Fatelessness Essay

Literature Over Time

Literature has been a way to express feelings and share our own experiences and points of view. However, as time goes on, some literature is forgotten and some is remembered. My question is, to what extent can the meaning of a literary work change over time?
Depending on the culture, the literary work will take different meanings over time and even if it's forgotten, works such as Fatelessness are useful to remember us about these topics. I'll base my ideas in the novel Fatelessness given that it allows me to express better the topic.

Throughout different cultures, literature has different connotations. For example, a novel like Fatelessness would have a great impact in Germany and even throughout time, people will keep remembering it because it is involved in the history of the country and in its culture. However in a country like Chile, nowadays people will appreciate the novel because its context its not old, but as time goes on, people will start forgetting the second world war because there will be news that take over the old ones. Chilean people will consider the book as something old and not relevant. The novel will probably get lost because it won't be interesting and nobody will care about it anymore. What I want to express is that depending on the country and its culture, a literary work like Fatelessness will have different variations in it's meaning over time.
This novel, independent of the culture, will mostly impact teenagers, given that the novel it's written through a first person protagonist who is a teenager. This way, teenagers will feel more identified with him. The protagonist, Gyuri, is a teenager who lives in a second world war context and lives as a jew who has to go through segregation and even go to a concentration camp in which he narrates his experiences, his hopes and his relations with people. Teenagers can see this reality through someone of the same age and realize the horrible things that happened. The lies that were told to the people who stayed there. Even our protagonist at first liked the work the nazis made him do. "The work itlsef, by the way cannot be said to be particularly strenous, and so as it is, given the gang of us boys, is fairly entertaining". We can appreciate ihs innocence as a tenn and how there were other teens living the same situation. The narrator  Gyuri, creates an effect on the readers by narrating in first person. It feels like he is telling us his experiences in such a personal way, that it makes us feel closer to Gyuri. His way of describing is quite detailed so it lets the reader imagine better the situations Guri goes through, to the point he or she feels almost inside the book. He emphasizes situations he considers important, like when he got his first kiss with AnnaMarie. "She started trembling all over. It was really good because in her terror she clung to me, her arms around my neck, her face buried in my shoulder". He is really descriptive in situations he believes important.
Day by day, the world is more globalized. People's ideas spread throughout the world, sharing social attitudes that go against discrimination and seek for a better world. Teens will in the future be teh ones who will control this global ideas, so a concept like the racial discrimination will be known to everyone as a horrible thing, so even if just a group of teens read the book, this conept will spread through people and prevail through time.

Through time some ideas start to get lost because there are some new ones that often are taken to be more important, so that is why we as a society shouldn't forget crimes like this which are provoked by racial discrimintion, The context of a novel like Fatelessness wil change through time and start being less relevant, but doesn´t mean we should forget that what happened was wrong. Forget that the racial discrimination is ont okay. The meaning of a literary work such as Fatelessness is to remind us about all this. As Imre Kertész (the author) said, the concept "continued to worry our souls, and remains in a cabinet" inside ourselves. The novel is the key for us to remember what is locked up inside that cabinet. Even if the society starts forgetting the concept, literature will try to keep remembering us.
The novel it´s an interpretation of Imre's life. It contains experiences and ideas he wanted to express. The novel itself it´s a terstimony for us to learn from. He expresses through metaphor's such as Gyuri liking the camp. This shows the little information people had about what was really going on. While Gyuri was at the concentration camp, he enjoyed being there, independant of all the starvation and hard work people had to go through. His innocence made him see it all as a "trip" to somewhere. His lack of informatino made him believe everything was okay and didn´t thought about the abuse nor the discrimination, ashe says " I would like to live a little bit longer in this beautiful concentratino camp".

Even in the future, when the context will be totally different, the meaning of literature will prevail given that if the meaning it expresses is worth keeping, it won´t be forgotten. A meaning that expresses that no race, nor culture should be superior that other. This is a concept people will remember thanks to literature. This way, literature will help avoiding such horrible crimes, like the one that Imre Kertész narrates us through the eyes of the innocent Gyuri.

Written Task TKaM

January 13th, 1930

Maycomb's School
Malders Street
Monroeville

Dear Director,

I am writing to you, to inform you about my daughter Jean Louise's entering to school, and ask you some concerns she has, so she is more confident when she goes to school the first day. She doesn't know how to write well yet, so I will express her ideas throughout the letter.

First of all, she wants to learn. She wants to know about how much she will learn. She is excited about it. I always call her to come to read the newspaper with me. I teach her to read while we read together, so now that she will go to school, she feels ready and has some confidence. Also, our housekeeper Calpurnia teaches her how to write a little. They don't really get along very well, but she does learn independent of the fights they have. At this age, she would be considered incredibly smart, given that kids her age barely know how to read.

The thing is that she may know too much. This concern is mine. I feel like she may get bored about school and the don't want to come anymore. As a lawyer that was raised here, I know how school is and I know how the children are, which brings me to another point. The Ewells. This kids may be too dangerous and aggressive. They are a family that lives in Maycomb and tend to be sort of mean. From what I know, they have a kid called Burris and he will be attending school with my daughter. Jem, my son, has told me that Burris has failed like three consecutive years, given that they only come the first day of school, and then they never come again. If you could speak with the teachers Jean Louise may have, get together with them, and warn her about this people, that would calm me down a lot.

Jean Louise is really looking forward to going to school. She has never looked forward more to anything in her life. I always see her on the tree house she has, looking over at the school yard, spying on the children at school. She tells me that she likes to just stare and learn their games and to follow her brother Jem's red jacket through the yard, him sharing his misfortunes and secrets with his friends. She is nervous but excited to join all those conversations and games she sees in the yard. She wanted to know if school really is like she has seen when she is at the treehouse. To know if everything is as fun and delightful as she sees. I've told her that school really is fun, but she wants to hear it from someone like you. Someone who has the authority you have. That would calm her a lot.

The last thing we both wanted to ask you is about the teachers. Jem has told us that the teachers are introducing a new way of teaching called the "Dewey Decimal System". WE wanted to know what that is about.

Also, Jean Louise is concerned because of what her brother has told her. The punishment kids get when they behave incorrectly, which is patting the palm of their hands with a ruler. "This aggression should stop, how could kids let themselves get hit by their teacher" she says. But this is not her major concern. Jem has told her that her soon-to-be-proffesor is  a tacky mean teacher. That she doesn't like kids that know more than others. She says she has to be the one who teaches and no one else. The Dewey Decimal System, I believe from what I've heard, was her idea. So knowing how she is as a teacher, her system doesn't really give me  a sense of confidence.

I don't know anything about other teachers, but maybe you could speak with them about being more sensible with our kids. They are just six years old and just started to grow. This would help us a lot and also if you could explain that new teaching method that would be fantastic.

In conclusion, I want you to take into consideration the school's teaching method, as well as answering Jean Louise's questions about school. But more so, I want you to assure me that my daughter will be completely safe while going to school.

I thank you in advance for listening to us. As a parent I just desire the best for my daughter. Her worries about school are common and related to how much she wants to go, even more now that she got interested in that Boo Radley's story. She wants to learn about that, and about that ramshackle house of theirs. She thinks school all get her the answers she wants.

Well, that's just part of their childhood, right?

I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

 Sincerely,             

Atticus Finch

Rationale TKaM Written Task

This written task relates to my study of the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". As it also relates to the structure of a formal letter. In this text, I considered the part one of the book and took the position of a character to express a specific tone, the anxiousness.
The anxiousness of a dad and her daughter for the first day at school.
I have learned about african american context in the U.S. at the 1930's. About racism and segregation of black people.
I have written a formal letter because it can express feelings, given that I can take some character's positions and include her and his experiences through the novel.
My letter tries to show and express a character's situation. This way I can show my understanding of the text and vocabulary, while also using what I have learned in this english course.
This written task about Scout and Atticus Finch, explains their concerns and anxiousness that they feel, while intending to look authentically, given the use of context and vocabulary from the time. This makes for a better understanding of the reader. It also appeals to emotions, however it also includes facts form the book, so it makes for a more complete text.

Question3 Task TKaM

In the book, Atticus tells Scout and Jem, "Don't fool yourselves - it's all adding up and one of these days we're going to pay the bill for it. I hope it's not in your children's time." 

The bill that he refers to stands for the consequence white people will have to deal with, given that they discriminated coloured people at the time. 

One of the consequences is that a completely equal society is no longer possible. the reason being that the discrimination created hate in between both races. And as the biggest coloured people representant once said: "Hate begets hate." This means that if we keep hating each other it will mean that we'll be stuck in an endless loop of hate. People will keep going against each other because of the hate that remains. The trust between races is a hard bond to recover.

These conflicts drove us apart from each other, to a point where the older generation has no chance to recover their bond. However, our new generation is more open-minded and thinks in a different way. Nowadays teenagers share with each other independently of their races.

In conclusion, the troubles we had in the past, even though it makes it harder for us to be reunited as one , made us visualise how the worst case scenario would be like and also in a way made our bond even stronger between races.

Response

This is an advertisement text from the Antigua & Barbuda Islands. It's objective being to persuade the reader to take a vacation on the islands. As it is located om the internet, it can use different features and techniques to persuade the reader, such as the background color, the images and the structure on how it's written.

Even before the actual text, there are words set in colour above the text. These words emphasize the words "beaches", "luxury", "Antigua" and "Barbuda". So the reader would actually relate all these words. Comparing beaches and luxury to Antigua & Barbuda.

At first, the ad tells us about the big island, Antigua. It emphasizes tha amount of beaches and entertainments there are, so everyone could seem to enjoy the stay on the island. It also contrast that it is achievable by anyone. It says there are places to stay for famous and rich people, as well as places that are cheaper in which usually the sailors stay. The fact that it uses numbers (such as 365 beaches and 108 square miles) gives the feeling of variety and size. People would relate that to the island being exclusive, however with a lot of variety for enterntainment and touring purposes.

The text also mentions the historical landmarks on te island, rederring to elements like the British Navy and so.

When the text starts to mention the other island, Barbuda, it says it's totally different, therefore there is more variety for people to enjoy and activities for every different liking. It says it's wild and barely inhabited, giving us the sense of adventure.

At last instance, there are activities offshore, so even if you don't like being in the island, there are activities you would enjoy.

FOA Reflection

The main focus of my Oral Activity, was analyzing a speech, while identifying rhetorical figures and persuasive techniques involved throughout the speech, which is what we have been studying on the course. While analyzing the speech, we first explained the context and the we proceeded with analysis, so the audience could have an idea of what the speech is about.
While preparing this presentation, I learned to pay more attention to little details in texts, given that in the speech almost every word represents something important, and every phrase is said for a reason, being a metaphor or just a simple emotional phrase. In our performance we were somewhat nervous because we were the first ones to present, but we knew that we would be taking this pressure off of us, so we wanted to present inmediately. Our structure was solid, the audience got interersted in our speech, and they also seemed to be interested in our presentation about it so I believe we accoplished our objective. I personally think that I could work on my pronunciation and I should really try using certain props to make the presentation more interesting. While on the Analysis I will work more on the little details that I've been talking about, because they are the reason why the speech gets to the audience and the heart of our presentation.

Reading comprehension

1.- Pan African is a term that relates to people form all African countries and is usually used as a reference to the Pan Africanism, which is an ideology that tries to conceal the unity of the African country. This concept is important because it reaches to all people so they feel identified with this term, which unifies them.
2.-  idk

3.- Thao Mbeki was deputy president when Mandela was the president of South Africa. He was the first chairperson-in-office of the Commonwealth of Nations. Mbeki reduced the unemployment of the population and raised the country's economy by 4.5% per year during his term.
4.-
Repetition: I have seen the corruption(...). I have seen concrete expression(...).  This repetition contrasts the idea he is trying to conceal. He is trying to show people hat he knows what is really going on.
Allusion: "(...) to remind ourselves of the Latin saying: Gloria est consequenda- Glory must be sought after. ". He not only advocates a phrase that makes him sound smart, but the phrase has the purpose to create a feeling on the people, by alluding a concrete famous phrase.
Metaphor (figurative speech): "My body has frozen in our frosts(...)". He is alluding to having lived through the weather of Africa.

This rethorical devices really complements the speech, giving it more authority and giving it the ability to reach the audience, appealing to Ethos and Pathos, as well as Logos.

A Deconstructed Ad

 

This is a Name Calling ad, targeting the McDonald´s brand. As an image is worth a thousand words, the massive space that this fat Ronald McDonald is using atracts the customer´s view in a matter of seconds, which is crucial to contrast the point that the picture is trying to achieve. The slogan is the traditional one from McDonalds, "I´m loving it", which in this case is not used because of it´s catchiness, but because it uses a phrase said by the brand, which is now being used to tell people the fact that "they are loving the unhealthy food". This ad has no copy, given that the only and central text is te one we just mentioned. As this is not an ad directly from McDonalds but a name calling ad, the brand signature  wouldn´t exist. However everyone can refer to McDonalds given the classic clown and the colors, as well as the slogan. A rethorical device used is the allusion, given that they are referring to McDonalds famous "I´m loving it", using it against them.

Procrastination refers to the practice of carrying out less urgent tasks in preference to more urgent ones, posponing tasks. This is another good example for name calling ads, given that it targets the famous social media Facebook. The image is simple and concrete, so people could relate it inmediately to Facebook, creating a more direct message to the viewer. The slogan is not taken in count, but the text says "procrastination" instead of "Facebook", which stands for people who probably uses too much Facebook, being characterized by being apathetic and laid-back, there the term procrastination. Copy is again inexistent, as well as the signature, because it obviously isn´t an ad directly from the brand, but an ad that represents a critic to the social network.

Assignment, Persuasive Techniques

2.- The worst technique its probably the Name Calling, because if people know you are creating a negative point of view, independant of what's about, they will consider you an unfair producer and probably turn against you. In the Burger King example, its obviously referring to the McDonalds franchise, saying that their hamburgers are not as big as they say.

1.- I believe that the best persuasive technique is the Testimonial. I think its the best one because it reaches a specific audience which makes it more effective. It appeals to someone that you probably know and consider famous, so you'll probabl feel comfortable with the product. In the SmartWater ad, Jennifer Aniston is promoting a product, which is what most women would probably consider a stereotypical women, wanting to be like her, so they would drink the water she promotes.

Written Task ; Letter To The Editor

Rationale:
 
This written task relates to my study on every topic that's related to the mass media, particularly the media manipulation involved in a certain type of media, specifically newspaper.
   In addition, my written task is structured by my study of media manipulation, independent of what type of media it's in. In this task I considered the effects that a trademark would have on a newspaper by sponsoring it, having to deal with concepts like the censorship and bias in articles and the body itself of a newspaper.
I have learned that censorship matters and that it shouldn't be ignored. I have written a letter to the editor making a critic about how the "LionSprouse" bank has affected the content in the articles of the "Daily Reader".
  Furthermore, I adopted a tone made out of anger and disconformity to critically discriminate manipulation on the newspaper.
  My letter tries to show the point of view of this mad reader. I discuss how articles have changed their content due to this sponsorship.
  The letter is concrete and intends to look authentic. That is to say that I included rhetorical questions, recommendations and a counter argument that sets the tone and mood I wanted to convey.

Relevant links/bibliography: "Language and Literature for the IB Diploma" by Brad Philpot, Cambridge Editorial

Letter To the Editor:

Santiago de Chile
Chile
Anthony Lang
Driver Lane 334
California - United States of America.
 Dear Mr. Lang,
As a foreign reader of your online newspaper "Daily Reader", and a student from "The Mackay School" where I studied mass media and mass communication, I feel the necessity to write you this letter to inform you about some changes that have been troubling me in terms of the newpaper you're an editor in. I personally don't feel so comfortable with the last changes that have been taking place between articles and format of the online page I so graciously read.
As an online community that reads your newspaper, we are grateful for all the news you have provided and published online for everyone to read, however, I believe that since your newspaper has started to grow, it has been affected by certain sponsors, particularly the LionSprouse bank. As a result of this your content has changed in many ways affecting the actual newsworthiness of the articles that you published. Articles have been censored and the main idea of some articles has changed totally, as I see it, to protect the identity that a bank is representing. This has totally been an unfair decission to your public, since we have the right to know the truth in each article we read.

As I see it, the content regarding any political news has changed in order to establish a point of view that defends the politician(s) involved in the article. Euphemisms and vague language are exposed to anyone within a critical thinking. Last Saturday's article about the politician Mark Green was so incomplete that it became vague to read. The facts presented were taken in a way that they wouldn't compromise the integrity of the politician, protecting him in every moral sense, while the article was about how he had committed fraud to the state by evading taxes. What's next? Changing facts to make him look like he had given away money? I arive at the conclusion that the bank's desire is to evade any conflict that could occur between  politicians at issue and the newspaper the bank is sponsoring. This has driven us to serious censorship that hide information form the community. News in which the truth lies are getting lost in oblivion because of the decisions you're taking.

What is more, articles involving artistry and music haven't been taken in consideration while editing the newspaper. They have been slowly disappearing from this one and taken over by any type of news that could create a single window to acclaim a politician or the bank itself. In other words, the ideal of the newspaper is slowly morphing into a controlled newspaper, that would only serve to benefit the image of politicians, instead of the modern unabridged newspaper we so like to read.

One of the other observations I have is how the online page has been getting full of advertisement. Online newspapers allows to browse through different types of news freely by the internet. In contrast to that, the ads that you have been setting throughout the page has barely taken over some news. As far as the comments on your page goes, I have read that many readers also share my thought. As a recommendation, I would suggest to organise better the space and layout of your online page, setting the advertisement in a way that in doesn't affect the news and freedom of what we read.
Although I agree that reading a newspaper that's made out of real paper is more comfortable and the community really appreciate that you also have a printed version of your newspaper. But as there is people that work almost all day and doesn't have the time or money to read a newspaper, you should also take more in consideration the online version that also covers a huge amount of your overall readers.

It seems that the recent sponsorship of your newspaper has affected not only the page layout, but the actual content that you publish. Therefore I cannot agree with the path you took. I am doubtful wether you should end the sponsorship or not because of obvious monetarily issues involved in the production of the newspaper, but I would recommend to reduce costs if needed to keep the newsworthiness you were giving, or taking a stand in the relation between your newspaper and the sponsors you relate to.

We have seen many changes in your newspaper, since the genesis to where you are now. You give us the alternative to read the news we couldn't, to us, the people that work all day and has just a little time to visit the online "Daily Reader" to get informed, and we appreciate it. I wrote you this to contrast the actual state of what's happening and for you to take a stand and realise the facts.

I hope that by writing this letter, I've helped you realize the changes that have been ocurring lately, and given you helpful advice.

Sincerely Yours,       

Kiyoshi J. Shinya

Activity 3.7

1. Make it Plausible :
The text on pages 84-86 focuses on a real person´s speech, which makes it sound authentic. It also shows the style of the related person, which shows the research done.
2. Be knowledgeable:
"I was accused of being biased toward my hometown."
"You may accuse me of propaganda and poor journalism."
3. Keep it relevant to Anglophone culture.
Michael Moore is totally relevant to the Anglophone culture. All he does is related to explore the correlation between media and violent acts in the U.S. Even one of his book covers has a big U.S. flag.
4. Know the right conventions for the text type:
 I think the author of the sample text was familiar with this type of text, the speech. He probably investigated and research other speeches before this one.