June 4

Story 1: Toure Party
-Football matches
-Scores
-Highlights
-> Yaya double fires
->City closer to title

Story 2: TOWIE Mark's forgettable in bed
-Sexy chica photo with a guy in the corner
Story 3: Tent girl 14, killed by BBQ

Story 4: Sherlock sexier than 1D

Story 5: Bunch of Jessies
-Celebrities
-Voice ratings trounced by BGT
-Beeb tells coaches: Toughen up

The Sun is for the lower class and uneducated due to the stories told

Logical Fallacies: Fallacies of Relevance

Personal attacks (arguments 'ad hominem' - is ambiguous) attempt to discredit a point of view by discrediting the person that holds it. The character of the person that holds a view, though, entails nothing about the truth of that view. Such arguments therefore commit a fallacy of relevance.
Appeals to consequences attempt to persuade someone to accept a position based either on the good consequences of their accepting it or on the bad consequences of their not accepting it. There is no guarantee, though, that the position that has the best consequences is true. Again, then, such arguments commit a fallacy of relevance.

 Examples:
Arguing via threat: "I deserve a good grade, wouldn't you agree? If you don't agree, I'm afraid about what might happen: I just can't control Bruno here".

Attempting to convince by appealing to the natural desire we all have to be included, or liked, or recognized. This type of fallacy breaks down into several sub-types.

Bandwagon: Of course God exists. Every real American believes that. Other related types: Appeal to Vanity; Appeal to Snobbery ("Of course you should cheat; all the cool people are doing it").

Appeal to Common Practice. Example: "Hey, everyone speeds. So speeding isn't wrong".
From Hypocrisy: You've claimed that smoking is bad for one's health; but you smoke too. 

Essaysyaya

Question: Some characters in fiction are somehow familiar and naturally believable; others are unlike anyone we have ever encountered. How have at least two writers in your study made exotic or even previously unimaginable characters both interesting and credible?

Building upon the depth of key or noticeable characters within various forms of literature is difficult but overall piques the interest and curiosity in readers. There are many characteristics and personality types from which a writer can base their characters upon and thus expand on. In a way the character could have this preset personality of ‘short tempered’ or ‘outgoing’, from these writers could morph or even deform the character into something genuine and imaginative. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga is a book that centers on the intriguing self-proclaimed social entrepreneur Balram Halwai; a character that with all certainty is like no other. Balram’s life and personality contrast greatly from yet another unique character, Anton Steenwijk of Henry Mulisch’s The Assault who is constantly running from the past.

‘In any jungle, what is the rarest of animals – the creature that comes along only once in a generation? The white tiger. That’s what you are in this jungle.’ (p. 35) This quote emphasizes how different Balram was, even at a young age, from all the other children in his class. The jungle that is referred to is the masses of unintelligent kids who not like Balram. The inspector questioning him on various things acknowledges Balram as being one of a kind and as someone with potential. This is what could be said as the start of Balram’s uniquity, he’s offered a real education but such hopes are quickly shot down in the Darkness.

‘The Rooster Coop was doing its work. Servants have to keep other servants from becoming innovators, experimenters, or entrepreneurs … The coop is guarded from the inside.’ (p. 193) The coop symbolizes India as a country; the chickens in the coop are the people themselves. The masses of India, including Balram at a time, just kept pulling each other down further into the coop. Not one of them could become anything more than just a servant; they all unwittingly obstruct each other’s desire or motivation to do more in life. The one thing that ties down people from carrying on is as Balram says; ‘… the Indian Family.’ The majority of money Balram makes is sent back to his family to help them, it’s seen as a must do in Indian society. Family comes first within the mindset of the people. There is one such rarity that alters their mindset though, one such exception that flew the coop.

‘Can a man break out of the coop? … That would take no normal human being, but a freak, a pervert of nature. It would, in fact, take a White Tiger. You are listening to the story of a social entrepreneur, sir.’ (p. 177) Balram the White Tiger, the social entrepreneur, is that freak and pervert. He himself states how it’s possible to break out. Saying how ‘… only a man who is prepared to see his family destroyed … can break out of the coop.’ (p. 176) The moment Balram kills his master, he stops being a slave and sees how beautiful the world is, thus escaping the coop.

Balram is a social entrepreneur. He’s the White Tiger. He’s either the only or one of the far few who has escaped the rooster coop. Balram has been through a lot in The White Tiger and through his experiences readers gain a sense of how intricate and perplex his character and his mindset are. The main character of The Assault, Anton, starts off as a 12-year-old boy whose innocent family is brutally executed. He goes through life constantly avoiding situations regarding his past, forcing him to forget by trying to live normally.

'... a gray mountain rose up, a tidal wave that broke all around him ... The rock broke through the plaster and through his brain.' (p. 155) Anton's memories throughout the book are symbolized by stone. This giant gray mountain that assembles and towers before him during his attack are all of his built up memories that he's been trying to hard to keep hidden and submerged. It suddenly attacks him all in this single moment.

‘… But he knew if he once began taking tranquilizers he would never stop.’ (p. 156) A doctor had given Anton a prescription for Valium if he were to ever go through another hallucinatory anxiety attack. He quickly tore it up believing that if he started resorting to drugs to dull the pain then he would always be stuck with it. Maybe a small part of Anton’s conscious desired him to know more about his past and therefore making him stay away from tranquilizers.

‘He had no desire to know.’ (p. 57) This short and simple sentence sums up the rest of Anton’s life, constantly avoiding the pain from the past, to the point of even becoming an anesthesiologist. Anesthesia is a drug injected into patients before surgical operations to desensitize the patient from all pain. Anton could have become a doctor but he thinks that doctors are pure butchers; cutting up people and causing pain. 

Within these two books The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga and The Assault by Harry Mulisch, there are two complex and powerful characters Balram and Anton. They live in two different time periods and have been exposed to completely contrasting stories but the writers have still portrayed to them well.

Reflection 108 to 116

As with Anton’s sudden and unexpected meeting with Fake Ploeg Jr. ten years later he has this fateful meeting with the man who changed his whole life in the fourth episode of the book. This man is Cor Takes, who happened to be the man who shot Fake Ploeg Sr near Anton’s house in Haarlem. The theme Fate again plays an important role throughout these pages seeing as how by chance Anton overhears Takes say ‘I shot him first in the back, then in the shoulder, and then in the stomach as I bicycled past him.’

As soon as Takes learns of who Anton is and what else he knows, his face suddenly goes pale, ‘As if the light had changed, he now turned as pale…’ This happens as the truth of the situation suddenly dawns on Takes and he becomes nervous or scared in a way. The motif of Light is important throughout this book and especially within this meeting, as light represents understanding.

As Takes and Anton proceed to leave the cluster of people, they step outside and the weather is sunny. This links to the motif of light and could possibly express the light’s understanding. Another part of Anton’s mystery filled past is about to be revealed to him.

Anton always chooses to run away from anything dealing with his past, going so far as to try to convince Takes to completely forget Anton even said anything and to just continue on with their lives. ‘Let’s get up and walk out of here and never mention it again.’ Anton tries to state that what happened twenty years ago doesn’t even bother him and he wants to take back what he said earlier. Takes is adamant though and dispels Anton’s reasoning by stating the facts and all that just happened.

Anton appears to be somewhat scared of Takes, which is why he was shivering. His thoughts on Takes is ‘… a nameless violence such as he had never known in anyone…’ He was hesitant about saying such so he decided not to. Anton's observations of Takes throughout this chance meeting helps develop Takes as a character.

The motif of Stone is also pretty dominant within this scene of the book. They're at a funeral, in a cemetery and there's various mentions of gravestones. Stones within the book represent memories and what those memories meant to various characters. As a cloud passed over the sun, the shadow covered the gravestones, the new one became slightly bleached and the old ones were more of a dominant darker gray. The cloud passed quickly though and the sun lit up the area once more.

The Fateful and Chaotic Epic known as the meeting of Anton and Fake

One of the books primary themes, Fate, just happens to construct this random and unexpected meeting between Anton and Fake Ploeg Jr. This happens in the 3^rd episode of the book, second chapter and in the year 1956. This was a pretty important chapter that happens to bring up Anton’s past and it helps the readers have a better understanding of the two very different characters of Anton and Fake.

There is quite the play on contrast between Anton and Fake and their two personalities. Their statuses and lives have changed since what happened years before and throughout their meeting the difference is quite evident. As Fake comes into Anton’s apartment he places his stone down upon Anton’s grand piano. This causes Anton to cringe as the stone scratches the lacquer of the piano, emphasizing that Fake doesn’t know how to deal with such luxury in life and already shows the reader the gap between the two.

Another part of this meeting that shows the difference between their statuses is when Anton offers his guest a drink. Fake chooses to have beer whereas Anton himself has wine. Beer is for the workers class of society whereas wine is for those of higher education.

Information and Sourcing *giggles*

3 kinds of information
common knowledge
specific information: detail, examples, new evidence
                    footnote or source in text
Direct quote? or paraphrase (is it succinct? if yes, quote. if no, paraphrase)
=> no more than two lines                 source it

Great Gatsby Film VS Book

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is said to be ‘the supreme American novel’, but is it possible to say the same for the film adaptation of this classic piece of literature? The television film adaptation of The Great Gatsby done in the year 2000 was by the A&E Cable Network. The film and the book were vastly similar but there were also the few details that stuck out and differentiated it from the actual book. The book portrays the motif of car crashes, literally and metaphorically, quite differently than the film version.

                  The actual car crash that had the biggest effect on the viewer/reader in both the book and the film is when Daisy accidently hits Myrtle Wilson, a hit and run. When reading this in the book one can’t really picture the scale of the impact or the way in which Myrtle was hit. In the book, Tom, Jordan and Nick are driving back from New York and they see the commotion and the whole scene. There wasn’t any part in the book where the author wrote the actual happening of Daisy hitting Myrtle. The film was able to provide a graphic and intense display of Myrtle getting run over, something the book was lacking. This had a more serious effect on the viewer of the film as well. Car crashes in a metaphorical sense are different but just as shocking.

                  Once such metaphorical car crash is that sudden and surprising moment when Tom smacks Myrtle across the face and causes her nose to bleed. Like the previous car crash stated, this one was also dulled over in the book, it was a quick and less serious situation in the book. It was over in a matter of seconds as well. In the movie, there was the whole scene played out and the viewer is able to visually experience the aggressiveness of Tom and the silliness of Myrtle. The use of sound is also very important in this metaphorical car crash, the slap across Myrtle’s face can be heard and with this it becomes more severe.

                  There was the first car crash in the book, the one dealing with Owl Eyes after he had left Gatsby’s party. This whole scene took up quite a few pages in chapter three, although within the film this scene did not take place. The director had probably decided to leave the scene out, seeing as how it could be sacrificed to fit more important scenes in the movie. Owl Eyes is seen once in the film and that’s it for him, a very minor character in both film and book.

                  Basic definition of a crash is for an object to collide violently an obstacle or another moving object. The car crashes, metaphorically and literally, within The Great Gatsby are all quite drastic and unexpected. The car crash is an effect that is well played out in both the film and the book; it provides various climaxes throughout the story. It shows the extent to which things can suddenly turn bad and mess up in common day happenings.

Rich are Different, Gatsby, Car Crashes

They’re a rotten crowd: all the characters in The Great Gatsby. This book, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is composed of and influenced greatly by three important factors. The first of these is the theme ‘Rich are Different’. When reading the book and thinking of this theme, there are many ways it could be connected to various aspects of the book and it’s characters. The second factor would be the most important character within the story and his name is Jay Gatsby. Who is he at first? He’s a mysterious figure throughout the story with only one thing on his mind. The last factor would be this recurring symbol of car crashes. There are only a few actual car crashes within the story but there’s also car crashes within a metaphorical sense. It all started off with Gatsby really.

‘To the young Gatz, resting on his oars and looking up at the railed deck, the yacht represented all the beauty and glamour in the world’ (Page __). This is a scene in the book referencing to Gatsby’s past and the beginning of his new life. The way it expresses the theme Rich are Different is how he sees Dan Cody’s yacht in front of him. Gatsby in the past has never experienced riches and has had a few odd jobs before meeting Dan Cody. This was his first time seeing such wealth and to him it was beautiful and perfect. The difference between the yacht and Gatsby’s own tiny boat emphasizes the theme being expressed. Gatsby completely ditches his previous lifestyle to take part of this golden opportunity with Dan Cody to go sailing on his yacht. In a way this expresses Gatsby and the question posed by his character: ‘Who am I?’ Nobody knew about Gatsby’s past except for Nick and not really anybody would expect Gatsby to have been so poor when young. This is a ‘car crash’ in Gatsby’s life as he has the best chance to experience how the wealthy live. Its sudden and unexpected, a very rare chance.

 'Your wife doesn’t love you,’ said Gatsby. ‘She’s never loved you. She loves me.’ (Page ___) Nick tries to get everybody up and leave, saying how nobody wants a drink. This is the moment Gatsby says to Tom that Daisy has never loved Tom but that she instead loves Gatsby. The Rich are Different theme is shown when they’re having this little afternoon party in the city. These rich people can go out and do whatever whenever they feel like it. Somehow they have time to do all these things. Gatsby thinks and hopes that all of sudden by confessing that Daisy loves him that she’ll leave Tom. This might have happened but Tom and Daisy have already spent years together, even bring up a child. Gatsby doesn’t realize this and acts as if he can do whatever he want, ignoring common rules of society. The car crash in this article would be the sudden and outrageous confession made by Gatsby to Tom. Gatsby tries to win through this but Tom is unbreakable.

‘Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!’ shouted Mrs. Wilson. ‘I’ll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai——‘ Making a short deft movement Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand. (Page ____) This is at a party where Daisy gets a little too drunk and pushes Tom over the edge by mentioning Daisy’s name when he told her not to. The theme of Rich are Different is evident here, Mrs. Wilson has been experiencing the luxury that Tom provides and is literally drunk off of it. The rich are basking in their money and alcohol at these parties and it is evident how amateurs like Myrtle can be swept away by the parade. Gatsby and Daisy are connected in a way, when you think of Daisy you also think of Gatsby. Like a real car crash, this is sudden, powerful, and shocking. Tom loses his temper and suddenly slaps Myrtle; it’s unexpected and just shows how overbearing he is

 

“ ‘I thought so; I told Daisy I thought so. It’s better that the shock should all come at once. She stood it pretty well.’ He spoke as if Daisy’s reaction was the only thing that mattered. ” (Page ___) This was the moment where Daisy accidently ran over Myrtle Wilson also killing her in the process. The theme Rich are Different is occurring here because Gatsby and Daisy drive off after hitting Myrtle, too scared and shocked to do anything about or they just didn’t want to deal with the issue of getting arrested. Most people no matter what would stop and assess the situation, damage, and see if the victim was alive or not. Too worried about themselves; Daisy and Gatsby ignored these common sense rules and ran away from the scene. Gatsby and his character’s personality ‘Who am I? Is within this quote when the great Gatsby himself chooses to quickly breeze over the fact that he and Daisy killed somebody although he does plan to take the blame to save Daisy. The motif of car crashes in this quote is actually a real car accident; this event is sudden and gruesome.

 ‘The chauffeur—he was one of Wolfshiem’s protégés—heard the shots—afterward he could only say that he hadn’t thought anything much about them.’ (Page __) This is right when revenge-filled Wilson had come over and shot Gatsby while he was relaxing in his pool. Rich are different plays in this quote when it shows the relaxed mind-state that Gatsby has even after something as tragic as Myrtle’s death happened. He’s chilling in his pool without too many cares and the exact opposite of his being is Wilson. Wilson is a complete wreck compared to Gatsby, he just lost the woman he loves and yet she doesn’t love him back. Gatsby and his ‘Who am I?’ character are portrayed by the fact that Gatsby isn’t even the one who run over Myrtle, instead it was Daisy who did it. The car crash within this quote is that Gatsby was shot suddenly and unexpectedly.

 Gatsby was worth the whole damn bunch put together. Throughout The Great Gatsby there is constant connections to the theme Rich are Different. It's an important and powerful theme within the book and it affects all the characters. Gatsby himself is greatly affected by the theme and even the constant question of his personality and character 'Who am I?'. The motif of car crashes brings everybody back to reality with their sudden and tragic ends. These three key things compose the story and dictate it.