Author: Okorie

Comparison Essay: The Theme of Power

June 12, 2016 / / 1 Comment

In this essay, I will talk about how the poems, ‘Remains’ and ‘The Emigrée’ express the theme of power in many different ways. In ‘Remains’, the protagonist is filled with the power of guilt because of how he has killed another man and how it is continuing to haunt him throughout his time, whereas in ‘The Emigrée’, the protagonist is unshaken on her fixed idea of what she thinks of her home despite all the negativity that she is constantly hearing about it; therefore the power of conviction. There are also many similarities within the poems, such as the outcomes of their situations, for example how it results around the power of memory.

To begin with, in the poem ‘Remains’, the protagonist regretfully says, ‘His bloody life in my bloody hands’. This quotation conveys the power of regret. The writer uses words and their suggestions to give two means for the word ‘bloody’. Usually when somebody is bleeding out and you hold them you would have blood on your hands. However, in this context the protagonist does not physically have blood on his hand so the reader must refer to the other meaning of killing someone. ‘His bloody life…’, shows that the protagonist did not care for that person who is affecting him that much and it just happens to be stuck with him.

In contrast to the previous paragraph conveying the power of regret, “I walk right over it week after week.” conveys the power of memory within the poem. It shows how the protagonist has engraved where this person has died in his mind and how this comes back to him every week. It  was not just a singular event in the protagonists’ life, as it appears he is constantly reminded of what happens, almost as if he has a flashback. From this moment in the story, the protagonist begins to realise what he has done as well as the type of effect that it has had on his life. The poet uses repetition when he says, ‘Week after week’, to suggest that the protagonist can not get it out of his head.

Similarly, in the poem ‘The Emigrée’, the protagonist, which is portrayed as a little girls says, “But my memory of it is sunlight clear”. This suggests the power of memory because the refuses to accept any other thought about her country except her own. There is a chance that although she is young she may only remember positive memories of her country yet, she has been told about it being at war as well as endangered. The writer uses symbolism to suggest that the sunlight she remembers could represent the hope that she has for her country. She remembers that her country was a strong country as well as there was always hope in it. This is similar to the way power is portrayed in the previous poem ‘Remains’, as both protagonists are overwhelmed by the power of memory. In the poem remains, the soldier’s memory haunts him, constantly reminding him of what he has done and in ‘The Emigrée’, the little girl’s memory is presented as the only thing that keeps her going.

Although, in the poem ‘The Emigrée’, power is shown through memory, in the poem ‘Remains’, the protagonist attempts to wash away his guilt. We can see this when the writer quotes, “And the drinks and the drugs won’t flush him out.” This quotation tells me that he is attempting to use alcohol and drugs to hide away that memory of the person that he has killed. But it doesn’t work for him, so it shows that the protagonist did all of those things to avoid it from happening and it still didn’t flush him out. This conveys the power of guilt because he is guilty of what happened to the man and can not get it out of his head. All the regret he must be feeling must overwhelm him. The writer uses ‘words and their suggestions’ to further deepen the meaning if what he is saying. The words ‘flush’ is usually used when talking about removing waste. The word flush used in this sentence to suggest that the memory is seen as waste/rubbish therefore the drink and drugs are used to assist the removal of the memory…

Also, in the poem ‘The Emigrée’, she quotes, “But I am branded by an impression of sunlight.” This quotation shows the power of conviction because she chooses not to believe any other opinion but her own. The fact that she is ‘branded’ shows that she is owned by the country. The writer uses ‘words and their suggestions’ when she says, ‘An impression of sunlight’. This is because and impression of sunlight could be to always be looking towards hope. To be branded by an impression of sunlight could mean that they are very optimistic and always looking towards the brighter side. A suggestion for this could be because she has not been to her home country in years therefore, the only way that she wants to remember her country is through the positive things that she has heard.

To conclude, the poem ‘The Emigrée’, conveys the power of memory and conviction whereas the poem ‘Remains’ portrays the power of memory and guilt. In the poem Remains, the protagonist appears to be overwhelmed with the power of guilt and it slowly begins to affect him in a way that it haunts him because it is always with him. In my opinion, I think the the second poem ‘The Emigrée’ is more affective in showing power. This is because it shows how much somebody could stand out when going to a new city and how they are seen as an outsider in a free city. It also shows when a person has nothing else to push them on, how easy it would be for them to give up. Throughout the poem she explains her problems and how she never fit in within a new country.

 

Essay – Behind the Beautiful Forevers

February 23, 2016 / / 1 Comment

How is Mumbai presented through the perspectives of Abdul, Asha and Sunil?

This essay will be about Behind the Beautiful Forever’s, a book written by Katherine Boo. In this essay i will be writing about the perspectives of three different characters in the book. Annawadi, a place all three of these characters call home, resides between the developed New India and an International Airport. They all live in Annawadi however, they are all of different status within the slum. These characters are Abdul, Asha and Sunil. Each of their perspectives differ from negative to positive. In this essay, i will be talking about the different perspectives of each protagonist and showing how their status can affect their views and opinions of Annawadi.

To begin with, the start of the chapter tells us that, “Abdul rose with minimal whining since the only whining his mother tolerated was her own”. This quotation tells us that the way Abdul has perceived the world they live in and the way it is structured, there is no point in whining about things. You will need to do something to get the most out of it and from his mother living in poverty and attempting to raise her children, she will be the only one in their family that will have a right to whine.

Furthermore, I am going to focus on the perspective of Abdul on Annawadi. As Abdul rises he realises that, “this was the gentle going hour in which he hated Annawadi least”. This phrase gives us an idea that it is most likely the morning and not many things are happening at this time so it is peaceful and he hated it the least. As Abdul is observing his surroundings, he sees that, “The pale sun lent the sewage lake a sparkling silver cast”. In this phrase, Katherine Boo uses personification to describe the lake as a cast in which an injured person uses. The fact that it is lent tells the reader that it will not be there forever and it is only a limited amount of time before it goes. This shows that in Annawadi things won’t stay there forever so they must take as much of it as they can. In this sense they are expressing the view of the lake.

Next, I will be talking about the way that Asha, our next protagonist in the book, looks at Annawadi. Asha believes that Annawadi is just a place with people of high beliefs. We can see this in the quote, “She had by now seen past the obvious truth – that Mumbai was a hive of hope and ambition”. This quotation tells us that Asha has seen that everyone living in this ‘hive’ had high beliefs of what they could obtain from living in Annawadi. The fact the she had seen past the obvious truth tells us that she must have been blinded by something else to make her almost disbelieve that this was not the place she lived in.

In addition to that, we also see another view of Asha’s perspective when she says, “Corruption, it’s all corruption”. This phrase uses revolves around the word ‘corruption’. When used regarding to Annawadi/Mumbai, she is attempting to say how it has changed from its original state and decreased in its overall value. “It’s all corruption”, tells us that everything has decreased in value and it will never turn back to the way it was. This phrase shows us Asha’s perspective of Annawadi is completely destroyed and changes within it will not have as much of impact so it is as good as worthless.

Moreover, I will now be talking about the last protagonist i have seen so far in the book, Sunil. Sunil works hard everyday to ensure that his sister and himself have something to eat. When they do not have something to eat they resort to things lower than they expect. We can see this in the book when, “Sunil and Sunita had stood silently outside the huts of their neighbors at dinnertime.” This quotation tells us that they expected their neighbors  (also living in poverty) to share some of their dinner with them. From this we can see that Sunil sees Annawadi as a place of poverty yet still able to share what they can between a neighbor.

Finally, as Sunil was brought up with his sister in an orphanage, he learnt a few things that will show a different part of the world at such a young age. He a also quite smart for his age therefore understood some things that the other boys could not. We can see this when he says, “He knew why he and the other children received ice cream only when newspaper photographers came to visit,” This quotation tells me that as the children never received ice cream they would be unhappy and would not usually be given such a treat by those working in the orphanage, since they were given ice cream an such when the newspaper photographers came, they would be happy giving the world behind those doors and idea that the children in the orphanage were happy.

To conclude, all the protagonists in this essay have a different perspective of Annawadi not only through their social status, such as a slum lord or scavenger, but from their environment and what they have learnt from being in an environment. Abdul is a scavenger and is attempting to earn enough money to keep his family alive through the money he is making from selling his rubbish. Asha has become so desperate that she will do anything to obtain as much money as she can, and Sunil from such a young age has become a scavenger in order to make sure that his sister and him eat and survive another day in the slum.

 

 

English “Should Titus Andronicus be taught in schools”

June 25, 2015 / / 0 Comments

“Is Titus Andronicus too violent to be taught in schools?” I believe that it is too violent because of how to script shows many scenes and moments in which the children are not ready for yet. Some of these scenes could be seen as inappropriate to the wrong type of children e.g immature, misbehaving or those that believe they are not ready for what lies in the book. As a result of the wrong class of children reading it, they may be influenced to do what they have learnt or understood to be a bad thing and it could follow with some serious consequences. I do not think parents would enjoy the fact that their child has killed over thousands of men, or that they have raped a female in the woods and cut off their arms and tongue just to avoid her from telling or knitting what has happened to her and/or why she is in such a disgusted state. If the parents whose daughter was raped cannot do anything but watch her walk endlessly in different paths, they would not know what to do to stop their child from their misery… except kill her and put and end to her misery (once again, reenacting a scene that has happened in Titus Andronicus).

That little section which I have written above shows what the book/movie/play Titus Andronicus is capable of doing to children and how it will have an effect on their parents and their basic family life… destroying it completely. This is not what only the book/ the movie Titus Andronicus can do, but also books that contain murder, sex, violence, bullying and bad language or some very gruesome scenes, such as torture. Even if it was to be taught in schools, I believe that the class learning it would need to have a sensible level of maturity in order avoid a misunderstanding of what should happen in reality as well as an understanding of the book containing what is happening and why it is happening and if they could possibly give an explanation on what has been happening.

I believe this because once children are  in to something and are energetic, they will do everything they can to release all of that energy in that moment. During that moment, they may begin to act out some of the scenes in Titus Andronicus in such depth that it becomes realistic and physical actions begin to progress to a point where it no longer becomes comfortable to those who are performing the scene. Of course, all of this is definitely avoidable. Furthermore, we should consider the way that the character Titus Andronicus performs some of his actions and things that he was known to be very famous for e.g killing many enemies at war, killing his son for portraying him as an enemy, slicing the throats of the men that ravished his daughter and then grinding their bones into powder and using their blood as paste. All of these actions contain extreme violence which somebody dies in such a bad way possible. Furthermore, we should consider the way that children act towards inappropriate scenes and it is our duty, as elders, to understand their comfort zone and the boundaries of where they no longer wish to take part in the situation. In that case, we need to understand their feelings and emotions towards certain things and we may have to question them what they are comfortable with and what they are uncomfortable with, just to get an idea of what they are like in situations, and to avoid the discomfort of stepping out of the comfort zone, i would avoid the choice of allowing them to read/watch or even view the play of Titus Andronicus until they are at the point where they can confidently say that they are ready for Titus Andronicus in the manner where they are mature and will feel really easy about learning the story of Titus Andronicus. Obviously this will require the child to be able to find language features and use figurative language to understand Titus Andronicus in deeper knowledge however this makes it a bit easier for them to answer questions in an exam.

Shakespeare’s Essay

June 25, 2015 / / 0 Comments

Shakespeare structures the whole play around the idea of revenge through his use of language features and quotations to back those language features.

This essay I am writing will be telling you how William Shakespeare explores the idea of revenge throughout the play and story of Titus Andronicus. I will be writing 8 paragraphs about how the idea of revenge is explained, the effect it uses on the reader and how it defines the text in the form it is embedded in. This would be an important feature (how is revenge portrayed) to analyse, but also to understand how it gives deeper meaning to the text in a whole new different way than what the eye can see on a piece of paper with words. I will be writing these paragraphs in ways which an example is given during the paragraph, as well as an explanation on how it is used and the effectiveness of placing the idea of revenge in that type of situation.

To begin with, as Titus Andronicus comes back from fighting the Goths at war, he confirms that it was a victory and presents all of his sons that died during the war in a black coffin. He demands two of his living sons to sacrifice the eldest of Tamora’s sons, Alarbus and introduces him to the citizens using the quotation,  “I give him you, the noblest that survives, The eldest son of the distressed Queen”. By doing telling his sons to execute Alarbus, Titus is avenging all of his sons that died in the war. Then Titus asserts his authority over the Queen of the Goths, Tamora, once he had killed the oldest son Alarbus, Titus must have been expecting hesitation from Tamora if she every thought of attacking him behind his back or fear if she even thought of doing something dark and torturous to Titus, however as Queen, we all knew that she is stronger than that and that she has ways of coping over the death of her eldest son. The quotation shows how Titus praises him almost as if it was a friendly welcome. By using the adjective distressed when referring the Tamora (Queen), Titus is already assuming her reaction to be very upset to the point where she is not longer seen to be that strong Queen that was idolized, but just an average Goth crying at the fate of her sons death.

Secondly, as a result of the loss of her eldest son, Tamora begins to plans a way to take revenge upon the family of Titus to avenge her fallen son that was ‘sacrificed’ by two of Titus’ sons after the war had finished. “I’ll find a day to massacre them all” is a quotation used by Tamora aside to Saturninus showing that she was plotting to kill Titus’ family one by one (or possibly as many as she could before she was noticed). Tamora begins with planning her promiscuous sons Chiron and Demetrius to rape Lavinia as they are hunting in the woods / forest. Then the language feature Allusion makes an entrance with referring to the story of Philomel and Tereus where Philomel was raped and she had her tongue cut out and she was locked away in a tower. Then Philomel was forced to knit what happened and her sister received it and reacted in an unusual almost psychotic way. Not only do her sons fantasize about having sex with Lavinia and her luxurious body, they begin to get very sexual just thinking about her. Knowing Tamora, she would not just massacre them, but she will torture them in a way that it pains the rest of the family and in a way that they will never forget the pain that they felt at that moment compared to similar things that has happened in their life. The effect of doing this is creates a never ending pain for those that have suffered and the ones that are close to them.

Some people that were not included in the revenge system that was mainly between Titus Andronicus and Tamora the Goth Queen, are starting to be dragged into the quarrel and barrage of acts all resulting in the loss of lives from innocent individuals that most likely could have been avoided. “Who have we here? Rome’s royal Empress.” This quotation from Bassianus tells us he knew nothing of what was happening and was wandering why the ‘Royal Empress’ Tamora was there alone in the woods. They begin to transfer words then Tamora skips to the chase and thinks to herself, why am I here taking all of this rubbish? This shows that she has had enough of the argument. Tamora orders Demetrius to kill Bassianus so. Demetrius stabs him he falls to the ground. Then Chiron shows his strength and stabs the injured Bassianus one more time. As a result the innocent victim Bassianus dies a unnecessary death beside his wife (or girlfriend) Lavinia. Lavinia is then threatened by Tamora to follow Chiron and Demetrius to get raped, otherwise she will die a fateful death just as her lover Bassianus died, but then if Lavinia was to get killed, what use will a sexy dead body be for rape? Chiron and Demetrius will be getting absolute no pleasure from it and it will be a waste of their time.

Next, once Lavinia is ‘deflowered’ and has lost her tongue, in her first appearance with Titus, Titus does not see anything or more like he ignores the main thing that is happening (in this case what has happened and how he could deal with it), but instead he goes straight to how they can react in order to take revenge on the enemies for what they have done to Lavinia that was seen to be one of the most beautiful women in the play. “What shall we do? Let us, that have our tongues, plot some deuce of further misery, to make us wonder’d at in time to come.” This quotation says it all, Titus sees Lavinia all bloody and ravished and doesn’t even ask her if she is okay or if she needs any help. He straight away wants to find away to harm the ones that have done this to her he possibly doesn’t even know who it is! In this, Revenge is seen to be their top priority of Titus as he wants to rid of his enemies as fast as he can without any hesitation. This could be a problem as he may skip all of the important information and jump straight to a conclusion, as a result of it people will acknowledge him to be unwise and a foolish man and what makes it worse it the fact that he threw his daughter aside to find the ones that made his daughter what she is now. This shows the type of personality Titus Andronicus has especially since he is a soldier (or a war hero) and how it affects his family matters.

Moreover, Titus Andronicus was so desperate to reclaim his sons’ that were falsely accused back, he was willing to give anything necessary without a second thought of it. It just shows how much Titus loves the two of his sons that were framed for the murder of the Emperors younger brother… Bassianus. Aaron says,  “Chop off your hand and send it to the King; he for the same will send thee hither both thy sons alive”      Titus Andronicus was so amazed at this opportunity to retrieve his sons’ back he never thought to think about what Aaron could really be doing. The fact that Aaron is not a messenger but he is giving orders from the King possibly means that something is going on and it is not going to result in something good. Tamora is already having an affair on the Emperor with Aaron. This tells us how untrustworthy she is as an ‘Empress’ and how dark she can be to her loyal ones/ lovers.

Furthermore, feeling responsible for his children’ actions, Titus then to cuts off his own hand and sends it to the King believing he would have both of his sons in return. However, what he receives is the exact opposite, he receives the heads of his two sons and his own chopped off hand. Through this little moment, Titus goes insane enough to laugh at the heads and his hand realizing that he can no longer cry or be upset of what is happening, as a result Marcus and Lavinia are a bit worried about him knowing that this type of reaction is not normal. Titus gets angry over little things such as Marcus killing a fly and confirming how Marcus is not longer pure since he has put something so innocent to death despite the fact that Titus has killed so many people at war.

In conclusion, the idea of revenge is used throughout the whole play using language features. When Marcus finds Lavinia wondering around the forest with nothing but a bleeding mouth and no arms. He uses a series of Metaphors and Hyperboles to show his feelings and emotions. This tells us that the emotions and feelings could be gathered up into anger and as a result (from what we have acknowledged from Titus Andronicus) the person who is in the shock would ignore the main situation (bleeding Lavinia) and go straight to revenge. Shakespeare has found a way to use language features to create an effect on the way revenge is presented in a situation to make it seem as if the situation is tenser than it usually should be.

 

 

Essay – Gregor’s Death

June 24, 2015 / / 0 Comments

This essay will explore the story, The Metamorphosis, written by Franz Kafka,  and will mostly be reffering to Gregor’s death. We will be studying  the language features used throughout them. We will also be studying the movie by Chris Swanton and explaining the  difference between the such as how it changes from the film to the novella or how it is presented in various way. We may be looking at the ways the compare to each other by using camera angles or detail.

In both the film and the novella, Gregor’s death is presented as a relief to Gregor. In Kafka’s version (the book), we can see this when Kafka states, “The rotten apple in his back and the inflames surrounding area, entirely covered with white dust, he hardly noticed”. This quotation shows that while alive he has felt excruciating pain. The word ‘inflamed’ suggests that the pain Gregor feels is a burning sensation. He uses imagery to show the extent of Gregor’s injuries. However the phrase ‘he hardly noticed’ shows that he has become used to the pain and that death has come as a relief. Kafka places this clause at the end of the sentence because he is trying to with hold the information because despite the fact that the apple is rotting on his back, he really does not want to notice it with all that is happening around it. In the Swantons’ version (the movie), we can see this when near the end (the dying scene), the little dust ball representing Gregor’s breathing, is blown gently. We can tell that this is a relief to Gregor because if it was painful, then Gregor (in th demolished state he is stuck in), would be blowing very harshly giving the film watcher an idea of the pain th Gregor is forced to go through. In this scene, you need to focus on the little dust ball to understand how weak Gregor is and the fact that the dust ball is just barely moving and then it stops completely. Because of this we can tell that dying is a relief to Gregor.

In both the film and the novella, Gregor’s death is presents as a relief to his family. In Kafka’s version, we can see this when the maid wakes up the whole family to present a dead Gregor to them in the early morning. As the family crowd around the corpse (this word provides the reader that Gregor is still there because a dead person’s body is known as a corpse – Humanization) Mr Samsa says, “Well, now we can give thanks to God”. “Then he crossed himself and the three women followed his example”. We can tell this a relief to the family because the statement, “Well now we can give thanks to God”, shows that they are thankful for Gregors’ death, perhaps the fact that the amount of stress it made for the family to take care of a dung beetle that only eats rotten food and the family eats human food. Maybe the fact that it drive away the lodgers and stopped the familys’ income of money. The phrase ‘thanks to God’ shows that they are grateful for the death of Gregor and all the trouble he has caused thy can be removed. With this we know that the death of Gregor is a relief to the family. In the Swantons’ version, we can see this is the scene after Gregor has scared the lodgers and he is walking back into his room and as soon as he enters his room, Grete rushes behind him and locks the door and shouts “Finally!”. We can see this is a relief to the family because it is almost as if they are throwing the weight off their shoulders and it is no longer a burden to the Samsa family. The personality of Grete continues to change because she cannot decide whether staying with Gregor is the right thing for her or if it could continue to break apart her family, as the beetle that has been staying with them has given her mother a series of shocks and/or attacks and has just been aggravating her father countless times. So locking Gregor in his room and having him die has thrown the weight off the family’s shoulders and with this we know the death of Gregor has been a relief to the family.

In the film version of Metamorphosis, Gregor’s death is presented as painful whereas in the novella it is presented as peaceful. We can tell this because the film version puts more emphasis on the hatred of Gregor in comparison that his appearance shows that he is no longer human. In his last hours of death it appeared that he caused a bit of a havoc and had negative attention pressured on him. He had what seemed like a dream for him to finally be accepted as what he is and for him to announce the present he had got for his sister (also to mention, he looked more healthier that what he really looked like), instead it turned out to be the complete opposite as he sat in his room isolated from his family. Having only family to be there for you and something slips up and all of a sudden they are against you, it shows how people, even family, could be at the change of a valued member. With this we can tell the Gregor’s death was painful. In Kafka’s version, the novella, it is presented as peaceful. In Kafka’s version we can see this when Kafka states, “He remained in this state of empty and peaceful reflection until the tower clock struck three o’clock in the morning. From the window he witnesses the beginning of the general dawning outside.” The language feature ‘Imagery’ is used in this context and allows the reader to easily have an understanding of what is happening and the detail shows the enables them to have a picture in mind about it. Therefore in this paragraph, we know that Gregor’s death, in the book, is presented as peaceful.

In the film version of Metamorphosis, Gregor appears to die of his family’s rejection whereas in the novella he appears to die from his physical wounds. In the Swanton’s version, to them(the family) it appeared as if they were doing the best they could, almost trying to adapt to his way of living. In fact to Gregor, it seemed like they shared complete disgust in everything that Gregor done. They no longer looked at him as the human he once was, but as the monstrous verminous bug he is now. They completely isolated him from what ever is happening and attempted to stop the public from seeing his appearance. But towards the end, his sister violin managed to bring out part of his humanity showing that he still had a bit of his human side remaining. But it was of no use, being locked in the room completely isolated him from his family and almost alienated him with the looks he received from them. His father did not really want to know him (before and after his transformation), and in the end his sister showed that she has had completely enough of looking after this monster. In the end they just stopped feeding him and left him to fend as the monster he is. With this we know that Gregor has died from his family’s rejection. In the novella, it shows that he dies from his physical wounds. We can understand this when Kafka states, “He soon made the discovery that he could no longer move at all. He was not surprised by that. On the contrary, it struck him as unnatural that he had really been able to this point to move around with the thin little legs.” The phrase ‘He was not surprised by that’ shows that he has seen the limit that his legs can reach and this shows a sign of his physical wounds affecting simple everyday things, but the fact that he is not surprised shows that he knew this was coming. Not to forget that he was forcing himself not to eat, making him weaker and skinnier. He refers to his ‘little legs’ in comparison to the rest of his body showing the difference in size between them. One major factor of his physical wounds could be his malnutrition. Therefore he appears  to die from his physical wounds.

To conclude, Gregor’s being presented as peaceful was supported by Gregor’s soothing breathing without having it be painful. This point could be compared to the movie with the gently tilting fluff ball and the appearance of Gregor as if he is just allowing these things to happen to him. My second point (relief) is presented by Gregor allowing himself to feel painless as he knows the pain woud go away. The movie supports this as Gregor struggles  to get into his death position and slowly stops. When something hurts  we try to avoid putting anything that would hurt the injured area. Overall, throughout the novella and film of The Metamorphosis, Gregor’s death is presented as peaceful.