Jason

Jason

=Welcome to Your New Wiki!= 1.What is the most interesting thing you have learned since the start of this class? 2.With which points made did you agree most (in relation to the discussion re mission statements / learner profile/ UWC values)? 3.With which points did you disagree most (in relation to the discussion re mission statements / learner profile / UWC values)? 4.Anything else you would like to tell us.

1. That English classes can be fluid and organic, and grow and evolve to meet the wants and needs of the entire class.

Hope so!

2. I agreed that in some vague sense the UWC values, IB mission statement and learner profiles do in a way aim to inspire or invigorate students already in the 'program' or students trying to get in; in the way that it challenges/forces them under duress to aim to achieve a seemingly impossible standard of personal excellence. Yes, I think it's important to distinguish between aims and effects. Why under duress? Anyone forced you to come here to do the IB DP? Just wondering. =) I don't actually find it impossible to to achieve any of those clearly stated objectives. What's so impossible about being 'reflective', for example?

This I find is achieved through the use of high modality language and large strings of adjectives, in addition to this the text is written in a definitive third person, which draws a distinction between IB students and the 'ordinary' student population. Also the use of list-structure as discussed in class means that the respective texts are clear in describing what they believe an ideal student, therefore it is much harder for students to simply interpret the texts in relation to their own strengths but that they must actually strive to embody the 'students' the texts describe.

This identification of techniques is good, but better would be to give examples of each of the techniques you mention, and then to explore their effects. This is really the essence of the course, so it's worth putting time into.

I associate '3rd person' with narrative. This isn't a narrative.

I wonder if what you dislike is the feeling that you have to 'become' someone else. I think it's quite interesting that the mission statement/learner profile generated such a negative reaction in you (and some of your classmates). Worth unpacking your own knower position and assumptions about education to figure out why that is, as well as identifying what it is linguistically/technically in the text that makes you respond in such a manner. Very interesting phenomenon.

3. I disagreed with the majority of the class on the issue of tone within the texts, many believed that whilst the texts were to some degree demanding, that they were originally designed to be inviting and to make the school seem welcoming to outsiders; personally I believed that the texts stood more to create a divide between IB students and ordinary students and were aimed at segregating the two groups and highlighting the superiority of the IB students much like Communist era propaganda.

Not a school document.

I would agree that the document attempts to differentiate an IB education from others. It's part of a branding strategy.

Perhaps worth doing some research on what 'propoganda' means. What is the difference between a statement of ideals (like a mission statement/profile/values and propoganda? Are they really the same thing?

I appreciate your generating such a lively discussion, but do be careful to provide a balanced response that demonstrates critical thinking.

4. LINDA OLSON IS 4EVER MAMA POLYP =)

Context of Beloved Toni Morrison’s Beloved stems many of its issues from 1855 in an America fraught with political tension as the Northern ‘free’ states and the Southern ‘slave’ states fought over the ownership of slaves, as dissent and outcry against slavery was growing larger and harder to ignore in the ‘northern’ states, where white abolitionists were winning the support of the international community. In a desperate bid to stave off the inevitable Civil which would occur ten years later, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law, which meant that ‘fugitive slaves’ who had escaped from their slave masters and resettled in ‘free’ states such as Kentucky, could be recaptured and would be forced back into slavery. This constant fear of being recaptured feels Seethe’s need to escape from Ohio and cross the Ohio River into Kentucky and subsequently results in the birth and death of Beloved and the creation of many of the books issues. Seems a bit confused! In addition to this part of the book is also set in 1873 in the aftermath of the American Civil War, to understand the hardship of Seethe and the black community it is important to recognize that the Republicans freed slaves so that rich slave owners would have less power and influence over the government and that the brief equality that blacks experienced during the war disappeared after the Confederacy surrender, and there was no longer a gross demand for soldiers. Where do we see this in the work? As a result Seethe was living in an America that despite having given the slaves their freedom under the Emancipation Declaration and the inclusion of the Thirteenth Amendment in the Constitution, would not treat them as equals and continued to segregate them based on the fact that they were slaves and indeed in states south of the Mason-Dixy line the progression of Abolition was so slow that as late as 1890 slaves were still being owned in states like New Jersey. Which explains the reason why Seethe and the other blacks had to gather into their own communities and segregated themselves from the larger community, both from the residual psychological damage of slavery but also because of white discrimination. Lots of useful information here. Where did you get it? Try to include specific examples from the work that this information helps you understand.

Jason Kwok Essay draft Slavery and the slave trade destroys the identity of both the slaves and the slave masters and has psychological consequences that will affect them for years after the slavery has ended. I will be exploring this in relation to the issues of social isolation and division from community and sexuality and how it is linked to self-identity, as is defined in Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved.

Morrison prominently explores social isolation and division from the community, in the relationship between Seethe and the wider black community and how it is the consequence of identity loss. The ‘colored’ townsfolk do not regard seethe as a member of their community; they isolate her because she has killed her child Beloved, out of love. “Nobody saw them falling.” This quote makes comparison between skating and life and how the 124 women are as alone in woods as they anywhere else, how Seethe’s identity as a baby-killer has come to define her and how slavery and it’s effects on the townspeople, the majority of which are ex-slaves, have robbed Seethe of her identity. Morrison warns against the dangers of isolating oneself from the community and highlights with the community’s help in exorcising Beloved, that co-operation essential to survival, but also discusses the damage of being labeled by the community and having them forge you an identity. In the same way that schoolteacher labeled Seethe an animal, the black community labels her a baby-killer and a fool for loving her children; as a result of this by refusing to accept Beloved they too submit to their on self-identification and abandon their personal identities in order to identify as a homogenous unity.

Secondly, Morrison also makes the connection between sexuality and self-identity throughout the book. Rape and the over-sexualization run parallel to the de-humanizing of the slaves of Sweethome at the hands of Schoolteacher and his nephews. The degradation of the sexual experience for the slaves, from a pure experience between the newlywed Halle and Seethe to the rape and milking of Seethe by schoolteacher’s nephews, “You’ve got two feet, Seethe, not four.” The use of the metaphor in this sentence highlights the identity that Seethe has crafted for herself, not as a human but as an animal, which highlights the way that her rape, in particular her ‘milking’, symbolized the degradation of her identity. This motif of animalism achieved through rape is continued when Seethe is raped and ‘milked’ by schoolteacher’s nephews. “They stole my milk…They stole my milk….They stole my milk.” The repetition of the term ‘stole my milk’ highlights how Seethe has come to identify herself as ‘dirty’ and a degraded version of who she used to be. The use of the term ‘dirty’ and ‘bad’ represent how Seethe sees herself and is juxtaposed to the way she defines her children as the ‘best thing’; it also makes reference to the way that Schoolteacher and his nephews verbally degraded her and again highlights the way that she allows her sexualization to define her being. “Dirty you so bad you couldn't like yourself anymore. Dirty you so bad you forgot who you were and couldn't think it up…the best thing about Seethe was her children…Whites might dirty her all right but not her best thing…” However Morrison makes the issue clear that the loss of the slave’s identities because of their animalistic sexuality, is the inevitable forerunner to the destruction of the slave master’s identities and that whilst Schoolteacher has the power over Seethe, her rape destroys his identity as a person as much as it degrades hers.

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a book that reveals the reality that even after slavery has ended, everyone involved is still effected and that both no longer can maintain or have an identity not defined by slavery.

Essay Outline Essay Outline Main point= Slavery destroys the identity of both the slaves and the slave masters and leaves psychological effects on both parties -Paul D=emotional suppression -Seethe=inability to love or move on with her life -Denver=suffers from the emotional distancing of her mother

Point 1= the division from community and self-isolation -Seethe divided from the community, post-Baby Suggs -Paul D regressing into himself -Denver craves the connection of other people Because=Seethe allows herself to be identified by her slavery and the rest of the community identifies as a ‘safe’ collective Q1= “Nobody saw them falling.” -this highlights how the women of 124 are alone when they fall skating as they are alone in life

Point 2 =sexuality and its connection to self-identity -Seethe comes to identify herself through her rape and sexual trauma -Seethe and Paul D’s identity regresses to animalistic form as they are demeaned sexually -Sexual abuse and rape is the ultimate form of control exerted by the slave masters

Q1= “You have two legs Seethe, not four.” -animal motif=the beast -Paul D is re-affirming Seethe’s identity as human -Seethe’s self-identification

Q2= “They stole my milk….they stole my milk…..they stole my milk….” -repetition=reinforces that Seethe allows herself to be defined by her rape -continues animal motif -stole her milk from her children who facilitate her identity

Q3= “Dirty you so bad you couldn't like yourself anymore. Dirty you so bad you forgot who you were and couldn't think it up…the best thing about Seethe was her children…Whites might dirty her all right but not her best thing…” -juxtaposition of dirty and best -highlights the treatment of Seethe by Schoolteacher -highlights the destruction of the slave mas Hope you now have access to the googledoc so you can upload there...