Compare the ways in which Heany and Blake present ideas about power in their poems, ‘London’ and ‘ Storm on an island’
In storm on an island, Heany presents the poem as a constant battlefield between man and nature. The way he does this is by using the language of metaphor and Oxymoron. “Space is salvo” From this quote, we understand that salvo is relating to a shootout between nature and man. The line of explaining space which intends to be empty as salvo links to how the gunfire is invisible just like the the actual storm in the poem.
Bayonet Charge
This poem is about a soldier in battle. This is interesting as the writer describes the field full of clod which suggests that the battle zone is dirty and a bad environment to be fighting in.
It seems like the poem is in a war zone
The line “Bullets smacking the belly out of the air” tells us that warfare is filled with bullets going past you and your always surrounded by it.
The writer compares the soldier to a “Hand pointing that second” because he is comparing the soldier to a clock as every second counts, and only takes 1 second for a bullet to kill you.
I think this soldier is a front line soldier. The reason I know this is because people who bayonet charge would most likely be at the front line as that is where the enemies would be at where you would have to charge them at.
The Pack
Originated from the heart of Russia, we were once a tight pack formed as a colony. Raised by the ‘Canis lupus communis’ pack. They taught us how to feed, how to fight and most importantly how to survive. It was crazy to be honest, how we actually made it through. There was one problem, people were known to attack our pack and hunt us down. We couldn’t do anything to defend ourselves as we had nothing to use to protect our well being. A month passed, we tried and tried until we couldn’t try anymore. Why? Why couldn’t we do anything you ask? Well after a few months passed only two survivors were left. These champions were known as Carlos, the leader of the human side of the pack, and Jack Soprano, the main fighter and supplier for food and equipment.
They tried all they could to make sure that the legacy of the ‘Canis lupus communis’ pack will be able to carry on, hopefully, recruit some new members to the pack in order to live on their old lives and remain in triumph for the rest of the reign in Russia. Another problem started to exist. Since their pack left them, they had less protection, and by less protection, it meant that they were vulnerable. The only way to escape was by fleeing to another part of the world where hopefully they wouldn’t be found by their hunters. We took a raft to sea and were afloat for weeks, months maybe. All of our supplies was taken with us and was carefully placed out. There were many places we could have set foot on, although we knew that if we were to start adapting to an environment with a population much higher than where we came from, there would have been a 0% of our survival.
We stumbled across a small island known as Stratis. It looked amazing, paradise even. What a great place we found. It then started to come back to us, there was no way we could feed here, nothing to do, nothing to buy. It was only us two on this island. We had to think of something so that we could find somewhere better that could give us more of an opportunity in our lives in order to make it a better one that we were already living. No need for the ‘Old Life’ at this point, as in our old life we were struggling, we were finding it hard to cope, and the only way we could make it was because of our pack. Without our pack we had nothing, so we had to find a place where we could adapt to, where we could make a living, and survive.
An island nearby. ‘Altis’ they called it. Many people have houses there, military helicopters, weapons and much better equipment that we could never think
about owning ever. How would we be able to get through this? We weren’t going to abide by this so-called ‘Law’ that was put in place for us to abide by, would we? We had to take control of this small island, it shouldn’t be so hard, we thought. We started with the basics of earning money. Buying a truck, putting stuff in the truck, selling the stuff. Pretty simple. But… we weren’t the only bad people here. We stumbled upon a gang known as the messengers. We found them on our turf, selling the items that only we should be selling, trying to ruin our business. No. We weren’t going to have it. Day by day passed, thinking of a plan. Then it happened. They fell into our trap. We set up at next to our buyer, and as soon as they pulled up in their fancy helicopters, with their fancy guns.. it was all over for them. We took it all, sold their helicopters in the local black market shop, and used all that money for recruiting fellow members to join our pack, our family, our vengeance for what we had to go through. There was always a feeling in my brain which made me think about what life would have been like if we were to never would have been ambushed … never would have been attacked in the first place and just let us live life how we were.
“Poverty is not a problem in the UK”
For the majority of us, poverty is just something we witness while watching T.V programs and on the news. However, there are people who have to deal with this on a daily basis.
How can people just assume that everything is fine here in the UK? It’s funny how the media and the government controls the way we live, changing the way we think of these people in a negative way. There are many possible ways that the government and media would be able to help people in the UK.
You’d assume that people in poverty have no jobs, how they spend their benefit money on junk food, sleeping all day and not making a simple effort to make change in their lives. Some of these people you are referring too have made an effort and have tried and attempted to make change. Finding a well paid job for most of these people is a problem, as they don’t look ‘Presentable’ to represent the organisation, and how they may not be able to afford suitable clothing such as a standard suit because of their conditions. Because of this, people in poverty have to travel long distances around 2-3 hours just to work for someone who will accept them. These jobs aren’t well paid jobs like you would think, these jobs are but aren’t limited to: Taxi services and working in fast food restaurant such as McDolands, which they don’t give you a lot of money.
There are many people who lives in poverty. 1/4 children in the UK lives in poverty, with 64% of these who do have a parent who is working. Poverty for children effects more to them than how much pocket money they get, or how many exciting holidays they go on. Their future for some are effected. As shown, only 34% of children who are in free school meals achieve GCSE’s of C and above, which indicates that poverty is more a problem than you think.
But of course, there are people who still believe that poverty isn’t an issue. What about rough sleepers? what about the 3,169 people who are forced to live on benches and donations from members of the public, unable to support themselves? Not everything is their fault. Perhaps if you would think about weather businesses that have shut down, family suppliers leaving home or even dying which all could result in eviction, which leads to homelessness. There have been 30% more rough sleepers than last year. And by the way things are in the UK, it will keep on increasing by the minute.
Short Story Beginings
From the words “Get in, get out. Don’t linger. Go on” suggests that this title is used to make people want to know what happens throughout the story or maybe read the blurb as it isn’t a direct title of what the story is about.
“I’m not a bad guy. I know that sounds – defensive, unscrupulous – but it’s true.” This starting sentence intrigues people to read on mainly because of the fact about how he says he is not a bad guy, and how people most likely think he is because he said it. This wants us to know why people think he is bad, and what could he could have done.
“Nilda was my brothers girlfriend” This is how all stories began. This suggests that the narrator saying this has a brother, and his brother has a girlfriend. Also, the word was suggests that she was as in past tense was his girlfriend, of which makes us, the reader , wants us to find out why.
“Years later you would wonder if it hadn’t been for your brother would you have done it?” This starting sentence suggests that something bad has happened. The reason I believe that something bad may have occurred is simply because of the words ‘Would you have done it?’ This main word for this quote is ‘Would’ This word suggests that there is another option that could have been made in order to achieve something else, which is normally used when people are regretful of something they ‘would’ want to change around.
How does Suskind use language to make Cedric’s education seem difficult?
In this essay I will be explaining how Ron Suskind uses language to make Cedric’s education seem difficult. I will be doing so by comparing quotes to one another, explaining the different languages devices/techniques that have been used and by describing the quotes in detail in part one and two of his articles. The writer does in fact use various amounts of language devices that may suggest to you that it was extremely difficult for Cedric to get a good education because of the state that he was in
The first language technique that Suskind uses is a metaphor. This quote was used in article one. This can be seen when one of the teachers in Bellou High describes the school as a bad place to learn. ‘Failure is persuasive, even seductive’. The way how it links to Cedric’s education is because since he is one of most people who care about education in that school as many people have already given up, they are now attempting to bring Cedric down with them which makes it hard for Cedric to learn. This makes it hard for Cedric to get a decent education because of this. Whereas in M.I.T it is quite the opposite as people do in fact want to learn there. The reason I know that this quote is a metaphor is because of how the word failure cannot really be persuasive or seductive, as it isn’t a person. The word ‘persuasive’ in the quote suggests that failing subjects is easy to do, and could try and catch Cedric into failing as well. Also, the word ‘Seductive’ suggests that failing is tempting and attracting which means that people may temptate you to fail in Bellou High.
One of the reasons why M.I.T Is the opposite compared to Bellou High in Cedric’s perspective is because many students who have transferred there has quite a sum of financial support, and since Cedric comes from a poor area in poverty, it is hard for him to get his equipment, and pay for school fees. Also, since he comes from a school which drags him down, that’s also a problem for Cedric. The quote that is used here is, “Being a minority and a high achiever means you have to carry extra baggage about who you are, and where you belong. That puts them at risk.” Here, Ron Suskind uses the language technique of metaphor to suggest that Cedric is going to have to go on a long trip which you need a lot of baggage and equipment for. Here, he indicates that Cedric needs to be prepared for what he is about to get into, and to be prepared on how he is going to do so. This quote also explains that since Cedric is a minority as in Poverty, and also since he is a person who cares about education, he needs to bring more to show people who he is, and that he can do as well as everybody else. The word ‘extra’ in this quote suggests that he needs to bring more than who he is, to show people that he can achieve well, and just because he comes from a bad school doesn’t mean that he cannot do well. As most students there has had help from family, and most likely has been in a better school than Cedric, that makes a problem which now he needs to try extra harder than everybody else in order to gain success. In the paragraph above, which talks about how many students wants to bring Cedric down because he is more intelligent and cares about education more differs to this paragraph because Cedric needs to bring more with him, as many students are above him in this manner.
Another quote that shows that M.I.T is hard for Cedric is the quote “the hours of extra work that he begged for from his teachers, the years focusing so single mindlessly on school that he didn’t even have friends.” This quote explains that Cedric does carry that extra baggage, but because of that he has had to made a sacrifice, which has caused him to loose all of his friends. He has been trying to work so much extra than everybody else that he had forgotten about his social life. The word ‘begged’ in this quote suggests that he needs to get his extra work, as it is shown that he begged and not asked, this indicates that he is really desperate to work, and would even loose all of his friends for it.
One of the first impressions that we get from the story in part one is about how much violence there is. Violence is a very strong reason why it is a bad place for a person like Cedric to be in. the quote that explains this is “Just during the current school year, one boy was hacked by a student with an axe, a girl was badly wounded in a knife fight with another female student, fires were set by arsonists, and an unidentified body was dumped next to the parking lot.” This quote tells us that Bellou High is known for it’s crime and isn’t safe at all. Violence is a very strong reason why it is a bad place for a person like Cedric to be in as he isn’t as bad as everybody else. The way that this quote compares to the last quote is that the school that he was in before M.I.T is a school where the pupils simply don’t care at all for their education, and if Cedric was to beg for work in Bellou high, he would probably get beaten up for it.
To explain why he would get beaten up if he was to do well, is shown in this quote “that doing well here means you better not show your face.” This quote described that even if Cedric does well and ask for more work, people would pick on him, so he wasn’t able to do as well as he could because of this problem in his school. The word ‘not’ in this quote suggests that Cedric cannot do something in that school that may put him into a disadvantage. even though education is important for Cedric, the violence in Bellou High is to a point that it is too risky to do anything that may cause problems. The way that this quote is in comparison to the quote above, is because they both have something to do with violence. Both quotes affects Cedric in a way which means that he could potentially be hurt physically.
The last quote that describes Cedric’s difficulties is the fact about how Cedric’s journey has been like a race “But where I start from is so far behind where some other kids are. I have to run twice the distance to catch up.” Here, Ron Suskind uses the language of metaphor to suggest that Cedric is part of a competitive race which is tiring and challenging for him. And since he is a poor minority kid who lives in poverty and because of the people around him, he now needs to run twice the distance to catch up with the rest. This is explains when he says the words “So far behind where some of the other kids are” and “run twice the distance to catch up” which indicates that the writer is referring Cedric’s educational journey like a hard race.
After reading all the different paragraphs together, it is shown that it is actually hard for Cedric to get a good education. Not only in Bellou High, but also in M.I.T. The reason for this is mainly based on his wealth, and his nationality. The reason why wealth is a big problem for Cedric for both parts of his journey is because, in part one, his family didn’t have enough money to take him to different places so he could study, he maybe didn’t have enough money to buy his own computer so that he could study at home. Also, in part two of the story, it is shown that many people are doing better because of how Bellou High has affected him. The way this has happened is because of two reasons. The first reason is because of his nationality, because he is in a mostly black populated school, and they want Cedric to be like them and to just give up, they have been trying to slow down Cedric and try and make him think that education isn’t important for him. Also, because he wasn’t wealthy enough and wasn’t lucky enough to be in a better school, this has effected his time in M.I.T as he isn’t educated as everybody else.
How Is Hip-Hop Is Good For Society?
In this essay, I will be discussing how Hip-Hop still has a positive message behind it. One way the emcees do this is by criticising the reel. I will explain what this is in the next paragraph
The reel is used in many Hip-Hop lyrics throughout the world. Hip-Hop used to be about social issues such as police brutality and other impacts that has to do with their life, but now it’s more or less to do with violent acts, getting a heap loads of money from illegal activities such as drug dealing and so on. The first Hip-Hop commercial emcee was the Sugar-hill gang, of which the song was called Rappers Delight. Hip-Hop used to be about social issues such as police brutality and other impacts that has to do with their life, but now it’s more or less to do with violent acts, getting a heap loads of money from illegal activities such as drug dealing and so on. The reel was used mainly because of the marketing to white suburb. They didn’t want to hear music that criticises the police and their government, therefore when people rapped about the black community, and matters that doesn’t involve them. (Such as violence and drug dealing) The white suburbia didn’t seem to mind and just enjoyed listening to the music. Going back to the point of why the white suburbia started to listen to hip-hop after the reel was created was because of the hyper-violent lyrics within the music. because of the fact about how Hip-Hop now have these type of lyrics within their songs, many people start to think that acting in the way of the song tells you to seems to be ‘right’
This emcee by the name of Akala is a good way to prove to you all that Hip-Hop is good for society. The reason why I’m choosing Akala as one of my points, is because of his freestyle in SBTV. His freestyle consisted on many socially conscious topics. He was talking about why do people basically not care about education, yet in countries like Brazil children are getting shot at and getting held of high calibre weapons such as 5.56 M16. “Next to kids holding hand grenades and M16s, When you come back to London it ain’t serious” The word serious suggests that London isn’t as bad as other countries who suffer much more than we do. This quote identifies when he states how children hold hand grenades and high powered weapons in general. Whilst children are complaining about education and making a waste of their life when they could be doing something much better to what they think is great. He also explains how people enjoy listening to black people getting shot, and how they enjoy the black community being affected by violence, being talked about badly in music videos and being involved in the life of crime. This goes back to MK Asante’s vision of the reel, about how people are getting lead into a world which is made by Hip-Hop artists that talk about these type of subjects. yet if rappers talk about white people being shot in the streets, and being involved in crime then less people would enjoy listening to the music. “Black rappers claiming they clap a black in the face, Talked about killing white people as much, would he still get embraced?” Akala says this by using the form of rhetorical question, to make people think about what he means in a way that doesn’t need a verbal response, just a thought. This is why i think Akala is a good source to prove why hip-hop is good for society.
This emcee by the name of Kendrick Lamar is also a good way to prove to you all that Hip-Hop is good for society. The reason why I’m choosing Kendrick Lamar as one of my other points, is because of his rap song called ‘The Blacker The Berry.’ His rap consisted of socially conscious topics as well as most of the emcees I will be talking about in this whole essay. One of his lines are ‘The blacker the berry, the bigger the juice’ Of which he repeats this line three times so that people understand this line and also so that it stands out more to people. This line means that the blacker people are, the sweeter and nicer they are. Yet, the forth line reverses that situation into reality, as he says “The blacker the berry, the bigger I shoot.” This line means that even though black people are good, people think of them as criminals and police within some parts of america suspect them of having illegal items on them, and treat them as bad people. Another line that stands out to me is his first opening line, “I’m the biggest hypocrite of 2015” The reason why this line stands out to me a lot is because it means that people complain about violence, police brutality and so on, yet they do almost the exact same to their own community, so they are being a hypocrite in that way. If we want to try and change things around, Kendrick is stating that we should try and help the situation our-self. This is why I think Kendrick Lamar is a good source to prove why hip-hop is good for society.
This emcee by the name of Mick Jenkins is also another good way top prove to you all that Hip-Hop is good for society. The reason why I’m choosing Mick Jenkins as one of my other points to prove why Hip-Hop is good for society, is because of this rap song called ‘Martyrs.’ His rap consisted of in depth details of what people may not be thinking about. His hook in his rap is meant to be said in a way that people think about is used a lot in most Hip-Hop/Rap music videos. “I’m a get all this money, I’m a buy all this shit, I’m a fuck so many hoes, Nigga I’m a fuck yo bitch” Of which he repeats this twice to get his message across. The reason why he says this, is to implement a message that people don’t understand what they are actually doing to themselves in a way of killing themselves, making people want to kill them and having a very high risk of going to jail, also, when he is saying this part he is wearing a noose around his neck to implement a way that people nowadays are killing themselves in a way that people used to be killed in the 1800’s during the slave trade. He also implements this in the other part when he says “I’m just with my niggas hanging, Hanging, I’m just with my niggas hanging,
Hanging.” This is why I think Mick Jenkins is a good source to prove why hip-hop is good for society.
Finally, the reason why I’m showing you this and explaining to you why these emcees are positive influences towards Hip-Hop today, is because of their lyrics that is said. As many people don’t listen to lyrics, or just listen to the music not the words, I am trying to explain why listening to the lyrics is as important as listening to the music. After reading this whole essay about why Hip-Hop is good for society, I hope you change your concept of what Hip-Hop actually is.
Hip-Hop is for everybody
In this text, it tells us the origin of Hip-Hop, where it started, who started it and what year did of start to become highly successfull.
Soon after, the text describes how Hip-Hop is used to help many company’s, commercials and products around the world
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