Reading  two texts  “the Journal” and the “Letter XI”, an intelligent reader can understand that they are completely different. The first is a diary and the second  is a letter. Diary hasn’t a precise addressees, it has a cronological structure, every section has a specific funtion and the language is concrete and rational. On the contrary, the letter has a precise addressees with salutation, it has sequences that have a specific function and in the end the letter  has a personal language.

The comparative analysis of the two texts takes the different textual structure as a reference. They are:

A)     Content

B)     Message

C)      Use of the language

1. Addressees/ ideal readers
2. Language used
3. Tone

All this structures include setting, time, characters and narrative techniques.

The first text is “the Journal”. It is a diary written by Daniel Defoe. It is an extract taken from the second section of the novel. It is arranged into ten sequences. In the first sequence, Robinson Crusoe tells about his conditions on a desert island. He was shipwrecked during a dreadful storm and he came on shore. Here, he was deprivated of house, food, clothes, weapon. The narrator, (throughout the text) uses short sentences, realistic and concrete words to talk to different readers. He uses a lot of adjective to underline his condition and his mood (poor, miserable, unfortunate, dreadful…). He speaks in first person (“I”) to highlight his solitude. The setting and the time is rappresented by his emotions: with the adjective he uses, he rappresents the landscape. He speaks of his privations that rappresent the background. In the second sequence, the narrator says that one morning he saw a ship that it had floated with the hig tide and it was driven on shore. He thought that on the ship there was some comfort and so he got on board and got some food and neccessaries. He spent all the day to bring food on shore. Also in this sequence, the narrator uses a simple language with words and verbs that show his emotions and capacity. The words “comfort” and “relief” rappresents his manual skills and the will to fix the boat to get out of the state of back luck.

 The second text is “Letter XI”. Pamela speaks with his mother. She refers her  master’s licentious demeanor. The master kiss her and he offers her money. The writer uses short sentences with a personal language. She uses words that rappresent his emotions and situation. She is forced by her gentleman to stay in his house. Her gentleman wanted to scare her and so he kissed her. Pamela uses word as “ confounded, tremble, obliging,struggled…” that rappresent his fear and desire to scape. In this case, the addressees of the letter is her mother and the setting is the “summer-house in the little garden”. The setting also underline the time. The “summer-house” symbolize that this happened in the summer.