WEEK 7 & WEEK 8

Good evening to everyone. First and foremost, I would like to wish my fellow Muslim friends ‘Selamat Berpuasa dan Berbuka’. In week 7, Dr Raihanah discussed on Sole Woyinka’s Telephone Conversation and W H Auden’s Stop all the clocks,cut off the telephone. This week was to prepare us for our second assignment which was to be carried out in groups. We had to choose one of the texts and come up with a central theme. Then, find 5 other texts which correspond to the theme. Its a pleasure to be in the same group as arththi, daniel and yvvone. We choose to discuss on Telephone Conversation with the theme-Breaking Stereotypical Boundaries. I want to thank my group members for their guidance and support throughout our ‘practice sessions’. Ohh..and thank you dr.raihanah for having faith in me and also your advices. It is such a relief now that we are done with the assignment. I have to admit that it was a nerve-racking moment for me. Luckily I did not let my group members down coz I had so much to talk during oral presentation. The other 2 group chose to discuss stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone. I personally enjoyed their presentations although they consumed more time. Good job friends for the effort and courage!! that’s all for today..thank u!

eliza maria benjamine

Week 8

hello everybody
just wanna say I FEEL SO BLOODY ELATED!!!!!!!
why????????
coz we finished our assignment 2 and we didnt flunk it
it was really interesting to see all the groups present and see different insights and themes from the different texts.
it was a pretty laid back class today as we just had to present and watch the others present
and we even had to give our opinions at the end of each presentation which i thought was cool so we could take it as a form of constructive criticism and improve next time for our future presentations.
thanks you guys for the positive feedback. :)
one thing i must point out is that all the groups suffered from the time contraint
no worries though coz its our first time presenting a literature oral presentation
and with literature we're just overflowing with opinions and ideas regarding the texts
so next time we just gotta master the skill of time.

well i think i've babled enough over here dont wanna give you guys an eyesore going through my rambling so fare thy well dear people

Arththi Sathananthar 25/8/09

Week 6~Text and Theme and Week 7~2nd Assignment

It's been a while since i last posted something here..Sorry,was having quite a hectic time these 2 weeks as i have 5 assignments to do at the same time..During week 6,i learned about "issues and the unsaid" which circles around 2 main things,theme and plot..I got to know that theme is the main concern of the whole text whereas plot is only the storyline/sequence of the text..Theme is just like conflict where we can identify it into 3 groups:

1. man-man


2. man and self


3. man and nature/God

There are 6 principles to remember when expressing a theme:

1. There must always be a subject and predicate in a statement


2. A theme must be general,not specifying characters


3. It's best to avoid using terms like "all","every" and "always"


4. Do not assume,surmise or use "known facts" to elaborate events in a text


5. There may be more than 1 theme in a text

6. It's best to avoid using cliches to express a theme

************************************************************************************

In week 7,Dr.Raihana explains to us about a text by Wole Soyinka named "Telephone Conversation"..We divided ourselves into groups of either 4 or 5 and discuss about the theme of this text in our own group..I'm lucky to be in the same group as RT,Daniel and Eliza..The themes we found in this text are breaking the bounds of stereotype, racial discrimination and identity-colour of skin..We are going to do our assignment using a theme which is the same with a theme from this text,breaking the bounds of stereotypes..That's all for now..Gotta go~

WEEK 7 and the one's i missed..

greetings everyone. this is my second post since dr raihanah created this blog specially for us. my apologies. it has been awhile for i was quite lost in class. am still unfamiliar with 'literature' and its beautiful language. i begun to understand bits and pieces..but not so much.today, i learn that it is important to study 4 things in a text - characterization, figurative language, point of view and ah........i lost it. im slowly starting to learn..how to get a theme from a text..it should be stated in a sentence. i am glued to the song 'I Am Not My Hair' by India Arie...thanks to dr raihanah. i havent heard of it before till dr played it in class. it is generally about a Black women not living life according to her culture/tradition. she is discriminated for her physical appearances. she sends out the message that her physical appearance does not define her..she is someone different in the inside. from this text, i learnt that people will always talk no matter what. its our nature to do so. so, this should not stop us from being ourselves.
thank you.

Eliza Maria Benjamine

WEEK 6 + WEEK 7

hello everyone hope i havent been forgotten i know i havent posted in awhile but here i am whether u like it or not :p
before i start i need to make a slight correction due to a slight error i made during my last post about inner talk
to begin with there's no term called inner talk its actually internal monologue inner talk's just another informal term for it.

so in the past 2 classes we learned that from now when you're looking at a text there are several aspects you should take into consideration
1. characterisation
2. Point Of View
3. Narrative Voice
4.Conflict
5. Theme

I would also like to add during one of our tutorial tasks we had to sorta analyse India Arie's I'M NOT MY HAIR
to me i just fell in love with that song i really liked how she changed the POV going from 1st person to 3rd person .She gives different cultural aspects of things she had to do from an African American POV. She talks about how different stages in her life she had went to many hairstyles to try and find out who she was. But in the end she learned that her hair doesn't define who she is as a person. 'Iam not my hair I am not this skin/I am the soul that lives within". she teaches us that our looks doesnt define who we are on the inside," It's not whats on your head/Its whats underneath''. No matter what hairstyle we have it doesnt change who we are on the inside,''Does the way I wear my hair make me a better person?/Does the way I wear my hair make me a better friend? /Does the way I wear my hair determine my integrity?''

In this superficial world that we live in its important that there are songs out there in the media that stresses the importance of beauty within. Thanks Dr. Raihana for introducing that song.
we need more songs like that than hannah montana songs *no pun intended :p*

well thats all from me today folks would love some feedback
good luck to everyone working on our 2nd assingment

arththi sathananthar 18/8/09

LECTURE 4-TEXT AND TECHNIQUES

This week,we learned something new again..I don't know whether it's new to the others,but it is to me..Dr.Raihana taught us about characterization which talks about round/dynamic character and flat/static character..Round character are the leading roles in a movie or story where the story normally centers around the round character,talking about his life and describing his biography..Whereas flat character is the supporting character..We don't know much about this character as it is not describe thoroughly..Then i learned more new stuff..It's about soliloquy and exposition (characters development)..Soliloquy means talking to oneself whereas exposition means the background information shown in the text..Lastly before class ends,Dr.Raihana showed us a clip of a famous movie "The taming of the Shrew"..I don't understand what the character is talking about as she speaks in a very heavily accented tone,but i do get the gist of it i hope..I think she is scolding or lecturing the other 2 women who are unfaithful to their king,because in her mind,she thinks that a woman's place is by her husband (or in their case,the king)..These are the new stuff i learned about in Dr.Raihana's class this week..

Week 5
Dr. Raihana thought us several new figurative language terms and aspects to literature that i thought i'd highlight here. do enjoy :)

text+language+techniques= MEANING

foreshadow= subtle hints of what's going to happen, predicting possibilities to come
flashback= going back to the past
innertalk= thoughts from the head, usually in soliloquys
imply= to hint at

*when reading a text focus on dialogue but also the "unsaid" stuff
* literature is full of conflict because it mirrors life

POINTS OF VIEW
1. Omniscient- 3rd person voice, all knowing, can enter character's minds'
2. Third person limited- he or she
3. First person- I
4. Objective- recording what is seen and heard but doesn't comment on thoughts

Arththi Sathananthar 4/8/09