Has your exploration of the poem developed your understanding of the novel's main concerns, themes, tone or anything else? Explain the connection or contradiction using quotes from the poem to support your ideas.
Throughout the poem, we can see many
personifications of Kabul as a woman. The central theme of “A Thousand Splendid
Suns” is the role of women in the Afghan society. The poem emphasizes on the
many attractive traits of Kabul by using words such as “dazzling”, “sparkling”,
“enthralling” and “gaiety” which contrasts the hardships and pain of the women
in the novel. This oxymoronic comparison makes us wonder deeper into the
meaning of beauty and what is ultimately the meaning of being a beautiful women
on the inside.
Moreover, the novel, named after a phrase
in the poem, also carry a significant and reoccurring theme of patriotism as
“knowing and loving are born of this same dust”, illustrating how every Afghan
owe their knowledge to the place where they were first born.
Hakim, or better known as Babi, struck me
the most when I read the poem as it elaborates on the beauties Kabul has to
offer. Babi, on page 192, was the character who compares Kabul to the two lines
of the poem which are:
“One could not count the moons that shimmer
on her roofs, or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.”- ,
Babi, pg 192
One could question on the significance of
the phrase from the poem as it plays the huge of the title and possibly an
important theme. As Babi displays his love for Kabul in quotes such as “I can’t
believe I’m leaving Kabul…. It’s strange to think that I’ll be sleeping beneath
another city’s skies soon.”, I relate the poem strongly to Babi’s adhering love
despite the chaos and violence of the wars in Kabul that ironically, takes his
life away in the end.
Laila, although initially never showing
much thought about Kabul, in Part 4 showed desires of returning back to Kabul
despite a life of tranquility in Pakistan. As exemplified by the quote, "Kabul
is waiting. Needing. This journey home is the right thing to do." -Laila,
pg 392, Laila shows her patriotism by recognising the need to serve her
homeland as it is her duty as an Afghan.
It has been a great start to IB with our first term in English being an interesting and productive one.
To start off, it felt like most of us are proactive and initiative in terms of completing work and meeting deadlines but I believe that the confidence Ms. Abena had in trusting us made that happen too.
However, I still depend heavily on Edmodo as it really helps me to be efficient and be on top of my work at all times.
Just in this term, we've read "A Thousand Splendid Suns", performed our first oral presentation, wrote our first written task and explored many interesting topics such as power and language, gender roles, and vernacular english to name a few. The term has definitely felt productive for me and I feel like I'm on par with what is to done in English at the moment.
Moreover, I feel that I'm getting more practice in terms of writing through reflections and writing tasks which helps my rusty vocabulary bank to get working back again.
However, what I've enjoyed the most this term in English was definitely our exploration on African-American Vernacular English and having Socratic Circles as AAVE is an incredibly interesting topic and socratic circles help me widen my perspective on many topics through discussion. Socratic circles also allow me to practice my social skills in terms of being patient and being a good listener as opposed to being just a good analyst and speaker and I believe it is a skill that may seem easy but definitely requires practice to be good at.
Today, we discussed about literary criticism as we are starting on the Literature part of our IB English course.
At first glance, these term vaguely make sense to me but when some classmates raise their hands in confusion of the term, I realise that I myself don't really know the term well enough besides the rough idea of some sort of critical evaluation of literature (initially thought as anything that can simply be read).
So, as my circle went first, I suggested that we break down the term into their individual words: literary and criticism. We first discussed the definition of literary as literature, relating it to words such as text, art and written. Upon a quick clear up by Ms. Abena on the distinct difference between literature (work of written nature), text (any work for the means of communication) and art (an expression of creativity), we understood what sets "literature" apart. From there, we further discussed what qualifies as literature.
Before starting on what ideas we came up with, I would like to reiterate a few valuable points from the text to keep in mind:
In literary criticism, the three main points that catalyses the evaluation are:
interpretation: what was the message that the text was trying to convey to the reader? analysis: how does the author create the effect present in the text? evaluation: what makes this piece of literature good or bad?
I came up with ideas such as literature needing to contain a sense of extraordinary artistic value that is timeless however another circle member then argued that any text can be a form of literature as long as we have evidence to support the three main points of evaluation as artistic value varies in eyes of the beholder.
In terms of our strategy and techniques for the socratic circle today, it seems that some classmates did not speak up. It dawned to me that sometimes we could be overbearing and this may turn off other circle members from talking due to intimidation and it makes me realise the importance of the circle being a support group instead a fight for power. I realise on my part I had not taken the initiative to be more caring towards others in making them feel more comfortable about sharing their opinions as I was too busy voicing out my ideas.
However, I also recognise myself as being the 'shy' one in certain discussions and it simply shows me how I view the discussion as a competition hence the relenting effort of letting go and showing any signs of being 'lesser' in terms of knowledge. It makes me understand that I should view the circle as a safe zone of breaking down those walls of ego and to feed on the ideas of others as well hence the ability to question with confidence is something all of us should learn.
I've often realise a hierarchy since I started school at 7 in subjects. It's not uncommon to feel inadequate simply because when we measure ourselves to the standards of an academic world, there are only few who seem to be the creme de la creme while most of us are 'average'.
This, simply has to change. What a lot of us fail to realise is that school is apparently a field for those who are academically-minded, such as being advantaged at number/rational or writing. In an analogy by Sir Ken Robinson, he compares education of students almost like production of eggs where : "Students are educated in batches, according to age, as if the most important thing they have in common is their date of manufacture. They are given standardised tests at set points and compared with each other before being sent out onto the market. " Even with schools emerging with new systems to emphasise on the importance of other intelligences such as the arts and music, it will still take a while before the stereotypical mindset of being better in the maths and sciences is banished as I assume, they are possibly what the world needs the most at the moment. We are all encouraged to follow our dreams and passions but realistically, we will have to weigh in the possibilities and chances such as "will this job be steady career path?" or "is this field of study simply too popular?". I suppose I'm rather pessimistic when it comes to this matter but before these talks, I realise the importance of finding our own strengths too. I've recently been having a hard time simply thinking of a reply to, "what do you want to do in the future?" because honestly , I have no idea. How could you decide what you want to do for 2/3 of your life at this point? What if I made a wrong choice?
I guess the start is simply by observing myself and the way I am. I've always been more of an introvert and judging by the amount of MBTI tests i take, I had known that I was interpersonal but I never knew I was body smart too apparently.
By observing one self and not needing to confine our individuality to the standards of society, I think that is freedom. Intelligence is an always will be a concept, and it is up to us to define it for ourselves as Einstein had once said:
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
Do you think that the media young children are exposed to affects their self-esteem or self-perception? Explain. Why might Disney be a relevant example when it comes to looking at language, identity, communities and power? Watch the video below - what is your reaction? What is your reaction? Does it lead you to change any of your previously-held beliefs?
Racism still plague many of us today and I'm ashamed to say that I fall into the habit from time to time as well. Not only racism but xenophobia, division among the classes are also some of these problems and sometimes I wonder why we do such awful acts. The thing that I recall the most in relation with racism was ironically humour, in which the usage of stereotypes on certain groups were nothing out of the norm in my everyday conversation with my family. We would stereotype these groups based on their occupation, their facial features and nonetheless, the colour of their skin. These were often said for the purpose of humour but this slowly degraded my sense of morality as I often reflect in shock after doing something like that nowadays.
Television is an article in most households nowadays and isn't much of a scarcity for children hence I would say that many children are exposed to at least some sort of media but specifically, television. Television, if I have to put it, would have to be the devil's advocate in engulfing on communal stereotypes as they are firstly, easy to understand and break down by many layers os society and as my point in the paragraph above states, could not only be humorous but even exciting, engaging, inspiring-for the sole purpose of entertainment.
I'm not saying that entertainment is bad and what people WANT is essentially bad for them but the best way I can put the situation in an analogy is that you give an intense exposure of broccoli to children until they get used to it or even, grow to like it.
The exposure of stereotyping in television media is strong, and we can see it already for example as Halloween draws close, girls would tend to dress as princesses or something feminine as that, would be a norm and if you dress as something UGLY as thematically set by Halloween standards, some would think it's wrong. Here is a video to illustrate the example (viewers' discretion advised):
Even as exaggerated as this video clip might portray, it does elicit a certain height of truth of the effects of media today have on youth today. Without seeing some links as the one below, I would be afraid that I would maintain similar ideals of confining to media-set stereotypes as well:
In the context of Disney, I'm afraid that's where ideas of wanting to be a princess (the ultimate sign of a damsel in distress), pretty and desirable sprouted from works such as Cinderella, Snow White and etc. It wasn't only until recently that they promoted works such as Princess and the Frog which promoted diversity and women empowerment. That, alongside Mulan, are the only works of Disney that I can with one hand that had elements of women empowerment but even neither escaped from romance and all the la-dee-da that makes the idea of women constantly related to aspects of love, revolting.
The video, hurts me as I watched the response of the children when they were asked "Which of these dolls look like you?". I saw a look that almost tells of a sudden revelation that all these negative factors that they associate with, were them and they simply feel confused as to their inferiority and I had share such experiences as well when I visited someplace of a caucasian-majority and the treatment I got from many, if not cold, were rather unfriendly and then it struck me after being oblivious for so long that, I'm a stereotype as well.
This is a rather pessimistic view maybe, that I see such a grim view of the world today but the more I experience the more I see about the media-shaped society and culture of today in the negative light. Of course, there are many benefits that comes along with media but we need to assert a different mindset- a mindset that opens itself and see itself as part of the world as opposed to the world of only theirs as we will constantly be codependent with society and we ALL play a part in making the world more open to different perspectives, everyday.
I would like to end my reflection with a quote from Gandhi, which says:
"whatever you do in life will be insignificant. but it is very important that you do it anyway."
Knowledge and Understanding of the texts and subject matter
-I felt that my understanding of my topic was superficial as I did not intrigue my audience with more than what was outlined on each slide of my powerpoint presentation. If I had more knowledge and ideas of my text, I would be able to go on much deeper to explain my points.
Understanding of how language is used
- As I presented on the topic of Manglish, I understood the colloquial "Manglish" however this did not go well with my idea of presenting in an Ellen Degeneres/talk show host style as I do not identify the speech style of a talk show host thoroughly and could not present it in that essence. I assume that my ideas were not fitting and was probably not focused as I felt that I had clumsily gone through one-third later into my presentation as I lost character while speaking.
However, I felt that my attempt on this idea was original and creative as recreating a specific style of a well-known talk show host would require familiarity with the style and simply a sense of spontaneity which always appear to be the basis of Ellen Degeneres' fun and friendly appeal.
Organisation
-My organisation of this oral presentation was rather simple as I followed a simple structure of background and main content. I also make sure my slides could relate to the next to ensure a continuous flow of thought.
Language
-I felt that I had good command in my English as I used a variety of lexicon and technical terms to explain the characteristics of "Manglish". Explaining these terms such a grammar, phonology, rhetoric and sarcasm allow me to understand them better as I teach as well.
My control in this area was something I was happy with as I was also able to capture Ellen's southern drawl and embody her sense of spontaneity in the beginning.
To what
extent has there always been a sexual double standard, and how is that double
standard encoded in texts?
In the excerpt from "The Scarlet Letter", what surprised me was how
the females ("midwives') were so harsh in judging Hester Prynne almost as
though they are sexist when viewing Hester Prynne's chastity. "This woman
has brought shame upon us all. " in the text show how they think the act
of one single woman contaminate the so called 'good image' of the women's
circle. However, why is the idea of Hester being unchaste a bigger source of
worry rather than the speculation ofhowshe became so? Why is it that they do
not worry about whether or not she had been violated or raped hence being seen
as a victim instead of a mere symbol of disgraced dignity as the embroidery
"A" on her bodice show?
This is then continued with the Op-Ed article which states how
society is still "perversely censorious of woman's sex life" showing
how people still view the chastity of a woman in such light, whereby their
sexual status is almost a complete representation of their dignity in the
public eye.
We see women getting humiliated and scorned, even being driven to
death because they get taunted for their sexual behavior such as Amanda Knox?
How does this compare to the case of Ariel Castro, a male who
later killed himself after bring found guilty of 937 counts of rape, kidnapping
and aggravated murder who kept 3 females for almost a decade as sex slaves to
satisfy his dissipated lust?
What I see is that men get away with higher degrees of promiscuity
whereas women get shunned just because the are no longer ‘virgins’ but society
has mixed the issue of sexual righteousness with aggression as well where on
this end, we unfairly and often stereotype males as aggressors instead of
women.
In the “Gender and Speech
Styles” booklet, it also mentions how language is not an innate skill, and as
mentioned by Dale Spender, language is a socially constructed system rather
than natural phenomenon hence language can be utilized by powerful groups to
encode meanings.
For example, the creation of lexical asymmetry
place "talking like a man"> "talking like a woman", as cultures-often practiced
by large powerful groups such as a society, still maintain a traditional
stereotype over gender status in language. This then leads to my next point
that was also highlighted in the booklet that women and men are two different
cultures, and that they have different aims in conversing e.g. men for power, women for solidarity,
intimacy.
Society also stereotypes gender with sexual implication. Women are
expected to be nice which is sexualized to mean as chaste but when reversed onto
men, "nice boys" "nice boys”- is an unusual collocation(
juxtaposition) which then shows then the norm for men is 'not nice' and when
sexualized, will presumably be unchaste and foul-mouthed.
In a modern context, the contemporary view is that both genders
can have different identities in different contexts. Rather than a single
notion for femininity or masculinity, there are so many femininities and masculinities
and can be seen as a pluralist framework instead hence these characteristics
simply become a set of gender-free adjectives, that are can apply to both men
and women on an individual level as awareness towards individualism rises but
this is also limited to the constrain of their situation.
