AS Literature - Interview with Iweala

AS Comms - what makes a good opening paragraph for the 1000 word essay?

Strong opening paragraphs:

 

• Refer back to the question

• Provide a context (social; historical) for the essay - even if only briefly

• Make it clear why this is an area worth exploring

• Are written clearly and concisely, with a formal register

• Provide sources for any secondary research used

• Set up the boundaries/scope of the answer (we call this the thesis)

 

Example top grade opening paragraph

 

Boomerang Kids

One of the first rites of passage we experience is arguably moving out of our childhood home. This primary step into adulthood provides independence and a start off into your new life. Traditionally, young adults moved out due to starting university or having a new job, but in the 21^st century the cultural norm is changing.  According to The Office for National Statistics, “1.8million men and 1.1million women between the age of 20 and 34 are living with their parents”[1]. Nowadays young adults are moving back home after university or not leaving home at all, and this is due to radical social and economic changes. Young adults that move back in with their parents/guardians have been given a new name, “boomerang kids”. This exploration focuses on why the traditional rites of passage moment of leaving home is being delayed or abandoned, and how this is changing the family unit.

---

[1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2327674/Staggering-million-parents-50-grown-children-living-home.html

AS Comms - applying the course to a comedy clip / rites of passage

AS Lit - Beasts of no nation - Book review 2

Books of The Times | 'Beasts of No Nation'

A Conscripted Soldier's Tale From the Heart of Darkness

 

By JANET MASLIN

Published: November 17, 2005

"Beasts of No Nation" views the monstrousness of war through the wide, innocent eyes of an African boy who has been conscripted as a soldier. Before this fate befell him, Agu was an eager student. He learned just enough English to give Uzodinma Iweala's debut novel an argot that is distinctively blunt.

Skip to next paragraph

 

BEASTS OF NO NATION
By Uzodinma Iweala
142 pages. HarperCollins Publishers. $16.95.

Forum: Book News and Reviews

Agu has been forced by circumstance - and by armed guerrillas in his unnamed country - to commit unspeakable transgressions and then suffer bewildering, excruciating crises of conscience. The most important parts of his story are distilled by his dialect into simple but horrific acknowledgments. "The sun is just dropping down behind the hill like it is not wanting to be seeing us anymore," he thinks at one point. And: "All we are knowing is that, before the war we are children and now we are not."

All we are knowing about Mr. Iweala is that his book will be readily embraced by readers. Its nuances may not be subtle, but its nobility is impossible to miss. The author, who in his own voice thanks his relatives for listening to him "and tolerating my never washing the dishes," is a young Harvard graduate who divides his time between Washington and Nigeria. He has already won prizes and aligned himself with the angels.

As an indictment of war, "Beasts of No Nation" is relentlessly, pre-emptively clear. It begins as Agu is captured and beaten by rebel soldiers and forced to join their ranks. He is given a machete and ordered to use it; he must comply. "I am not bad boy," he tries to tell himself afterward. "I am not bad boy. I am soldier and soldier is not bad if he is killing. I am telling this to myself because soldier is supposed to be killing, killing, killing. So if I am killing, then I am only doing what is right."

Throughout the novel, the reader is invited to congratulate himself for grasping the paradoxes of such statements. While "Beasts of No Nation" is indeed a wrenching book, its thoughts can be painfully self-evident. None of the book's brutality exaggerates recent African history; none of its scenes would be out of place in a melodramatic war story, either. This outstanding first novel would be even better if it did not deliver so much more shock value than genuine surprise.

In a drastically different context, "The March," E. L. Doctorow's current best seller, offers interwoven war stories in which no one's next move can be predicted. But "Beasts of No Nation" keeps the terrible and the obvious more closely linked. So in the midst of civil war, Agu remembers being read the story of Cain and Abel by his mother. He remembers how his mother and sister disappeared and how his father's fate appeared to be worse. "I am seeing bullet making my father to dance everywhere with his arm raising high to the sky like he is praising God," Agu recalls. He will not see his father's arm raised again. This will prove a gentler death than his mother's.

The young soldiers are kept in line by what Agu calls gun juice. ("Everybody is always wanting gun juice because it is drug and making life easy easy.") They are also under the thumb of their Commandant, sometimes literally. When Agu is forced to be alone with him, he is treated "the way the man goat is sometimes mistaking other man goat for woman goat," just when he feels that no further humiliation is conceivable. The Commandant is enough of a stock villain to be big and strong, towering over these helpless boys. "I am thinking that only big man can be making such big shadow," Agu observes.

Pederasty does not spare the book a bordello scene as well. "I am having plenty plenty womens in the back if you are having plenty plenty money to be giving me," its proprietor explains. And the soldiers are ready for any comfort, anywhere they can find it, after the atrocities they have been forced to commit. Mr. Iweala is at his most eloquently indirect in describing the book's most unthinkable sights, like the grisly massacre of civilians. "We are finding farmer and his goat on the road and we are killing them," Agu says. "Now I am not knowing what is farmer and what is goat."

A book capable of that speaks so powerfully that no dramatic manipulation is necessary. But "Beasts of No Nation" feels obliged to find some light at the end of Agu's tunnel. So he has his dreams - being a doctor or an engineer some day, finding some way to help his countrymen. The book also introduces an eleventh-hour white American to serve as a minor, possibly even ironic deus ex machina. And at the right moment in his storytelling, Mr. Iweala magically gives Agu what has seemed unthinkable during the war's escalation from evil to diabolical: a way out. Like many of the book's twists, this one is manipulative yet genuinely effective.

"Beasts of No Nation" leaves the reader with one resonant, beautiful sentence that captures everything the author has set out to say. That sentence deserves to be read in the full context of this universal soldier's story.

AS Lit - 'Forced to sin'

AS Lit - Beasts of no Nation: book review

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Book Review

Beasts of No Nation (2005)

Uzodinma Iweala

·        

By Thom Geier

Thom Geier

Fiction seems to be under attack of late. Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul has argued that the novel is dead and ''of no account'' in capturing the complexities of today's world. Magazines like The Atlantic Monthly have slashed the amount of fiction they publish. And New York Times executive editor Bill Keller last year proposed scaling back the paper's coverage in favor of nonfiction: ''Of course, some fiction needs to be done,'' he said. ''We'll do the new Updike, the new Roth, the new Jonathan Franzen or Zadie Smith. But there are not a lot of them, it seems to me.''

Beasts of No Nation, the remarkable debut novella by 23-year-old Uzodinma Iweala, demonstrates why this line of thinking is wrong — about the quality of contemporary fiction in general, and specifically about its ability to represent the modern human experience. Beasts is the first-person account of Agu, a bright, churchgoing schoolboy in an unnamed African nation beset by a bloody, tribally based civil war. It could be Sudan or Rwanda or any of those African nations that we tend to understand only as abstractions. Agu's mother and sister have been bused away from his village by U.N. peacekeepers to points unknown. When rebels attack the men left behind, he escapes — though not before watching the murder of his schoolteacher father: ''I am seeing bullet making my father to dance everywhere with his arm raising high to the sky like he is praising God.''

Agu is discovered by an itinerant battalion led by a stern, often abusive commandant, who gives the boy the choice between life as a soldier and death. Agu chooses life, and is forced to witness — and commit — horrific acts that journalists would politely dub ''ethnic cleansing.'' For sweet-natured Agu, whose favorite book is the Bible (though he particularly likes David's beheading of Goliath), the brutality around him creates a deep internal conflict. ''I am soldier and soldier is not bad if he is killing,'' he says. ''I am telling this to myself because soldier is supposed to be killing, killing, killing.''

Throughout Beasts, Iweala never wavers from a gripping, pulsing narrative voice that fits Agu's precocious but simple background. He renders roadside massacres in stark, unsparing prose with keenly observed sensuality (''I am bringing the machete up and down and up and down hearing KPWUDA KPWUDA...''). Even occasional moments of poetry (''This darkness is so full like it is my mother's hug'') feel natural, hinting at the possibility of Agu's redemption.

Iweala, an American-born Harvard grad who lives in both Washington, D.C., and Lagos, Nigeria, was reportedly inspired by a Newsweek article about child combatants, but the tools of nonfiction are frankly inadequate to convey the enormity and moral complexity of a life like Agu's. (It's worth recalling that three years ago, a journalist for The New York Times Magazine admitted creating a composite character in a piece about child laborers in Africa.) It is a credit to Iweala, and to the future of fiction, that Agu's story is true, fundamentally true, in every way but the most superficial — he does not literally exist.

Posted Nov 04, 2005

 

AS Comms - Loop Game photo

AS Comms - Checklist for the 500 word coursework

CHECKLIST: 500 WORD INVESTIGATION

Have you:                                                              Yes/No/Not consistently

Included the topic at the top of the piece (e.g. Virtual Selves; Education)?
Included your own title underneath this?
Ensured the font style is consistent throughout?
Blocked your paragraphs?
Spell checked it & ensured it is as accurate as it can be?
Written as clearly and concisely as you can? (it shouldn’t be a battle to understand what you are saying)
Explained clearly right at the start what your investigation is about?
Ensured that every paragraph is focused on what you are investigating? (Don’t wander off topic!)
Used Comms & Culture terminology where there are opportunities to do so?
Applied theory?
Had a go at challenging theory?
Analysed rather than described? (how? why? effect?)
Presented a sense of development in your thinking? (Ideally the investigation should read like a journey)
Included your name and a word count?

AS Comms - How to spot a liar

AS Comms - NVC

A nice reminder of how NVC can communicate so much...

 

 

 

 

TED Talk: what our NVC reveals about us

AS Literature - QR codes for chapter presentations

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5


 

AS Lit - Introducing Beasts of no Nation

Emmanuel Jal talks about his life as a child soldier:

 

If you are interested - there is a TV interview with Emmanuel Jal here.

For more information on child soldiers, visit the War Child website.

AS Comms - Socrative quiz & NVC

Socrative Quiz

Click here to access the quiz. You will need to type in my room number on the home page. It is: 722216.

Non-Verbal Communication:

Answer the questions on the hand-out as you watch the following clip:

Blue Remembered Hills Scene 13 (Hayleigh & Portia)

Scene 13

 

Scene 13 depicts the interactions between Peter and Donald, as Peter enters the barn where Donald is hiding. Peter is upset and angry, having just lost his fight with John, and therefore is looking to reassert his reputation by bullying someone weaker than him. Donald, on the other hand, is very cautious- watching Peter from his hiding place before greeting him- and is eager to avoid a fight. Due to this, and Peter being larger physically, there is a clear imbalance of power in their relationship.

Donald behaves sycophantically at first, but when the story of the jam jars is introduced, his intelligence makes him equal to Peter. Peter’s liking of materialistic things makes him impressed with Donald, so he starts treating him in a more friendly way. However, he still feels the need to prove his superiority so he threatens to blackmail Donald, saying “You’ll go to gaol, won’t you?” and “What’ll you give I (if he doesn’t tell)?”

He goes on to taunt Donald about his father- “Your dad’s missing, ent he? ...Him’s good as dead, then.” Peter fails to realise the impact this has on Donald, demonstrating his immaturity. But when Donald begins to cry, Peter realises how personal this issue is and feels guilty. This could be the development of his superego. He says, “No. I won’t tell…Just wait till we get hold of them Japs.” This shows that Peter still knows his boundaries and is sometimes considerate of his peers’ emotions.

Because Donald is bullied, he goes to extremes to show his worth as a person, usually through arson. One example of this is him setting fire to the coal shed, which he doesn’t seem to regret- “Oy! It was (good)! It was that!” This indicates that actions seen as excessive by other people are more natural to Donald, so his state of mind is slightly different.

Blue Remembered Hills - Scene 11 (Cameron & Leanne)

Scene 11- ‘The Fight’

The most notable aspect of scene 11 in regards to its significance in the play is that it presents to us the first and only physical fight between any of the characters. The fight itself involves Peter and John, two characters who both like to see themselves as the superior person in their group. As to the actual fight itself, it could be seen as the quest for power as well as a tool used to determine and establish who belong where in the hierarchy. Following on from this the sensitivity of how one reacts or empathises is symbolised through Audrey, more specifically in terms of where her loyalties lie and this is influenced by her perception of power: ‘She stops, watching him recede. Her expression changed horribly.’ This shows that her perception of Peter changes as she realises that Peter is the weaker one of the two and hence he becomes in her eyes less ‘powerful’. Maybe one idea that Potter is trying to present through Audrey is power being symbolic of protection. Audrey ‘supports’, gives her loyalty to the one who possess the most power because of her  own insecurities- she doesn’t want to get bullied herself. In this respect you could also see this scene as an allegory of war, in particular the alliances countries make with one another, mainly for their own self-interest in protection.

 

Blue Remembered Hills - your poll

AS Comms - Accents & power

David Crystal is collecting accents from around the country - you can add yourself to his 'this is how I say potato' map by clicking here.

Blue Remembered Hills - Scene 8 Commentary (by Johanna & Margarita)

Scene 8 is significant because it allows us to perceive the characterisation of the girls: “Shall I bash her in for you?” This shows that Audrey wants to be liked by Angela (who plays leader between the two). This is significant because in the scene, there are no male roles, therefore it's seen as Audrey who is taking on the characteristics of a male: showing aggression, “I will smack her in the mouth as well.” The ‘as well’ shows that she craves the importance of being powerful as her looks do not enable her to gain power or control. She also questions herself and Angela “Shall I? , Shall I?” , almost begging for Angela's approval. Scene 8 is also significant because it allows us to perceive the characterisation of Audrey and Angela in comparison to Peter & Willie. Audrey can be seen as the female equivalent of Peter - relying on physical power, rather than the intelligence and wit of Willie.

AS Comms - Language, self-presentation & power

About a year ago, it was reported by the BBC that one of the Harris Academy schools in South London had decided to ban certain words from being used in classrooms and corridors (see above).

Why do you think the school took this decision?

Click here to listen to Lindsay Johns argue a similar point.

Blue Remembered Hills - what the critics say

Remember that one of the key ways we are being assessed for our coursework is how sensitively and confidently we can think about and use other audience readings of the text. We are critics but we are not the only critics. Our interpretation matters (hugely) but so does an awareness of how other people may interpret the text. These articles below are a good start for you - you will probably end up quoting from some of them in your coursework:

Click here to read 'Potterland' - BRH is commented on in Section 2.

Click here to read a review from The Guardian of a stage version of the drama.

Click here to read a review from the BFI of the original drama.

This next one is a challenging read but there are some really interesting points made about BRH:

Click here to read an extract from Paul Ferguson's book on Potter.

AS Comms - Consolidating theory

AS Lit: Blue Remembered Hills

An extract from 'Potter on Potter', edited by Graham Fuller (faber and faber 1993):

'I was trying to avoid twee and coy responses - 'Ah, look at those children.' If you are seven and the bully is seven, then it's as bad, as terrifying, as being mugged on the street as an adult. If you saw two child actors doing it it could still be terrifying, but there is something that distances you from it, and you say, 'That is what children are like.' Whereas if it's two adults it's so close to what adults actually do do. You just add the fidgets and the constant movement of children.

Blue Remembered Hills was the first time that I couldn't allow myself long speeches - because children don't speak that way - or consecutive thought, in the A-B-C-D-E sense, because children don't think that way. The constant switches of their attention meant that it was the most straightforward, the most apparently naturalistic play I'd done - except that it was played by adults.

The odd thing was that the first few minutes of it were terrifying for me because I wondered if it was going to work! When Colin Welland comes charging out of that field, splashing into a puddle, making aeroplane noises and crashing, it could have been the most embarrassing thing ever. I think most audiences start thinking of the characters as children about five minutes into it. And yet at the same time you're looking at adults, and you know you're looking at adults, so you see the double bounce. Why do people often say, 'I dreamt I was back in school'? It's a version of a nightmare - a recurring one for some people, thought not for me, thank God. But I have often heard it said, and I have often rad that people frequently, when anxious, draem of their schooldays, of their teacher's question, to which they don't know the answer...

So there is such a balance in our own selves. Obviously the child is father to the man, and obviously we carry our childhoods within us. That goes without saying. But to see those little hierachies, that competitiveness, those casual brutalities physically dramatised by adult bodies, that was what I was after - and the sudden tenderness: they cry about the squirrel they've stoned to death, or at least one of them starts crying and the others get embarrassed and they start shuffling about. They deal with their emotions in a very English way, by turning upon the one who causes them discomfort. but the other thing, of course, is that the English are very skilled at repressing emotion, which children aren't, not in quite the same way, and certainly not primary school children. You've just got to look at  a playground.'

AS Comms - Work in place of Thursday's lesson

Instead of our lesson on Thursday 2nd October, I would like you to complete the following work to help you to consolidate the work we have done on Goffman so far:

1. Ever been nasty about someone behind their back?
And then got caught?
Of course you have.
Click here to read an article applying Goffman to that very moment...

2. Listen to this discussion about the importance of Goffman's work. It lasts for 28 minutes.

AS Comms - The Johari Window

From: http://kevan.org/johari


The Johari Window was invented by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in the 1950s as a model for mapping personality awareness. By describing yourself from a fixed list of adjectives, then asking your friends and Family to describe you from the same list, a grid of overlap and difference can be built up.

To get started, pick the five or six words that you feel best describe you, from the list below:-

able	accepting	adaptable	bold	brave
calm	caring	cheerful	clever	complex
confident	dependable	dignified	energetic	extroverted
friendly	giving	happy	helpful	idealistic
independent	ingenious	intelligent	introverted	kind
knowledgeable	logical	loving	mature	modest
nervous	observant	organised	patient	powerful
proud	quiet	reflective	relaxed	religious
responsive	searching	self-assertive	self-conscious	sensible
sentimental	shy	silly	spontaneous	sympathetic
tense	trustworthy	warm	wise	witty

AS Literature - a introduction to Dennis Potter

Click here to find out about Dennis Potter, the writer of our first coursework text - Blue Remembered Hills.

AS Comms - Cooley's Looking Glass Self

Today we are focusing on how our sense of self comes, arguably, from others. If you would like to read more about Cooley's theory, then I recommend that you start with his own writing: click here



AS Literature - Dennis Potter & the Forest of Dean

In this half hour documentary, Dennis Potter talks about the Forest of Dean - where he grew up, and where Blue Remembered Hills is set.

AS Comms: the Selfie

If you find our discussion in class today about the evolution of the 'selfie', and what it says about our own sense of identity, interesting, then read this article for a more extensive analysis.

AS Comms: How is our sense of self shaped by the expectations/behaviour of other people?

This video picks up nicely on the work we have done about The Pygmalion Effect:

Do the findings from this study surprise you? Can you think of any examples from your own life where the expectations of others have influenced how you have seen yourself - and therefore, your behaviour, attitude and actions?

The Prezi used in this lesson, to introduce the self concept, can be found here.

AS Comms - A girl like me

AS Lit - Crash course to Literature

Why do we read? A very good question for us to answer. Have a watch.

AS Comms & Culture - Jon's link

Click here to reach the clip on culture that Jon has asked you to watch.

AS Comms & Culture - 2014/15: Welcome to the course!

WELCOME TO COMMS & CULTURE

 

 

We are really pleased you have joined us in Comms & Culture & look forward to helping you to succeed this year.

 

 

The Starting Line: Please complete the summer warm up work for next week. If you need to access the work again, you can find it here: The Starting Line.  Make sure that you click on 'Login as a guest'.

 

 

Homework: Please post one contribution on each of the three walls linked below (3 contributions in total) about your expectations for the year ahead:

 

Expectations of myself

 

Expectations of others

 

Expectations of teacher

 

 

There is an AS Comms & Culture text book, which can be found by clicking here. You may find it useful - ( but it is not compulsory to purchase it).

AS Literature - 2014-15

Welcome to AS Literature!

 

There are two texts that you need to buy for my side of the course:

 

Blue Remembered Hills, by Dennis Potter

Beasts of no Nation, by Uzodinma Iweala

 

It is completely fine to buy used copies of the text (& cheaper!), but it's a good idea to buy a copy which is relatively clean, rather than one covered in someone else's notes. Please buy your texts as soon as you can.

Homework:
Your first homework is to contribute to each of the three padlet pages, which can be accessed by clicking on the links below:

Expectations of myself
Expectations of other students
Expectations of teacher


The Starting line: please make sure you have completed the work in time for next Thursday's lesson (11th). If you need to access the materials, you can do so by clicking here. Make sure that you click 'login as guest'.

World Cup and language: which words were most freqently used about each country competing?

Read this article from the BBC, which reports on a study which identied the words most commonly used by the media to describe different countries.

Comms & Culture - Sound Effects website

Click here to reach the sound effects website.

Lang Lit - world classes

Click here for a great website which both teaches & tests your understanding of word classes.

Language & Literature - The Berlin Wall

Comms & Culture: narrative theory

Click here for the prezi introducing Propp and Todorov.

How can we apply these ideas to this non-fiction text?

AS Comms: If I'd known then what I know now

Click here to reach the padlet page for 'If I'd known then what I know now...'

AS LangLit: If I'd known then what I know now...

If you were able to go back and speak to yourself at the start of the AS course, what would you say? What do you now realise? What have you learned? What would you do differently?


Your advice will be shared with next year's first years.


Click here to reach the padlet page where you can share your reflections.

A2 Comms - Objects of desire

iphone advert: final case-study

A2 Literature - King Lear

National Theatre discussion on King Lear - perfect revision material!

If you are looking for practice King Lear essay questions then click here.

AS Comms - photos from today's lesson

Question1:

Question 2:

Question 3:

Question 4:

A2 Literature: interpretations of King Lear & resources

Chickenshop Shakespeare




Padlet walls:


Christian interpretations of the play


Darwinian interpretations of the play


Marxist interpretations of the play


Existentialist interpretations of the play






Resources:


10 key moments in King Lear: use these 10 key moments in the play to structure your revision around


Key quotes from King Lear: stick them on your bedroom wall!


Differing interpretations of King Lear

A2 Comms - Objects of Desire: how advertising uses fictions to sell to us

John Lewis Christmas 2011

Levis

GHD

Adidas

Chanel no 5

Intersections padlet page - fairy tales

A2 Comms - suggested structure for Section A of the exam

A2 Comms - a suggested structure for Section A of the exam

 

To get Bands 3 & 4 for this question (grades A-D), you need to be able to demonstrate the following skills:

A

• compare and contrast the arguments
• apply the perspectives confidently
• analyse and evaluate
• create your own argument

B

• compare and contrast the arguments
• apply the perspectives pretty confidently
• analyse

C

• explain the arguments
• some analysis
• quote from the arguments to help you make points
• apply some of the perspectives relevantly

D

• describe & explain the arguments
• show an understanding of how the topic is relevant
• try to apply the perspectives

Here's a suggested structure we suggest you try out when writing your own answers (previous students have done really well using it):

1. Introduce the essay by briefly explaining the different viewpoints offered by A and B; say which of the perspectives will be most useful in helping you to analyse and evaluate them

2. Explain and analyse A, putting it into the context of the perspective that you think 'best fits' it. Use the discourse of the perspective explicitly within your analysis of A. Quote from A to help anchor your points.

3. Suggest the strengths and weaknesses of A as an argument.

4. Explain & analyse B, putting it into the context of the perspective you think has been used to shape it. Use the discourse of the perspective in your answer. Compare it to A - there may be similarities as well as differences. Quote from B to help anchor your points.

5. Conclude by reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of B, compared to A. You might want to use an alternative perspective to help you to do this.

We suggest that you spend at least 15 minutes reading the arguments, thinking & annotating, before you start writing.