The English Patient

INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE PROFESORADO Nº 4 "ÁNGEL CÁRCANO" ENGLISH LITERATURE II THE ENGLISH PATIENT MICHAEL ONDAATJE "NATIONALITY AND IDENTITY" DEADLINE: 24/08/08 TEACHER: RAQUEL VARELA STUDENT: PAOLA MAREGA Nationhood - a constraint on people's identity and relationships The English Patient, written by Michael Ondaatje in 1992, is a historical-fiction novel, defined also as historiographic metafiction1. Its tone is "reflective and poetic" (Schonmuller, B., 2008:13) and one of its major themes is nationality and identity. The narrative is an account of the gradually revealed histories of four people living in an Italian villa at the end of World War II. The characters are the mysterious and critically burned English patient of the title, a Canadian army nurse called Hana, David Caravaggio, an Italian thief, and an Indian sapper, nicknamed Kip, belonging to the British Army. Each of them is far away from home, displaced by the war, and though they come from different and conflicting countries, they are able to live together in the villa and get on well in spite of their national and cultural differences. The English Patient focuses on the personal experiences of war of the four main characters, who have been deeply wounded by a conflict based on national divisions (Woodcock, J., 2006: 51). It also explores the effort of the characters, particularly that of the patient

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Investigating how language has changed in children's literature; in relation to interaction between children and characters of authority in a boarding school setting.

Contents Contents Page Number Introduction 3 Hypothesis 3 Methodology 3 Initial description of 'The Doctor' 4 Initial description of 'Miss Loy' 4 Initial description of 'Miss Potts' 4 Initial description of 'Albus Dumbledore' 4 Discourse 5 Grammar 5 Semantics 7 Phonology 8 Graphology 9 Speech extract from Tom Brown's School Days 0 Speech extract from School Girl Chums 1 Speech extract from Malory Towers 1 Speech extract from Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone 2 Comparison between extracts involving exchanges between lead characters, and characters of authority 2 Conclusion 5 References 6 List of Tables Table Number Name of Table Page Number Books chosen for comparison 3 2 Acknowledged frameworks 3 List of Figures Figure Number Name of Figure Page Number Comparison of sentence type in initial description of character 5 2 Number of adjectives in the initial description of character 7 3 Word count demonstrating conversation dominance 3 4 Number of adjectives in the speech exchange 4 Introduction Stories of children at boarding schools have always been a popular genre choice amongst both young and young adult readers. They emulate scenarios that children can identify with, more specifically the relationships between the students and their teachers/head teachers. As a result the language used

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Language Aquisition Notes

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Theorists * Cognitive - Jean Piaget - can only understand lang when you understand concept (e.g. can talk in past tense when you know about time) * Behaviourist - Skinner learn through imitation - doesn't explain where new sentences come from * Nativist - Chomsky - Language Acquisition Device (LAD) - works out what is/isn't acceptable lang use using innate programmed patterns (which are general). exact rules learnt through trial and error. His theory supports the fact that children around the world seem to develop at a similar pace, irrespective of race/culture/mother tongue. (This also 'defies' Skinner's model) Also, the fact that there is a universal grammar amongst all languages of the world. & the fact that children consistently create new forms of language that they would not have heard before. * Conversely, John Macnamara - said that rather than having an in-built language device, children have an innate capacity to read meaning into social situations. It is this capacity that makes them capable of understanding and learning language, not the LAD. * Interactive - caretaker, motherese etc - slower pace than adult convo, simplified, repetition, short sentences, often caretaker asking 'where is___?', 'that's a___', tag questions to involve child ('isn't it?') * Example for importance of social interaction: Bard and Sachs. Studied a boy

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Exploring the genre and style of the Political Interview - Paxman and Galloway interview

Exploring the genre and style of the Political Interview Introduction Politics is an area in society which is accepted as an important aspect of our lives. It governs our country and, as a result, affects how we conduct our everyday affairs. Since the commercial availability of television, politicians have had the opportunity to express party views, promote their manifesto and justify controversial actions. Live interviews have allowed the nation to put forward questions they want answered, significantly progressing the basis on who we decide to vote for to govern our country. These interviews are perhaps most notable on Newsnight, hosted by Jeremy Paxman. Paxman became a presenter of Newsnight in 1989 and has since been a pioneer in the interrogative style used to unnerve his interviewees. This topic is of particular interest due to the nature of the interaction between a representative of the audience (the interviewer) and the politician. In many cases, it is evident that politicians adopt a tactful stance when answering questions in order to prevent perceptions and retain popularity. Interviews often gain entertainment value when questions are put forward that place the interviewee in a difficult stance, and more so when an attempt is made to divert the topic to suit the interviewees position. This is a typical method used in order to gain control of conversation, and

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The World of words in Wilfred Owens Anthem For Doomed Youth and Dulce Et Decorum Est

The World of words in Wilfred Owen's 'Anthem For Doomed Youth' and 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' Good morning everyone/teacher. Today im going to talk about the world of words in Wilfred owen's anthem for doomed youth and ducle et decorum est. Words are nothing but the voice of human feelings and emotions. They depict anger, love, despise, acceptance, optimism, pessimism and the list goes on but for a poet, a writer, it is an outpour of his sensitivity. The poet under consideration here has his own special way with words and he expresses an entire galaxy of emotion through well chosen and with arranged words Wilfred Owen was a poet who was widely regarded as one of the best poets of the World War one period. The war poetry, written between 1793 and 1815, was idealistic and also patriotic. Owen started writing anti-war poetry but later he too became a firm supporter of war. The two poems which I am going to be comparing and contrasting are all inspired by war. The poems are Anthem for Doomed Youth and Dulce et Decorum est. Wilfred Owen's poetry has expressed his outrage of war and the sheer pity of the sacrifices of young soldiers made in battle. The patriotic view of war and religion are questioned repeatedly in his poems. He also ponders the purpose for the existence of the human race. Techniques such as juxtaposition, similes and metaphors are also employed into the poems to

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Look again at Ulysses and write about Tennysons narrative techniques

A: Look again at "Ulysses" and write about Tennyson's narrative techniques In "Ulysses", Tennyson presents the characteristics and attitudes of the eponymous central character through the dynamic form of the dramatic monologue. Through an adroit blending of literary techniques including those of structure, form and language, he seeks to clarify much of the mystique behind the mythological background of Ulysses, and reveal his persona of desire and heroism, alongside his undesirable traits of contemptuousness and hubristic pride. Throughout the poem, its form and structure allow Tennyson to reveal the character of Ulysses as he wishes him to be portrayed. "Ulysses" takes the form of the dramatic monologue, with Tennyson adapting the persona of his mythical character and using this form to reveal Ulysses' character through his own words. This choice of form, combined with the structural use of unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank verse, allows the poem to adopt a rhythm that is one of the closest imitators of human speech in verse. This makes the words that Tennyson, writes and Ulysses "speaks" take on a much more personal tone and a deeper meaning, fully disclosing his character and attitude in a way that a more artificial and structured form, for example the Spenserian, simply could not achieve. This effect is added to the by the extensive and contrasted uses of enjambment

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Innocence and Experience in "Atonement" and "The Go-Between"

"Adam and Eve, on eating the apple, could not have been more upset than I was" (The Go-Between Ch. 10). Discuss the ways in which the movement from innocence to experience is portrayed in two novels. "A story of innocence betrayed, and not only betrayed but corrupted" - thus L.P. Hartley set out to write The Go-Between, a story of childhood, sexual awakening, social convention and class. Ian McEwan's Atonement, a postmodern novel heavily influenced by The Go-Between, shares all these themes and more as it explores the nature of innocence and experience. The Go-Between and Atonement are most notably Bildungsromans - novels which chronicle the "coming of age" of a child. While many novels of the genre feature a movement from innocence to experience in the protagonist, both Leo and Briony, the narrators of these two novels, undergo an exceptionally profound and disastrous loss of innocence. The dual narrative voices of the two novels are themselves both innocent and experienced: the naivety of the juvenile narrator is overlaid with the shrewd hindsight of their aged self. This is used to dramatic effect in Atonement, when the older Briony bluntly states the imminent disaster - "Within the half hour Briony would commit her crime" - creating an atmosphere of prolepsis, or narrative anticipation. The Go-Between similarly hints at the forthcoming tragedy, albeit through the

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HOW DOES FITZGERALD TELL THE STORY IN CHAPTER 1 OF THE GREAT GATSBY?

"HOW DOES FITZGERALD TELL THE STORY IN CHAPTER 1 OF 'THE GREAT GATSBY'?" The opening chapter of any novel is fundamental in setting the tone for that which follows it: Fitzgerald therefore ensures that the first chapter of the 'The Great Gatsby' firmly imprints certain key themes into the mind of the reader, using a variety of devices to do so. The very first thing that Fitzgerald makes clear to the reader is the perspective from which the novel will be presented. From the first sentence, it is plain that there is a first person narrator, meaning that the narration will opinionated and cannot be taken as fact. The narrator is a man called Nick Carraway, and the first thing the reader learns about him is something which his father told him when he was younger, which he has been "turning over in (his) mind ever since" (i.e. something essential to our understanding of his views and actions: a core part of his psyche). This turns out be his father telling him that "all the people in the world haven't had the advantages that (he has) had". As a consequence of this advice, Nick tells is, he has always been "inclined to reserve all judgements", showing the reader that he will not tend to present his views on a person before he has had a chance to learn more about them. This appears to make him an ideal narrator for a story, because all of his views will be given after

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Analysis of Rhetoric in "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer

Enns The author of any novel has a vital role in the portrayal of his subject to the audience. Author Jon Krakauer is no exception to this principle. In his 1996 novel Into the Wild, Krakauer masterfully manipulates the elements of rhetoric in order to convince his audience that his subject, the elusive Chris McCandless, was not merely a crazy, arrogant and ignorant kid and that McCandless’ quest for truth in the wild is the same quest that every man goes through. Krakauer writes under the assumption that the majority of his audience has a negative perception of McCandless, seeing him to be one of the “others,” a category of crazy adventures whose suicidal predispositions lead them to meet their fate in the wild. Krakauer contradicts this through the use of different rhetorical appeals- to logos, pathos, and ethos. He uses emotions and logic in order to prove to the audience that no, Chris McCandless was not who the audience believed him to be and that there is much, much more to the story than a single gravestone in the Alaskan wilderness. The most obvious rhetorical appeal in this novel is Krakauer’s appeal to logos, which he establishes through the use of factual evidence. When describing McCandless’ family history and past achievements, Krakauer notes that “… Chris graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, where he’d been a columnist for, and editor

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Understanding Place and Language in Olive Senior's "Gardening in the Tropics"

Understanding Place and Language in Olive Senior's "Gardening in the Tropics" "On a hilltop, at that, you find yourself drowning, a movement of ebbing and flowing. You recognize early (or too late) that you failed to detach From that mooring. Always, cruelty of choice. Here's the knife. Yourself: Executioner Midwife" - Olive Senior, "Leaving Home", Over the Roofs of the World Gardening in the Tropics exploded onto the literary scene from the pen of Jamaican novelist and poet Olive Senior in 1994. A collection of poems, paralleling the Tropical Garden and landscape with European tropes of an Edenic garden, Gardening in the Tropics covers a wide range of themes, inclusive of which are displacement, loss of personal, national and cultural identity, and a response to colonial and imperial oppression. Her exploration of these themes is however layered and multi-dimensional. In addition to being filled of threads of post-colonialism, her literature also surrounds a fixation on migration and the African diaspora- the historical movement of Africans and their descendants throughout the world. This is consequent of Senior's migration to Canada during the 1970's where much of her works were written. From this remote location, she was able to garner a different perspective on Caribbean life and society, and in essence reconcile a Caribbean past with a North American present

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