English Perfect Paper 1

The following text is a propaganda leaflet by British Pacifist Norman Angell as stated on the bottom right-hand side of the text. The text is providing a reason for why Britain should not join the war. Created in 1914, the leaflet takes place in light of World War 1 and is a time of great nationalism by Europeans towards their own countries. Throughout this leaflet, Norman uses Ethos, Pathos, Logos, and font variations in order to gain support for his cause that Britain should not join the war.

The purpose of this leaflet is to convince the audience against joining the war, this can be justified as the author was a pacifist who opposed war. The author uses the fact that Britain would have to ally itself with Russia if it were to join the war as a reason for why the British should not join the war, this can be seen as the main headline of the leaflet "Why Fight for Russia." The intended audience could be the uneducated population, this is because author attempts to explain what Russia is, as seen in the second line "What is Russia." through providing information on Russia and it's political and social statuses, this signifies that the intended audiences are the uneducated as any person who is educated would know about Russia during the time. Also, the intended audience could be the unemployed. this is because at the end of the leaflet the author writes "get your local notables to hold meetings of protest against England." By providing information on how to protest against this cause implies that the intended audience has got a lot of free time on their hands which suggests that the intended audience could be the unemployed.

In summary, the leaflet conveys the ideology that Britain should not go to war as it will be alongside Russia, as seen in the first line "If England goes to war, it will be on the side of Russia." and continues to back up this statement by providing factual information and statistics to sway the audience's ideas in favor of the author's and concludes the leaflet by providing information on how to protest against the war.

The tone conveyed in the leaflet is a critical tone as the author is critical of Great Britain's decision to fight alongside Russia this is reflective in the statement made by Norman "Why fight for Russia." Also, the author continues by providing statistics and numbers such as "We spent 50,000,000 in the Crimea" and "140 million Russians, slaves of a corrupt autocracy" which further enhances the author's critique towards England's decision as it provides statistics against this cause.

The author uses logos to persuade and influence the audience's opinion regarding this matter. This is representative in the following statements made by Norman "Russia is the country to fight which we spent 50,000,000 in the Crimea" The author uses this sentence to show that Russia doesn't care for England as they invaded Crimea knowing that England had invested 50,000,000 pounds in it. Also, the author uses pathos in lines 12-15 "65 million Germans of our own race and blood" and "140 million Russian, slaves of a corrupt autocracy." By including this, the author implements contrasting information between Germany and Russia which creates a sympathetic connection between the audience and the Germans as the British can easily relate to the Germans due to them being "of our own race and blood." Also, the author utilizes the fact that Britain had an elected parliament in 1914 and implements the word "autocracy" to show how British and Russian ideologies contradict and that they should not fight alongside each other.

The author uses a variety of font sizes and underlines to add emphasis to the leaflet's main points which also attracts the audience towards more important aspects of his arguments. For instance, the author enforces his main ideology by including it as a headline and underlining it, as seen at the top of the leaflet "Why fight for Russia?" this allows for added emphasis by making this statement a focal point of the leaflet, also the author uses a vague claim "A war for Russia is a war against humanity." and adds emphasis to it by underlining Civilization and placing it in large fonts, this helps imply to the audience that this claim is an important claim and also acts as a focal point which would allow the author to get his main ideas across as they are focal points. Finally the author puts his call to action : "Britain, Stand Clear!"in a large font which allows the author to get his idea across.

All in all, Norman Angell uses logos, pathos, ethos, and font variations to gain support for his cause that Britain should not go to war.

IB Learner Profile Propaganda Poster

Prompt #1

"Deception is just as telling an outright lie"

An old Arabic quotes states: " If you want to take over a country, take over the people's thoughts." and the best way to do that is through the manipulation of media. The deception and manipulation of people's minds is a dangerous and unethical weapon.

The media and the news coverage that we invite to our living rooms each day are all possessed or in some cases influenced by wealthy and powerful people, let's not forget that these people, just like everyone on Earth, are human and therefore have opinions and desires too. They would do anything to protect their businesses or manipulate stories to gain support from the people whom they sell their products to.

 Lying in order to sway public opinion to favor a certain side through the deception of certain things whether it be for the most important national security reasons is unethical and delinquent. Most of us don't have access to firsthand information like news agencies do therefore portraying one side of the story for the purpose of persuasion or dissuasion is extremely immoral.

We live in a world today where we strive to achieve equity and justice; however with the constant exploitation and deception of stories through news coverage by governments and organisations to gain public support, we are always going to have different groundless opinions based on these beliefs and desires of these organisations in which we will constantly fight battles against one another due to certain ideologies implanted into our minds that negatively alter our view of certain societies and cultures.

The worst out of all, is deception of media to gain support for an invasion of another country. Millions of lives are at stake and just the single thought that the majority of the world would not know the real "truth" due to such manipulation is disheartening, and to add insult to injury with the growing number of news agencies and organisations and different opinions they bring along with it, finding the truth to a certain event is now close to impossible

Media Bias and Ideology Blog Post

Biased Article: http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/what-do-palestinians-want_1058143.html
(Website funded and backed by FOX news.)

Re-written:

The so called "Palestinian terror attacks" on Israel are not as chaotic as they seem considering the fact that Israeli Forces have killed 9 times more CIVILIANS in the past decade than Palestinians have towards Israelis. Fox News needs to re-think their definition of "terror". It is also hard to believe that Palestinians are the terrorists when in-reality Israel where the ones to invade Palestinian land in the first place.

Palestine has been under constant siege from Israel since 1948, Palestinians are finding it very hard to re-grow their economy with the everlasting blockade and restrictions on imports and exports making Palestine the 126th out of the 180 ranked economies by Nominal GDP. It is estimated that sometime during the next 5 years Palestine's economy will take a giant collapse leading to an appalling famine which will inevitably lead to the demise of hundreds if not thousands of Palestinians living in Gaza.

Let's not forget the phosphorus infused bombs dropped over Palestine in the summer of 2009, this wasn't the first time Israel were accused of using prohibited weapons towards civilian-crowded areas in Gaza it was believed that they used the same weapon during their failed skirmish to take over Lebanon in 2006, and it was later confirmed to be true by a team of Italian scientists who took soil samples in Lebanon. These bombs killed about 900 Palestinians and injured 4,000 Palestinians, A UN report estimated that about half of the these numbers were civilians and half of those civilians were women and children.

According to United Nations estimates about 1,000,000 Palestinians live without electricity and about 750,000 are without clean water, this number was further enhanced because the white phosphoric bombs damaged major sources of water in Palestine as this toxic material was able to seep underground and mix with primary water reserves under-ground.

All in all, people who listen to FOX news need to stop and re-think their definition of terrorism when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because the numbers and facts speak for themselves, and not the unsupported claims made by FOX news on the matter.

Sample IOC The Tempest Act 5 Scene 1

Link: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0Fqiuxx9qMq

Lang and Lit IOC Sample #2

Link: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1iOcxdtl36ii78243

Boys and Girls IOC

Audio: http://vocaroo.com/i/s0TC7fzwNVJi

Hard copy (to follow along in-case my voice is not clear at times):

The following passage is an extract from the short story Boys and Girls by Alice Munro which was published in 1968. Generally, Munro’s work is mostly Women’s Literature with the narrator/protagonist being a female who talks about Gender roles in society, more specifically women’s roles. Alice Munro enforces this topic with the implementation of themes such as coming of age theme and the struggles that women face due to how society perceives women’s roles and the consequences of not going through with these assigned roles. Boys and Girls is no exception, the narrator/protagonist in this story is a pre-pubescent girl who faced problems coming to term with the role in life that she was expected to lead, The narrator wanted to work outside with her father in the barn which she deemed more important, than conducting women’s chores and acting like a servant to the males in the house (Laird and Her Father).

The following passage takes place close to the beginning of the short story after Munro provides the readers with information regarding her parents and how they viewed and despised her masculine-like actions.

In summary, the passage conveys the protagonists animosity towards doing feminine jobs around the house especially in the kitchen while, portraying her fondness and appreciation of doing jobs that she deemed important such as helping out her father’s in the barn. The exert also portrays the narrator’s mother’s eagerness for Laird to grow up and help his father do the work the narrator does, so that she would help her mother do jobs and occupy roles deemed appropriate for a lady.

In this passage Munro uses indirect 1^st person narration. Munro does not give the narrator a name, this effect enables the audience to relate the protagonist to whomever they desired. In regards to tone, The narrator demonstrates hate and discomfort towards doing feminine jobs around the house while portraying her mother to be the antagonist or her enemy as stated in line 30, the narrator shows bilateral emotions towards her mother, Firstly, she loves her mother because her mother cares for her and stays up all night creating the dress the protagonist desires as we can see in lines 28 through to 29; however she also views her as her enemy because the narrator feels that her own destiny is pre-determined due to her mother wanting her to remain at home and conduct feminine jobs as shown in line 22 where her mother says: “And then I can use her more in the house.”  Also, the narrator shows some-sort of indirect clash between her and her mother when the narrator attempts to flee the kitchen swiftly after finishing a chore in order to avoid receiving a 2^nd chore by her mother. This event portrays the protagonists respect for her mother as she could simply reject her mother’s proposal to do a second chore; however she feels ashamed of doing so therefore she tries to flee, this is slightly ambiguous as it could also enhance and signify the immense pressure women used to face in society when it comes to doing women’s chores and the consequences of rejecting these chores as a female. Also, the narrator portrays Laird (her male brother) to be free to do whatever he enjoys most as shown in line 20 where she describes him to be swinging himself sick on the swing, and going around in circles.” This effects allows the audience to witness the extreme inequalities of gender roles in society where young males were free to do whatever they pleased while young women were perplexed and forced to do women’s chores even though they hated it as the protagonist did in this passage.

The passage is an exposition as it consists of explanations and inner thoughts by the protagonist with few dialogues describing her mother’s desire for the protagonist to do lady-like jobs and how her mother despises the protagonist due to her admiration of doing masculine jobs.

The essence of this passage as well as the central concept is the oppression of women in Southern Ontario and the Male’s authority out-weighing the female’s authority.

In line 1 of the passage, we are directly introduced to the kitchen. The kitchen acts as a symbol for the protagonist’s prison where the narrator abhors everything about the kitchen from the “depressing work” to the “hot and dark environment during the summer”. The protagonist describes the kitchen to have endless, depressing, and useless work just like a typical prison where the work forced upon the convicts is of no usefulness to the actual convicts while it is of use to the person in charge of running the prison where he/she would have his errands done for them. The narrator also describes her eagerness to leave the kitchen/prison as soon as she’s done with her chores in line 5.

In line 15, Munro implements a simile relating the narrator’s dad to a salesman which shows her dad’s approval of the narrator doing masculine jobs, and the protagonists appreciation of her dad approval towards this specific event. However the narrator portrays contrast between her mom and her dad. Her dad being her ally while her mom being her enemy, this can be justified by her appreciation of her dads actions in line 15 and what the narrator said about her mother in line 30 where she briefly stated that she felt her mom was her enemy although she can be nicer than her dad at times.

In line 17, the narrator’s mother declares that when Laird grows up he would be of greater help to his dad, Munro implements this line to portray how the ideology that Men will grow up to do men’s chores has infected her mother although Laird clearly is not showing any signs of usefulness around the house and that the protagonist is doing most of the chores while Laird never stays with the protagonist to complete any job they previously started.

In Line 24, the mother says: “It’s not like I had a girl in the family at all.” This shows how women will be looked down upon and not be established as females if that certain person does not act womanly, although the protagonist is a female by birth, her own mother justifies her daughter by her actions rather than by her actual birth gender which in this case is female.

Finally in line 40, the protagonist expresses her mother’s lack of understanding of what is going on around the house as well her depreciation towards her daughter’s ability to conduct all these difficult masculine jobs. This in fact shows that at the time, no matter how capable a person is of doing opposite gender related roles they will still be despised and looked down upon by society as a whole.

All in all, Munro’s implementation of a symbolic feature in the protagonist’s life, the portrayal of discomfort and hate by the protagonist towards doing what the protagonist deems to be useless jobs, the narrator’s mothers closed-mindedness, the ideologies regarding gender inequalities enforced upon people in her society as well as her mother, and finally the protagonists desire for change in her current lifestyle to escape her pre-determined fate all assist in suggesting and enhancing the fact that women had little to no authority in doing anything outside the household at the time and the oppression of women in southern Ontario as a complication in Canada.

This Is Water

"This is Water" is an essay written by American Writer David Forster Wallace. The essay covers topics like the difficulty of empathy and the importance of being well-adjusted. The overall chief moral in the story is not to consider factors about life after death, but to consciously be aware and live the life we have before death. The fundamental purpose of this essay is to encourage people to view the world we live in and the people around us with a different non self-centered perspective and take into account other people's issues and hardships.

David develops and enforces his thesis through the implementation of relatable real-life examples and situations that the majority of the working population face nowadays. David also provides a solution to the audience's everyday issues which will ultimately improve and make people's lives less miserable than they are and gives us less of an incentive to "shoot ourselves before the age of 30." David also applies an extended metaphor that runs throughout the entirety of the essay, at the very beginning David introduces a story of three fish and constantly re-assures the audience that he isn't addressing an unimportant issue with no relevance to the audience's real life situations and that they should continue reading to figure out what this essay truly is about. Once we approach the very end of the essay we figure out that the fish are compared to humans and the water around the fish (which the essay was named after) was to resemble life. "This is Water" translates to "this ls life" and this is how life is meant to be we can either learn to cope with it and live cheerful lives or if we refuse we can live miserable lives, it's all up to us to choose how we want to spend the rest of our lives as he states in the essay it's all a matter of choice.

How can literature develop empathy and emotional intelligence? How does literature help us further understand David's theory? Well, Literature further helps us understand David's theory because, most literary works portray real problems we face everyday and by reading literature we expose ourselves to such problems and ultimately become more mindful and apprehensive to other people's situations which might be worse than we think our situations actually are, therefore we will learn to appreciate the lives we had and know that no matter how hard and irritating our lives are there are always people worse off  that are still fighting and refuse to give up.

Munro Literature Reflection

What is the purpose and benefit of the study of literature?

Literature is defined as: "Written works, especially those considered of superior or lasting artistic merit. A great Russian poet by the name of Boris Pasternak once said: "Literature is the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people, and saying with ordinary words, something extraordinary." I believe that literature is not just important to us, it is vital to our survival in this invariably evolving world. My 6th grade teacher once told me: "reading and writing are crucial to your success later on, you will need to be able to do one in order to do the other". It's that simple! Also reading improves our communication skills, we need to communicate clearly through either writing or speaking so we can share our thoughts and ideas with one another. For example if we were approached by an individual who cannot communicate well, naturally we humans don't feel inclined to take that person seriously. Also, studying literature helps us grasp a better understanding of the world around us, since most literature speaks of issues that are still present in our society. Finally, it is very useful to learn about the way people from other nationalities think, this also helps us better relate to them.

What is women's literature and what is the value of studying it? 

Women's literature is defined as: "women-centered books that focus on women's life experiences."It is important to learn about because it allows readers to think critically about gender, sexuality, and criticism. It also helps us better understand culture at particular times and how it gradually develops and changes, and finally provides us with real-life issues that are very common around the world.

Why were themes and values of Munro's social realism so significant during the 1950s - 1980s / Although she does not identify as a feminist writer, how has Munro's work contributed to gender equality?

Munro's themes and values of social realism were significant during the 1950s all the way through to the 1980s was because there were many active movements towards gender equality all over the wolrd and in some of the most predominant countries such as France, The United Kingdom, and The U.S.A. Her work helped further convey social issues women were currently facing and also provoked many readers into supporting such movements.

Scorpions - Wind Of Change IOC

 Wind of Change is a song by German Rock Band "Scorpions" composed in 1990. The lyrics celebrate the end of the cold war and the end of socialism.

Verse 1 reads "I follow the Moskva, down to Gorky Park" The Moskva river could be used as a symbol for the nature, indicating that the end of the socialism is caused by the basic human nature (socialism constricts your freedom to enjoy yourself). The fact that his goal is Gorky Park, an entertainment park, also supports such an interpretation, because people want to have fun. "Listening to the Wind of Change" signifies the failure of the socialism had become visible, everybody could see that it would come to an end sooner or later. The wind he is listening symbolizes the end of socialism.

Verse 2 reads "The world is closing in" The world people knew, one which was separated into the capitalist west and socialist east, was coming to an end; the socialist governments took their last breaths, before finally being gone. "And did you ever think" Only a few years prior, during the prime of the Soviet Union’s Rule, such a dramatic change would not have been believed or expected. "That we could be so close, like brothers" The methaporical border between two different people, but also actual borders such as the Wall of Berlin were destroyed in that time and people could be closer to each other, families that were long separated were finally able to come back together. "The future's in the air, i can feel it everywhere" The problems and the required changes could not be hidden from the public eye by the government anymore. Therefore, the future became obvious to everybody, since many people are now talking about about it openly. "Blowing with the wind of change" The failure of the socialism had become visible, everybody could see that it would come to an end sooner or later. But now, instead of having to listen to the wind of change, the change is actually blown towards him and everybody else, marking the development of the situation as time passed.

The chorus reads, "Take me to the magic of the moment, on a glory night." He who expected the fall of the communist regimes wanted to see this event as soon as possible, considering the fact this night would be a (glorious) part of history. Where the children of tomorrow dream away, in the wind of change" In this moment, the reunion of both German countries, West and East, the life of the next generations would be changed fundamentally, an event he had expected, because of the public view and behavior.

All in all this song has been voted the song of the century, and it is the highest selling song in Germany with an outstanding 6 million records sold. Also this song is remembered as a song of German reunification and a message of hope.

Summer Blogpost

This summer was by far the worst summer i have ever experienced throughout my life time, firstly i did not travel anywhere with my family, wasted half, if not the majority of my time sleeping, the amount of IB work we were set to complete over the summer is immense, and finally Ramadan wasted literally half my summer.

Ramadan is a holy month in which Muslims all over the world practice strict fasting from dawn to sunset, since Ramadan is a month long and the summer was two months, half the summer was wasted with endless hours of sleep to make up for the time i had to fast. Not travelling anywhere and doing absolutely nothing was the biggest waste of time ever, all i did during my free time was sit at home and watch TV shows, on the bright side the intense amount of IB work given to us by school was not bad as i had so much free time on my hands that sometimes i would rather work on my university applications or my school work rather than do nothing.

All in all, i have experienced the worst summer i will ever experience in my life. The only thing i am currently looking forward to is the completion of the IB program and receiving my diploma.

Paper #2

Stories often form an important part of the culture of a people. It is through stories that ideas, moral beliefs and everyday life can be preserved most easily. In a culture with no form of written language, such as Achebe’s Igbo culture, story-telling becomes the most practical way to convey knowledge to the younger generations. In his novel Things Fall Apart, Achebe makes good use of various stories and myths of the Igbo culture to create a genuine depiction of his own culture, which in turn allows his readers to not only better understand the Igbo culture, but to entirely immerse oneself into Achebe’s fictional village of Umuofia.

Achebe shows us just how important stories are in Igbo culture by showing us a story made up by Ekwefi, who is telling it to Ezinma. Ekwefi’s story carries a moral that she intends to teach to her daughter. She uses the story as a method of education. Ekwefi then asks Ezinma to create her own story, a task which she finds to be harder than what her mother made it look like. The use of stories as a form of education and the encouragement for young members of the population to be trained in the art of making stories from a young age shows us that in Igbo culture stories are the main way of transmitting knowledge and of educating the population. Achebe also shows us that this transmission of knowledge was something more than just a mere moral lesson. It was also used to shape the Igbo society itself. This can be seen when we see that Okonkwo’s male sons are told stories by him while his daughters are only told stories by their mothers. This shows that stories were used to determine the gender roles within the Igbo society, since there would be a separation as to what stories the boys would hear and what stories the girls would hear. And as remarked by Achebe through Nwoye’s opinions of the difference between Okonkwo’s and his mother’s stories, these stories would differ in content, the male ones usually being more violent than those told by the mothers.

Another example of an Igbo legend used by Achebe, and in this case one that has a visible effect within the culture is the legend of the Ogbanje. The Ogbanje is a demon child that keeps dying young and being reborn into the womb of the same mother. In Things Fall Apart, Ezinma is considered to be an Ogbanje, since Ekwefi has had many children before her, but they have all died young, thus she was thought to be plagued by an Ogbanje for a long time. At one point in the novel, the members of the village even harass Ezinma so that she gives off the location of the small pebble that is supposed to be the link between the Ogbanje and the physical world, in order to make sure that Ekwefi would not be tortured anymore. Achebe, writing for a contemporary audience, would have known that there is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon which the Igbo mythology attributed to supernatural forces, and that his audience would have known this as well. The fact that the reader knows that this is indeed nothing more than a legend may cause some confusion or misjudgment of the Igbo culture, but Achebe tries to stay as true to the culture as possible and show his readers exactly what the culture was like. And to this end, he shows us the extreme extent that these legends would impact the behavior of the Igbo people.

Another example of a myth that would directly impact the lifestyle of the Igbo people was their belief of having a very strong connection to Ani, the earth goddess in Igbo religion. Throughout Things Fall Apart Ani is the most mentioned deity, since many of the actions taken by the people in the village have consequences that are directly related to her. An example of this can be seen when Okonkwo accidentally kills Ogbuefi Ezeudo’s son with his faulty gun. Killing a fellow clansman is considered to be an offense to Ani, and thus Okonkwo is forced into exile in order to prevent the earth goddess from doing anything too rash. Okonkwo’s house, all of his crops and his animals are also destroyed in order to please the earth goddess. This shows that the Igbo people had a very deep belief in their religion and that it heavily affected the way they lived. Achebe might have intended to make special emphasis on this aspect of the Igbo culture in order to make an indirect comparison with the Christian church, where a lot of people do not take religion as much into account during all of their lives, and thus portray the Igbo people as a culture that may be more religious than the colonizers themselves. This would have caused the western readers of the time of the novels release to question the religious aspects of their own lives.

Passage Analysis Chapter 21 (Things Fall Apart)

Summary of Chapter 21:



At this point in the story, the majority of the Umofian people are quite pleased with the changes taking place in Umofia as they have set-up trading posts and wealth as a result of that started flowing into the village. Mr. Brown (the white missionary) and Akunna (one of the clan’s elders) meet often to debate about their own cultural and religious views in attempt to convince one another to convert religions. However; that was not Mr. Brown’s sole intention, he persistently visited Akunna to acquire additional information regarding the flaws of Umofia’s religion in order to convey that the flaws of the Igbo religion are the advantages of Christianity. Using this information Mr. Brown goes on and builds a hospital and a school and argues that “strangers who can read and write will come to rule them”. His arguments are fairly effective and his hospital wins praise for its treatments.




Various power factors that impact the major events in the novel:


The missionaries seemed to acquire and provide the Umofians with advantages lacking in the Igbo culture. Firstly he provides the well-established members of Umofia with new opportunities for wealth (Trading), Secondly the impotent members find find acceptance in Christianity that they didn't experience in the so-called old ways, and finally Mr. Brown builds a school and a much-needed hospital in Umuofia; both institutions produce immediate and impressive results which attracts even more converts to side with the missionaries.

Paper #2

The Igbo people rely on success, in order to determine how well a person should be respected and recognized. Social status in Things Fall Apart plays an impacting role on the various themes originated by Achebe. It is one of the most important factors that as a result, character's actions were driven with their traits. Social status was used as a tool of characterization, as Achebe managed to relate titles character traits. In Igbo culture, a man's social status is based on merit rather than inheritance. A man is capable of gaining respect by committing to hard work, bravery and war skills. Hence, when men have a couple of titles, it means that they have earned a rather high status in their society. Achebe kept the audience updated and informed of the titles earned by characters. Okwonko has earned two titles; this signifies his physical capabilities and his hard working inflated ego. On the other hand Unoka, Okwonko's father, has not earned any titles throughout his lifetime, this is a symbol of the ideologies stating that Unoka is a lazy character and incompetent.

Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village and considered to be one of the most important clan elders and leaders, had a high status in Umofia. Because of his significant titles, “he was to be buried after dark with only a glowing brand to light the sacred ceremony" (page 123). This further enriches the idea that relates titles to social status and characterization. Unoka, unlike Ezeudu, had no titles. Which resulted in him dying a rather shameful death as he was left in the evil forest to die there alone.

Those who were old were given a lot of respect by their society. This is because respect is associated with experience, wealth and social status. Assuming that old people have the most experience, and as a result they gained respect. However, the tribe valued achievement and accomplishment more than how much age was concerned. This is determined after perceiving that Okwonko was a fine young warrior in contrast with the respect he gained from his people, as he was an achiever and hardworking.

Women did not play a huge role in society and were only good at raising their husband’s children, thus men with no titles were referred to as women, as they did not play a role in society and deemed to be lazy and unworthy in terms of their social status.

"There was a wealthy man in Okonkwo's village who had three huge barns, nine wives, and thirty children. His name was Nwakibie and he had taken the highest but one title which a man could take in the clan" (page 18-19). This enhances the ideas of titles and success. The more titles an individual has, then the more respect he will earn from his tribe, showing that a character is an accomplished citizen of Umofia.

In conclusion, social status shaped the character’s actions and limited their character traits as discussed in the previous analytical response. As characters were introduced in terms of how many titles each has, then resulting in a creation of an idea surrounding the character and his actions relating to his social status.

Paper 1 Political Speech

The chosen text that I will be analyzing is conveyed and published in the form of a political speech by John F. Kennedy. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address was held on Friday, January 20, 1961. An Inaugural Address is a form of speech that is delivered by a leader who aims to share his or her intentions as a dominant figure with the audience. This speech takes place during an inauguration, which is a formal ceremony held to mark the very first steps of a public leader. Knowing that the text was an Inaugural Address and delivered by one of the most memorable American leaders, allows us to determine, recognize and identify the text as a speech. Speeches given by leading American presidents generally console the commonalities of their citizens by referring to the American history, significance of the occasion and most importantly to hope for a thriving future.

Kennedy’s speech aimed to reassure Americans of what their nation is capable of, “United there is little we cannot do”. The “we” in the previous quote resembles unity and sympathy shared by the leader with his supporters. Simultaneously projecting a sense of security in the eyes and hearts of his fellow supporters, who showed their support by embracing the young leader’s vision. Kennedy then moves on to educate and inspire the American society to serve their homeland and the world, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man”. By referring to the world in contrast to America, further enhances the ideologies portrayed to the audience, as it views the United States of America as a vicious side that the world is in need of.

John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address is considered to be the finest and most eloquent speech to be given by a president in the American history. Kennedy’s speech marked the 44th presidential inauguration, while at the same time the cold war was taking place, as he starts off by saying "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to insure the survival and the success of liberty”. These previous lines indicate the situation that Kennedy and his nation were in. The hardships that the Americans lived with were all shifted away as Kennedy gave his speech, giving Americans hope and a mission to further build their uprising nation.

The tone was that the speech was set on and the way the speech was conveyed tells us a lot about Kennedy’s character. The tone allows the speech teller to feel more empowered and project this power to the audience. Kennedy used formal and sophisticated vocabulary, showing his eloquence and intelligence. For example, “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans”, the previous lines further portray Kennedy as an intellect leader, his usage of antiquated words resemble his care for the nation’s history while thriving for a superior future.

Literary devices give authors the opportunity to express what they want, as a result Kennedy took an advantage of that as he used detailed and impacting key literary devices allowing him to portray his ideas more efficiently. Ethos, Pathos and Logos were present in this text. Ethos for example, “For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago”. The previous quote is an example of Ethos, as Kennedy’s political background provided him with tools to take on the audience from all around the world in his speech, including the Soviet Union. Pathos was also relevant in the context where Kennedy said, “let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own”. That shows Pathos since Kennedy assures that there is a common god and a mutual belief in him, the usage of both “we” and “us” signify equality although Kennedy is considered to be the president of the most powerful nation in the world. Last but not least, Logos was evident as Kennedy said, “United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures”. In the previous quote Kennedy states the fact that working together allows their nation to succeed as a whole better.

Rhetoric devices were also frequently plotted in the text, such as Antithesis, Repetition and Metaphor.
Antithesis is when there is contrast of ideas in parallel structures or words, it was evident when JFK said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”. Repetition however, is a word or phrase used two or more times in close proximity, such as, “For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life”. Metaphors are the most commonly used form of rhetoric devices, where there is an implied comparison through a figurative use of words, for example as Kennedy referred to poverty as chains that need to be broken by working together, “the chains of poverty”.

Over all JFK's speech was constructed and delivered in a superior manner. Rhetorical devices being implemented in his speech further built up his leading character in the eyes of his supporting audience. His Inaugural Address was one of the most successful speeches in US history, and all the factors contributing in the previous statement were thoroughly discussed in the previous analysis.

FOA Reflection

My FOA was based upon the focus question, how is language used to represent a social class in media types such as TV shows, rap songs, and magazine articles. The two learning outcomes in which i seek to achieve are as follows, firstly to analyse how audience and purpose affect the structure and content of texts, and secondly to analyse how language can either oppress or empower a group of people.

 Our group chose to present this FOA in the form of a video mainly because our voices tend to be clearer and easier to comprehend if we use a microphone rather than present our presentation live, and we wish to be ale to present our analysis and ideas clearer and in a more organized way than if we chose to present our FOA live; therefore our final decision on how we are going to present this FOA was based upon these two questions.

 I feel like we were successful in presenting this FOA due to many different reasons, firstly we provided the audience with a detailed and thorough analysis of three different media types (Rap song, magazine, and a TV show), we stuck to our topic and did not go off track during the presentation, each member of the group answered the main focus question at the end of our analysis of each of our specific media types, and spoke briefly about how language was used in the texts in relation to our focus question, and finally we provided the audience with examples from our media types to back up our analysis.

 Our strengths were our organization of the FOA, ensuring that the language we were using was appropriate and relevant to the task, and we conveyed good understanding of how language is used in each of the media types, as for our weaknesses, i believe that we should have improved on sticking to our time limit although we were only a minute under the required amount and we should make sure we are fully knowledgeable of our texts.

 The reason i chose my specific text is chiefly due to it being extremely relevant to answering my focus question and would help me achieve my self-assigned learning outcomes, Some of the features that i analysed in which i was able to demonstrate and answer my focus question through, were the author's word choice in the article, how the language used by the author portrayed women as lower citizens of a society, and the author's exclusion of women's important roles in society.

Some of the things i learnt from completing this activity were: learning how to edit and construct a video from scratch, the fact that there is power in language and that a certain social group can be oppressed or empowered depending on the author's use of language, and finally social classes can be degraded or upgraded through the language in many of the common media types we watch and listen to everyday.

Practice IOC Act 4 Scene 1

IOC Script:

For my IOC, i will be analyzing Act IV Scene I (Lines 25-59)

Context and the major events leading up to this play include:

- A huge storm rages upon a ship carrying the King of Naples, his brother, his son, and other characters

- The shipwreck survivors wake up on the island, They are surprised that there clothes smell and feel fresh

- Ariel's song puts them all to sleep except for Sebastian and Antonio. Antonio, (who replaced his brother his brother Prospero as Duke of Milan), manipulates and brainwashes Sebastian (Brother of the King) into doing the same thing Antonio did in the past by replacing King Alonso. As the two were about to kill the king in his sleep, Ariel awakens everyone and the two men quickly make an excuse for drawing their swords.

- Trinculo, a jester on the ship discovers Caliban and quickly realizes that such a monster would earn a fortune for him in England. Stephano, trinculo's friend eventually finds Trinculo under Caliban's huge frame. Stephano gives Caliban alcohol, causing Caliban to believe Stephano to be more powerful than Prospero. The three men set off together, later deciding to kill Propspero

- Prospero who is now invisible to Ferdinand and Miranda, witnesses Ferdinand and Miranda expressing their deep love for one another. Propsero, realizing he is witnessing a truly rare meeting of hearts, approves of Ferdinand for his daughter. The scene ends with Ferdinand taking Miranda for his wife. Prospero is pleased but must now leave to attend to matters before supper

- Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian and Francisco and others witness a banquet on the island but it is an illusion. Ariel returns and verbally punishes Alonso (King of Naples), Antonio and Sebastian for their roles in exiling Prospero,

Summary Of The Lines

- In these specific lines, Prospero orders to gather his band of spirits to put on a celebratory masque, or performance, for the new couple

Plot/Purpose:

- These lines are strategically placed in this Scene because The Tempest is filled with Prospero's magic and illusions. The play begins with Prospero's magic and end with it as well. Therefore Shakespeare intended to show that Propspero was always in charge, and not just in the initial and concluding scenes of the play, but throughout the entirety of the text. Strategically placing these lines in the middle of the play contributes to proving that Propsero was always in charge and always one step ahead.

- Also, the organization of the court masque played a crucial role in the way the Renaissance monarchs chose to think about themselves. Masques served essentially as images of Order, Peace, and Harmony brought about by the ruler's mere presence

Style and Language:

- The repetition of the word "servant" by Prospero when speaking to Ariel throughout these lines underlines the Propsero's power over Ariel and the fact the she owes him for freeing her from Sycorax.

- And at the beginning of the lines, the transfer of power is being shown by Propspero when he grants "1/3" of his life to Ferdinand when he approves of Ferdinand and Miranda's marriage.

- By Propspero telling Ferdinand to keep off Miranda till after the wedding largely highlights the importance of Miranda's virginity and innocence, and that her virginity is a thing that's treated like a "Treasure" and to be guarded well in the hands of her father from Caliban's attempts to rape her and Ferdinand (Till after the wedding)

Language and Literature Blog #13 Labov's Department Store Study

Labov's Department Store Study

Labov's research in the Lower East Side of New York City showed that individual speech patterns were part of a highly systematic structure of social and stylistic stratification. He studied how often the final or preconsonantal (r) was sounded in words like guard, bare and beer. Use of this variable has considerable prestige in New York City. It can be measured very precisely, and its high frequency in speech makes it possible to collect data quickly.

One self-contained part of the research has become particularly well known. The speech of sales assistants in three Manhattan stores, drawn from the top (Saks), middle (Macy's) and bottom (Klein's) of the price and fashion scale. Each unwitting informant was approached with a factual enquiry designed to elicit the answer - "Fourth floor" - which may or may not contain the variable final or preconsonantal (r). A pretence not to have heard it obtained a repeat performance in careful, emphatic style.

The findings were that the sales assistants from Saks used it most, those from Klein's used it least and those from Macy's showed the greatest upward shift when they were asked to repeat.









The results from the department store study highlight the main themes of the research. Frequency of use of the prestige variable final or preconsonantal (r) varied with level of formality and social class.

Language and Literature Blogpost #12

Linguistic Imperialism refers to the transfer of a dominant language to other people. Linguistic imperialism can have major impacts on people's lives, identities, and their respective communities. English is Earth's most dominant language and there's no doubt that English linguistic imperialism brings bad effects to the indigenous language and original culture of countries whose first language is not English (Every country except the U.S and the U.K.)

Firstly English linguistic imperialism can lead to language loss or in other words, the indigenous language of a country is/will no longer be used by their own people, for example the Middle East and China are two great examples. Language loss is just the first part of the huge chain-reaction that will eventually lead to the loss of people's culture since language is the key to culture and is also considered to be the main aspect which runs a culture, after that we may even lose our identities, without language and culture a human is just an ordinary person without proper cultural backgrounds speaking a foreign language, and to add insult to injury, in the modern era there is no patriotism which drives someone to be supportive and loyal to one's country; therefore this will just speed up the process of language and cultural loss.

Language and Literature Blog-post #11

This paper one text labelled "Food Crisis in Sahel" falls under the advertisements section due to it's persuasive content, but comes in the shape of an educational article written and published by the widely-recognized charitable confederation known as Oxfam. It's structure follows the ones of an article, it includes 3 parts, an introduction which contains numbers and statistics which would signify to the readers that this is an informative piece right from the start, the situation in the Sahel region, and what the organization is doing to solve this issue. The key advertising claims used in the ad include the problem/solution and the scientific/statistical claims while the advertising technique used is the conflict technique in which the audience and intended viewers of the ad want to see the conflict resolved.


A sad tone and mood runs throughout the entirety of the article with all the gloomy and dreary statistics that people in the Sahel region will be going to face if the problem is not resolved in the upcoming future, the structure of this text helps in emphasizing this sad tone because it begins off with introducing negative statistical information at the beginning then introduces the problem that will and might happen in the future if nothing is done to prevent this; but shines some light on a solution by giving the people hope that if they do certain things this conflict can be completely avoided.


This text takes the perspective of an employee at the Oxfam confederation because of the pronoun "we" that the writer constantly uses throughout the piece. Also, this text was retrieved from the Oxfam website suggesting that the intended audience would be the people who are interested in recent deficits and want to help out in any way possible, while the main purpose of this text is to inform the people about this likely issue and to persuade them to help out and support the confederation by any plausible means possible.


All in all, this text suggests that nations in the Sahel region are under risk of an epidemic while the issue consists of different causes which includes shortages in both food and water supplies, and that approximately twelve million people will be made victims of this dreadful catastrophe if nothing is done to prevent this situation from recurring once again, as it did in 2005 and 2008, and to add insult to injury almost 300,000 people die from mal-nutrition (lack of nutrients) in a "non-crisis year"