Tuesday, 25 May 2010

Term 2 e-Learning Task 2

Hi all,

This is Task 2: An Analysis of the poem. In case you want to read the poem again, here it is:

Children in the Darkness
There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight
 
Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free
 
Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance
 
Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole
 
Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light
Henry M Bechtold




Okay, now for my analysis:

1. Point of View
The poet, being a soldier once himself, is anti-war, and he feels that war is unfair. He says that children are "in the darkness" and "have not seen the light"; the children are forced to be soldiers and learn how to fight, and do not know about what typical kids do (read, dance, etc.) War is seen to be "dark", and the children are trapped in war; "[they] are not free", have no freedom, and they cannot escape. He also mentions that the children are not even "[given] half a chance", let alone a chance, to experience life as a typical child, not knowing how to "read" or "dance". The children's "body and soul" are instead "[consumed]" by war, their whole "life and blood" left to drain on the battlefield.

2. Situation and Setting
In the poem, there is imagery of children being taught how to fight and take up arms during the Vietnam War. The contrast between "darkness" and "light", as well as its repetition, emphasizes the hopeless situation the children were in. War is portrayed as a "dark" place, cruel and depriving children from freedom, while other places free of war would be bright and cheery, with children with freedom and living their typical child lives.

3. Language/Diction
The poet uses various literary devices to emphasize the dire situation the children were in. Firstly, he repeats the phrase "Could we", emphasizing that the children are deprived of freedom and their usual child life. The imagery of a locked door with no key further shows how the children could not escape war. The personification of war consuming the children's "body and soul" emphasizes how cruel war was, and the contrast between "light" and "darkness" is similar to the contrast between war-free countries and war-struck countries: war-free countries are bright like "light" and cheery, while war-struck countries are "dark" and gloomy.

4. Personal Response
I feel pity and sympathetic for the children in war-struck countries. They have to face the hardships and harshness of war at such a young age that I doubt we can endure. They are forced to go to war for the sake of their country when they should obviously be enjoying their childhood in school or at home. In all, the poem evokes a strong feeling of pity for the children in war-struck countries in me.

Term 2 e-Learning Task 1

Hi all,

As expected, I do have work I have to post on my blog. 2 tasks, all regarding poems. Task 1 is to do research on a given poem and write a report on the conflict represented in the poem, and Task 2 is analyze the poem given. So here is Task 1:

First, the poem (easiest of them all):


Children in the Darkness
There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight
 
Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free
 
Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance
 
Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole
 
Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light
Henry M Bechtold






5





10





15
So there's the poem. Now for the research:


Why is it that when I type the Title and Author of the poem in Google so many blogs come out!!! I'm trying to do research here! In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 33 already displayed. WHAT! All BLOGS.

Henry M Bechtold was in Vietnam in 1967-68 and in 1969 (during the Vietnam War 1955-1975), and till today, he could not forget the war and "[his] soul lives in Vietnam". During Christmas 2009, he was in a hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City (previously known as Saigon) trying to write a poem, but he could not get anything. Then, he saw this picture on the television:
File:Vietnam child soldier.jpg
and as he remembered the Vietnam war, the poem just came to him, and he quickly typed to out.


Conflict represented in the poem:
These children are deprived of a typical child's life, but are instead forced to go to war. They do not learn with chalk and blackboards, but instead learn how to fight. They have no freedom whatsoever and are tied to war, unlike typical children who go to school and have fun. They do no have a choice, not even half a chance, and do not know how to read, nor dance. All they would know is war, spending their whole life on the battlefield.


The next post will be on my analysis of the poem.

Sunday, 23 May 2010

Literature Review Competition

Okay, the submission date is over. Okay, fine, technically it isn't over till 2359hrs, but you get the point.

So, how was the literature review? Well, I'm pretty proud of it. I did do it all by myself, and my teacher guide told me that it was pretty well done. What happened to the other group members? Well, firstly, when doing the literature review, I did not ask them to do anything, so yea, my fault. But when I asked them to do the reflections via an email, requesting that they respond once read, only one responded. And the one who responded did not send me his reflections either. So I did their reflections. Weird.

Okay, enough complaining. Well, another thing I can talk about it the Homestay trip I went for during Sabbatical Week. Well, all MSP students had to go to some village in Kota Tinggi, Johore, Malaysia, for some homestay programme so we could learn Malay, as well as the traditions and culture of a typical Malay village. It was pretty rewarding; we learnt to make baskets out of newspapers, bookmarks out of leaves, and I learnt Japanese along the way. Japanese? You must be wondering. Well, I went to a bookstore and bought a book teaching you how to speak Japanese, and read it during my free time, so I do know a bit of Japanese now.

Well, I think that's it for today, so see you soon (most probably tomorrow or the next day for e-learning).

Friday, 23 April 2010

Results.

Hi all,

Okay, straight to the point. Well, my partner and I got 1st. 1st runner-up. In other words, second. What a pity. We would have expected our story to have gotten 1st place (it was done very well), but no, only 2nd place was ours. While being a little disappointed, well, like I said before, I feel that the main point in competitions is not the prize (while it is a good target), but the process in doing it. So long as I have learnt something or enjoyed it, it is worthwhile.

Okay, I doubt I have anything else to say today... so yep. The result of the Story Telling Competition. 2nd place.

Monday, 19 April 2010

Back. Finally.

Wow. It has been a pretty long time since I posted (somewhere in March, I think). Anyways, why??? Why have I been a away so long? Well, my life is the life of a typical Sec 2 student... Competitions... School Work.... Homework... CCA... etc. How busy was I? Pretty. In fact, very. Let's talk about my competitions.

First, there was OM (Odyssey of the Mind). Apparently my group had slacked off for many weeks, and soon, 3 weeks was left before the competition, so... you know the rest of the story. We spent many hours doing up the props, structures, script, play, etc. We even stay back till 11 in school just to finish it. And finally, it was the day of the competition. Cool. We did our best and did pretty well (in our opinion). But we got 6th position (out of 8 i may add). So well, a little disappointed, but the purpose of competitions is not for the prize, it's for the fun in the process (in my opinion). Of course, our group's process lasted only 3 weeks, but still, it was fun while it lasted.

Okay. Done with OM. But 3 days after today, there's another competition. Too much pressure? Not really, but yes, a bit of pressure. So, Thursday's competition is the Malay Conversational Story Telling Competition (or something like that). So, while preparing for OM, I was suddenly called on by my Malay teacher to join this competition, and I said yes unhesitantly (I should start learning to say no). Anyway, while the story seemed pretty long, I could finish telling it in around 3 minutes (which was the time limit). I've done the props already, and so has my partner (it's a story for 2, I'm the narrator with lots of speaking roles, while he's the actor with lots of acting roles). Wish us luck!

Done already? Nope. There's another competition in one month's time. I guess I can slack, but you never know. It's the Science Literature Review Competition. Apparently my group of 4 has to do a literature review of around 1300 - 1500 words and submit it by the 24th of May. Cool. At least it wasn't clumped together with the other 2 previously mentioned competitions. I should start on it now... but never mind.

Okay, I think I'm done with competitions for today (I still have to practice for the Story Telling Competition), so I think that's all for today!

Sunday, 7 March 2010

Changes to my blog

The following are my plans to improve on my previous blog (last year's blog):

Firstly, I will add a visitor count gadget (which obviously counts the number of visitors who visit my site). This would help me see how many people have checked my blog and thus let me see if I can be the 'celebrity blogger' I might be. At the same time it would help me check and see if my posts were interesting enough to attract attention or not. =D


Another improvement would be a slogan for my blog. It will be 'Doing the Impossible'. Although it is not really doing the impossible, it actually refers to reflecting on daily life. This, I know is far from impossible, but most people do not do this (maybe they are too shy?), so I would have reason to believe that this is quite impossible. My blog content would normally encompass this theme, although sometimes I would talk about current affairs of the world.


I might also change the blog layout soon, but not now as I do not have the time, so maybe I will do it during the holidays. Changing the layout would give this whole blog some originality and not be so boring like the typical layouts that Blogger provide.

There. My plans to change my blog.

Tuesday, 2 March 2010

ANOTHER piece of homework....

Ok, I am also Picture Smart, so I have a choice between
a) A Map of Maycomb
b) An Obituary for Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose
c) A comic strip on the trial of Tom Robinson
d) A civil rights movement poster for Maycomb

And yes, I have chosen A. And yes, I took 2 hours getting the infromation from the book, 2 hours compiling the information into a map on paper, 1 hour to draw the map out using iPaint (some drawing program for Macs) and 1 hour fixing a technical problem that prevented me from uploading this image below...

The Map of Maycomb

The picture might be too small - just click on the image and another page should pop up with a huge version of the picture.

Also, here are the quotes I got from the book to cross-reference with the map (with my notes too!)

MAP OF MAYCOMB

"some twenty miles east of Finch's Landing" page 10
--> shows us where Maycomb is

"Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose's house two doors to the north of us" page 12
-->shows us where Mrs Dubose's house is based on where the Finches' house is

"the Radley place three doors to the south" page 12
-->shows us where the Radleys' live based on where the Finches' house is

"next door in Miss Rachel Haverford's" page 12
-->shows us where Miss Rachel and Dill lives/stays

"church, Maycomb's principal recreation" page 15
-->shows us that there is a church in Maycomb (I can't pinpoint the location, but there it is, across the street from the post office

"Cunninghams from Old Sarum" page 15
--> Cunninghams are from Old Sarum

"the Maycomb school grounds adjoined the back of the Radley lot" page 15
-->shows where the Maycomb grammar school is

"every day Jem and I would see Mr Radley walking to and from town" page 17
-->town is to the north, since Mr Radley walks past the Finches' house to go to town

"around the corner past the Radley place" page 21
-->there is a turn on the road while passing the Radley place


"she boarded the street one door down from us in Miss Maudie Atkinson's upstairs room" page 22
-->Miss Caroline Fisher also lives at Miss Maudie's

"round the post office corner in the distance" page 34
-->There is a post office at the far end of the street

"Cecil Jacobs, who lived at the far end of our street next door to the post office" page 41
-->Cecil Jacobs lives next to the post office, also at the far end of the street


"low wall that separated Miss Rachel's yard from our driveway" page 56
-->houses are very close to each other

"Mr Avery boarded across the street from Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose's house" page 56
-->shows us that Mr Avery lives opposite Mrs Dubose

"Dill jerked his head in a sourtherly direction" page 57
-->the Radleys' live to the south of Miss Rachel

"He went the back way, through Deer's Pasture, across the schoolyard and around to the fence" page 63
-->so Deer's Pasture is behind the Finch's house, but as to how big it actually is, I'm not so sure, so I only drew it at that size.

"We had gone about five hundred yards beyond the Radley place when  I noticed Jem....... Mr Harry Johnson... lived on the southern edge of town." page 98
-->Mr Harry Johnson's house is roughly 500yards from the Radley place, on the southern edge of town

"The O.K. Café was a dim organization on the north side of the square." page 107
-->O.K. Café at the far north of Maycomb County

"First Purchase African M.E. Church was in the Quarters outside the southern town limits, across the old sawmill tracks." page 124
-->another church for blacks beyond Mr Harry Johnson's house and outside the town limits a.k.a. beyond Mr Dolphus Raymond's house too

"The tribe of which Burris Ewell and his brethren consisted had lived on the same plot of earth behind the Maycomb dump." page 135,136
-->Ewells live behind the dump

"We went by Mrs Dubose's house.... there were eight more houses to the post office corner" page 155
-->tada... exactly eight houses from Mrs Dubose's, although mostly unnamed...

"The south side of the square was deserted..... A light shone in the county toilet, otherwise that side of the courthouse was dark. A larger square of stores surrounded the courthouse square" page 155
-->stores around the courthouse

"Atticus's office was in the courthouse when he began his law practice.... he moved to the quieter quarters in the Maycomb Bank building... When we rounded the corner of the square, we saw the car parked in front of the bank." page 155
-->Maycomb bank at the corner of the square (as shown in the picture)

"Let's go up the street. Maybe he's visitin' Mr Underwood." page 156
-->The Maycomb Tribune Office is up the street

"He covered the courthouse and jailhouse news simply by looking out his upstairs window. The office building was on the north-west corner of the square, and to reach it we had to pass the jail." page 156
-->courthouse and jailhouse are near the office building (can be seen); office building at the north-west corner

"It stood on no lonely hill, but was wedged between Tyndal's Hardware Store and The Maycomb Tribune office" page 156
-->jail is between the hardware store and the office building

"from the Meridian highway.... They went around the square, passed the bank building and stopped in front of the jail." page 156,157
-->came from the east, from the Meridian highway, from Old Sarum

"We streaked across the square, across the street, until we were in the shelter of the Jitney Jungle door... ' We can get closer,' he said. He ran to Tyndal's Hardware door" page 157
-->Jitney Jungle just behind the hardware store

"Heck's bunch's so deep in the woods they won't get out till mornin'" page 157
-->Heck Tate lives in the woods? Unsure about exact location - might not actually be in the north

"People from the south end of the county passed our house in a leisurely but steady stream... Mr Dolphus Raymond" page 164
-->Mr Dolphus Raymond stays in the south, together with Mr X Billups, Mr..., but let's just mention Mr Dolphus Raymond only since he has a significant role in the story (chapter 20)

"A dirt road ran from the highway past the dump, down to a small Negro settlement some five hundred yards beyond the Ewells'. It was necessary either to back out to the highway or go the full length of the road and turn around; most people turned around in the Negroes' front yards" page 177
-->there is a dirt road coming from the Meridian highway (which is coming from the East), and along it is the dump, the Ewells' residence, and a Negroes' settlement

"had to pass the place goin' to and from the field... Mr Link Deas" page 197
-->Mr Link Deas' field is on the other side of the Meridian highway

"tonight, they'd overrun the drugstore, the O.K. Café and the hotel" page 213
-->Drugstore and hotel near the O.K. Café in the north???

"Barker's Eddy is at the end of a dirt road off the Meridian highway about a mile from town" page 245
-->the same dirt road that leads to the dump - Barker's Eddy is behind the Negro settlement

"rode slowly by the dump and past the Ewell residence, down the narrow lane to the Negro cabins." page 245
-->Dump first, Ewell residence second, Negro cabins third

"Jem was in the seventh grade and went to high-school, beyond the grammar school building" page 248
-->High school is further up compared to the Maycomb Grammar School

"she telephoned Mr Link at his store, which was not too far from his house" page 255
-->Mr Deas' store and house are near each other

"Miss Stephanie Crawford crossed the street to tell the latest to Miss Rachel" page 285
-->Miss Crawford lives across the street from Miss Rachel



Slight comment - because Finch's Landing is not part of Maycomb, I have not put it in the Map. But still, here are the quotes:




"neighboring landowner, Dr Frank Buford" page 49
-->There is another plot of land beside Finch's Landing (Buford's Landing?)

"Finch's Landing consisted of three hundred and sixty-six steps down a high bluff and ending in a jetty. Farther down stream, beyond the bluff, were traces of an old cotton landing, where Finch Negroes had loaded bales and produce, unloaded..... A two-rut road ran from the riverside and vanished among dark trees, At the end of the road was a two-storeyed white house" page 86
-->Description on Finch's Landing... A cliff, a stream, a jetty, a cotton landing, a two-rut road, dark trees, and a white house


Sorry if this post is a bit long, but I feel that I should show these quotes off, considering the fact that I spent 2 hours doing them...