Amanda Berry Stylistic Analysis

The story of Amanda Berry’s capture and imprisonment by Ariel Castro left the world in shock. Berry’s unthinkable experience forever changed her outlook on life. Within interviews, authors are capable of accessing personal experiences through a valid source. Similarly, in nonfiction, facts are presented to maximize knowledge on the experience. The widespread story of Amanda Berry is heard through multiple writing modes, including interviews and the nonfiction, Hope: A Memoir of Survival in Cleveland by Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus. The techniques employed in the interviews in order, multiple perspectives, and the focus on the main topics, in comparison to the nonfiction use of specific dated headings, person-by-person perspective, and the

use of titles more accurately represents Amanda Berry’s abduction.
To begin, interview techniques which include the order, multiple perspectives and the focus on main topics convey the purpose of an interview is to collect information on a certain topic from an experienced individual. According to Nudgee Library, an online library affiliated with St Joseph's Nudgee College, an interview should be structured to fit particular guidelines, such as, “...An introduction should identify the person you are interviewing and the topic that is to be discussed. A body should be a sequence of questions and answers that interlink. There is no need for standard paragraphs. No formal conclusion or summary, but a sentence that finalises and concludes the interview.” By adding structure to the interview, the information is relayed in an organized manner, making the concept easily understood by the reader. In addition, prior preparation has a significant impact on the organization of the interview. According to Ann Friedman, a magazine editor for Columbia Journalism Review, coming in with a plan is key. She states,

“Max Linsky, who has the intimidating task of interviewing professional interviewers on the Longform Podcast, says, ‘Long interviews can have three acts — know where you want to start, where you want to end, and how you want to get there. And let the subject know the plan! These conversations can go off the rails quick — laying out the roadmap early lets you easily interrupt and move things along. Makes it feel like you’re on the same team.’”

The importance of organization and prior preparation, in turn, will contribute to the general success of the interview. Overall, the organization and structure that the interviewer creates will contribute to the ultimate success of the information relayed to the reader.
At the same time, nonfiction books are written to depict the authors’ story effectively through their purpose and text structure features, some of which include techniques of specific dated headings, person-by-person perspective, and the use of titles.

An authors’ reasoning behind providing information help to clearly convey their purpose through the ultimate theme of the story. Two reasons behind providing information are to inform and to reflect. Backing these reasons, authors also use main themes with supporting details (“Elements of Non-Fiction”). Informing or teaching with themes supported by details effectively portrays elements of nonfiction to supply the reader with a clear understanding of the story being told. In addition, the implementation of text structure and features present in nonfiction books organizes the main ideas. According to “Elements of Non-Fiction,” “A text structure is the manner in which major ideas and supporting details are organized in a nonfiction text. The information being presented and the author’s purpose determine how the writer organizes the concepts and ideas.” Text structure such as enumeration and time order, and text features of titles and headings are a few of the components of nonfiction that aid in making a story effective. By applying elements from the themes and organization of the main ideas, authors are capable of effectively delivering their information within their

story.
Such interview writing techniques as well as interview components reveal Amanda Berry’s hardship. On April 21, 2003, Amanda Berry’s life changed forever when she was abducted and held for nearly a decade by Ariel Castro in a house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland Ohio. Although Berry faced abuse and near starvation throughout her time in captivity, she found ways to cope with her circumstances with the hope that she would eventually escape the strangling grasp of Ariel Castro. As Amanda Berry states, “I never went to church much, but I know there is a God and I know he must have a different plan for me than this” (Berry and DeJesus 18). Her hope was the one aspect that influenced her determination to persevere through the terror, eventually escaping from her captor. By opening up about her experience on Seymour Avenue, Amanda Berry expresses how her life was affected by her abduction. Additionally, as Kim Bellware, a reporter for the Huffington Post, noted, “Berry and DeJesus revealed horrifying and heart breaking details about the decade they spent as prisoners in Castro’s home, where they were locked in small rooms, chained, starved, raped, and beaten by a man they both knew from their community.”