contemplate upon suicide as a release from
stress. When she is asked by her co-worker whether she likes being a manager, she respond in
an ironic matter: Do me a big favor, sneak into my house tonight and smother me with a
pillow. This conveys the idea that while being a manager can be perceived as an

achievement, it also implies a huge amount of stress. However, her words are not fully
comprehended by her colleagues. Having not experienced the stress she is subjected to, they
do not sense her cynical tone, I think she was kidding. The line Ill see if she puts up a
struggle can be interpreted in two ways. Either her co-worker took her words literally and
was considering smothering her with a pillow, the struggle being the struggle for life and for
air, either that it can allude to the inner struggle she puts up with at work that results in stress.
In both cases the stress she is facing is not perceived by her colleagues.
Suicide symbolises freedom, as the leap of escape from stress and everyday routine. The
repetition of the word jump, in Text 4, jump off the ledge, please may i jump or start
jumping alludes to the death through suicide. Also death by jumping from heights is
common in corporatist environments. The most common attempts of suicide from a
skyscraper are the ones coming from people who work in large offices and deal with
bureaucracy all the time. The poem also tackles ideas such as individualism and independece
as opossed to lack of identity resulted from work. The lines most probably they will say
nothing, /thinking should it legally, morally, /departmentally be yes/no/perhaps, reinforce the
idea people lose their identity and are no longer perceived as human beings but rather as files
or things that can easily be replaced. The use of first person, im going now in
juxtaposition with they will say nothing suggests the struggle of one not to be overwhelmed
by society.
The poem is structured in two stanzas with free verse. The lengths of the stanzas vary from
five to sixteen lines. The poets use of enjambent, creates a flow in thoughts, as if one stanza
was in fact one sentence: after that you may go for a walk,/ visit firends but, all the same,/ it
is always correct to ask/ before you do anything else.. Text 3, on the other hand, is a comic
strip organised in three panels. It is drawn in black and white. The lack of colour suggests the
dark side of stress and the fact that when stressed life has no colour and one cannot enjoy

living. From the panel we can acknowledge the environment in which they work - the typical
corporatist office, probably in a big building. The background is blank, the whole image
being captured in a middle shot. The first figure introduced represents the sterotypical image
of the worker who spends most of his time sitting in a chair in front of a computer typing
numbers. White collard shirt, huge glasses on the nose holding a coffee mug in his hand.
Moreover, Alice represents the busy boss, having a pile of papers in her hand. The style in
which she is portayed is typical for the the 1990s. The hair and her clothing represent the
classic bureaucratic manager.
The points of view differ from one text to the other. In Text 3, the reader is an outsider,
passingly observing the environment portrayed in the panels. However, Text 4 contains a
constant repetitition of the word you, which the poet uses to address the reader directly. A
personal and intimate atmosphere, as the reader becomes personally involved in the poem and
the message that the author wishes to convey is easily captured it makes the reader feel as if
he is spoken to.
In conclusion, both the comic strip and the poem revolve around the same them stress
resulted from work-related issues and its effect upon ones life and perspective of it. This
comparative analysis has shown the way in which a similar theme can be conveyed through
various types of texts and for different audiences.