Rugby World Cup Speech – PE Assessment

The Rugby World Cup 2015 is being held in England, UK as opposed to the previous Rugby World Cup 2011 that was held in New Zealand, the central for all things All Blacks and the number one supporting country.  From the change in scenery with the Rugby World Cup, how are kiwis and the general New Zealand society impacted by the World Cup being hosted away from home this year compared to the last Rugby World Cup? I assume that a particular majority of New Zealand’s population wont be able to watch the games over seas in the UK due to the increasing economical factor that will impact those enthusiast and supporters of Rugby. Those that have the money to travel will in doubt do it.

Throughout my research that I gathered, two notable factors that reoccurred and helped me to increase my research on the main question was the Economical approach and affects it had to both countries’ population. The other societal factor is the Media and the affects it had on social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube ad’s and News broadcasting. Firstly, I went onto Survey Monkey and made a survey linking both of those factors together, to gain a statistical standpoint to round up an idea on what is the main affecting factor towards NZ. The questions I asked ranged from, “Which one of these options do you think will make the greatest impact on economics in the United Kingdom later on during the R.W.C?” to “How have you mainly seen the Media increase the amount of advertisement due to the R.W.C?” both of these questions cover aspects from both of the factors that I chose.

So how does the World Cup affect me and others with the Media factor? I feel that with the Rugby World Cup being over in England, the amount of promotional products that have made it on the shelves in stores has increased immensely, such as; anchor milk coming up with their black, specifically numbered bottles of milk to help support the All Blacks. This effects me as I drink from that brand of milk and I’m constantly around the promoting of the All Blacks. Personally, I don’t mind it as it’s my home town and I also take pride in my countries main sporting team. Most of the population will be affected by the Media broadcasting of the Rugby World Cup as we are grown into a generation where all we use is technology. I could walk into the mall and there are poster slide shows in TV’s that are promoting the All Blacks and if I log into YouTube, there are lengthy ad’s that show support to the All Blacks. The advertisement of all things The All Blacks has made an increase over the Media, because the World Cup is no longer being held in New Zealand and we need to show our support. Travelling over seas to watch the game is showing support but that being said, carries onto my next factor, Economics.
The advantage to these effects are that more people are going to recognise the All Blacks and where they originate from with the new promoting of Anchor Milk and general short adverts surfing the internet for all social media sites. This creates a link between spectators and the players as it forms a bond that builds up the support, or so thats what the Media is aiming at. The disadvantage with the Media broadcasting the updates and news of the Rugby World Cup, is the cost on companies that produce these media uploads. How much it’s costing to broad cast and to upload the games live on Sky Tv and other downloading sites online such as TV On Demand. Also the effect it has on individuals that want to watch the games on Sky Tv but would have to keep up to date with the monthly package deal that Sky offers. With the games being over sea’s in UK and not in New Zealand, this would no doubt create a high demand for broadcasting of the games as the majority of New Zealand’s population won’t be able to travel over to England to watch the games in the actual stadium.

My second factor that creates an affect on most aspects of the Rugby World Cup is the Economical side as it plays a big part in everything in life. With the Media broadcasting linking up with economics in the society with Rugby as New Zealanders might want to travel over sea’s. This increases the price of being able to watch the games as they were previously in driving distance. Air lines might even increase their ticket pricing of flying over to England so they can make a better profit, similar to the pricing tickets of the actual Rugby Games. When the games were previously in New Zealand, the tickets were between $20-$40 as most of the supporters of the All Blacks and Rugby in general were all living in New Zealand which resulted in fast ticket buyers, where companies were making money faster as more people were interested in watching the games. But now that the World Cup has migrated over to the UK, there is a possibility of less supporters towards the All Blacks and Rugby, which is why they have increased their ticket prices up to $400. This affects others around me that watch Rugby and that would travel over seas to watch the games as they would already have extra costs added on from travelling and accommodating themselves overseas. The advantages to the economical factor having the World Cup located over in UK, is that the majority of the population can save money by staying at home and downloading the games online or watching them through Sky TV. This is economically effective for New Zealanders as money is a factor that runs through everyones lives. The disadvantage to having the games over in UK instead of NZ, is that it’s a very costly concept to travel over seas to watch the games, even if NZer’s wanted to watch the games live but had very little money they couldn’t.

Through my Survey I found that all survey appliers were below 18 as the only people that answered the questions were in my PE class. In answer to my assumption “I assume that a particular majority of New Zealand’s population wont be able to watch the games over seas in the UK due to the increasing economical factor that will impact those enthusiast and supporters of Rugby.” I believe I was correct although my survey will be biased as it’s only chosen from students under the age of 18 at Orewa College. 100% of my survey answers couldn’t travel over seas to watch the game but 70% of them would if they could. Throughout my survey we can see that 70% of the survey takers were rugby enthusiasts as they would travel overseas to support in person if they could. The one thing stopping them is my economical factor as the price of flying over to the UK, finding a place to stay, and then paying an extra $400 for a ticket on top of that is quite pricey.

If I Stay – Personal Response 3.9.15

If I Stay is a romantic, dramatic novel written by Gayle Forman which revolves around the life of a musically gifted High School student named Mia Hall, who had been critically injured in a car accident one morning in winter, on the icy roads. Throughout the novel it back tracks to her life before the accident and the life she lives currently in hospital in a coma and through her out-of-body experiences. Also involved in the car accident were her carefree former rock band parents Kat and Denny Hall, whom both died from resulted injuries. Her younger brother Teddy survives the crash and is taken into the Intensive Care Unit in the hospital where they both could be analysed closely. Mia and her boyfriend Adam drift together and apart throughout the Novel as Mia is closely knitted to her Cello playing and applying to Juilliard in New York, while Adam wants to travel to where his band plays out. Until of course the accident happens and turns everyones plans towards a downward spiral. This book definitely gives you insight into a world with a traumatic incident that no one should ever have to live through, and Mia being the character that lives through the eye of it all teaches the audience not to give up and that there is still a possibility in achieving what you will. I’d rate this a 10/10 and would commend this book to other students my age as it teaches a lesson to those that read this novel.

The novel is read through the view point of Mia, being the main protagonist of the story. The book is played out in past and present tense with the present covering over a 24 hour period, beginning at 7:09 am and the final scene ending at 7:16 am the next morning. The past is looked over a two year period as Mia meets her boyfriend and is shown off with her musical talent. She is shown to the readers in two different ways, first way is spiritually as her body lays in a coma in the hospital as her soul walks the empty corridors, metaphorically, as no one can see her. And secondly, as Mia herself, in her physical state in the hospital bed and in the past with her family and friends. Mia grew up in a near by town around Oregan, U.S with her younger brother Teddy following by just ten years later. She was born with a musical gift, the gift of playing the cello exceedingly well. Her family all grew up around music, with Mia’s mother and father both having met through Denny’s rock band. Although the music taste differs between each member of the Hall family, music connects them all together. For example, Mia is quite the opposite child compared to her family. She listens to Classical music while her family listens to Rock, her parents have blue eyes and blonde hair while Mia has brown eyes and brunette hair, linking to the complete opposite again. Although all of these differences surface, it balances the family out as they are all their own person and need to be different from one another. Another link to balance to create stability, rock band artist Adam dressed as Mozart for Halloween (which links to the music Mia listens too – classical), while classical musician Mia dressed as a rocker chick. Their attempts to dress completely out of character is proof that they respected and embraced their individuality as well as their similarities.

Mia and Teddy’s school got shut down because of a earlier night snow fall that occurred in their home town, their father being a teacher got the day off and they all decided to stay in and go for a drive to see family and friends. During the drive the family all disagreed over which music would be played in the radio, this links to music having great importance over their family.  Moment’s later a truck slid across the ice, causing both cars to spiral out of control, flipping the Hall’s car, instantly killing the mother. During the scene, the car radio continued to play throughout the traumatic incident. This links to the same importance with music and how it plays through their family till the very end, it’s what bonds them together. Later on at the hospital, the father Denny dies on the operating table. All this while Mia and Teddy both under go treatment in a near by hospital’s ICU. An example of foreshadowing in the novel is with the setting in the beginning. The weather was very terrible and this symbolises the bad that happens only hours later on the icy road, it’s also metaphorical because if the road was never slippery from the ice, then maybe the accident might never have happened. To relate music to another scene in the book, Adam mentions a year or so before that morning that he only writes songs when he’s sad. Skipping forward to moments after the incident, Adam is finally allowed in to see Mia in the hospital room. “Please Mia,” he implores. “Don’t make me write a song.” This links music to their feelings and how it all ties up into their relationship and with Mia’s family too.

Choice and speaking your voice is increasingly focused on throughout this novel, as Mia is faced with the most important decision of her life after the doctors turn around and face Mia with critical news. Mia comes to the assumption that, “If I stay. If I live. It’s up to me. All this business about medically induced comas is just doctor talk. It’s not up to the doctors. It’s not up to the absentee angels. It’s not even up to God who, if he exists, is nowhere around right now. It’s up to me.” In this scene Mia has finally come to the realisation of her purpose in life. She must make the decision of a life time, literally. The idea of making the choice to live is given to Mia through Nurse Ramirez as she is the only nurse that seems to have the strongest connection to Mia, as opposed to her general family and boyfriend. While Mia is laying in the induced coma, her body travels through her life before and currently as her family and friends watch her lay on the bed in the ICU. Adam comes running to Mia’s side and holds her hands, telling her, “If you stay, I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll quit the band, go with you to New York. But if you need me to go away, I’ll do that, too. I was talking to Liz and she said maybe coming back to your old life would be too painful, that maybe it’d be easier for you to erase us. And that would suck, but I’d do it. I can lose you like that if I don’t lose you today. I’ll let you go. If you stay.” This shows bravery in Adam and true love, he cares for her even if that means caring without her in his life. This is while Mia is in the midst of changing, until her brother Teddy passes away hours after the initial trauma. Mia now feels at this point that she has rarely anything to live for as all her immediate family passed away with the memories of that frosty morning, even though she has her boyfriend, best friend and other family. She is torn between staying and leaving, as shown through what Mia said, “I’m not sure this is a world I belong in anymore. I’m not sure that I want to wake up.”

“Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you.” this quote is the common noticed quote of the novel as it links to “Choice” and the title “If I Stay”. It was said directly to Mia through her father Denny, which links to importance in choices in family. Throughout the novel, these two themes reoccured. In Mia’s case family and choosing the right decision is all she really had. The common quote also relates to the choices in life that lead Mia and her family towards the accident, as every path they each stepped down was leading them to this incident. The second half of the quote “Sometimes choices make you” links to Mia’s current state in the hospital. She can make the choice to live and not give up, and in the end it will shape her into a much stronger version of her self, as Mia had said previously in the book, “I have a feeling that once you live through something like this, you become a little bit invincible.” Altogether the novel was a well thought through book with all the themes and quotes linking together to create the purpose of picking the right choice and path in life. At the very end of the novel, Mia has finally come to her decision as her boyfriend Adam sits down beside her and plays one of Mia’s top idolised, talented cellist player Yo-Yo Ma’s music. This awakens her true sense of purpose in life, she grips ahold of Adam’s hand and she awakens. The novel ends. The significance of her awakening to the sound of her favourite artist shows that her true purpose is to go after her passion, playing the cello. The author purposely gave the ending off as a cliff hanger to emphasise the importance of making the right choice, but not the choice itself.

31.8.15 – Dark Places Personal Response

The film Dark Places directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner is the story of a small town family in the United States, 1985. The youngest daughter Libby is the main character in this thrilling unsolved mystery about forgiveness, figuring out who you are and what your family means to you. As she grows older after being the only surviving witness from her families unfortunate massacre, having her mother and two sisters get murdered when she was eight years old, 24 odd years past, Libby grows up into a negative, protective woman from the past trauma that affected her to this current day. “I am, I guess, depressed. I guess I’ve been depressed for about twenty-four years. I can feel a better version of me somewhere in there – hidden behind a liver or attached to a bit of spleen within my stunted, childish body – a Libby that’s telling me to get up, do something, grow up, move on. But the meanness usually wins out.” this direct quote from the main character Libby shows that the traumatic incident had long term affects on her. She relives that night by returning to her home town to find out what truly happened with her family in their Kansas farmhouse. Was her brother really apart of a Satanic Cult? Could he be capable of murdering his own family? I really enjoyed this film, as it was a thriller and it really kept me on the edge and the concept of a crime scene unanswered is what kept me also interested in the story line. I liked the way the plot played out and how it all came together in the end, to me all plot holes were answered and it was a very satisfying movie. I would recommend this film beyond recognition. It really makes you wonder about life, the great and bad things in it all, and trust in the ones you love.

A theme that follows through this whole movie is trust and truth, Libby told a lie when she was younger, only hours after the police confronted the mass killing. She got asked “Libby, what you’re about to tell us is very, very important. Did you see Ben kill your mother and sisters? You were the last one that was in the house. It was ben, that killed em, right?” she nodded, head bowed down.” This shows that a lie can change everything all at once, that’s why she goes back to re-trace the incident and what she knew as the “truth” again. Libby is around thirty years old when she comes back to her old farm house to look back on the memories. She was constantly stuck on the idea that her brother was guilty but decided to return back anyway. She grew up with her two sisters and her brother, being the youngest the mother and sister chose not to involve young Libby in their daily nonsense with the brother, Ben. Her brother was a fifteen year old in High School, with the movie set in 1985 but switching between the past and present. With Ben having joined a Satanic Cult after being pressured into it through his girlfriend Diondra whom fell pregnant to his supposed baby, things to started change about with the family as the mother suspected he was into cult traditions such as, sexually abusing young girls and other sick animal rituals. Adding onto that point, after a girl he knew at school who was three years younger than Ben decides to make rumours up about him molesting her and her three friends, things at home just completely spiralled out of control as Ben disappeared for a couple of nights, leading up to that tragic night. All these examples are all forms of not using trust, therefore resulting in unexpected, bad situations. My view on the theme Truth and Trust, is that if only people decided to make a change and tell the truth, the world would be different, may not always be better but in this particular situations things would have changed for the good.

To use the theme family and communication together in this instance, we can link it as being a metaphor as the family lacked in communicating and acting as a proper family. The two older sisters didn’t talk respectively to Ben after they found out what Ben apparently did to those poor girls, however Libby was still unaware of everything that happened. The mother was heart broken that her family was falling to pieces right in front of her eyes. As she sits in the car driving home after confronting the incident with her son Ben, she says to her close friend, “I’m a bad mother, that cop was right. If things weren’t bad at home, Ben wouldn’t be in any trouble. Fundamentally, he’s a good boy. Sometimes I feel it would be better if I were to disappear.” This links to family and how everyone needs to work together to maintain a stable home life. This quote also states how Patty, the mother, feels she’s done all she can do and she truly believes deep down that Ben has good intentions. Ben himself felt like he was an outsider in his own family before anything bad even commenced, we see in a scene where Ben and Libby are talking through the phones at the prison cell with this being present time, “Libby, I never thought I’d see you again!” – Ben said to his sister. With her response, “Yeah well, I never thought I’d come.” – Libby. This show that they are communicating and there is a vast improvement between the relationship with these two, because they are all they have left for each other.

On Ben’s side of the story, people just didn’t care to talk and ask what was truly going on, this links to the theme clearly here. Libby confronts her brother in prison and directly asks about the murder, to which Ben responds back to her, “No I did not [kill them]. Of course not, I was a teenage boy in a house full of girls. I was the kid that nobody paid attention too… Libby I was a fool but I did not kill mom, or Debby, or Michelle.” Much to his surprise, Libby takes no time to respond, “Then why haven’t you filed for an appeal” this is a form of a rhetorical question, which is a way of implying a statement that mustn’t be answered in a way to make a point. Libby was making the point by trying to prove he was still guity. However, there are still parts of the story unanswered at this point and there are plenty of things that Libby is still unaware of, much like how she was excluded with most things during her childhood and growing up. Which also links to bad communication. I found that the whole theme and linking ideas together with the concept ‘communication’ left a powerful symbolic meaning. That if you don’t communicate and talk things thoroughly through with people, you’re not going to get very far and/or most things are still unwritten or unsaid. All of these examples that I gathered through the film through Libby’s life and with her family link directly to the concept communication and how they are all good examples of a bad incident.

We see later on that Libby is finally opening up to her senses and true instinct about the case when she decides to meet up with Diondra, Ben’s former ex-girlfriend. On her visit to her house in the present time, she meets Ben and Diondra’s daughter, Crystal. No body knew about the pregnancy apart from Michelle, Libby and Ben’s late older sister that passed away that night in 1985. The reason we know as a reader that Michelle found out was because Diondra talks to Ben back in the past about how “My daddy said to me that if he ever found out I was pregnant, he’d shoot my head off. So does Michelle know [about the pregnancy]. Ha, that little weasle. I swear to god if I ever get my hands on her.” this links to Diondra’s unpredicted, violent nature. As Libby is in Diondras bathroom in present time after she meets her niece, she notices her late mothers Ruby necklace was hanging on a mirror frame. Looking at the engraving of her grandmothers name (as it was passed down onto Patty) on the back just to be sure, she gets a knock on the door only to later be attacked by Diondra and her brother’s daughter. This links back to that night as her mother was the last person to wear that necklace and if she died in 1985 then Diondra had to have been there the night the murders took place. During the film we can see a parallel between the past and present time, when Crystal and Diondra attack Libby in their home, Libby runs away and locks herself out side in a barn in their back yard. This parallels back to that first tragic night as young Libby ran from her Mothers window and ran out to their families barn, as her family was getting attacked. All of the repressed memories from that night recollects back as older Libby is sitting in the barn and remembers her brother Ben walking out to the barn with a flashlight and said to her, “Libby, stay where you are sweetheart, okay.” This shows Ben’s good intentions and how much he truly cares on the inside, it also indirectly shows the audience that Ben is innocent. We see later on that Ben is for sure innocent but this is the first hint in the film.

In conclusion to this film we can see here that Libby was dead set on the idea that her brother was guilty of committing the crime against their family and even said to the private investigation team (they named themselves “Kill Club”), “If you and your little club wanna convince me that Ben’s innocent, you’re wasting your time.” The man behind Kill Club, Lyle Wirth, had points to prove that there was a possibility that Ben was always innocent and someone else committed the hastily crime. Just to recap the story from the view point of one of the Private Investigators trying to close and solve the case “Around 2 am on October the 13th, 1985.  A person or persons killed three members of the Day family in their farmhouse in Kinnakee, Kansas. Youngest child Libby, escaped the killer through a window in her mothers room. Oldest child Ben Day never produced an alibi and was extremely uncooperative with the police.” this lead Libby and other people to speculate that Ben was the one behind the massacre, given the circumstances. However, after analysing the story and finishing off the film, we can officially see the order of events. Ben had a secret girlfriend Diondra and love child, Crystal. She convinced him to join the Satanic Cult but he was truly sane unlike Diondra and her friends. They were going to run away together with their child until Krissy Kate and her friends spread rumours that he sexually abused her and her friends, causing havoc at home for Ben and general issues for him. Patty Day, the mother of Ben, Libby etc, felt she was a horrible mother and that if she hadn’t had done a better job at caring for her children then things wouldn’t be this way, she basically put the world on her shoulders. To round things up, The Angel of Debt was another unsolved mystery of Kill Club. A group of men that snuck around at night killing off people making it look like suicides, through the Victims choice of course. Lyle Wirth, one of Kill Clubs leaders, found out that Patty had hired the hit man the night the massacres occurred. Libby went to sleep in her mothers bed when Ben and Diondra came over that night to pack their bags to leave. But when Michelle came out and over heard their conversations about everything Diondra jumped up and grabbed her, forcing her on the bed. The Angel of Debt came around and stabbed Patty to death, then grabbed the shot gun shooting down and killing Debby and the mother. While Ben was trying to find out what was happening, Diondra had strangled and killed Michelle to death.

“Where’s the young one?” Diondra shouts through the house, “Oh no, Libby! Libby wait!” Ben yells around looking for young Libby. During present time, Libby finally had her case solved and was at peace, not happiness but felt like she had no plot holes her self. “Right before I went to sleep, she said to me “I love you Libby, I love you lady bug. Don’t you ever forget that.” she rarely ever told us she loved us.”

To Kill A Mockingbird Essay Extended – 26.8.15

To Kill A Mockingbird is a literal novel written by Harper Lee. The basis of this novel was to aim at the prejudice point of history. This story is a proper understanding into the world we used to reside in and how it affected everyone; past, present and future. A significant event that was used as an aspect of the society that they lived in and a sole reasoning to help incite the writers purpose was the obvious assumption and wrongly accused case of Tom Robinson. A young girl, Mayella, that lived on the outskirts of MayComb county’s town with her father, believed that Mr Robinson raped her in her home and since this novel was set in the 1930’s we can expect prejudice ruled the court case. The novel begins with Scout (Jean Louise) and her brother Jem venturing and becoming affected through having their father Atticus support and become a defendant lawyer for Tom Robinson’s case. Throughout the story particular themes and forms of symbolism show up that will help to answer and analyse how structure was used to reveal the writers purpose in the written text.

A theme that helps support symbolism and the structure in this text is the theme “Prejudice”. Prejudice is the indifferent opinion between individuals before conducting relevant facts such as; gender, race etc which forms a segregated community. When using the different themes in the text, such as prejudice and other themes that will be read, you can clearly see the author used specific themes that have underlying issues surrounding them which relates to the novel itself. When Tom Robinson was convicted of raping this young girl, the community of Maycomb segregated between the morals they were brought up in and the beliefs that which Atticus and his children know well. As a reader I can say that the communities’ “morals” were not well thought and illogical as opposed to how a formal society should behave. Atticus, a liberal, defendant lawyer takes a stand to defend Tom Robinson as his beliefs show through as he knows Tom is not-guilty. Atticus firmly taught and told his two children,”…As you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it—whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash.”—Atticus. This is seen as an opinion and a justified fact, this quote shows that Atticus was raised in a sensible, respectful manner and he wants his children to be raised the same way, the right way.

Another definite theme that can be used is courage. Courage links well with all the other themes in creating the structure of the story as it creates a contrast between the two different traits of the separated community of Maycomb. The contrast is good/bad, prejudice is the bad linking with the bad side of Macomb, while having courage in good manners is the obvious good, linking to Atticus, his family and whoever stands on his side. Being brave is a well looked upon trait, as it shows you aren’t afraid of doing the right thing for yourself and for others. Courage sits well with Atticus as he strives forward to protect his family and his client Tom Robinson in the speculated case, as he believes in educating the minds of all, “the witnesses for the state…have presented themselves to you gentlemen…in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the…evil assumption…that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption one associates with minds of their caliber”, this quote said by Atticus is the basic understanding of what the world as a society together is only now coming to terms with. To fit courage into a form of symbolism, we can note that Atticus wasn’t taken very seriously by his children and the county he surrounds himself to begin with. He doesn’t use guns because he persuades that, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” This is a significant quote as it’s said by one of the main characters with the most courage out of all. The author uses quotes to create structure in the story as well, she uses quotes that link directly to the themes chosen. Quotes with insightful meanings behind them, are similar to themes with meanings behind them or just plain symbolism.

Education is a very significant factor in life that most fortunate children live by, however back in the 1930’s in Southern America, we can believe that children were taught differently and raised into different morals about what is thought to be right and wrong. Since we are introduced to the character Atticus, we can see that he truly believes in knowing what is right and acting on those beliefs in society. He teaches his two children Jem and Scout about the formal way to life at that time and by defending Tom Robinson the father is already showing them patience and good structured morals. Later in the novel we can read a quote said by Jem, which clearly shows a change in his character, due to being educated through his father, Atticus, “…If there’s just one kind of folks, why can’t they get along with each other? If they’re all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? Scout, I think I’m beginning to understand something. I think I’m beginning to understand why Boo Radley remained shut up in the house all this time…it’s because he wants to stay inside.” This quote links to the theme Education thoroughly as Jem has finally come to the realisation to what is happening in the world around him.
Another scene in the book that parallels with the gun quote and is a definite form of symbolism, is the Mad Dog scene. We can definitely see a shift in character confidence after this particular part of the novel. Atticus is forced to pick up a gun, linking back to the previous quote about how he feels about guns, he isn’t a fan of them and sees them as hiding your cowardliness behind a gun. Atticus stood in the street and aimed fire towards a dog with rabies running towards him and his family. The dog was meant to symbolise all of the madness that is in Maycomb’s County and since it’s running around madly towards Atticus and his children, it shows already a segregated community towards their family. With Atticus pulling the trigger, this links to the dog being a threat upon his family and pulling fire denotes Atticus protecting his family from the dog and the madness surrounding them with the Tom Robinson’s case. We can see the children are shocked at what they saw their father do because of the previous quote with how Atticus views guns. They now see him as a different man and their characters themselves change.

The final form of symbolism that helped to justify the writers purpose and the structure of the story was the actual bird, Mockingbird. The story itself has the bird in the title, which would mean the author intended to use this as a significant factor in determining the sole purpose of the novel. In this book, the Mockingbird represents Innocence. From the view point of Jem with Miss Maudie and Atticus’s input, we can read how Mockingbird’s are seen publicly, “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” That was the only time I ever hear Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. “You’re father’s right,” she said. “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mocking bird.” In the novel, Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, both substitute symbolically as the Mockingbird. They are both innocent men, with all sorts of different people in the community against them for something they “overheard” one another say, one might call this a rumour. Towards the end of the novel, Tom Robinson gets accused of the wrong crime and in an attempt to escape, is shot down. This clearly links to “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird” as he never did anything wrong, he was trying to break free, and like a bird, he shouldn’t be locked up in a cage.

Throughout this novel, we can see that picking the correct themes to link to the main story line is important in writing the purpose in the novel. It helps to create the structure towards the purpose. Symbolism in every story helps to think and link every topic that relates. The Mockingbird symbolising Tom, as he was an abused Mockingbird, and putting in the right quotes with meanings behind them, such as, “It’s a sin to kill a mockingbird”, helps the reader to see that shooting down an innocent man and a bird is the same thing, on logical terms. He was locked in a cage, accused of, and then shot down when trying to escape, as with any natural instinct. All the themes chosen by the author, courage, prejudice, and education all come together to inform a reader that this is what binds this book, with specific quotes that link to the symbols and themes. Author, Harper Lee wanted to show to whomever was reading that Atticus Finch was the informative representative and how he acts in the novel is how Harper Lee believes how the future should come about. His thorough understanding of the modern world and his formal educated mind is what Harper Lee was getting across as a point. She believes in fairness and a strong, sturdy opinion that makes valuable sense. Not only is he the sitting visualisation of moral courage and a brave father and man, he shares his knowledge of his opinions and views on how he hopes the world would become, less ignorant. Which is exactly by what Lee means in her novel To Kill A Mockingbird.

Elizabethan Drama – Romeo and Juliet Theory work

Analysis – Drama 8.6.15

Short Story Personal Response – The Looking Glass

In this Short Story titled The Looking Glass, written by Anton Chekhov begins with the personal, emotional thoughts and dreams of a young lady named Nellie, whom was the “young and pretty daughter of a Landowner and general.” The Looking Glass was a mirror back in the 1800’s, which was the time this short story was generalised in. Nellie was said to have looked into “The Looking Glass” as a symbol of looking back on her life and how she perceived her current body and state of mind. This story was obviously notably short which I enjoyed the most, a quick interesting novel that has a beginning and end sharply as I am an impatient person. I’d definitely recommend this Short Story as it has an interesting spin off and the concept is somewhat inspiring. I believe the author Anton Chekhov wrote highly standardised vocabulary which improved the writing of this story.

The theme which links most directly with this short novel is Love. Nellie’s perception of how she views the love on her self and to her “husband” through the looking glass. In the beginning, Nellie is said to have been “sitting in her room, gazing with exhausted, half-closed eyes into the looking-glass. She was pale, tense, and as motionless as the looking-glass.” At this stage in the novel she was fast asleep and in her own world of dreams, she looked into the looking glass “non-existent but apparent” which relates to how she was dreaming as she was there but she wasn’t entirely there. The way the author describes how she views her self as she looks in the mirror shows that Nellie was out of emotion and was waiting around for love, she didn’t feel like she was full of confidence and/or love. Until of course the mysterious stranger appears out of the “gleaming and now and then flaring crimson.” Which this relates to a fire, as fire tends to glare and become heavy and full of radiance in crimson. I personally felt at this point that she was just day dreaming or something of the sorts because why would a young lady sit there staring heavily into a looking glass while theres a blazing fire surrounding her, unless the fire is under control and in the fire pit. This part can be read different ways.

Through the next stage and shift in Nellie’s dreams “months and years flew by against the grey background. And Nellie saw her future distinctly in all its details.” this proves that meeting this stranger in her dreams, she had finally felt the feeling of Love as a character which links back clearly to the theme, as she sees her future distinctly with her new found lover and see’s it all in all it’s details. Once she had gone through all of her happy years full of joy and Love in her years, “Now Nellie saw herself one winter night knocking at the door of Stepan Lukitch, the district doctor.” this night perfectly symbolises the night she was looking through The Looking Glass, without hope, in all darkness, except she was full of love as this was her reason for stepping into the Doctors home, already theres a change in heard for the character. This quote from the short story links and symbolises how Nellie felt before all of this love swept into her life, “The doctor’s windows were in darkness.” as she was in darkness before too. Nellie was impatiently, desperately in need of help and answers for her husbands sickness, typhus. Of course the only doctor nearest to Nellie’s home also had caught the disease, typhus. She felt she was all out of hope. This scene definitely links to a modern society situation, as anything of the sorts could happen to anyone. Anyone can dream through a situation where they need help and reassurance but felt they were out of hope. But of course in our modern society now we have far better access to medical supplies and getting assessed by a well-fitted doctor. But back in the 1800’s and early 1900’s the need for doctors were high but very little access to medical supplies.

After desperately trying anything to grasp the doctors attention and gain his help, even threatening the poor guy by saying to him “you refuse to come! I will summon you before the Court.” This shows just how much love can do to you, as Nellie fervently needed to get to her husband side with medical help. Finally Nellie had managed to get the doctor up from his caught on disease and get to her husband only to find that the doctor was just as sick as her husband, as he could barely stand up right and talk. “He was lying on the sofa and muttering.” this shows that he was unable to move or talk. Suddenly Nellie began looking back on her life and seeing all the little details on how her future will soon turn out to become, this time without the looking glass. “She saw her children: the everlasting apprehension of colds, scarlet fever, diphtheria, bad marks at school, separation. Out of a brood of five or six one was sure to die.” She was worrying of how she could barely look after her husband but oh so wanted too. She was worrying and full of care and love for her six children and her husband. Suddenly something fell to the floor from above her, waking her up very quickly. It was a looking glass. She had finally awoken from her dream, “She looked into the looking-glass and saw a pale, tear-stained face” This links back to how she felt right in the beginning of the book, as both Nellie’s looked through the looking glass with pale skin, full of emotional sadness. “I must have fallen asleep,” she thought with a sigh of relief.” This evidently shows that the whole short story was a dream.

In conclusion to analysing this short story, I’ve come to read that it’s all about self acceptance first. That to begin with, if you’re not full of love and happiness for your self, then how can you go on to love somebody else. Because in the end, even if it’s not based off reality, you’re still going to end up with a “tear-stained face”. I liked how the writer was narrating the story in his view point of the dream, and when the characters dialogue was written then he made each character appear different through their dialogue. It was not so easy to understand the concept of the short story at first because you are unsure if she is dreaming even through she states at the bottom that “I must have fallen asleep.” And the beginning scene with the crimson, glaring fire makes you want to re-read the story again to fully comprehend. I definitely believe that this short story would be perfect for a year twelve book club as the vocabulary is stretched enough to be for even a year thirteen and the confusing concept of this short story might possibly acquire the mind set and frame of at least a year eleven. So this is fully suited for anyone in the years between eleven-thirteen.

Drama Analysis – Romeo and Juliet (28.5.15)

I believe that I definitely needed to speak up a lot louder in my parts as I could barely hear my voice through the camera. Possibly Lavina needs to speak a little bit louder, but Casey’s voice is very strong and well suited to her character. I think we all need to work on our movement and the space around us. We need to focus on what that character only would do, at one point I fixed my shirt because it needed to be adjusted but that wasn’t suited to my character, its the little things like that. We all need to work on staying put in one position instead of flowing around the stage. We need to figure out something for each of our characters to do instead of us just reading a script and walking around everywhere. We made good use of the chairs as a balcony (as thats in our script scene) but I believe I need to make it seem like its an actual balcony and Casey could look up at me while I looked down at her. Also Casey is hiding from me at one part in our script and I believe she needs to look more sneakily in those parts. Once we see these faults in our scene, we can improve on these a lot better next time we practise our Shakespeare script.

South American History

Biology – Enzyme Structure

Describe enzyme structure and explain how it is related to function. Include a description of 2 models of enzyme activity:  Enzymes are used in every cell in our body, all cells have enzymes.  Enzymes are different and specific depending on which cell it is used in and what it is used for. They function in living organisms intra-cellularly (inside the cell) and extra-cellularly (outside the cell). Enzymes help speed up the metabolic reactions of substates and can aid in digestion of food. Substrates are substances that float around in the cell or outside of the cell and would take a long time to react – they wait for an enzyme to catalyse their reactions. The substrate(s) and enzymes fit together like key and lock, once together they are a enzyme-substrate complex. Then they break apart, releasing the final product(s) and the enzyme is unchanged, and can be recycled. While everything in life works at a specific rate and way, the enzyme is specific. It needs the right temperature and pH to function properly, since enzymes can’t change shape, enzymes need to be kept at the right specifications. However if you heat up the enzymes higher than their optimism temperature, they will change shape and “denature”  the active site which means, the enzymes will stop functioning and the shape can’t be reshaped back. To keep the enzymes from doing this, keeping them at an ideal temperature (e.g. 37 degrees C for most human enzymes). Same applies for the pH, if the pH concentration is too low they won’t function effectively, but the enzymes work just right at there optimum pH.

did not describe the structure of enzymes as proteins (enzymes are made of protein, which are chains of amino acids with specific shapes)

Did not describe the enzyme active site – this is the part that needs to be a specific shape and will denature.

Discuss 4 factors that can affect enzyme activity. In your discussion you should include a description of the active site and enzyme-substrate complex:

brief description of enzyme active site (specific) – concentration (sub, or enz)

Inhibitors/cofactors

temp

ph

give graph sketches

Increasing the concentration there’s a greater chance of a reacted collision however, if you increase the connection (pH) too high, the enzymes won’t react any faster as the enzymes can only do so much. But, if you have more enzymes and the same amount of substrates to work with the faster the reaction collision time will be. Then we have the co-enzymes, these substances binds somewhere to the enzymes to help make the enzyme function better and faster. These two substances are both positive. Then theres the two negative substances, competitive and non-competitive inhibitors. These substances cling onto the enzymes and are quite similar in a way but both do different things to the enzymes. The competitive inhibitor; clings to the enzyme and stops the enzyme from functioning completely, the inhibitors are substances that consist of alcohol, led, cyonide, and mercury that lives inside fish. These are deadly, harmful chemicals that stop the functions of enzymes. The non-competitive inhibitor; also clings to the enzyme but instead of entirely stopping the function of the enzyme it just slows down the process. The connection part of the substrate and enzyme connecting, is the active site. This is where the creation of bonds happen and how substrates break off. This also is part of the denaturing, for having optimum temperature and pH.