Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat

Paper One Textual Analysis – Political Speech

The text “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat” takes the form of a speech as it follows the stylistic conventions of a speech, with the use of rhetorical devices to further the speaker’s appeal. It was delivered by the, at the time, newly elected British Prime Minister (Winston Churchill) on his first entrance to the House of Commons with the presence of the outgoing one (Neville Chamberlain). 

            The target audience of the speech is primarily the British population as they were the ones who selected Churchill as their new prime minister and Churchill returning the favor by opening the speech with n insight on the work he has done so far as the new prime minister. However, the main purpose of the text is to rally up the British people’s support for Britain in the earlier stages of the war as Churchill emphasizes on how victory is their main aim, as well as to build up the people’s confidence in having Churchill as their prime minister.

            Churchill starts the speech by highlighting what he has done since being in office, this includes the forming of a new war cabinet, the appointment of individuals in key positions within the government. Churchill then states how the forming of the new administration was necessary and how he did it in a nick of time and he also addressed the public to have confidence in the new government. At this stage, Churchill transitions to his main part of the speech as he emphasizes on how vital victory in the war is to Britain and sticks with this subject till the end of his speech. Based on the speech, Churchill sees himself as an influential individual that will motivate Britain to its victory and he wants the public to see this as well. So it can be deduced that Churchill’s words of motivation is the theme of the speech.

            There are different elements in the text that affects the overall tone of the text. The sudden shift in tone halfway through the speech was resulted by a change atmosphere within the speech. At the beginning, the tone was rather terse. For the most part, Churchill was only listing what he has done and what is to be done by the parliament in chronological order. As opposed to the tone being preachy with lines like “Friend below the Gangway, have to be made here at home” and charismatic as Churchill starts using the word “we” more frequently in order to signify unity in Britain and get his message across on the second half of the speech. There is also a lot of repetition of the word “victory” and how important it was for Britain’s survival towards the end of the speech. As a whole, Churchill was often straight to the point in both parts so the overall tone would be urgent and the mood of the text would be empowering since this theme of victory is the overall basis of the speech.

            As previously mentioned, the overall purpose of the speech was to appeal to the audience and build up credibility towards the author in order to influence Britain to victory. Churchill builds up credibility in the beginning of the text as he describes the work he has done for the parliament as quoted “A number of other positions, key positions, were filled yesterday, and I am submitting a further list to His Majesty to-night.” and this appeals to the reader otherwise classified as ethos. Moving on with the persuasive technique, Churchill starts to include rhetorical devices with different effects. For example, Churchill uses an anaphora alongside a climax and parallelism, “but it must be remembered that we are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history, that we are in action at many other points in Norway and in Holland, that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean, that the air battle is continuous and that many preparations, such as have been indicated by my hon.” The use of climax was to emphasize the importance of the events going on at that instant in order of importance and therefore making it more appealing to the reader in order to engage them with the reader. Churchill does this over and over again, this time with the inclusion of a rhetorical question. “You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny,” the effects of the rhetorical device and question is the same as the previous indication.  As previously mentioned as the theme of the text, the word victory is often repeated. “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.” it is implemented inside an anadiplosis in order to again emphasize the importance of victory for the Brits.

            Throughout the text, it is clear that Churchill wanted to emphasize victory and inspire the British people to glory as indicated in the previous paragraphs, starting with ethos to build credibility, then further developing the message with rhetorical devices and engaging the reader with rhetorical questions. Churchill was very successful in getting his message across and very appealing as the new British prime minister.

Meaningful Takeaway (An African Voice)

    Within the class discussion quite a number of points were raised, however the most relevant point was the effect Things Fall Apart had on other cultures and individuals. The group spent a fair bit amount of time discussing these points as they arise mainly due to the fact that almost everyone in the group had opinions on that specific part of the interview in An African Voice. As a whole, Things Fall Apart, for the readers, was somewhat relatable especially in the eyes of the colonized. Chinua  Achebe was surprised by this as he initially had no idea how the book was relatable to individuals in Korea and how the Korean readers were able mirror the colonization of Igboland to how the Japanese colonized Korea. The fact that Chinua Achebe was utterly surprised by his audience was also a topic raised in the discussion, however not the most meaningful takeaway.

IOC Commentary

Link to commentary

The Tempest

Act 3 scene 1

Line

1           There be some sports are painful, and their labour

Delight in them sets off: some kinds of baseness

Are nobly undergone and most poor matters

Point to rich ends. This my mean task

Would be as heavy to me as odious, but

The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead

And makes my labours pleasures: O, she is

Ten times more gentle than her father's crabbed,

And he's composed of harshness. I must remove

Some thousands of these logs and pile them up,

Upon a sore injunction: my sweet mistress

Weeps when she sees me work, and says, such baseness

Had never like executor. I forget:

But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours,

Most busy lest, when I do it.

37        Admired Miranda!

Indeed the top of admiration! worth

What's dearest to the world! Full many a lady

I have eyed with best regard and many a time

The harmony of their tongues hath into bondage

Brought my too diligent ear: for several virtues

Have I liked several women; never any

With so fun soul, but some defect in her

Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed

And put it to the foil: but you, O you,

So perfect and so peerless, are created

Of every creature's best!

37         Miranda.--O my father,

I have broke your hest to say so!

61         The very instant that I saw you, did

My heart fly to your service; there resides,

To make me slave to it;

77         At mine unworthiness that dare not offer

What I desire to give, and much less take

What I shall die to want. But this is trifling;

And all the more it seeks to hide itself,

The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning!

And prompt me, plain and holy innocence!

83         I am your wife, if you will marry me;

If not, I'll die your maid: to be your fellow

You may deny me; but I'll be your servant,

Whether you will or no.

A Critique of Coldplay & Rihanna's 'Princess of China'

The music video for Princess of China was published on June 2, 2012. Prior to watching the music video, the music and the lyrics portrayed the song as a typical break-up song with the addition of metaphorical features. The video producers had other ideas; they believed that due to the time signature and the structure of the song, it wouldn’t fit into the format of a regular music video. As a result, the video was given some sort of narrative structure based around the idea of a kung-fu movie. After all, the song is called Princess of China.

The video consisted of scenes with Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Rihanna herself who was portrayed as the ‘princess of china’. It was a series of striking vignettes loosely tied to an assassins-in-love-and-in-peril concept. They mixed together "action and kung fu" traits in a playful manner, the same structure and basis of a Chinese kung-fu movie. The video separates itself from other videos by Rihanna and Coldplay. Everything seemed logical until Chris Martin was involved in a sparring scene wearing a ninja costume a minute into the video. He also holds a Katana; which is a renowned Japanese sword. Referring back to the context of the video and song, the whole set were to consist if Chinese influences. On the other hand, Rihanna was often portrayed in multiple scenes of herself doing the Gold Finger-nail dance that was originated from Thailand throughout the video. This again falsely represents the social group therefore marginalizing it.

The significance of this video in China was also very important. Most were not concerned of the fact that the video portrays the country with heavily stylized Asian stereotypes, some of which aren't even about China but they were mostly concerned about their “princess” and how the western world portrayed their views.

The racial implications put upon Rihanna were surprisingly direct. Comments like

“This Princess of China is a little dark-skinned” –Daniel Lin

and "When I return, will I be so tan that I will be as black as the Princess of China?"-Kensou Lee

Comments like these were just a few from many similar ones.

Despite the Song title, the music video did not have to be based upon the idea of a Chinese movie.

"Once upon a time somebody ran
Somebody ran away saying fast as they can
About to go, I got to go"
The girl 'said' that as she left him or she is leaving him.

"Once upon a time, we fell apart
You're holding in your hands the two halves of my heart"
He talks about how they broke up, and how she broke his heart.

"Once upon a time, we were burning bright"
She talks about how they once loved each other very much and had that 'spark' in their relationship.

"Now we all ever seem to do is fight
On and on, and on and on and on"
And now all they do is fight.

The lyrics provided enough detail to convey greater meaning behind the published music video. If the lyrics were given more significance, the video could’ve been given a better theme and be based on the idea of a break-up with more meaningful collection of scenes rather than using Asian stereotypes to catch attention.

Paper #1 Text #1 (ACTS analysis)

   The text is an autobiography, written with the aim of projecting the character of Mary Seacole in a favourable and positive light in the eyes of the beholder.

“The Wonderful Adventures of Mary Seacole (1857)” was available back in her time as a possible form of entertainment or enlightenment. Those with a fascination of reading firsthand the lifestyles of those immersed in the British culture at its height, particularly that of one of their colonies, could have their interests piqued by such a text; alternatively, it could be of interest to people such as those who have a desire to read about the effects of Yellow Fever on a society from a personal perspective.

   The text describes the thoughts, beliefs, actions, and adventures of Mary Seacole, with the excerpt mainly dealing with her encounter with the Yellow Fever in Jamaica during the year of 1853, and how it affected her personally

   The author’s reflections come in a relaxed, albeit bleak and dreary atmosphere, set by her frequent usage of words related to death and sadness.

   Mary Seacole writes her autobiography in an elegant, well-structured style that lends her the persona of well-cultured, intelligent individual as she reflects on her personal experiences, all of this painting her in a favourable light in the eyes of the beholder.

Context:

Based in 19^th century Jamaica, currently a British colony, during the height of the British Empire.