AHWOSG Task one

Task one The subject of this extract is Dave Eggers's mother and how he and his sister are dealing with the symptoms of her illness, practically rather than emotionally. We learn through this extract how they deal with the mother being fairly incapacitated and is constantly spewing up green fluid. The plastic receptacle which is introduced towards the end of the extract is described at length by Eggers, by the way Eggers describes the details of it "moulded plastic/cream-coloured/half-moon." It seems as though Eggers is somewhat in awe of the "great find", this could be because of the impact the receptacle has had on him and his sister’s life. Eggers details at length how him and his sister dealt with mother constantly spewing up fluid before the receptacle, he does his with the use of parentheses and describes how they are running out of towels to deal with this problem. The use of the very long bracket that Eggers used to describe the actions of him and his sister gives us detail and make the reader sympathise with the author as we understand the problem that Eggers is faced with. This makes the "great find" of the plastic receptacle give a sense of relief to the reader as we can see the impact it will have on everyday lie at the Eggers house. In this extract Eggers uses the term "fluid" nine times, this repetition shows how big a part the green fluid was in the everyday goings on in the Eggers household. Eventually the reader becomes accustomed to the green fluid which might have made some readers uneasy at first. I think Eggers does this on purpose as he is trying to make us feel what it was like for him, as he had to deal with the green fluid and eventually he became immune to how disgusting it was. The mother spewing up vile green fluid just assimilates into the routine of the house and just becomes a part of life for Eggers and his siblings. The relationship between Eggers and his mother is one which is uncommon in most households and until both his parents were diagnosed with cancer, the relationship him and his mother have in this extract was probably never a though which crossed his mind. This is a role reversal with the traditional child/parent relationship. However I think Eggers does a good job of making it seem normal as that is what this life has become to him and that comes across in his writing, he does this by not constantly bringing up the fact it is he who is looking after his mother. Therefore as a consequence of this the reader to understands what Eggers is going through and he manages to make it seem relatable, as if it is not the alien proposition that may be it would be if it was suggested to a young reader that is should be them who is looking after their parent. There is no bitterness or anger in how he describes the relationship with his mother it does not seem as though he harbours any resentment in this extract for the position he has now found himself in.

Irwin's references

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was a Nobel prize winning English poet and novelist described by George Orwell as "the prophet of British imperialism." Kipling was born in Bombay to English parents, however he did return to England for his education as was the custom of children whose parents were serving in India. He lacked the academic ability to go to a prestigious university in England, so his parents obtained him a job working as a headmaster of an arts school in modern-day Pakistan. Kipling's famous works include the 'Jungle Book' as well as 'The white man's burden' which has become emblematic of European racism and a justification of white colonialism. This is why Akhthar objects to Irwin's praise of Kipling as he is perceived by many to be a racist and a big proponent of the British empire which colonized and occupied India. Akthar could have seen this praise at the very least culturally insensitive or a forgiveness or support of Kipling's racism. Irwin tries to present Kipling as the antidote to the the war loving poets of Owen and Sassoon. Akthar's response also demonstrates his and the rest of the boys extensive knowledge of literature. Douglas Haig was a British war general,

Brothel scene

Task 1 This role-playing scene is typical of Hector as it highlights clearly how he is not a traditional teacher. Hector sense of boundaries is seemingly lost –or he never knew boundaries- as he agrees and eggs on the sexually provocative nature of this role play, “ I would like to stretch out in the conditional or the subjunctive.” This shows how Hectors problem is not with the risqué nature of this seen but with the grammar of their French. This shows once again how Hectors priorities are off, he does not see their examinations as important and he lets his own emotions get in the way of their education. For example Hector refuses to give over some of his lessons to Irwin , he does this simply so he can spend as much time with the boys as possible. The boys are back for one term to study for their entrance exams and need all the help in terms of guidance for these exams. Hector however wastes their time with French brothel role-playing and does not allow more of their time to be dedicated to their studies with Irwin. He places more importance in his enjoyment of their company than in their education, this is an entirely selfish act from Hector and show once again how he is not fit to be a teacher. Hector again shows his selfishness by getting them to act out his own fantasies, they use cultural references and play songs from Hectors time rather than using references more relevant to the boys. Task 2 Farce: A comic dramatization aiming to create humour through highly improbable situations Fall guy: A scapegoat The headmaster is clearly the fall guy as he speaks the French the worst, therefore he is portrayed as a fool. Although he speaks better French than I, I am to assume that he is a moron. He fails to understand all their French he also fails to speak effortlessly in the conditional and subjunctive. Therefore he is the intellectual scapegoat of the scene and is made the fall guy paraded in front of the audience for speaking good but not fluent French. The scene is best shown as a farce when Task 3 Posner is suggested to be both homosexual and have feelings for Dakin. For example in the brothel scene Posner asks Dakin to remove his trousers much to the dismay of the other boys, this suggests that Posner is sexually attracted to Dakin and wishes to see him naked. It is further suggested that Posner is homosexual through various stereotypes, he is seen to very much enjoy drama and singing which could be stereotyped as camp or homosexual, furthermore the way Posner carries himself as a whole appears to be rather camp which again suggests his homosexuality. Dakin is shown to be confident as shown by his removal of his trousers when prompted by Posner. Dakin is also shown to enjoy more risque subject matter suggesting the situation to be in a brothel, removing his trousers and playing along with Timms in a prostitute-client scenario. Hector appears to really enjoy this scene, his face throughout is ecstatic and his is laughing through much of their role-playing. He permits the actions of both Posner and Dakin and by not stopping it de facto advocates it. Hector mocks the headmaster through his lack of understanding of the French language. He seems to blame the headmaster for interrupting the boys performance and Hector's enjoyment.

History Boys opening scene analysis

The first scene of the 'History Boys'(play) introduces us to Irwin and as he is the only one in the scene to speak, Bennett is already telling the audience that he will be a major character. It is suggested right of the bat that whilst not only is Irwin an important person in terms of the play but also he is a significant figure in the whole 'History Boys' universe. This is shown as Irwin is seen to be sat level with the Mps he is addressing, this suggests parity between Irwin and the politicians. Furthermore never once do the MPs interrupt Irwin and they seem to pay close attention to him which suggests that the MPs have much respect for Irwin. Irwin however is not presented as a rather nice character instead he is presented as a rather calculating, sinister and slimy person. This is because of the content of what Irwin says, Irwin seems to be conducting the MPs on how to spin what could be a unethical/unpopular policy, he seems to be advocating abolishing trial by jury and the presumption of innocence. He instructs them MPs to "mist up the windows" and confuse the public with paradoxical lines such as "the loss of liberty is the price we pay for freedom," which does to be fair prompt laughter from the audience possibly as they could see this type of speech reflected in their own politicians. The whole scene is fairly boring with not much gong on which I think could represent either peoples views, the reality of education or how boring Irwin's life how now become. Furthermore the lighting resembles a cage round the characters which could represent the education system or methods of teaching, this could be foreshadowing what Irwin rallied against as teacher but has succumb to later in life.

Straight Outta Compton review. Essay

The blockbuster NWA biopic is reviewed here in the Guardian by Peter Bradshaw, even before we see the body of text we see that Bradshaw awarded the movie 3/5 stars. This tells the reader before he/she reads further that Bradshaw has some mixed feeling about the movie. The review is aimed at potential movie go-ers but prehaps more specifically, people who are aware and have knowledge of this period in time or have seen the movie. The whole review is written in diexis, which means a reader who is unaware of the late 80s west coast hip hop scene, may not understand the content of the article as it relies on a knowledge of context. Some readers maybe are not conscious of the "race rage" in America from which sprung NWA, some also may be unaware of Will Smiths total dominance of the hip-hop scene. Therefore Bradshaw has narrowed down his audience to those of whom this movie has specific relevance. On occassion Bradshaw uses brackets to insert comedy,"no-one/knew what anitisemitism is(if you say so)." The intention of this by the writer could be to lighten up some of the harsher themes of the review, and make them easier to digest. The writer tackles a couple of harsh topics, he does this in two ways. One in a damming inditment of the movie's neglect of the serious misogyny, antisemitism and drug problems of hip-hop at them time. "The movie fails to get perspective of the misogynistic culture of hip-hop." However he also praises the movie for doing a "good job" of how NWA tackled cencorship and how black America was oppressed by the "white world of success." This review ends with one of the shortest sentences of the article, "it twists the volume dial clockwise." This leaves the article with a punch to make the review stick in the head of the reader. The last line is obviously a reference to the musical element of this music bipic. Therefore it is also a very suitable line to end the review with. Overall Bradshaw has very mixed view on "straight outta compton." However it still comes across as though Bradshaw enjoyed himself and seems as though he is recommending the motion picture.