Register

• “Honoured guests, members of the board, Superintendent Johnson, and most importantly, graduates of the class of 2012, it is an honour to speak to you on this occasion.”     Formal register
• “While I was pleasantly surprised by the menu selections for dinner service, I was disheartened by the lukewarm eggs at breakfast.”       Consultative
• “Yeah, right”       casual
• “I doubt it”       consultative
• “I’m tired of your rubbish”      Intimate
• “I’m tired”       casual
• 

Paper 2: What do you think about the assertion that the meaning of a text is fixed and does not change over time?

All texts are created to convey a message or express the feelings of the author, and while those messages or emotions can`t be changed after producing the text, the interpretation of that work can vary, and it will depend on the reader and his/her context. Therefore, it is necessary to be clear about context. Context is what surrounds the development and the reception of the text. The context of production is the context that surrounds the writing of a text and the context of reception is the one that surrounds the reading of a text, involving the culture, the times and the experiences of the reader, being these what affects the meaning the reader gives to the text. Because the context of reception can differ (as someone may read Tennyson`s poems in 1990 and another person can read them in 2014, and some people think differently from others due to various reasons), some people may interpret the text differently, affected by the changes that affect society during time, and affected by their own ways of understanding texts. Being this said, we have to add that there are texts that involve an historical context, and by that mean there are meanings given by the authors can`t be changed, as they are clearly referring to an historical event.

For example, in the novel Fatelessness, published in 1975 and written by Imre Kèrtez we see a clear reference to the lives of Jewish people on the Second World War and how they were segregated and suffered. They were discriminated because of their religion and that is the main focus of the novel, discrimination. Imre Kèrtez suffered himself the discrimination and segregation of the Second World War and he wrote this novel to tell his story. 

Although there are many events that go beyond discrimination into personal relations with people. the overall meaning of Fatelessness is the discrimination the Jewish people suffered. This would not change over time because it was the meaning the author wanted to give to the novel, because it is the vision the author had to create his book. The one think that could vary is the understanding and interpretation the reader gives to the novel, as it depends on his own thinking, his culture and the times he reads the novel. For example, you could make two different people read Fatelessness and one may think it was atrocious how people suffered during those war times, while the other one may think it was a deserved punishment for the Jewish people. This interpretations vary because the readers are different one from each other, they have different lives, culture and were educated differently, maybe even on different times one from each other.

We can also see the theme of discrimination on the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" published in 1960 by Harper Lee. The novel centres on the segregation and discrimination african american people suffered on the United States on the decade of 1940. This historical context of discrimination can be seen during the whole novel and it can`t be denied that it`s the theme of it.
Obviously, people can give different importance and may have a variety of thoughts about this theme of discrimination depending on their ways of thinking and how society see things on the different times of reception. As an example, if this book was published earlier (like on the mid 40´s) the person that reads the book on the publishment year could think that the discrimination shown on it is something normal, while someone who reads the book now could find the society and context that surrounds the character´s lives to be racist and horrible By this it is possible to say that interpretations are always more flexible than the meanings the authors convey to the novels.
It is true then that some interpretations can be different from others, and it is also true that some authors do not give a particular meaning to their novels, but in the cases of the novels Fatelessness and To Kill a Mockingbird the meaning and the intention the authors Imre Kertez and Harper Lee were to make us know the situations of discrimination that people suffered, being it on the Unitede States or on Europe.
To conclude, we must identify that there is the context of production and the context of reception, and therefore we have the interpretations and meanings the author gives and the interpretations and meanings the reader gives to the novels. Authors give a particular meaning and have a defined motif to write novels, specially when their novels are based on historical events such as on these two novels, Fatelesness (World War Two, Europe 1940) and To Kill a Mockingbird (South of the United States, 1940), because they centre their writing on events so delicate for human history, and therefore they use these events to shape their novels and give the meanings they did, about a moral and social criticism to discrimination. On the other hand, readers are various and come from different times and cultural contexts, so the meaning they find in the novels differ because they are not educated the same ways as others, their cultures are different and they ways they think are also different, and their personal experience differ also, being this last two point something that differs on every person regardless of if they have the same cultural context.

Truth Assumptions activity

1) I thought that today was your birthday. (Non factive)
2) I forgot that today was your birthday. (Factive)
3) The teacher scolded me for not studying hard enough. (Factive)
4) The teacher acknowledged that I hadn´t really studied. (Factive)
5) The teacher realized the student had cheated. (Factive)
6) The teacher assumed the student had copied. (Non factive)

Idioms and ambiguity activity

Bite your tongue.  On a literal meaning it meens to press your teeth against your tongue, to actually bite it. The figurative meaning is for someone to shut up or take back what they said.

Pull my leg. On a literal meaning a person is demanding to someone to actually pull his/her leg.  To pull someone´s leg is to tell someone something that is not true to joke them. It is to kid or trick someone.

He is my English teacher. The ambiguity here is that we are not sure if the person is saying his/her teacher is from England or if his/her teacher teaches the English language.

She doesn´t like short men or women. It could be that she doesn´t like women and short men or just that she doesn´t like short people.

I saw the person with a telescope. It could mean that the person saw someone through a telescope, or that he saw someone carrying or handling a telescope.

Abraham Lincoln Speech

“My friends: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of  a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I canot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.”

The use of these literary devices helps Abraham Lincoln create a touching speech to say goodbye to his people before departing to Washington. We can see he uses antithesis to create and impact on the listener, as it is a catching, strong and complex thing to understand, to put two opposite things on one sentence. "Here my children have been born, and one is buried." This quote relates two opposite ideas, the idea of a new life and the idea of death. This is used by Lincoln to create emotions on the listener, as it shows how close he was to the land he is now leaving, so close that he raised his children there and even had to bury one of them. The parallel structure is used to catch the attention of the listener, an example used in the text is the rule of three. "Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good...". The use of three ideas makes an impact on the reader and makes it easier to remember, that`s why a lot of speeches use this technique of the rule of three. Also we have the repetitions of "and" that is used to create the feeling that each idea is equally important.  The anaphora creates a feeling of relation, as it is used the same words again. "Here I have lived a quarter of  a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. " The repetition of "Here" makes the two sentences relate, and it is very well used, as Lincoln is trying to describe his feelings towards his hometown.

Activity 8.6 page 206

First extract
1) There are similes (stedfast as...) and metaphors (bright star)
2) The star is something figurative, it stands for something this person wants, it`s either someone he is in love with or maybe an idea that guides him like a star, a desire to be.
3)It`s named the idea of someone looking at a star and describing it, but I believe that it`s more about love or most likely a desire to be.

Extract 2
1)Simile (..as men strive, ...as they turn)
2)Is mostly a literal meaning, is love.
3) It`s named that someone loves someone, and there`s nothing more implied, the similes help reinforce the idea of love.

Extract 3
1) Metaphor (Grave men)
2) Literally it talks about grave men that see meteors, but figuratively it is weird to see meteors with blinding eyes, and it`s also weird being a grave man.
3) It is named the action os see and the men, the meteors, but it is implied that death isn`t happy, and ignoring death makes us happier.

Extract 4
1) Metaphor (spread my dreams on your feet)
2) It is explicit that he is putting something on someone`s feet and that person is stepping on it, but it is a metaphoric thing, because one can`t put his dreams on the floor.
3) Love is implied and the action of covering the floor is named.

Extract 5
1) Metaphor (Beauty is a fat black woman)
2)Literally there is the woman and the fields, figuratively it talks about the beauty related to being a fat black woman.
3) It is named the actions the woman does, and it is implied that beauty is on the inside and that you must enjoy life even if you are not physically attractive.

Activity 8.6, Sylvia Plath page 205

1) "I" is a pregnant woman.
2) Although it would be easier to understand who is "I" if it was told explicitly, the metaphors make us think on what are they referring to, so this keeps our attention on it and makes us think, and that also helps us wide our comprehension.

Activity 8.5 part 2

1)There is a black woman that walks through the fields pressing a flower to her cheek, the sun is warming her feet, then she is on the sea, and the tides wet her.

2) I would think it`s about loving yourself as you are, because being beautiful is about the inside, not the outside.

3) It flows like the sea, it is a peaceful rhythm, with the rhymes helping this peaceful flow. The poem does not have any "violent" words except fat and black, that are a little stronger on the pronunciation and king of interfere with the flow, but on the rest it flows calmly.

Alfred Lord Tennyson`s life

http://www.dipity.com/wayne77/Alfred-lord-Tennyson/

The Revenge- A ballad of the fleet

http://prezi.com/q4bfsle0uhms/the-revenge-a-ballad-of-the-fleet/

Activity 8.5 page page 204

Sight: Fat, hibiscus, sun,sea, black woman

Sound: sea, breeze, walking the field

Taste: sea

Touch: Fields, hibiscus, sea

Smell: sea, hibiscus

Page 203 activity

1) I liked the metaphors he uses because they are very deep and complicated, the sense of deepness in his words and the meaning, about love and the gentleman way of putting the clothes on the water so she doesn`t step on it.
2)I disliked the poor rhyme of the poem, because it isn`t attractive to read them, the repetition of words because of the same reasons of the rhyme and I had problems understanding the meanings and words
3)-What motivated you to write this?
   -Why did you chose this type of writing, metre, rhyme,etc?
   -Did you liked your poem? Do you find any weak points?

The Kraken by Alfred Tennyson

1. Below the thunders of the upper deep;
2. Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
3. His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
4. The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
5. About his shadowy sides: above him swell
6. Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
7. And far away into the sickly light,
8. From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
9. Unnumbered and enormous polypi
10. Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
11. There hath he lain for ages and will lie
12. Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep,
13. Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
14. Then once by man and angels to be seen,
15. In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

T: The poem may symbolise monstrous characteristics, isolation, the fear of others, etc
P: It tells us and describes the characteristics and the way the kraken lived in the deep sea, the atmosphere of the deep sea were the sun barely reaches, the kraken way of being alone, his physical characteristics, and the way he lived, how he was there for thousands of years
-
C:  Beyond literal we can think it may show the life of someone who is misunderstood and alone, someone wonderful but that is treated like an evil person/thing, But it seems that it really is direct and literal, is about a Kraken and his characteristics, his way to prevail in time, but also his way of being weak, when he is taken out of his comfort zone.
In literary devices we have metaphors, such as thunders of the upper sea (sunlight), personification as faintest sunlight, etc.
A: Mysterious, as it talks of an unknown creature from an isolated area.
S: It seems to be a little change in the tone when the kraken is described, as it comes to be more graphical and magnificent about describing the Kraken, instead of mysterious.
T: It seems that it`s really a direct title, it could be about the beyond literal interpretations, being alone or misunderstood, but it seems it is direct.
T: About the Kraken, it`s characteristics and his way of living.

Written task

Dear diary:

I did not think think that things could affect me so bad again, like returning to the dark days and black atmosphere of my life at Gateshead and of my first weeks at Lowood. The party was full of rich and high class people, and I could not avoid the feeling of being a misfit there, of not belonging among them. i felt so bad that I even wished that I was back teaching at Lowood instead of being a governess at Thornfield. An enormous feeling of fear took over me, and I had a great desire of running away from the party and be alone, only with the silent and comprehensive company of my drawing pencil and sketch book. I was silent, hiding by the shadow of the curtain, wishing it absorbed me into it, and thinking in how this overwhelming feeling of fear and captivity was similar, almost exactly equal as the ones I had in the red room, back in Gateshead, an also similar to the feelings I held when Mr. Brocklehurst made me stand in the stool and humiliated me in front of everyone at Lowood. This memories of the worst moments of my life strike  hard, and I was there silent and pale as paper, feeling far worse than sick and wishing that dead could grab my neck and stick his cold, colourless fingers on my pale flesh and just take me out of here. Blanche Ingram and her mother were talking about governesses, a subject that was brought up after the sudden appearance of Adêle, as they asked about her learning process and ways. They were talking of how bad and absent minded governesses were, and I was there listening to their talk, and saw how they evilly acted as if they did not know about my miserable presence in the room. I then realised that one of the reasons of my bad memories, apart from the ill treatment I was receiving by the Ingrams, was that Missis Ingram reminded me to Missis Reed, and she reminded me of everything that was bad and injustice in my early youth. I was forced by Mr. Rochester to be here at the party and to stay, and I was expecting that Mr. Rochester could understand my pain, or even look at me, but he did not do neither of both. Although the room was full of people talking, drinking and laughing, and although there was a general atmosphere of enthusiasm and joy, I felt alone in there, not even in company of Mr Rochester, like if every person there was a statue, cold and hard in the outside,shallow and snob, as I knew almost every person were untruthful. As Blanche Ingram continued to talk about how disgusting governesses were, I was taken back in time again, and I was again at the scene of the stool at Lowood, hearing with a dark pressure on my heart the false speech and false accusations of Mr Brocklehurst about my wickedness and ability to deceive, and how I was not to be talked to nor be friend of anyone at Lowood. The same feeling of loneliness and humiliation surrounded my soul and again I felt like a misfit in the room. I wished to departure from the room, and I was sure that if Mr Rochester would have looked at my eyes he would have notices that. As soon as I had a chance, I left the room. I felt relieved, and leaving the heavy atmosphere behind helped me a lot on controlling my emotions, but it was soon still to feel much better. This relieve did not last long, because I heard Mr Rochester voice at my back, as I was standing up after tying my sandal. I looked at him, just as I looked at him at the party, with pain in my eyes. He had no characteristics of a handsome man, but somehow he looked handsome to me, and I remember I thought the same at the party. He asked about my departure from the room, and I replied saying I felt tired. He notice how pale I was and asked me what was the matter. I lied. and said that nothing happened to me, but he noticed the pain in my eyes, my tears about to drop and the disenchanted spark of my eyes. He then let me go, but said I was to be in the hall every night with the guests of Thornfield. I felt much better after talking to Mr Rochester, but I did not know how I was going to endure the punishment that was being in the hall with those people every single night for the following days. But there was a thinking much harder in something else, I was thinking in what I felt for Mr Rochester. I do not know if it is love, probably it is not, but I had not another idea of what it could be.







Rationale
The diary entry consists mainly of Jane`s feeling towards the situation of the party in chapter 17, and how she reacts and thinks in the situation she is in and towards the interactions between other characters. I had to try to use most cultural and elevated words and forms of writing to represent the context and Jane`s form of writing, with a lot of description, adjectives ,etc. I chose to do a diary entry mainly because it has the power of being full of emotions and feelings from the person who writes it, so it`s easier to expand ideas and to describe situations, as it is based in subjective thoughts. The hard part is imitating the writing style and form of thinking of the character who is writing the diary. The audience is primary Jane, as she is the only want who reads her diary, and is intended to be a sort of relieve for her emotions as she writes them down. The task is set in the Victorian times, in England. The Victorian times had characteristics such as sever treatment an education towards children, and others. The main aspects explored in this text are the writing style of Jane and her emotions being explained and developed, as she uses the diary to express herself.

Listening Comprehension Questions: “In Search of the Bröntes"

1) Their father, because he shaped their minds and shared their triumphs.

2) Their mother died of sickness

3) He was the brilliant son of a poor Irish family, he made his way to Cambridge and became a clergyman,
he was not wealthy.

4) By writing poetry. She unloaded her emotions into her poetry.

5) A romantic village,sufferd the industrial revolution times, water was polluted due to the revolution, disease and poverty struck the village, the average life was 25 years old.

6) The lost of her mother, the recalling of how she was

7) By trying to get married again, but he wasn´t able.

Reflection Statement + 2 questions on chapters 5, 6, 7, 8

Reflection statement

I would probably be afraid if no one belieed me, because I wouldn´t feel comfortable with people teasing me. I would insist inmy innocence, because I wouldn´t admit something I didn´t do if it is an important thing. I wouldn´t know how to prove that I didn`t do it, because of lack of evidence, and I don´t think I would physically confront my accuser. The knowing of my innocence wouldn`t be enough to make me feel alright.

Film

1) He is too extremist, way too devoted to God, so much that he doesn´t care for children, thinking that his treatment is good for them to go to heaven. Too serious and strict, way too much for children.

2) He is like those heroins in the way she is very naive and innocent. She is different because she confronts people, and she is capable of hating them. Also, she haves a great sense of justice and she does all of her assigments and tasks, while her enemies don´t. She seems to be surrounded by evil, on fairytales people are surrounded by happiness.

Jane Eyre: Chapters 3-4-5

1) He took liberties in the fighting scene (didn`t put the part of the cut in Jane`s head due to the book hiting her)  , in some minor details, and in the time anddescription of the red room, an important part of the first chapters, that due to the time it would take was shortened.

2) I think it was well portrayed, as she was punished because she talked back and because she fought, but maybe it could have been more severe.

3) It would be known, people would judge those treatments and authorities would take part and follow the law that now protects children against abuses.




Analysis Questions Chapters 3 – 4

1) It´s a good relationship, he treated her well and suggested her to go to a boarding school, were she can be far from the Reeds. This is a good thing because she feels more "loved", she feels she is not hated by everyone.

2) Instead of just having to deny what they used to say of her, she confronts her. "I am glad...sick". the quote is of her confronting her aunt, so she sys what she thinks of her, something that would be very disrespectful in those times.

3) A christian school, simple dressing, unsophisticated accomodations, sever treatments. "consistency madam... inhabitants" (p.30). This proves to be a school of silent submited children, were she would have hard times, because of her attitude.

Image analysis

-Death
-Loneliness
-landscape
-beautiful
-dark
-church
-green
-dry
-graveyard

I live far away from almost every human contact, too deep in the woods. The feeling of loneliness and the dark sight of the church and the graveyard behind it makes my mind flow on a creative motion, helping me to create new worlds, but also gives me an impression of death and fatalitism. I can`t forget that there are also beautiful sights near home. Not a say passes were I don`t go on a walk near the green landscape at the east of the woods, were I find green grass in much more quantity than in the dry and dead woods. It seems that the world around me just inspires me to be who I want to be, and gives me the inspiration I need, like if it was my muse.

Charlotte Bronte´s life

http://www.dipity.com/wayne1237/Jane-Eyre/

Written task News article

Raise of attacks against foreigners alarms public authorities

The increase of attacks and crimes against people from out of United States has made the national authorities worry, and opens up the discussion on the creation of a new law that protects the foreigners rights.

In the last few weeks, crimes and attacks centred on the people that come from outside the country have been rising in a critical amount. This seems to be caused by the recent notification of John Mohammed Kim`s participation in the president elections to be celebrated next year. Mister Kim is a citizen of the United States, but his ancestors clearly come from outside the country. Mister Kim has expressed his concern and preoccupation via his account on Twitter, saying: " Don`t be afraid because you or your ancestors come from outside. Together we will put down this crime wave against us. Stay safe." The increase of attacks has been marked by the death of Rosa Espinoza, a woman of thirty three years old born in Spain, that came to live in the United States four years ago. Miss Espinoza was killed by two men, who haven`t been identified yet, when she was coming back from her work late at night. Although the police does not want to provide much information, it is known that the attack was not random, and was planned to be on her for being an outsider. Her neighbours have expressed their concern about this raise of attacks and discrimination and feel very sorry about miss Espinoza`s death. One of her neighbours said: "She was a nice lady, killed by two idiots that seem to believe that being an outsider is a sin, or that believe in any stereotyping idea they hear". There were several witnesses on the moment of the attack, and one of them stated: "Clearly the killing had something to do with her being spanish, because the two men attacked without any provocation, they just instantly started beating her until she was dead. It was a really horrible crime and I hope they get punished for what they did to that lady, they don´t deserve to live."  

All the noise caused by this wave of crimes against the foreigners have started to be an important issue for the government. President Obama stated: "We will defeat this wall of injustice and discrimination, we will bring the guilty to face justice, and just as African Americans  made their fit in society, foreigners will do the sae".  President Obama has presented the proposal of a new law to protect foreigners rights, a law that is intended to be a hard punishment for those who create or incite segregation, discrimination or hate towards people from other countries. The proposal of this law has been well received by the public opinion, who think this law is necessary and will help on the decrease of the crimes against outsiders. The approve of this law is supposed to be almost unanimous, and it is expected to start functioning in the next few weeks. A lot of work it´s being put on the making of the law, and for it to be ready and functioning really quickly. Other politics have also shown their discontent on the recent attacks, like the senator Michael Kutner, who is also working on the making of this law, he stated the following:"I simply find nasty that people just kill or hurt others for being different, I want these attacks to be a way to show how disgusting discrimination is and what it causes."



Because of all these recent attacks, the famous singer of the band "A second before betrayal", Matt shinji Shinoda  asked to be interviewed. On the interview he stated the following "Discrimination and stereotyping here in the United States is not something new, it was something that  made our careers very difficult at the beggining, because some records labels and some concert places did not wanted us to be related to them because of the origins of some of the bands members, like me or our guitarrist Marko Ortiz". Also, the singer     accused the press of giving less importance to these attacks because of them being against foreigners and not citizens born on the United States. He stated the following, "The media and press had not put so much effort on the issue that´s happening now a days, and they do not give any importance on the problem, and I really think this happens because it is an issue that only affects foreigners. I truly believe that if these attacks were against born on United States citizens the media will be on it for days. Think about the news you have watched for the last couple of weeks, they have barely show any news or warnings of these attacks against outsiders, I mean they barely gave any information on the death of Rosa Espinoza, and if she was a United States born she would have got a lot of attention, much more than the attention she had on the news the past weeks." The government is being specially focused on the attacks, and they said they are ready to face any attacks coming.


Rationale

The task is particularly linked to two areas studied, mass communication and stereotypes. The structure of a newspaper article and the allusions of media on the text point out the link between it and mass communication. The media is described as something for the greater mass, being foreigners a minority group they don`t get enough attention on what is happening. As an example from the text: "think about the news you have watched for the last couple of weeks, they have barely show any news or warnings of these attacks against outsiders". Also, it could be a biased text, because it seems to describe the government in a good way, qualifying it with good adjectives due to their actions on the issue. For example: "The government is being specially focused on the attacks, and they said they are ready to face any attacks coming". The link with stereotypes is the main purpose of the text, to inform about how stereotypes and discrimination are being the reasons of multiple attacks in little time. On the course we learnt that stereotypes don`t reflect reality, and that they cause discrimination. An example: "...or that believe in any stereotyping idea they hear". I chose to do a news article, because it can give details, it answers to six main questions: What?, Why?, When?, How?, Who?, Where?. Also you can put opinions from people, and that`s very important to relate it with a real issue. The audience is people concerned on social issues, the purpose is to inform and try to give warning about a problem that`s been rising and the context in the attacks due to discrimination to a presidential candidate. I used formal language, and included quotes from people.