Item 1: Cartoon
AIG: American International Group – the biggest insurance company in USA
Rhetorical devices:
• Metaphor
AIG: irresponsible people
Million raising hands: miserable citizens
• Irony
Attitude of people sitting around the table
Emphasis about the emergency, million raising hands beg for help.
• Overstatement: AIG officials are indifferent with other’s difficulty.
Message: This picture criticizes irresponsible people (AIG) who enjoy themselves on suffering of others
Item 2: Story
Wolf and squirrel
A squirrel was jumping from branch to branch and fell right onto a sleepy wolf. The wolf jumped up and wanted to eat her.
"Let me go" begged the squirrel.
" very well," said the wolf,." I will let you go, only you must tell me why you squirrels are so happy. I'm always so miserable, but you are always playing and hopping about up there."
"First let me go onto the tree, and I’ll tell you from there, for I'm afraid of you."
The wolf let her go, and the squirrel jumped onto the tree and said:
" you're miserable because you are bad. Your badness burns your heart. And we're happy because we're good and never harm a soul".
New word: squirrel / ‘skwɪrəl /: a small animal with a long thick tail and red, grey or black fur. Squirrels eat nuts and live in trees.
Rhetorical devices:
• Metaphor
Squirrel: kind and gentle
Wolf: evil and cruel
Moral lesson: Cruel people always live in solitude and sadness. Vice versa, good and gentle ones lead a happy and peaceful life.
Item 3: Poem
SYMPATHY
By: Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals--
I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting--
I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,--
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings--
I know why the caged bird sings!
Rhetorical devices:
• Repetition: I know why
• Metaphor: a cage bird stands for the lack of freedom
Message: Dunbar uses a metaphor comparing a caged bird beating its wings against its cage until they bleed to his own struggle against oppression. The bird's physical scars metaphorically refer to the mental scars of oppression. The phrase old, old scars may represent the entrenched racism that had existed in the United States since its founding.
References:
• http://www.hungvuong.edu.vn/dhvcenter/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=327:hc-ting-anh-chuyen-nganh-kinh-t-qua-tranh-bim-ha&catid=70:tieng-anh&Itemid=118
• http://www.poemsource.com/sympathy-poems.html
• http://www.short-humour.org.uk/6writersshowcase/astoryoftwowolvesandasquirrel.htm
Some points to improve (in my opinion):
Trả lờiXóa- I think You should change something like font, size,... of words or paragraphs to make your entry look more attractive.
- The first picture is quite small so that readers couldn't see the notes clearly.
- When you quote "old, old scar", there should be quote marks attaching
Good points:
- I like the word "squirrel" and you are so kind to give readers its interasting pronunciation
- The second picture makes your item look cuter and more intresting
- For the last message, you use effectively academic vocabulary to express your idea
Here are my comments about your entry:
Trả lờiXóa- The way you organize your entry is a little bit messy, the reader is hard to follow. You should change it.
Item 1: The picture is quite small. I can barely read the sentences in that. About the "overstatement": the floating money they are standing in. It is symbol of money.
Item 2: I agree with you, your story is really good.
Item 3: You forget the rhetorical devices "Rhyme": wing - cling, me - free, etc
Thank for you entry!!!
First, I agree with Linh about the organization. In your poem, I think there is another rhetorical device- parallelism: structure "I know why..."
Trả lờiXóaI think your entry is quite good.However, there are two comments for the first item.First, I wonder why you do not mention about the situation of AIG. they are also sinking like their clients. Second, I do not agree with you that the rhetorical device used in this picture is metephor. I think it is metonymy (only for raising hands)
Trả lờiXóa