Cooper has used very cleverly her light-hearted humour but also has used her imagination. I think it is clever how she makes the sign “Wild big cats, Keep Out!” look and sound ambiguous. Cooper’s description of the farmer Goodenough also makes him sound like a cat “with his tremendous whiskers”.
Cooper uses many humorous remarks throughout the article. She continues to dramatise what the locals have to say about the ‘Beast’, “Its eyes are great yellow orbs. It has a foul scream like a woman’s but 100 times magnified.”
Another example Cooper uses, is when the farmer compares World War II with the ‘Beast of Bodmin’. “In the last war Churchill told people to fight on the beaches. He didn’t reassure them and say ‘ Go home folks everything’ll be alright’”.
However there is no comparison World war II was a catastrophe where as a few attacks on some cattle and sheep are meaningless, to this kind of comparison. The writer of the article also provides suggestions for why the story is not true. Opinions are used throughout the article, and are mostly over dramatised comments from the locals, or inventions of Miss Cooper. Glenda Coopers article is light-hearted but also mocks the locals.
At the ending of the article, cooper highlights how the environment can make people weary, of the ‘Beast’ and so she uses a style of writing, which makes the public begin to use their imagination. She also tries to invite the reader into thinking they might too see the ‘Beast’ if they go down to te bleak and isolated place at dusk.
“But later, at 5pm, the sky is darkening over Jamaica Inn. Bodmin Moor stretches to the left and right, divided by rough stonewalls. There is a flicker of movement to the left. No birds are singing…”
This last paragraph shows that Cooper is treating the whole idea of the ‘Beast of Bodmin’ as a joke and is clearly ridiculing the situation, unlike the article written for Country Living which takes the matter very seriously.
The article written by Matthew Dale begins with a very earnest tone “Concern mounts… feline carnivore”. Already there is a difference in tone and style compared to the Independent article. The writer shows concern about the situation and that they themselves take it seriously.
However, Country Living has a different audience, the magazines title gives away the fact that the majority of readers would be inhabitants and lovers of the countryside, and also many farmers. Unlike the Independent article there are a lot more photographs used, that do not ridicule the locals, and they also make the Goodaver farm sign look like it has one meaning, and one use, which is to warn the public about danger in the area.
Dale, clearly shows he is a believer of the ‘Beast’, where as the Independent articles writer clearly shows throughout the article she finds the situation amusing. Cooper mocks and ridicules the locals making them look like eccentric, insane people. Where as Dale is portraying the locals as sensible and rational people who take the situation seriously. One interviewee mentions having a post mortem carried out on her flock which were attacked, to try and prove the ‘Beast’ existed.
Dale doesn’t mock this example of how the locals intend to prove that the ‘Beast’ exists, unlike Glenda Cooper who continues to ridicule the Cornish locals throughout the article.
The Country Living article is a lot longer than the Independent and I think this is due to the fact that the writer of the Country Living article, sides with the farmers.
At the end, Dale has used scientific reasoning and explanations, which give plausible reasons for the existence of the ‘Beast’. Where as Cooper uses no straightforward explanations, but writes an article, which is similar to a fairy or horror tale. Cooper’s article is written to entertain, where as Country Living is written to inform readers about the ‘Beast of Bodmin’.
The Country Living article ends on a serious and a sensible, looking at solutions for how to go about the problems of the ‘Beast’ and whether there will be a solution for finding the beast. Where as Coopers ends on an imaginative note, which continues to entertain the reader about the beast, with the thought it could be ready to pounce at any moment.
The two articles on the beast of Bodmin are clearly aimed at different people and maybe even classes. The Independent article is written to amuse and entertain readers, where as the Country Living article is there to inform the public of dangerous animal that lives in Cornwall.
Although both articles differ in opinion and are biased both concentrate on the same subject the ‘Beast of Bodmin Moor’ they treat the question does the Beast of Bodmin Moor exist? Very differently.
