Practice IOC

Self Score

A: Knowledge and understanding of the text or extract - ....5.... I included and explained some quotes,but not in as much detail as I wanted.

B: Understanding of the use and effects of literary features- ....5.... I mentioned and elaborated on certain literary devices, but again not in as much detail as I should have. Also I don't talk to much about how the features affect the reader.

C: Organization- ....3.... I follow a general direction but I found myself jumping around a bit.

D: Language- ....3.... I don't always use the correct terminology, but I felt for the most part I addressed each topic and got my descriptions across.

Excerpt

“Hold on, Tommy.” Did she actually say your art was ‘rubbish?’”
“If it wasn’t ‘rubbish’ it was something like it. Negligible. That
might have been it. Or incompetent. She might as well have said
rubbish. She said she was sorry she’d told me what she had the last
time because if she hadn’t, I might have sorted it all out by now.”                                    
        “What were you saying through all of this?”
        “I didn’t know what to say. In the end, she actually asked. She
said: ‘Tommy, what are you thinking?’ So I said I wasn’t sure but that
she shouldn’t worry either way because I was all right now. And she
said, no, I wasn’t all right. My art was rubbish, and that was partly                                  
her fault for telling me what she had. And I said to her, but what
does it matter? I’m all right now, no one laughs at me
about that any more. But she keeps shaking her head and saying: ‘It
does matter. I shouldn’t have said what I did.’ So it occurs to me
she’s talking about later, you know, after we leave here. So I                                            
say, ‘But I’ll be all right, Miss. I’m really fit, I know how to look
after myself. When it’s time for donations, I’ll be able to do it really
well.’ When I said this, she starts shaking her head, shaking it
really hard so I’m worried she’ll get dizzy. Then she says:
‘Listen, Tommy, your art, it is important. And not just because it’s evidence. But for your own sake. You’ll get a lot from it, just for yourself.’”
“Hold on. What did she mean, ‘evidence’?”
        “I don’t know. But she definitely said that. She said our art was important, and ‘not just because it’s evidence.’ God knows what she meant. I did actually ask her, when she said that. I said I    didn’t understand what she was telling me, and was it something to do with Madame and her gallery? And she did a big sigh and said: ‘Madame’s gallery, yes, that’s important. Much more important than I once thought. I see that now.’ Then she said: ‘Look, there are all kinds of things you don’t understand, Tommy, and I can’t tell you all about them. Things about Hailsham, about your place in the wider world, all kinds of things. But perhaps one day,you’ll try and find out. They won’t make it easy for you, but if you want to, really want to, you might find out.’ She started shaking her head again after that, though not as bad as before, and she says:‘But why should you be any different? The students who leave here, they never find out much. Why should you be any different?’ I didn’t know what she was talking about, so I just said again: ‘I’ll be all right, Miss.’”

Living Passionately

"Isabel Allende: How to live passionately—no matter your age" TED Talk

Famed novelist Isabelle Allende recounts and teaches how one can live passionately throughout his or her life. In order to rid yourself of all the worries and doubts plaguing and hindering your well-being, just learn to let go of things and embrace life with a “yes” type of attitude. Whether it may be drama, comedy, tragedy, love, death, or losses, saying yes to anything that comes your way will definitely promote vigor and passion in what might otherwise turn into a dull, dragged out life. She mentions a number of aging individuals who have encountered hardship and/or started new passion projects later in life. They all became happy and confident in whatever venture or decision they made, including independence and an acceptance of a lack thereof.

Allende uses a great deal of pathos in her oration as a method of easing the tension in the room and inviting the audience to celebrate and sympathize with certain people she brings up. She offers the empowering anecdote of the woman who, at the early age of 60, started working in Nepal to save young girls from domestic bondage. Within 30 years she saved over 10000. Audiences would feel admiration and inspiration from someone to achieve such a feat at such a restricting age. Ethos is a sub level factored in due to the speaker’s fame and respectability; she didn't have to mention other well-known names to win the audience’s trust. The writer uses some logos with her presenting some statistics of girls saved by a woman in her later years. Throughout the speech, her reasoning was sound and applicable because all one needs to do is take her advice to heart and believe and assume the mentality she was encouraging. Allende failed to go in much detail about how she learned to let go and live passionately aside from saying so and throwing in a couple bullet points. However, she succeeded in captivating and entertaining the audience with sprinkled laughs and endearing anecdotes.

I picked this talk because I was already familiar with one of the author’s novels, La Ciudad de las Bestias, which I happened to read in my Spanish 4 class. Needless to say, I loved the adventure book and gained much respect for the author, too. When I saw her name on the first page of the TED results, I immediately chose her. I wasn't disappointed and quickly learned a skill that I can actually apply to my life – living passionately.

“A film without a single trace of pity or love”

Double Indemnity is a movie filled to the brim with drama, betrayal, and flashbacks. However, it is almost completely lacking in the area of love. Both of the main characters strayed from the star-crossed lovers that audiences were used to seeing decades before. Instead, they manipulated each for their own personal gain. The femme fatale lead was cunningly deceptive and used her looks to get a seemingly innocent insurance salesman to kill her wealthy husband. The salesman quickly hopped on board the murder train (pardon the irony) and wanted to get his own share of the money by exploiting the very insurance company he worked for in order to attain the largest payout possible. Both were using each other under the façade of love but weren’t aware of the other’s plan until the very end.

Phyllis Dietrichson at first appeared to be a trophy wife to a wealthy older man. As the story progressed, it was revealed and strongly implied that she killed the previous wife while she was her attending nurse. This gold-digger was always in it for the money, and once the supplies ran out, she moved on. As Walter eloquently put it, “she was a tramp from a long line of tramps.”  Taking advantage of her sexual appeal, she managed to convince an interested salesman into doing the dirty work. To maintain his motivation, she acted as if she had madly fallen for him, and she constantly threw out phrases like, “I love you, Walter”, “Now we can finally be together”. In the end, Phyllis never loved Walter, nor even pitied him. Otherwise, she wouldn't have exploited him so harshly. Walter Neff could be seen as an unfortunate man who got involved with the wrong person at the wrong time. However, under closer inspection, it becomes apparent that Walter was infatuated with the large sum of money he could end up with if he carried out Phyllis‘s request. He also wanted the girl but not nearly as much as the money. He knew he could get away with the crime since he worked for the firm that was being exploited. Being hidden in plain sight, he would know every obstacle to avoid and every fine detail to make the most of. 

The only character that truly felt compassion was Lola. She loved Nino and for once Walter could tell. The movie shows her loving nature when she and Walter spend time with each other and the latter notes, “it was only with her that I could relax and let go a little." This confession of being at ease coincides with the caretaker archetype, proving Lola is capable of love. 

MacDuff Recommendation List

Watched by MacDuff

          Gladiator 

Gladiator, a movie about an honest man who was named successor to the throne by the king, only to be exiled have his family brutally murdered by the jealous son of the king. The hero must rise through the ranks of being a gladiator in order to face and kill the new king who was the jealous son. MacDuff would definitely make a personal connection with this piece because not only was his king murdered by the man who came to power in suit, but his family was also slain for political reasons. This recommendation by MacDuff would reveal how passionately and with what motive MacDuff sought to kill Macbeth. We should know that MacDuff was out for blood and retribution to the man who made him lose everything.

          Kill Bill

A pregnant ex-assassin has her entire wedding party, including her husband, slaughtered while she was left for dead. Her friend, Bill, was the ringleader. Once recovered, the heroine sets off on a mission to kill all the people involved for destroying her life and the one she was about to give. MacDuff would relate to the character’s loss and be satisfied that she too succeeded in her retribution. This recommendation would reveal that MacDuff, even though he might not show it, is still in pain over the death of his family, so he must quell his feelings by watching others get their revenge. Viewers should now know how bringing justice to an murderous tyrant was not his main motive; he wanted justice for his family.

The Dark Knight

Batman faces a new threat in Gotham City as the Joker employs the help of Batman’s powerful friend in the DA, Harvey Dent. This friend-turned-enemy went on a destructive killing spree until Batman reluctantly intervened and led him to his death. This film would resonate with a sense of a broken bond and friendship for MacDuff, as Macbeth became quite similar to Harvey Dent, if not worse. MacDuff would indirectly reveal that he killed Macbeth not because of who he was, but because of what he had become. Choosing the Dark Knight would showcase MacDuff’s moralistic traits and ability to bring justice even in the face of an old friend.

       Machete

After witnessing a notorious drug lord kill his wife, the hero sets out with the help a trusty I.C.E. agent to take down the man that brought him so much pain. On his quest, he realizes the drug lord is collaborating with a corrupt U.S. senator to create a Mexican-American Wall. This movie shares a number of similarities with MacDuff’s situation with Macbeth: a powerful leader that kills his family, a dastardly plan for more power, and justice being served in the end. MacDuff’s recommendation would display his masculine and ambitious nature because he intended to avenge his family’s murder and take down an elaborate power grab by the villain. MacDuff means business and he will do and use whatever it takes to get the job done.  

Macbeth's Fall From Grace

I believe evil is an ever-present force in our world that people must resist on a daily basis. Although some may be more immune or conditioned against such temptations, others continue to steal glances at the sometimes alluring yet always dangerous prize. The day one finally decides to reach out and grab that forbidden fruit and all its glory, he unknowingly also decides to takes a one way path towards self-destruction and evil.

Macbeth is one such man who, despite his valiant deeds in battle, succumbed to evil in the face of insurmountable power. His downward spiral began when the three witches hailed him as the next king. One could almost see his lust for power as Macbeth begged for the witches to, “Stay… tell me more!” (Shakespeare 6).  Now the idea of being so much more than a general plagued his thoughts relentlessly for the next days. He was just waiting for a trigger to set him off. The spark turned out to be his very own wife who, upon hearing the witches’ prophecy, insisted Macbeth that takes immediate action by assassinating King Duncan. At first, the thane of Cawdor is hesitant because he realizes the fatal consequences of being caught and the fact that he is about turn his whole world upside-down.  After more pushes from his wife, he follows through and murders the noble king that very night.

The death of the king acts as a turning point for the evil-inducing Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Now there is no going back and they must constantly be weary of blowing their cover. Lady Macbeth puts on a façade as she tries to remain level headed as her husband laments over his unforgivable actions. They begin falling into the grips of madness as the scenes progress. They realize they can’t keep hiding what they did forever- stories change, details are forgotten, and evidence is unearthed. Macbeth tries taking matters into his own hands by murdering the guards that would have compromised their scheme. He slyly says, “repent me of my fury / That I did kill them” (Shakespeare 27). The phrase "repent me" seems like a command instead of a plea, and it also lacks any remorse due to the lack of "sorry" or "please forgive me". However, that only leads to more suspicion over the royal couple because the supposedly guilty guards were obviously needed for questioning. Macbeth must end more innocent lives and fight off his guiltyconscious as he desperately tries to avoid being caught. In the end, the only apparent remedy that silences his guilty conscious is the powerful poison of insanity. 

Art Post

IB cashing in that freebie!

Sinful Selling

Gluttony

Hidden Valley Ranch: Window
Author: Kelly Colchin
Date: 2010
Place of Publication: San Francisco

At first glance, this advertisement appears to be an innocent snapshot of a little boy cautiously taking vegetable salad resembling a green pie. The boy has a surprised expression and  is looking anxiously through the window. A collection of a porcelain hen, metal container and salt and pepper shakers with cherry designs. The clock points to approximately 11:12 and the sunlit background outside the window indicates the photo took place in the morning. A bottle of ranch dressing is set on the red counter with a caption reading, “Where Vegetables Are Delectable”. This signifies that the ranch dressing on the usually unappealing “vegetable” salad changes its appearance and taste to that of a sweet treat. Hence, the child is trying to steal the “delectable” (a word often associated with tasty unhealthy food) salad instead of being forced to eat it by his parents.

However, under closer inspection, one can make out the subtle and hidden messages being conveyed in the image. First off, the red-white color scheme and antique porcelain decorations give away the fifties time period when all that was in fashion. In regards to the ad’s deeper meanings, the ad is deeming it acceptable, and to some extent desirable, for children to sinfully steal from others. Furthermore, the fact that a food is the object of thievery in this case, the advertisers are consciously or unconsciously promoting gluttony for the viewers. This deceitful form of persuasion means that if you take and eat food from someone else, it is considered cute and harmless, when in fact, gluttony can lead to obesity, diabetes, and death. While Junior in the photo could be pondering the long term consequence of his poor decision, he is most likely trying to avoid detection from within the house. Based on his wide eyes and gaping mouth, the youngster probably sees somebody walking around inside or has just been caught.

This old-timey piece has a nostalgic effect on the reader as it brings him or her back to a simpler time in one’s childhood. It reminds the viewer how they used to steal the pies and other sweets their mother or grandmother would make. The wow-factor is that the ranch can evoke a similar sense of desire but in a much healthier fashion. That being said, the intended audience of the photo are parents with young kids who are picky-eaters.  Parents will assume that the sweet-tasting Ranch will entice their children to eat healthy greens that they would normally reject. These young parents would be from any socio-economic background due to the cheap pricing of ranch, but if I had to choose one, I would say middle-class because of the fifties middle-class layout of the house and small yard outside. The audience would most likely have to be aware and cultured of fifties lifestyle to grasp the nostalgic reference the ad is making.