Paper 1 HL Practice Commentary

While many issues have stayed the same over many years, the way they are viewed has greatly differed. Text 1 is an advertisement from 1922 from a steamship company that is advertising their annual trips to "exotic" places like Panama and Cuba. Text 2 is an article from the Miami Herald in 2007 that discourages heavy vacationing and "developing" in the Caribbean Islands because of the poor living standards for people living there. Considering that text 2 is almost 90 years after text 1, it is clear that they will both have different viewpoints when it comes to this topic. While they both target the same audience, text 1 seems to encourage the audience while text 2 seems to discourage them. Comparing them from a post-colonial vs. colonial point of view then puts these two texts in context. While both texts target the same audience and refer to the Caribbean Islands, text 1 encourages the audience to look at these places in an overly exotified and luxurious manner in order to sell their product all through a colonial lens while text 2 takes a postcolonial perspective in order to downgrade the worth and extravagance of these “vacation spots” and discourage the developers in looking at these places as uninhabited and exclusive by using imagery to evoke an emotion of sympathy for the squatters.

Text 1 and 2 have a similar audience but a completely different purpose for both. Both the texts target upper class wealthy people who can go on vacation during spare time. Text 1 is from the 20’s while text 2 is from 2007, so although the target audience was the same in terms of wealth and privilege, their mentalities and actions are going to be different. Text 1 is encouraging these people to vacation in places like Panama and Cuba while text 2 is discouraging people from viewing these places as an exotic vacation spot and encourages them to look at these places as a home for people who are clearly struggling. In that sense, these two texts are placed in completely different contexts.  While text 1 over exotifies these places, text 2 is clearly trying to avoid that situation. Because text 1 is about 90 years before text 2, it’s hard to not view them from a postcolonial vs. colonial lens. While text 1 is colonial as the steamship is almost “selling” these islands and seems to disregard that there are inhabitants, text 1 brings down the luxury of the island by showing clearly that it is inhabited and should not be viewed as otherwise.  

Both texts refer to the same idea of vacations in the Caribbean’s but they both take a different approach and ultimately have a different theme throughout the passages. For text 1, “The Great White Fleet” has summer trips that go from New York to countries and islands on the Caribbean. It’s targeting a high class that goes on vacations like this usually and selling the idea of these islands. Text 2 is also talking about the Caribbean Islands but it is setting up a competition in the islands between the squatters and the developers. The developers being the exact people that text 1 is trying to sell to. With that being said, these texts then greatly differ in what message they’re trying to convey to the developers. Text 1 is highly exotifying and almost taking ownership of these islands in order to use the luxurious lifestyle to sell the product, which are vacations to the island. Text 2 does the opposite. The text tries to discourage the audience from viewing these places as if they have rightful ownership of them because at the end of the day, they are homes to people. The article downplays the luxury and excitement of the islands in order to attempt the reader to stop viewing the islands as if they have ownership of them. This clearly shows the contrasting themes in the two articles.

            Because of the contrasting purposes, it would be expected that the two texts will have opposite tones and mood. The tone and mood Is very different in the sense that text 1 is very happy and enthusiastic and text 2 tries to play with the sympathy of the reader by having a sad and dramatic tone. This makes sense considering the fact that text 1 is trying to sell a product while text 2 is almost trying to “de-sell” that product. In regard to text 1, the advertisement did not mention any people that may live there or any negative effects. So when talking to an audience who is expected to enjoy their time and have fun, it is obvious that the mood will be lifted and excite the audience. Text 2 then brings in the harsh reality that text 1 disregarded. When talking about something like displaced and poor people, it would only make sense for the tone to bring people down enough to persuade them to look at these vacation spots differently. Both of the texts aim to play with the readers emotions but while text 1 aims to lift their feelings, text 2 aims to instill a sense of sympathy and guilt into the reader. When talking about the squatters, there is a sense of pity. When talking about the developers, the tone switches to an annoyed tone. Considering the fact that the developers are the target audience, this would highly likely resonate with them more. Text 1 does the opposite by placing the developers on a high pedestal in order to use luxury and exclusiveness to sell their idea.  

            The stylistic features in both texts are similar but are presented in a different way. Text 1 uses a lot of visual and pictorial imagery while text 2 uses literary imagery. Text 1 uses a large picture at the bottom to excite the audience and make them feel the luxurious lifestyle that they can afford. Contrary to that, text 2 describes the story of the Jimenez family in sad detail in order to show the target audience the side that they are not on. In this sense, both of the texts use the imagery to sell their idea but the ideas that they are selling through imagery instill a completely opposite feeling in both audiences. The title for both texts is very emphasized and draws the reader in but text 1 uses the contrasting white and black colors to emphasize the title more. Both these texts use glittering generalities often. They over exaggerate some things and again, the only purpose behind this is to instill either a sense of excitement or a sense of guilt.

            Overall, both texts have similar audiences and various similar stylistic features, but contrast completely in their purpose, themes, and tone. This is ultimately to either up play or downplay the luxury and exotic appeal of the islands. 

HL Paper 1 - Structure and Introduction

Commentary Structure

Paragraphs 1 and 6 are the conclusion and introduction.

Paragraph 2-Audience and Purpose:

·         Text 1 from the 20’s, text 2 from the 2000’s-difference in audience and their mentalities.

·         Audience is the same- Wealthy people who use “exotic” islands as a vacation. With that being said, their purpose is different:

o   Text 1: Encouraging people to travel to these places for a vacation, exotifying the islands and encouraging people to go on vacations.

o   Text 2: Discouraging heavy vacationing, making these “exotic” places seem like homes instead of vacation spots.

·         Colonial vs. postcolonial lens.

Paragraph 3- Content and Theme:

·         Text 1:

o   “The Great White Fleet” has summer trips that go from New York to countries such as Panama, Cuba, and Jamaica.

o   It’s targeting a high class that goes on vacations like this usually.

o   Theme- Using a certain luxurious lifestyle to sell a product.

·         Text 2:

o   Squatters vs. Developers.

o   Emphasizes the idea that there is a competition between people who have homes in the “vacation spot” of other people.

o   While text 1 sells the idea that these places are exotic, text 2 shows them as homes that should not be considered vacation spots.

Paragraph 4- Tone and Mood:

·         Different tones in the sense that text 1 is very happy and enthusiastic in order to sell their idea while text 2 shows it in a very bad and detrimental light.

·         Text 1: In regard to the people that live there , they are very disregarded. The high class is treated well.

·         Text 2: There is a sense of pity when talking about the squatters. When talking about the developers, there is a sense of annoyance.

Paragraph 5 - Stylistic Features:

·         Advertisement vs. Article- both still used to sell an idea.

·         Text 1- Uses visual and pictorial imagery.

·         Text 2- Uses literary imagery.

·         Both using glittering generalities, plain folks, and manipulation.

·         Explain the visual devices in text 1 (font, color, pictures).

(Main ideas- Compare between audience and some stylistic feuatures, contrast between tone, purpose, and theme). 

Introduction: 

While many issues have stayed the same over many years, the way they are viewed has greatly differed. Text 1 is an advertisement from 1922 from a steamship company that is advertising their annual trips to "exotic" places like Panama and Cuba. Text 2 is an article from the Miami Herald in 2007 that discourages heavy vacationing and "developing" in the Caribbean Islands because of the poor living standards for people living there. Considering that text 2 is almost 90 years after text 1, it is clear that they will both have different viewpoints when it comes to this topic. While they both target the same audience, text 1 seems to encourage the audience while text 2 seems to discourage them. Comparing them from a post colonial vs. colonial point of view then puts these two texts in context. While both texts target the same audience and refer to the Caribbean Islands, text 1 encourages the audience to look at these places in an overly exotified and luxurious manner in order to sell their product all through a colonial lens while text 2 takes a postcolonial perspective in order to downgrade the worth and extravagance of these “vacation spots” and discourage the developers in looking at these places as uninhabited and exclusive by using imagery to evoke an emotion of sympathy for the squatters.

Rationale

Within this propaganda poster we aimed to employ the three devices of glittering generalities, testimony, and plain folks. Testimony was utilized in the form of a quote given by George Washington which greatly appeals to the poster’s sense of ethos, giving it great credibility by reference of this significant historical figure. The quote mentions ‘every country’ which correlates to the large image centered in the poster. Next to the globe, glittering generalities were used in describing knowledge as a key to ‘global peace’ and is a tool of ‘power’. The poster then makes a call to action below with its main purpose of advertising the hashtag #knowledgeispower which gives readers more information about the organization. Finally, the poster employs the plain folk device by extending the ability to be knowledgeable to ‘everyone’, suggesting that all have an equal opportunity to learn more and transitively attain power. Throughout the poster, there are variations of font size and color, the most bolded and attractive being the term ‘Knowledgeable’ as that is the main learner profile that is drawn attention to. It is the only term in red font color and is the largest relative size on the page, making it very memorable for viewers.

Propaganda and the Iraq War

"It is acceptable for a government to try to shape public opinion through information campaigns"

During the Iraq war, the political ideologies of different media institutions was clearly shown and became a topic of controversy throughout the war. Based on the cultural and political ideologies of where that specific institution is or who owns it, how the same news will be reported often varies. With that being said, there is a trend and relationship between the political ideologies of the country and the ideologies of the institutions that follow that country. Ever since World War I, it is not uncommon practice for a country to use the media to influence and shape what the targeted audience thinks. For example, during the world wars, Russia would have pro-Russia propaganda and the United States would show Russia as villainous and evil. During the nuclear bombings of Japan, the American people did not feel much remorse for Japan because during the entire war, the media has been setting up Japan to be an evil and antagonistic side. Although morally and ethically, it is wrong and unacceptable for a country to change the publics opinion via information campaigns, it is often something that is done today, especially in big cases like the Iraq War. Usually, the government aims to shape the publics opinion in order to gain the publics support by antagonizing the other side of the conflict, leading the government to be able to easily justify their actions. In the case of the Iraq war, a large majority of Americans believed that the Saddam regime was treacherous and that the Americans were helping the Iraqis achieve freedom. Some believed that the Iraqis were uncivilized. In the case of Jessica Lynch, the public believed that she was kidnapped by the opposing side and that she was mistreated and heroically saved by the American soldiers. Several sources later on revealed that that story might not be the case, some nurses from Iraq even went on to say that they took care of her as their daughter. This caused quite a stir because it could be a classic case of the government trying to twist the truth. The Jessica Lynch story gives the American government two things. Firstly, the Iraqis seem like rebels who are fighting against Americans. Secondly, the American soldiers seem like heroes. This obviously advances the countrys agenda and allows for public support. This whole thing will then distort the publics image of the war- something that America would want but would be detrimental in the long run. 

Media Bias- Pastiche

Rationale: 

The following pastiche will examine an article from Fox News regarding the Palestine-Israel conflict. This specific article shows clear favoring of the Israeli side and antagonizes the Palestinian side significantly. The pastiche will rewrite the article and change the bias to favor the Palestinian side. There will be vague information about the Israeli side and will only highlight and present the Palestinian side in a good light. The pictures in the two articles are also completely different seeing as the one on Fox News shows the Palestinian side as an evil side and the one on the pastiche shows the Israeli side as the bad side.

Original Article: 

From Fox News about Israel and Palestine- clearly favoring the Israeli side. 

Israel's parliament has passed a law toughening penalties against Palestinians for throwing rocks at soldiers, after a nearly two-month wave of violence that has seen almost daily Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers.

The law places a minimum sentence of three years on offenders and strips rock-throwers of their social security benefits, a punishment that applies to Palestinians in east Jerusalem. The parents of minors convicted of rock-throwing could also have their social security benefits annulled during the period of the offender's sentence.

Israel's parliament, the Knesset, announced passage of the law on its website Tuesday. The legislation was first introduced months ago, before the current unrest began.

On Wednesday, Israel police say a Palestinian was shot and killed after he rammed his vehicle into an officer in the West Bank. Police spokeswoman Luba Samri says the officer was seriously wounded in the attack.

The violence began with clashes at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site and quickly spread across Israel and into the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Eleven Israelis have died, mostly in stabbing attacks, while 70 Palestinians have been killed, including 44 people labeled by Israel as attackers.

"A minimum punishment is necessary to create a deterrent and uproot the assumption that `it's just a stone,"' said lawmaker Nissan Slomiansky, who sponsored the legislation. He said that "throwing a rock is an attempt to murder and there should at least be a minimum punishment."

Arab lawmaker Jamal Zahalka condemned the law, saying that "fires cannot be put out with gas, and this law is throwing gas on a fire."

The first fatality in the current round of violence was a 64-year-old Israeli who died after his car was pelted with rocks in Jerusalem as he drove home during the Jewish New Year.

Israeli leaders have accused Palestinian political and religious leaders of inciting the violence. The Palestinians say it is the result of frustration after nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation.

Modified Article: 

As the Palestinian side continues to defend itself against incoming attacks from soldiers, Israel’s parliament passed yet more penalties against Palestinians, after nearly two months of Palestinian defense against Israeli attacks.

The law takes away rights of the citizens by stripping the fighters of their social security benefits. Young and helpless children could also be punished because the parents will be penalized.

The Knesset, a parliament, announced the law on Tuesday. Even though the legislation was introduced months ago, Palestinians have only recently been facing heavy and unnecessary attacks that require self-defense.

A Palestinian was brutally shot and murdered on Wednesday. The Israeli police involved dealt with minor injuries.

The violence escalated at Palestines holy site, Jerusalem and quickly spread to further occupied territories. 70 Palestinians were murdered, 44 of them killed because they were defending themselves. Some Israelis also died.

 “We will defend ourselves against these unrightful laws designed to strip our people of their rights” said spokesman Mohammad Khalid. He also said that “rock throwing is one of the few ways the Palestinians can defend themselves”

Israeli lawmaker condemned the law and said that, “fire needs to be put out with water, and this law only throws water on fire”.

In this escalating violence, an old Israeli man died after his car interacted with several Palestinian fighters. On the other hand, 12 Palestinians died the same day from incoming fire from the Israeli offense.

Palestinian leaders have accused Israeli extremists and Zionists of inciting the violence and that this is self-defense against more than 60 years of violence. The Israelis say that the rocks are frustrating them.

"Lady Lazarus" Commentary

Based on the first 11 stanzas and the first line of the 12th stanza.

Link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3qIclUmQO4NTjJMSUpzNTRMQmc/view?usp=sharing

"This is Water"

David Foster utilizes the idea of getting up for work and doing grocery shopping in order to deliver a message that freedom and self-fulfillment is achieved through empathy and mindful awareness of people and their situations. A perfect example is used to develop his argument when he mentions that a phrase so simple from the checkout worker such as, “have a nice day” can completely change when one is sympathetic and conscious.                                     

            Many of us have encountered situations where we jump to conclusions about someone without considering situational factors. Instead of getting angry at the lady taking too long at the cash register or getting angry at traffic, think of how that lady’s life may be or why the traffic is caused and the effect that it’s had on other people. Once someone is able to be more mindful and view the world with a different lens, life won’t be a difficult thing to get through every day. Being self-centered is the only thing that opens the gate for someone to feel as if they are going through the day with the same routine trying to find self-fulfillment when in reality self-fulfillment comes from focusing on other people and having a more conscious awareness of life.

            One of our inquiry questions is directly related to this essay: “How can literature develop empathy and emotional intelligence?” Because it’s important to know other people’s lives and be more aware of surroundings in order to develop empathy, literature can do the same. When reading about others’ lives and engaging yourself with a character with self-awareness and consciousness, you can start to develop empathy for the characters and become more mindful about their situations. That can then transfer onto real life into the reach for self-acceptance and full peace.  

Royal Beatings IOC

Link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3qIclUmQO4NYXdBRThCbUxCVTA/view?usp=sharing

I accidentally said that the passage is from "Boys and Girls". It's actually from "Royal Beatings". 

Boys and Girls IOC

Link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3qIclUmQO4NM2Z2VERxanFGa3M/view?usp=sharing

Google drive may say that there is a problem playing the file. If that happens, click the download button and it will download the audio file for you.

Here is the following annotated passage from the group:

Women's Literature

The purpose of studying literature is similar to studying anything: to learn about the world and learn how to function with everyday life. Literature can resonate and relate with people from all over the world for decades. Great literature leaves us more mindful and aware about other cultures and their customs and struggles and allows us to understand ourselves as human beings and individuals more. Women's literature focuses on the lives of women as they go through their everyday lives with family and home and personal relationships. Women's literature is often targeted with a certain plot that achieves a goal of raising issues and situations that often confront women in their everyday lives. It's necessary to study literature because it is prevalent in society today. During the Harlem Renaissance, a time of empowerment for blacks, black literature and black music was highly studied and very popular. Today, the fight for equal rights for blacks and whites is not as prevalent. Instead, 50% of the worlds population deals with similar issues everyday and finds comfort and power in literature. Women's literature is necessary to study because it allows more people to understand struggles that they may not go through and strengthens the bond of women with women and men with women. Munro's work that often targeted the struggles of women was very significant during the 50's to the 80's because it was an important time for the empowerment and high achievements of women. Similar to the Harlem Renaissance with black literature, second wave feminism brought rise and request to literature similar to Munro's. Women had basic rights at this point but there was hidden sexism and a hidden hierarchy between men and women at this time. Munro was one of the famous authors that challenged social norms and brought these issues to light. This resulted in two things: it empowered women to speak up against their injustices and it made the general public more aware of personal problems that no one could speak up against at the time. Although she does not identify as a feminist, just the fact that Munro's work brought to light the problems that women face contributed significantly to the feminist movement. The first step of solving a problem is recognizing that there is one, and Munro was able to heavily impact the feminist movement with her work. Her work was able to tackle vest specific feelings that women face that every woman around the world could relate with. She was able to explain and empathize certain struggles in detail through her literature and it brought rise to newly found womanly empowerment thoughout the fight for gender equality. Throughout reading the short stories, all of Munro's work was able to resonate with me on a personal level, something that I enjoyed the most. It is rare that literature can relate with so many people and can bring feelings and experiences to mind when someone is reading. Every word and every experience that Munro writes is able to reach out and connect with any audience of any culture and any time. 

Why do we Study Literature?

Script

Shakespeare was widely popular at his times because his plays and characters were able to connect with his audience at the time and showed feelings and experiences that they could all relate with. He crafted the English language and was able to take his audience to another world where they could come out of the play with a better understanding and appreciation for life. He is popular today because the plot can still be related to experiences in the modern world. This brings people to question why we even study Shakespeare today. Going beyond that, people begin to question why we study literature. The first thing that needs to be understood before going on to answer this question is the fact that literature mirrors life. I would not have known the effect the Taliban had on Afghanistan before reading The Kite Runner. I would not have known how colonization affected people until reading Things Fall Apart. I would not have known the importance of language and identity before literature such as The Joy Luck Club. Great literature is able to resonate with audiences all across the world for decades. Literature helps us know the world around us and allows us to be more mindful and aware of other cultures and their struggles. It allows you to empathize and sympathize with characters who are not real and yet mirror the lives of many humans around the world. After being able to empathize with characters and books, that feeling extends far beyond literature. You gain a better understanding about human beings and their feelings and allows you to communicate and connect more efficiently. Life’s most important lessons and morals can be taught and shown throughout books and literature. Having other characters and other people go through life experiences in literature and then witnessing and being able to read about their lives shows what is morally and ethically acceptable and unacceptable. It is not rare that someone says the book was much better than the movie. When reading literature, you step into another world and you make the characters in your head and you mimic their actions and associate your own feelings with their feelings. When reading literature, you are living the plot and you are creating the perfect story, as if you are narrating it. When watching the movie, it is nowhere close to the perfect world that you have imagined and the empathy and feelings you associated with the book are no longer there. By living through other characters and their emotions, we discover ourselves and slowly become shaping our identity. We gain a moral compass and we are able to see our lives and our identities written down on a piece of paper as if it was designed for us. We question our actions and understand that no matter the time or place, human beings have the same emotions, experiences, and downfalls. It bonds us as human beings and it allows us to gain a better understanding of us as people. 

Summer Blog Post 2

This blog post will be in the form of a newspaper article from the point of view of an immigrant Mexican protesting against Donald Trump’s speech.

I have recently heard that Donald Trump has announced that he is running for the 2016 presidential elections. In his presidential election announcement speech, he basically targeted every race except the white. I emigrated from Mexico when I was 11 years old with my parents. I am now 22 years old and work as a construction worker. While watching this speech, I heard an entire group of people, my people, be generalized and reduced to drug lords, rapists, and criminals. My drug is my work. I work every day for 12 hours nonstop. I do not have time to rape or distribute drugs. I do not understand how a man can run for president of a country if he does not acknowledge the backbone of that country. Mr. Trump, who do you think builds your beach houses and fixes your sports cars and serves you at your 5 star restaurants? I would hope that they are not rapists or criminals. Being in the 21^st century, I assumed that stupid and ignorant generalizations were something of the past. I assumed that we can stop categorizing one country negatively because of the actions of a few. In one of Mr. Trumps later speeches, he proclaimed Mexico as “the enemy”. As far as I know, Mexico and the United States are not enemies. This country would be in absolute ruins if it is handed to someone who is not aware of simple politics and attempts to implement his ignorant and right wing opinion on the general public. 

Summer Blog Post 1

This blog post will be in the form of a letter to the CEO of target regarding their new “trophy” T-shirts.

Dear Brian Cornell, CEO of Target,

Target has always been one of my favorite shopping places. It’s affordable and of decent quality and I have always appreciated your commitment to pleasing a wide variety of shoppers. With that being said, I ran into a problem last Thursday. I was shopping through the women’s section when I ran into a black T-shirt. On it in big letters was the word “trophy” in all capital letters. At first I was confused as to what this might mean. It could mean that the woman is precious and her own trophy. Considering the fact that this is from your bridal line, I think there is another meaning. You are relating to the woman as the man’s trophy, as his prize and his inanimate object. Just with this one word, you have brought down the worth and meaning of a woman significantly. She is no longer a strong and independent woman. She is now in need of a man in order to increase her wealth and status. Mr. Cornell, we women are not objects. We cannot be bought, sold, or disposed of. You have easily demeaned us and objectified us. I would guess that there isn’t a shirt in the men’s section with the word “trophy” or the words “bank” on them. When young girls see this shirt, they will assume that their goal in life is to please men and their worth is based on if they are pretty in a man’s arm. With the amount of money your company makes, I would suggest hiring some intelligent graphic designers for your new clothing. And let’s be real: if I were a trophy wife, I wouldn’t shop at target. 

How to Write about High School Students

Before you begin talking about how 75% of this generation is going no where and how high school students need to learn a lesson, make sure to address the cause of the problem. More specifically, make sure to discuss their poor work ethic and their habit of procrastinating and not caring about school. Rule of thumb: students are the villains, schools and teachers are the heroes.

Tip before you start: make sure to always generalize one bad student to the rest of the student population,  and suggest hard and unnecessary punishments, to reprimand them for their habits (by the way, these habits may not actually exist, but pretend they do for the sake of being a good writer).

Of course, how can you write about high school students without mentioning drugs and alcohol? While writing, the characters must have done, currently do, or will do, drugs. They probably should do bad things because they want to experiment. Remember to mention that experimenting is a teenagers habit and that it is okay. NEVER mention that students can learn from their mistakes.

With the rising statistics about phone usage and bad grades, teenagers must be the cause of this. Instead of mentioning hours of homework, make sure to emphasize the hours they spend on their phone, or out with their friends. The students are too busy hopping school fences and skipping school to do their work, so some higher power should step in and show them who the real boss is. The characters would not be well represented if they study all the time. Superficial qualities should be added for some extra spice.

When writing this, consider some things that should never be mentioned. Firstly, students who excel in school are boring and do not make a good read, so just do not mention them. Students trying their hardest should also be avoided. It is highly unlikely that a high school student will care, so just drop it. Students suffering from stress, anxiety, and exhaustion don't need to be mentioned because then you would need to go into all the boring details about what kinds of consequences things like these hold (things that you probably care so much about).

The most important thing to repeatedly mention is that high school students are small children and quite possibly, robots (robots should only be included if you want to change up the article). No higher power should treat the high school students like they are adults or like they deserve adult privileges. Students should be intimidated, punished, and lectured at (These three things are crucial). Although you may not be a high school student yourself, you have the power to write about them and understand them accurately. Don't worry about disregarding the positive traits of the students, there are none anyways.

Paper 2 - Things Fall Apart

How does Things Fall Apart conform to, or deviate from, the conventions of a particular genre, and for what purpose?   

            Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel written in 1958 and follows the life of Okwonkwo, a strong willed man who is a part of the Ibo tribe in Nigeria. By following several characters throughout the novel, the reader is able to step into the shoes of a complex tribe who has their identity stripped away by British colonizers and Christian missionaries. As the tribe begins falling apart, there are many aspects of realism shown in the novel because the plotline can be applied to similar situations in history. African literature was not highlighted until the 1950’s, one of the primary reasons why their struggle and their side of the story is not commonly known today. Things Fall Apart is considered to be a realistic fiction because it reflects the Ibo culture and their history accurately and authentically while also showing the friction between the two different cultures and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions from the captivating plotline that Achebe brings about.   

            Achebe has been highly praised for his ability to show the Ibo culture and the situations they have had to endure without bias, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions. A good characteristic of a realistic novel is that it challenges the reader to think of ethical and moral implications and allows them to draw their own conclusions, while relating the plot and the characters to their own personal experiences. The egwugwu, the evil forest, the secret societies, and other complex traditions were just given to the audience with no personal opinions connected. When Achebe introduced the tradition that twins are thrown in the evil forest to die, he did not include any personal opinions and introduced it quite blandly and simply stated it as a fact. This allows the reader to recall their personal beliefs and opinions and draw their own conclusions on something like that. Unlike a lot of old literature about the African culture, this is one of the few books that gives the raw details of the culture. It is an accurate representation of human life, and it is realistic. The audience can relate to the love between Enzima and Ekwefi or the motivation that Okwonkwo has. With an accurate representation of human life and authentically representing the culture, many aspects of realism shine through. Although Achebe does not directly show how each individual person was affected with the colonization, he shows it subtly through the structure, thus changing the mood and tone throughout the novel, and allowing the readers to really understand what the Ibo went through. Throughout parts 1, 2, and 3, the clan begins falling apart. In part 1, the culture is shown and there are flashbacks, such as recalling Unoka’s laziness, and special events; there is a harmony in the culture. The sentences are short and the ideas bounce off of each other and everything seems to go well. In the second part, the harmony is still there but there are instances where the white people are mentioned. These instances seem to disrupt the harmony, but then it goes on. In the third part, the Ibo have been colonized, the sentences get longer, it is more linear and sequential, and the structure is very clear and organized. This shows how the Ibo went from harmonious and happy to structured and constrained.  Their identity and their love for their culture was taken away from them, and the audience can feel this just by reading the novel. So while the effect of the changing plot is not directly stated, being able to step into their shoes allows the reader to draw their own conclusions. The changing structure is realistic and shows exactly how a group of people can begin falling apart.

            The sociopolitical part of the novel is also a reason why this story is realistic. Colonization happened, Christian missionaries did influence a big portion of Africa, and land was taken. Although this novel is not a historic novel because it is not based on exact people and exact events, it is something that happened and it is realistic and believable. There is clear tension between the two different cultures, something that is realistic. There is a difference in perspectives between people in the own culture, something is also realistic. The setting and plot is reflective of the cultural and social status of the clan and the individual characters. Similar to how Mr. Brown used kindness and care as a way of influence, Christian missionaries came in peace and that is how they were able to influence. Unlike Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, where the Africans are portrayed as savages and as incompetent, Things Fall Apart shows both sides of the story, without directly antagonizing one side. Again, this allows the reader to be able to relate the plot to their own lives and understand how it is realistic. Students in Korea are able to relate this novel to their experience with the Japanese colonization. When an author accomplishes to take one plotline and be able to apply it to many different situations effectively, the have succeeded at writing a realistic fiction.

            In conclusion, we can see that giving the audience information as it is and allowing them to form their own opinions is at the heart of a successful realistic novel. Achebe was able to revolutionize African literature because he took real events and made it a fiction. Following Okwonkwo and other characters, the audience can’t help but sympathize with the characters and the internal and external conflicts they face. 

Why we Have Fallen Apart - A Memoir

"Our own men and our sons have joined the ranks of the stranger. They have joined his religion and they help to uphold his government.” What is the worst part about our clan falling apart is the fact that we can contribute the fault to the flaws of our culture. What we believed is a culture that held us together and made us stronger did exactly the opposite. Because we have all grown up believing that there can be no other explanation in the world besides what the oracle and the egwugwu say, our perception of the world was skewed. Why should my wife throw away the twins in the evil forest minutes after they are born? Why should Okwonkwo have to face a 7 year exile for a mere mistake? Why should Ikemefuna have been killed? The clan has never sat down and thought what harm keeping twins or keeping Okwonwko or Ikemefuna would do. Not having titles makes men worthless. Not being strong or wealthy automatically meant you were a disgrace to the culture. We drove too many people out of our culture and then we called ourselves a strong clan. We forgot the people who belonged to our clan, and they have turned against us. It would be pointless to fight the white men with our people because all of our own people are not fighting for the opposite side. Nothing has made us fall apart except having our own men turn against us. Our own men have turned against us because we made decisions to shut out every way of living that does not follow the “Ibo way”. We thought that strength prestige comes from power and titles. What the white men have showed us is that strength comes from education and peace. It has pained me to see our clan fall apart. “The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart."

Paper 2 Response

To what extent has an awareness of context enriched or enhanced your understanding of Things Fall Apart?

The Igbo people are a complex group of people with a rich history and traditions that are unlike many of the Western readers. Because Things Fall Apart is enriched with culture and tradition, reading it with an awareness of context completely changes the way the audience may perceive it. Without having an awareness while reading the novel, personal opinions can distort how the story and the characters are viewed. For example, feminists would find the treatment of women horrible. Not having an awareness of the context would prompt a reader to put their own personal life experiences and apply it to the Igbo society because in their eyes, the Igbo culture is not as complex. Wife beating and the notion of patriarchy would have been taken out of context and the reader would not have been able to focus on the actual purpose of the novel, which is the notion of tradition and the effect of colonization. Firstly, not knowing about the context would have led me to several conclusions. Firstly, the Igbo people are violent and beat their wives because women are considered worthless. After knowing about the context, I know that women were respected in the tribe and just like the disadvantages they had, they also had a fair share of advantages.  When it comes to throwing out the twins into the evil forest, it is known that that is one of the instances of the flaws of the Igbo culture. With that being said, I have learned that these things are a result of their religion and them believing that it is bad luck or “chi” to keep twins and it goes against the rules of their culture. The Igbo people spend their entire lives trying to reach and equilibrium. That equilibrium can be between the real and the spiritual world or it can be between having common sense while also respecting their cultures. Things like throwing twins out into the evil forest are one of the ways the Igbo try to reach that equilibrium. Without an understanding of that before reading the book, certain acts like that would have been considered barbaric. This is the first piece of African literature that I have read and been able to reach a complete understanding of. While I knew that the Europeans perspective on the Africans during colonization was highly skewed, I did not expect the Igbo people or any other group of people to have such a complex culture with so many different aspects. Reading the novel with an understanding of the context and the traditions and the culture allowed to open up my mind to more than one perspective while reading the book. I was able to understand the European perspective because to them, throwing twins out in the forest is barbaric. At the same time, I was able to understand the African perspective because it is their culture and it is what they genuinely believe is the correct way to live. Having such a deep understanding of the context and the different perspectives lets me read the novel in a different light and understand it on a much deeper level. 

Okwonkwo Character Analysis

Okwonkwo, the novels main protagonist, is a lot more complex than meets the eye and is often used by Achebe to advance certain themes or purposes in the story. While Okwonkwo may not be a traditional tragic hero, he shares many traits of a tragic hero. Firstly, his tragic flaw, which can be excessive pride, is the thing that eventually leads to his downfall, his death. He commits a crime and the consequence is a punishment that is arguably too harsh, With that being said, Okwonkwo never really comes to a realization that his downfall may be a result of his wrongdoings or his tragic flaw. Choosing Okwonkwo as a tragic hero is a way for Achebe to be able to relfect on the entire Igbo society. If Okwonkwo is symbolic for the entire society, then Achebe is inferencing that their downfall was due to their own doings. While being colonized and being taken over is not something that can be attributed to the Igbo people, their inability to fight back and to open their minds about other ways of thinking could have attributed to their destruction. Using Okwonkwo as a tragic hero allowed Achebe to not only expand Okwonkwo's character, but to also show all the different aspects of the society. If Okwonkwo is considered symbolic for the entire Igbo culture, Achebe has effectively been able to use him to advance several themes. Firstly, the theme of the struggle between cultural beliefs and personal beliefs is something that often comes up with Okwonkwo and other characters like Obierika. While cultural beliefs are often forced upon every person in the Igbo society, there are instances where each character must question whether the actions are justified or not. many characters, including Okwonkwo, were attempting to reach and equilibrium between their cultural and personal beliefs. Another theme that Okwonkwo is the staple of is fate, or destiny. Although Okwonkwo works hard his entire life and does everything he can to stay away from the reputation of his father, he keeps facing obstacles until he eventually dies as worthless as his father did. Again, if Okwonkwo represents the entire Igbo society, then colonization and destruction of the culture was an inevitable act. While they may have attempted to calmly drive the Europeans out, the eventual takeover of their land is something that could not have been stopped.

Passage Analysis

Passage 1: 

The ogbanje scene with Enzima 

Chapter 9 

In this scene, Okwonkwo is suddenly awoken by Ekwefi with news that Enzima is dying. Okwonkwo reassures Ekwefi that it is only a fever and he sets out buying her medicine. The audience is introduced to Ekwefi's character more and learns that nine of her other children have died as infants. A medicine man told them that it was an ogbanje, a "wicked" child that keeps entering its mothers womb and dies again, only to torment the parents. When Enzima was born, she suffered many illnesses but was able to survive. When Enzima was 9, a medicine man found her iyi-uwa, a small pebble that is Enzimas physical link to the spirit world. Enzima and Ekwefi have more than a mother and daughter bond. It is clear that in Igbo culture, for women, being a mother is highest possible rank a women could have. This passage also shows that because of the iyi-uwa, the Igbo culture really values the link between the physical and the spiritual world and that many people try to find a proper balance between these two things. The Igbo culture also tries to find some sort of spiritual and superstitious link between every phenomenon that occurs, such as all of Ekwefi's children dying. 

Passage 2: 

Legal Ramification of Okwonkwo's crime

Chapter 13  

Ogbuegfi Ezeudi's death calls for a large and elaborate funeral because he was a great man that took 3 out of the 4 clan titles. Okwonkwo's gun accidently goes off and kills Ezeudi's 16 year old son. Because killing a clansman is a crime, Okwonkwo must take his family into exile for 7 years and goes to his mothers land, Mbanta. Obierika questions why a man should suffer so much for an accidental killing. This chapter shows the importance of kinship and the consequences that violating that could have. the Igbo people highly value titles and the bond of the clan but when someone violates that, their punishment is very harsh. With that being said, men often question whether the punishment is too harsh 

Passage 3: 

Throwing out the twins into the evil forest

Chapter 7

When Ikemefuna is killed and Nwoye senses it, something inside him breaks. The  audience is then introduced to the idea that newborn twins are left to die when Nwoye shares that the first time he broke down was when he heard the cries of newborn twins that were left to die in the evil forest. In Igbo culture, twins were not allowed and they would be "thrown out" right as they were born. Again, this shows some questionable Igbo cultural practices. Nwoye and Obierika often question these traditions. The Igbo are very loyal to their beliefs and they follow the rules perfectly, but right as something may damage their way of thinking or change how they view the world, their punishment is often questionable. 

Chinua Achebe Interview Discussion

The most meaningful take is the fact that Achebe expressed how many societies, more than he imagined, his book impacted. He share that a school from Korea wrote letters to him about how they were able to connect with the book because Korea was colonized by Japan. The discussion about this specific topic began by talking about how not only was his book able to give a voice to the unheard, but was also able to empower societies all around the world. Another side of the discussion was the fact that it was the first actual piece of African literature that expressed the voices of the Africans and so it was able to not start well known African literatures, but allow many of them to become well known. A question that was asked in the discussion was about if the bad portrayal of African Americans impeded on their progress. As a general consensus, we all agreed that being put in a bad light may not completely worsen a countrys progress, but it certainly does not help it. This discussion not only allowed me to understand Achebe's point of view clearer, but also helped me put the entire novel into context. 

Stalin's Red Army Speech- Paper One Commentary

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1941/11/07.htm

            Stalin and Hitler and many tyrannical leaders were able to gain their power through excellent speech delivering skills. Their power in speaking and persuasive language allowed numerous countries to believe in things that are looked at as atrocious today. Stalin committed acts that are unspeakable against his people and was still able to control his power and his country. The key to any political speech are literary devices that each are able to have a certain persuasive effect on the audience. By heavily antagonizing opposing countries and connecting with the army in order to empower them, Stalin demonstrates what is needed to be able to be a powerful leader.

The text that I will be analyzing is Stalin’s Speech at the Red Army Parade on the Red Square Moscow on November 7^th, 1941. The target audience is stated in the first minute of Stalin’s speech as Stalin says,“Comrades, men of the red army and the red navy, commanders and political instructors, working men and working women, collective farmers-men and women, workers in the intellectual professions…”. With this, it is clear that Stalin is targeting all of Russia. With that being said, the majority of the audience members are men of the Red Army. By addressing them as “working men and women” or as “workers in the intellectual profession”, Stalin is saying that they are more than just men in the army. He is showing them that he knows that they have other professions and other lives. This automatically attracts the target audience and allows Stalin to be the good ethical character. This further allows for the speech to be more persuasive. Stalin is aiming to persuade the men to fight and not give up against the German army. He empowers the men and degrades the German army throughout the entire speech.

            The speech is meant to congratulate the men on the 24^th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. It begins with expressing Stalin’s deep worry for the war and says what The Soviet Union has lost as a result of the war: “We have temporarily lost a number of regions, the enemy has appeared at the gates of Leningrad and Moscow”. After that, an empowering message starts as Stalin explains how the army has risen and fought successfully against the Germans. He begins to recall old events such as in 1918 where the Soviet Union was being controlled by the enemy and continues to explain how the Soviet Union, “recovered all lost territory, and achieved victory”. Again, this makes the army and the people of the Soviet Union view themselves as indestructible and inexhaustible, something that would have helped them win the war. Stalin continues to boost up the egos of the army by explaining how the country is currently in the best economic position it has ever been and how the entire country supports and fights for the Red Army. Throughout this entire process, Stalin continues to antagonize and demonize the “Hitlerite Germany”. According to Stalin, “Germany is bleeding, her reserves of man power are giving out, the spirit of indignation is spreading…” The speech ends with the idea that the “entire world” is looking at the Soviet Union as the force that can defeat the enemy and bring peace and justice into the world.   

            The speech is clearly very biased and attempts to antagonize the German people to a very large extent. There are many personal pronouns such as, “Our reserves of man power...” Stalin makes an attempt to connect with the audience through the use of personal pronouns and show that he is not different than them. He also makes a personal connection with the audience in the first paragraph by addressing each one of them personally. This hooks the audience and also would persuade them even more because they feel a connection with him. There are also several instances of hypophoras such as, “And what happened? We routed the interventionists, recovered all our lost territory, and achieved victory”. The use of a hypophora would allow the audience to formulate their own question for a second and then have it be directly answered. Because Stalin needed absolute control all the time, he used hypophoras often and answered his own questions directly after in order for the audience to not have an opportunity to formulate their own thoughts and rather just agree with him. Stalin also uses an expletive when saying, “Our entire country, all the peoples of our country, support our Army and navy”. This emphasizes that every single person who is a part of the country must support the red army because he said so. There is also a use of an eponym when saying, “Hitlerite Germany”. Because Hitler is known to be a horrible person, the use of “Hitler” to describe Germany makes Germany seem horrible and demonizing. He generalizes one person from a country to the entire country and makes Germany further hated. Towards the end of the speech, an anaphora is used when repeating “German Invaders”. Again by repeating this phrase, the idea that Germans are invaders is further emphasized and stays in the audiences mind. The use of all of these rhetorical devices is meant to do one thing: to antagonize the German people and to make the Soviets hate Germany and love the rule of the Soviets. Although Stalin goes down in history as one of the cruelest leaders, his speeches and persuasive abilities allowed him to climb up to power.

Although Stalin is believed to be an intimidating and tyrannical ruler, the speech shows the opposite. The tone of the speech is friendly and encouraging. Stalin makes an attempt to connect with the army and not to intimidate them. His welcoming and hopeful attitude further persuades them to do everything that he would want. The atmosphere is relaxed and the speech makes everyone empowered. The purpose of the speech is to lift people’s moods and self-esteems up. While watching the video, it is clear that everyone in the audience is encouraged and empowered and there is no sense of fear. Stalin speaks in a calm and encouraging way, something that allowed him to be such a successful leader.

Interactive Oral Commentary Practice

The Scene that I chose is Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 453 - 490.
The characters speaking in this scene are Miranda, Ferdinand, and Prospero.

Guiding Questions:
1. How does the use of Miranda as a symbol for innocence allow the contrast between man and monster with Caliban and Ferdinand?
2. How does Prospero's background as royalty contribute to his controlling personality? What does Shakespeare say about royalty through characterizing Prospero as such?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3qIclUmQO4NXzBJOTlieUJ0aWM/view?usp=sharing

bell hooks: On the Language of Power

In this essay, bell hooks discusses the rich history behind African American Vernacular English and how it started off as a tool of rebellion but could have the possibility of holding back many bright children today. Although the entire essay was informative and thoughtful, the most meaningful thing that I took away was the fact that children who have grown up in an environment where African American Vernacular English is the norm are being held up in educational facilities because their specific language is often thought of as “rude” or “incorrect”. The entire idea of Standard English has a very blurred line when it comes to the educational system. Most educational facilities require the use of “Standard English” not only in essays and formal assignments, but also as a means to communicate in the classroom. This leaves many children who have grown up in a “Non Standard English speaking home” confused about what they should be speaking and communicating with. When they are in their communities, they speak like they have been taught their entire lives. When they are in the classroom, they are taught that that way is wrong. This only reinforces the idea that AAVE or any other dialect of English is incorrect, informal, and un-educational. This in turn leaves the children thinking that their culture and language is not worthy of higher education. This leaves little opportunity for many children to seek higher education and be able to succeed in school. As one off bell hooks favorite quotes says, “This is the oppressor’s language yet I need it to speak to you”. The children who aim for higher education find themselves in need to abandon their language and move on to the “Standard English”. This does three things: leaves them confused about their identity, exposes them to criticism from the African American society, and allows them to lose a part of the language they have grown up with. What really struck me was the fact that both white and black children grew up in the same country and go through the same educational system and yet African Americans have to work twice as hard to climb up the educational ladder because the educational system does not have any programs that utilize AAVE (or any “Informal” dialect of English for that matter). What started off as a language that is meant as a means of empowerment and as a tool for rebellion is transforming into something that holds back a large majority of the African American community. Standard English being a means of communication has shown to be a difficulty for a large number of African Americans who have been raised to speak the language that their ancestors were once proud to speak.  

Linguistic Imperialism and Pop Culture

Linguistic imperialism is the idea that a certain dominant language is being transferred onto other people due to current world demands that center around that language. From education to business to pop culture, the English language is rising to be the most dominant language on the world. Pop culture is currently known today to be in “English”. When someone is named an “international celebrity”, it is generally known that they are either from and English speaking country or they have been able to make international relations because they are proficient in the English language. For example, Lady Gaga is very well known in both English and non-English speaking countries. Ailee is an international Korean star but was actually born in Colorado and studied in the states her whole life. In that sense, the face of pop culture are English speaking stars, English songs, and English television. These are the celebrities and shows that children will grow up watching and admiring. In today’s society, the spread of pop culture is extremely quick and accessible. Children in India can watch an American movie online easily. The movie industry is generally known to be American and most movie theaters in the world carry English movies. For many foreign singers, incorporating English words and sentences into their songs is a very good way to appeal to a larger and more international audience. For a star to be able to be international and successful, they must have connections from other countries. The only way they can get these connections is by being able to speak English because they will not learn every single language in the world in order to have to reach out to a wider audience. Shakira, for example, began singing only Spanish songs in the beginning of her career. As she broadened her horizons, she found that in order to make it into the business, her songs must be in English. She is the international sensation that she is today because she was able to learn and communicate in English. By making pop culture dominated by English, it excludes many potential singers, movie stars, and directors. There could be a little boy who lives in Malaysia that has the potential to be the most influential and brilliant director, but without the English language, he could never put himself on an international scale.  With that being said, there are always rare occasions of barriers being broken. The most watched video on YouTube and the only video to ever be viewed 2 billion times is Gangam Style, a Korean song that only has 2 English words. The appeal of this song comes from the rather unique singer, catchy tune, and the exotic music video. But as I said before, that is a rare occasion. Pop culture is continually being dominated by the English language and as for now, it does not seem like that could change. While there are consequences, pop culture is meant to be taken lightly and so the fact that there is linguistic imperialism in pop culture does not pose any real threat on the world today. 

Paper 1 Text 2 Analysis

           This paper one text can be interpreted to be a lot of things but I believe that it is an advertisement disguised as an informative article. The text starts off with an introductory paragraph that explains what the article will be about – something that many articles have. It starts off with facts and numbers and so the reader automatically knows that it is meant to be informative and factual. The article is split into three different parts and each part has its own subtitle, also another quality for an article. The last part explains the entire organization and everything they do and convey it in a positive light – something that might lead people to believe that it is an advertisement. The company helps areas with deep poverty and the article continues to explain how the company achieves this and is also very interactive with the audience and that is a good quality of an advertisement. The purpose of the article is to persuade and encourage the audience to donate and help the organization. The target audience seems to be people that are looking for ways to help and are considering organizations to donate to because this article recalls every possible way to shed a good and positive light on the organization. 

            The article is written from the point of view of a worker in an organization called “Oxfam”, an organization dedicated to address issues of poverty in extremely poor countries. The article is taken directly off of the Oxfam website. The target audience seems to be people who are interested and worried about growing epidemics and are looking for ways to help. In general, the text is meant to do two things: to inform and to persuade. Firstly, many facts and numbers are brought up. People tend to believe a number and tend to be more affected by such things. The article explains the problem very effectively. Secondly, as stated before, there is a hidden advertisement in this article. Firstly, the article is placed on the website and so it must aim for something specific. The organization is portrayed in a very positive light. Often, things like “we can help” are often said. By using pronouns like “we”, the article becomes very interactive and personal with the audience. The audience therefore is more encouraged to donate because it becomes more of a personal task. It very subtly persuades people to donate to the cause and do something about the problem. It offers a problem - solution scenario because it states all of the growing issues and then goes on to explain how Oxfam is the solution. 

            The article goes on to explain about the hunger epidemic that is present in West and Central Africa. The problem seems to be a result of poor food harvests and water shortages. A study shows that around 12 million people are facing the possibility of a serious food crisis like the one that occurred in 2005 and 2008. Oxfam is sending humanitarian aid to millions of people in this area and working closely with families to help set up a foundation in order to prevent further such epidemics. 

          The tone and mood of the article are sad yet hopeful. The article is structured in a way that it begins very sadly and explains this crisis and how many people are involved in this epidemic but then continues on to explain that there is hope and that many communities are hard at work to fix these problems. The reader would begin reading the article and would feel very affected and upset but by the end of the article, they would feel as if they can help and as if there is hope. It has a certain sad mood because it gives us facts about poverty and hunger and when people have numbers in front of them, it is difficult to not be effected by it. By setting a depressing atmosphere, the audience is immediately snapped into reality and it encourages them to want to help and do something about the problem. This article very efficiently informs and persuades the target audience in a way that this problem can be solved but the company can also benefit from it. 

          By disguising the advertisement as an informative article, it uses ethos because the audience would not look at it as something that is trying to get money out of them but rather something that wants to inform them. Oxfam places themselves on a high pedestal and very effectively persuades the audience.