English Commentary
Commentary on Bad Blood by Lorna Sage This passage by Lorna Sage starts with an effective opening, as the first sentence 'So the playground was hell' grabs the reader's attention instantly and leads one directly into the tone and mood that the passage carries. The immediate and drastic image of the playground being referred to as hell is rather ironic and contradictory since a playground commonly is seen as something innocent and playful. We can therefore already from the beginning suspect a fairly gloomy and miserable text. This feeling is ensured even more by the diction that follows; "Chinese burns, pinches, slaps and kicks" and "face-pulling, hair-pulling, pinching, scratching" which accordingly are not pleasant thus backing up the miserable feeling. The passage tells us about an anxious little girl who goes to school for the first time. This experience of childhood and initiation in school life is described as something horrible and negative; "The playground was hell", "Small people's purgatory" and "the sheer ineptitude". The diction with words such as purgatory (a place for suffering) and ineptitude (uselessness/to not fit in) enhances this negative mood. Sage speaks a lot about not fitting in and she describes the children's playing as "fierce contests...duels almost" which clashes with our general view of children being so innocent when they play. Sage's style of
What is a human being?
Philosophy Core Theme: What is a human being? The comic shown raises a provocative concept of freedom and moral obligation that has been debated by philosophers throughout the ages. There is a significant connection between freedom and moral obligation as it is generally believed that we are responsible for our moral actions that we freely perform. If one commits an immoral act freely, they should be subjected to blame; however, if one was forced into committing the immoral act by external forces they should be exempt from any blame or punishment. Praise or blame should only apply to actions which have been made as a result of free will. The belief that we are all free to make our own decision in life is commonly known as Libertarianism. Libertarianism claims that all human beings are autonomous moral agents and as a result we are fully responsible for our actions. On the other hand, Hard Determinism believes that all of our actions are pre-determined by an external force; therefore, free will is immaterial as it is merely an illusion created by the contenting thought of having the liberty of making our own choices. The cartoon shows a man walking past a door with a sign saying "Philosophy Dept. Trespassers Will Be". This can be interpreted in different ways; firstly, it can illustrate Libertarianism as the sign is an incomplete sentence stating "Trespassers will be..."