Thesis from 80 prompt doc.

Prompt 11 (Character)

‘Traditionally, the hero somehow represents the community and carries with him its hopes and fears.’ How far would you regard this to be true of Said?**

Thesis:

In the Thief and the Dogs, the protagonist actively represents the community of Cairo along with its hopes and fears as his emotions and actions passively reflect upon the state of the country after the egyptian revolution of 1952. Mahfouz does this by letting the reader have a constant awareness of Said’s thoughts and emotions through the stream of consciousness narrative style and revolving the plot of the novel around Said’s characterization.

Values of Literature in translation

Some might argue that there is no value in studying literary works in translation due to the many limitations in dealing with language barriers that hinder the audience from receiving the values of the text expressed by the author. However, I believe that the positives and strengths of studying literary works in translation clearly outweigh its limitations and that the limitations can be overcome with a deeper knowledge of the context in which it was written.

The article that I received in class was initially published on January 18, 2010 written by Claudia Pierpont which openly highlights what Arabic works of translation have to offer to its variety of audiences. Pierpont brings up a point to start of the significance of texts in translation is that novels give a deep insight to people of the culture; how they think, suffer, fall in love, make revolutions, etc. The most important value of translated works of literature is the fact that they give a better insight to the people and their culture than most media sources would do such as newspapers and magazines.

The secondary title of the article quoted,

‘Arabic novels offer a marvelous array of answers to questions we did not know we wanted to ask’

The significance of this quote is that it brings up the idea that literary works in translation certainly does offer an array of knowledge that an audience would have never tapped into. This knowledge could be in the form of attitudes or values expressed in the text; the author of the article referred to the literary work in translation Girls of Riyadh when discussing this point. The book was about the tactics a good Saudi Girl should use to avoid being married off by Rajaa Alsanea; she was a young writer in her twenties. On a second note, Girls of Riyadh was banned in Saudi Arabia for suggesting that upper-class Saudi Girls wish to escape their luxurious designer cages. The decision to do so might not be understandable if the context in which the novel is written is not taken into consideration. According to some, Saudi Arabia tends to be known for being more concealed about higher-class members of their society, especially women. So the Girls of Riyadh might suggest ideas that could have sparked some thoughts about what the upper-class community is up to.

The challenges literary works in translation face is not certainly the most extreme in the case of Girls of Riyadh. Naguib Mahfouz was stabbed in his neck at the age of eighty two, resulting him not being able to write for lost sense of familiarity in writing with his right hand temporarily. The incident was six years after Mahfouz had won the Nobel Prize by an outraged Islamic cleric.

In conclusion, the works of literature in translation are a valuable asset in studying with great consideration of the changing historical, social and cultural context in which particular texts are written and received, since they provide a better insight to the people and their culture than most media sources would do such as newspapers and magazines.

Propaganda Poster

This propaganda poster is arguably one of the most appealing learner profile poster in the history of the IB, I will explain the reasons why that is the case throughout this rationale with an explanation of each individual feature that were hand-picked based on their relevance in contributing to the poster’s appeal.

Overall, this propaganda poster revolves around the idea of fear that was made clear by the headline.

Communication is key to survival

The fear-factor of this poster warns the audience that a disaster will result if they do not follow a particular course of action which is to communicate or to become a communicator. Furthermore, the use of language aspect surrounding this headline also has an apparent effect on the audience; such as the use of inclusive language, like we in we are here to help, which persuades the audience by creating a sense of responsibility or solidarity on the topic.

Despite the controversial use of

The learning outcome clearly states

We express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than

one language and in many ways. We collaborate effectively,

listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and

groups.

With emphasis on promoting the communicator learning outcome, the image and visual aspects / visual language of the poster contributes to the poster’s appeal. The visual aspect is a conversation which symbolizes express ourselves confidently, during a rescue mission depicting the collaborate effectively aspect of being a communicator, between the refugees and marines that symbolize individuals and groups, in both arabic and english (more than one language).

Propaganda

Throughout history, the term propaganda has always been heavily associated with a negative message, often not only an exaggeration of the truth but to the extent of an outright lie. Solely focusing on the idea of war, propaganda and bias has always played a key role in forming or perhaps altering the perception of the masses during these time periods.

 In response to the chosen prompt, as a student I agree that

The term propaganda always refers to a negative message. 

As previously mentioned, propaganda is mainly used to either exaggerate or alter the truth. To what extent should one simply alter the truth for positive reasons? I believe that being untruthful on it’s own is already a negative act, therefore it puts a negative aspect on the story or news headline.

The media’s use of propaganda during the Iraq war in 2003 is worth the discussion in this case to back up the statement above. In the documentary Control Room, there are many different examples of opposing perspectives on the same issue. The most important one being the conditions faced by the Iraqi population due to the war. From the observations made by Josh Rushing, he pointed out that Al Jazeera seemed to have mostly  depicted the sufferings of the people on the channel as opposed to the threats of Saddam Hussein. This exaggeration of the truth (message) might have had good intentions, to show that the conditions were bad for the people of Iraq but at the end, this refers to a negative message critiquing the United States involvement in Iraq.

Don’t take my word for it, but my point is that even though the intention behind altering the message (propaganda) in itself might be for the greater good, the message it provokes will always refer to a negative message.

This is Water

In David Foster’s essay ‘This is Water’ he argued that “true freedom acquired through education is the ability to be adjusted, conscious and sympathetic”.

     Breaking down this main argument that he puts forward during a commencement speech, he seems to have come to this conclusion through the observations he might have made of the population in general; in accordance to how people act, social norms and maybe through personal accounts. David Foster specifically refers to traits or perhaps qualities of great importance in human nature that people are lacking today’s society (adjusted, conscious and sympathetic) through the change our world has gone through since these qualities seems to have been overlooked by the modern day society.

     The fact that this essay was originally made for a commencement speech played an important role in forming David Foster’s thesis and that is where he really develops his thesis and explains the meaning behind it by using real-life examples and evidence that everyone understands. To put things into context, commencement speeches are spoken to university or college graduates as they say it in America on their graduation day, and there are many different messages conveyed through these speeches depending on the speaker, but usually it is to provide graduates small insights on the upcoming challenges of life or even (if you’re lucky) tips on how to deal with these challenges. 

     So based on his thesis, David Foster really emphasised freedom through education and that this freedom is meant to be achieved after going through all the years of study in school and university but real freedom, according to David Foster is different. To explain this he uses the example of a day-in day-out middle class worker’s life where a person might go through their day according to their personal schedule, personal necessities and personal view of the things going on around them and that this could develop the protagonist disease where one thinks that he/she is the centre of the universe (as if he/she were the main character to every story). Foster then quoted, 

     “But if you've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars — compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things.” 

     Basically, where he is getting at is that people need to be more open to perspectives in this world, embrace the reality that they are situated in through the freedom they have acquired through education with the ability to be adjusted, conscious and sympathetic.

     This relates to our inquiry question ‘How can literature develop empathy and emotional intelligence’ since literature enables us to take the role of different perspectives other than ourselves and help us to be more conscious and sympathetic.

Alice Munro IOC 2

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzpD1Rg_bKCsR1VIUXhlTDFCX2s/view?usp=sharing

Alice Munro IOC

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzpD1Rg_bKCsbGExVXk5UnBOdmM/view?usp=sharing