Home Learning Assignment - Task 2

Task 2

Complete the template provided below (Annex A), focusing on (1) Point of View; (2) Situation and Setting; (3) Language/Diction; and (4) Personal Response, and post your response to Task 2 on your blog. This template is based on John Lye’s ‘Critical Analysis of Poetry’, and you can make reference to this in Annex B when in doubt.

Rainbow Death

Hubert Wilson

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

1. Point of View

I feel that the poem is written from the point of view of someone who has suffered the devastating effects of coming into contact with Agent Orange. This is evident from how the poet states "Execrable effects of agent orange spray!" to end off his poem. The poet also very clearly describes the side effects of Agent Orange, and states that "America did not foresee" the harmful side effects of Agent Orange. This suggests that he is probably a soldier and fought in the Vietnam War, and had most probably first handedly witnessed the effects of Agent Orange.

2. Situation and Setting

The poem is set after Agent Orange was used. It might have been set several years after the Vietnam war, when not only the immediate effects but the long term effects of Agent Orange were witnessed. The harmful long term effects of Agent Orange are witnessed on the future generations of the Vietnamese like "birth defects" and even "prematurely dead". It could also probably be that "America did not foresee" these effects on the Vietnamese children and tried to hide the facts and truth from other people, as seen from "All the deceit continues to spread", which most likely implies that America had been hiding the truth about the side effects of Agent Orange from the public, and this was still ongoing at the time when the poet was still writing the poem.

3. Language/ Diction

The title of the poem "Rainbow death" is rather ironic. When we see the word "rainbow", we normally think of rich and vibrant colours or have positive thoughts. However, this is contrasted by "death", something negative and ominous. I also feel that the word "Rainbow" is a reference to the rainbow herbicides, which killed and harmed many millions of people. Maybe the poet chose such an oxymoron to be the title for the poem because he wanted the readers to see a contrast between the aims of the Americans in using Agent Orange and the effect of using Agent Orange. The poet also uses the word "potpourri" to symbolise the different mixture of herbicides used in the war, like Agent green, Agent pink, Agent purple. There is also alliteration in the poem, as seen from "thinking twice?", the letter "t" starting in both words. The "t" sound is a harsh tone which probably shows the poet is mocking America for using Agent Orange.

4. Personal Response

This poem leaves the readers rather disturbed, as the poet keeps putting in images of death and disaster throughout his poem. Phrases and words like "Rainbow Death", "Toll on the innocent and unborn", Generations untold WILL pay", conjure images of imminent deaths and disasters. The poet also questions America mockingly with "thinking twice?" and sympathises with the Vietnamese. The readers have to have at least some prior knowledge on the Vietnamese war before being able to understand the poem.

Home Learning Assignment - Task 1

Task 1

Based on your understanding of the selected poem, perform extensive web research and write a report on your blog detailing the conflict represented in the poem(s) of your choice. Bear in mind that this piece of background information will allow your blog audience to further understand the poem as well as your analysis of the poem in Task 2.

Rainbow Death
Hubert Wilson

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

After researching on the internet, I found out that this poem was basically talking about "Rainbow Herbicides", which was used in the Herbicidal Warfare Programme. Rainbow Herbicides caused tremendous suffering to the victims of it, and even the people who used or even just came into contact with the Rainbow Herbicides. The most prominent and commonly used Rainbow herbicide was the "Agent Orange", which is what the poet is mainly talking about.

Agent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and highly toxic defoliant(chemical sprayed or dusted on plants to cause its leaves to fall off) used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. The main aim of using Agent Orange was to reduce the dense jungle foliage so that Vietnamese troops could not use it for cover. It was also to destroy the Vietnamese people's crops so that they did not have food.

From 1962 to 1971, Agent Orange was the most widely used among the herbicides, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed to it. 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html

Widow builds children a life-size cardboard cut-out of their dead father

Hi guys.

I saw this article in the news recently which i thought interesting. It is about this British family whose father had passed away weeks after being diagnosed with not one, but two brain tumours in his head. Paul Challis, the father, had passed away at the young age of just 38. His wife and two children could not bear the fact that their father had died, and the mother decided to make a cardboard figure resembling their father, to keep him close to their hearts.

You can read the full article here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7651312/Widow-builds-children-a-life-size-cardboard-cut-out-of-their-dead-father.html

After reading this article, I had some thoughts about it. To me, it was just plain creepy. Why would they want a cardboard figure of a dead person for? Was the family being realistic? I feel that the family should just learn to let go and deal with the grief, and not use a cardboard figure to replace their father. The family have to face the music and accept the fact that their father is gone. All human beings die someday. The family should just accept it. The two children might not learn the proper way of dealing with grief, since they might just rely on the presence of their "living" father.

However, I also feel that it might just be the family's way of dealing with the grief of losing their beloved father. Well, a dead person is a dead person. They might as well just live with it. As the article quoted, "Telling the children was hard, they wanted to know why doctors couldn't make him better. "Molly, one of their children even asked, "can't we go on bike rides anymore? That's sad." This figure might just hinder the children accepting the fact that their father is dead.

What do you guys think? I really need comments!

5 months and counting...

Hi people.

It has been five months into the year 2010. It is definitely a different experience from my secondary one life. It has been much more stressful, with much more homework and commitments. However, it also means an additional one more year to our ages, and we should be more mature in our thoughts. I shall now talk about the future class program that I have experienced for these few months. The future class program basically involves the use of computers to aid our learning, through the just-in-time-teaching method. I have seen people misusing the computer for other purposes. They use the computers for non-educational purposes like playing games and surfing the internet. I do not really feel that this future school program is actually beneficial. It is actually harming us, instead of doing us good. Also, sometimes we do not use the computer at all for the whole day and yet we carry the extra weight around. I feel that we students are still not at the age where we can learn to control ourselves and are disciplined enough to actually stay away from playing computer games during school. Maybe we can wait till we are older and more matured and then start using computers.

The June holidays are also barely a month away. I am looking forward to a break from the hectic school life. During the June holidays, I will devote half my time to doing homework, revision, ace and projects. A quarter or more of my time will be spent on other commitments like Co-curricular activities, and some enrichment lessons and sports like swimming and cycling, and some leisure time of my own to play computer games and stuff. I would also be going overseas to Hong Kong for a week and I am absolutely looking forward to it! This week would also probably be the best time to catch up with my family and better our relationships with each other.

What do all of you do during the holidays? Share your plans with me!

Being Normal

I got inspired to write on this topic because of today's sexuality education talk on homosexuality...

So, what does being normal mean to you? To me, being normal is just being myself. I think that people see being normal as "fitting in" with the people around you, and their actions. Being "normal" is just not to stick out of the crowd and be different. When you do things differently or act differently from others, you are "abnormal" as you do not fit with the crowd. When you do not be in the majority, people will start picking on you. However, usually, you are being called "out of the norm" when you possess a certain quality that most, or all the rest of the people do not have. Hence, they get jealous or feel that you are a thorn in the neck, and want to "remove" you. These people feel that you are straying from the so-called acceptable path and think that it is within their right to chastise you for being a different person from them.

Also, in our society nowadays, certain gangster groups require their "new members" to go through a certain test. Only then can they be considered a member of their gang. This is an example of the things that you have to do to "fit in" with the majority. Otherwise, you are considered as different and atypical.

The definition of being "normal" can change with time. An example would be about fashion. 20 years old, people dressed very differently from us now. If one day someone dressed in an old-fashioned manner in the streets, in a "twenty-years-ago' manner, people would look at him, thinking of him as atypical and weird. Hence, there is no fixed definition of being normal and it all depends on the majority. However, I feel that as long as you are righteous and moral, being yourself is fine. Just do not be ridiculous. Be happy being yourself!

Determination

I saw this piece of news in the papers recently. There was this boy named Jordan Romero who attempts to climb Mount Everest at the age of 13. If he suceeds, he will be the youngest boy to scale Mount Everest.

Initially, I was surprised when I first read this piece of news. How was a 13 year old boy going to scale a mountain 8000 metres high? He is of the same age as us. But as I reflected on this matter, I felt that this boy possessed a great deal of both courage and determination. Firstly, having the thought of climbing the highest mountain in the world already shows his courage. Not many people will even think of conquering a mountain like Mount Everest. There are also many dangers faced when climbing a mountain. Altitude sickness, glare from the Sun, and most importantly, the cold, are just some of the problems faced. To overcome these obstacles, one requires a lot of determination.

I feel that this can also be related to life. People always tell us to "never give up" despite the numerous obstacles. I think that life is just like climbing a mountain. You have a goal in life (to reach the summit), for example you aim to be a boss of a certain company. You will have to put in a lot of hard work to achieve that position(just like climbing up a mountain requires a lot of effort). When you finally reach the top of the mountain, you would have achieved your goal. When you do, you will be rewarded. However, the process may be challenging. You will have to overcome the odds and strive for the best. What I want to say is that we should always be determined in whatever we do. Without determination, you will lose all your drive for success.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill

I find this quote very true. As many people say, failure is the mother of success. A failure won't kill you. You can still keep trying. That is determination. However, after you succeed, do not be complacent. It does not mean that you are forever successful. Also do not forget people who have helped you to achieve success.

Hence, I urge everyone of you to keep trying and never give up! Bye!

Communication Breakdown

Well, its been some time since my last post. In this post, I will be talking about the CIP activity that I went for last week at the science centre. I and 4 other people from my CCA were supposed to be facilitators for an Infocomm programme at the science centre. However, when we arrived to register, the event organisers told us that they did not have our particulars! At that point of time, it was like we were being led on a wild goose chase. But how could it be? We started to call up our CCA chairman. He told us that he had already informed our CCA teacher-in-charge to email our names and particulars to the event organisers. We made another call to our teacher in charge. But in the end, she told us that she was not informed of this! There must have been some miscommunication in between the process of informing people. In the end, we headed home empty-handed.

What I want to say is that communication breakdown can be disastrous, just like what happened to me.

Firstly, Communication is a very powerful and important tool. It allows us to express our feelings and convey meanings to other people. There are also many ways to communicate, other than verbally. Facial expressions like smiling, frowning, crying all convey certain meanings and messeges to others. Gestures and actions are also a form of communication. You can touch someone, hold him, embrace or even pat him on the back. They all convey meanings. Even emailing or instant messaging someone is communication. Even the SMB we check everyday. As long as there is a display or exchange of information, it is communication.

Communication is important in our lives. This year, our School has introduced a new subject, OC (Oral Communication). This subject is to encourage us to speak up more often. As we speak and contribute to the discussions during our lessons, we will be assessed and given marks.

However, if this communication breaks down, (like what happened to me), it is disastrous. There are several reasons why communication breaks down.

Sometimes, people tend to just hear what others are saying, and not listen. They may miss out important information, and misinterpret intentions, or not hear what they are saying at all. This is just like what happened in my case...

Having good communication can maximise effectiveness. Like when we are doing group work. For example...

A : We have to do the presentation tomorrow. We have to finish this part today. Do this part of the powerpoint ok?
A : Hey? Are you listening?
B : Yea... Yea....

*The next day...*

A: Why didn't you do this part?!?
B: You didn't tell me to do it!
A: I did! Now what! Its due today!

This can happen sometimes. Fairly simple misunderstandings, if not detected can cause problems, and affect the productivity of a team. Hence, make sure you get the message across to the other party. This is extremely important.

There are other reasons for other situations.

2. Information Overload: Managers are surrounded with a pool of information. It is essential to control this information flow else the information is likely to be misinterpreted or forgotten or overlooked. As a result communication is less effective.
3. Inattention: At times we just not listen, but only hear. For example a traveler may pay attention to one “NO PARKING” sign, but if such sign is put all over the city, he no longer listens to it. Thus, repetitive messages should be ignored for effective communication. Similarly if a superior is engrossed in his paper work and his subordinate explains him his problem, the superior may not get what he is saying and it leads to disappointment of subordinate.
4. Time Pressures: Often in organization the targets have to be achieved within a specified time period, the failure of which has adverse consequences. In a haste to meet deadlines, the formal channels of communication are shortened, or messages are partially given, i.e., not completely transferred. Thus sufficient time should be given for effective communication.
5. Distraction/Noise: Communication is also affected a lot by noise to distractions. Physical distractions are also there such as, poor lightning, uncomfortable sitting, unhygienic room also affects communication in a meeting. Similarly use of loud speakers interferes with communication.
6. Emotions: Emotional state at a particular point of time also affects communication. If the receiver feels that communicator is angry he interprets that the information being sent is very bad. While he takes it differently if the communicator is happy and jovial (in that case the message is interpreted to be good and interesting).
7. Poor retention: Human memory cannot function beyond a limit. One cant always retain what is being told specially if he is not interested or not attentive. This leads to communication breakdown.

http://www.managementstudyguide.com/communication_barriers.htm