Ekim's English Journal

The fear was infectious – fear is an inanimate emotion which cannot move, but here it is described as infecting someone, so in a way it is moving or being transmitted.

Rhythym and Sound are keys to identifying the emotions of characters in these texts. In Sylvia Plaths poem, “Applicant” we can clearly see Rhythm and sound which gives us the feeling of emotion. Towards the end of the poem, the word ‘it’ is used many times to start sentences or phrases. “It can sew, it can cook, It can talk,talk,talk. It works.” The continuous repetition of ‘it’ gives us the impression that she is frustrated or angry, she keeps repeating herself. The fact that she has also repeated ‘talk’ three times also adds onto this feeling or voice of frustration.

In William Shakespeare’s play, ‘The Taming Of The Shrew’ and Sylvia Plath’s poems ‘Daddy’ and ‘The Arrival of the Beebox’ we can clearly see many ways in which the thoughts, expressions and characteristics of women. In both pieces of writing there are carious techniques used to show us the feeling of strength in women.

From the extreme resentment of her father in the poem ‘Daddy’ to the role of playing God in ‘The Arrival of the Beebox’ we can see techniques which show us the feeling of strength. Many similarities can also be see in Shakespeare’s poem the Taming of the shrew in which Katherina, the so called ‘Shrew’ uses different actions, language and characteristics to project her strength of feelings.

One such action is seen within act 2, scene 1 in which Katherina and Petruchio are having a heated argument with each other. Petruchio Says: “Come Come you wasp! I faith you are too angry.” Katherina replies with “If I be waspish best beware my sting.” Here we can see that Shakespeare has cleverly linked Katherina’s short temper and rapid actions with those of a wasp. This is clearly metaphorical, he has related Katherina’s actions to those of a wasp. Katherina has also responded with a threat. She has threatened Petruchio, she has stated she will sting him or in a way hurt him. She has stood up to a male in a time in which women were expected to look up to men in general as masters. She has clearly tried to project her feelings across to Petruchio by threatening him and this is just one way in which the strength of feeling in women has been shown in the book. Katherina is clearly opposed to the fact that her father is looking to get her married.

Petruchio then tells her “my remedy is to pluck it out.” referring to Katherina’s ‘Sting’ to which she replies with “Ay, if the fool could find where it lies.” Here she has used her ‘Shrew-like’ language to show Petruchio how hard it will be to wed her, she has insulted his intelligence and is using this behaviour to try and deter Petruchio, to push him away from herself. Later on in the play she strikes Petruchio, which may be likened to the ‘sting’ of a wasp. She doesn’t want to be seen as a prize to him or an animal which Petruchio will tame. Shakespeare continually relates her actions to an animals which we can see in a scene where Gremio asks Petruchio if he will ever be able to tame Katherina. “But will you woo this wild cat?”.

She is referred to as a ‘wild cat’, a cat which hasn’t been domesticated or in a way ‘tamed’. The fact that the name ‘Kate’ has a sound similar to that of ‘Cat’ shows us the idea Shakespeare had in his head. In a way this can be called a Pun. The relations between Kate and animals continue in a play, later on she is called an ‘ass’ and Petruchio also says that she is a Falcon which he must deprive of sleep and starve in order to tame.

Her shrew like behaviour has also made an impression on people, Lucentio states she is ‘Stark, Mad’ later on in the play. Lucentio clearly dislikes her actions compared to the actions of Katherina’s sister, Bianca who is more reclusive and keeps her thoughts to herself. She doesn’t show her strength of feeling as much as Katherina does. Lucentio says “I do see, maids’ mild behaviour and sobriety.” He clearly prefers the more ‘tamed’ Bianca to the ‘untamed’ Katherina. ‘Katharina the curst! A title for a maid of all titles the worst’ is another example of the impression she has made.

Similar shrew like actions can be seen in Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” in which she tells us of her love and hate for her father, this love and hate is also shown by Katherina, in one way she is obedient towards her father, she stops attacking Bianca when her father tells her to but she also dislikes him due to the obvious reasons of him trying to forcefully get her married and also that her father also sees her as a shrew due to her actions when you would expect a father to stand by his daughter.

This essay demonstrates some very thoughtful and original responses to the two texts. You also show strong command of your written expression. Your ideas are expressed with clarity and in a logically organised way. You have taken the initiative to draw some thoughtful conclusions and at times you have successfully connected your ideas to quotations to the language within the quotations. This process of zeroing in on specifics to prove a broader point is perfect for a literary analytical essay.

To develop your work further you may wish to:

Test some of your more thoughtful conclusions in discussion with me, or your peers, before you commit to them in an assessment – the idea about being able to tell the gender of the writer is an interesting one, but would need a much greater detail to support it before it would convince the reader.

Explore a wider range of quotations and examples in both texts – looking at language, story, character, historical context, authorial point of view and theme.

In respect of the poetry, developing a conclusion about what the poem’s message is, and how the language devices you’ve identified reveal and develop this message.

In the case of this essay question, make clearer links between language and emotion – much like you did when referring to the percussive tempo in Plath’s “Daddy” (Remember, Katharina also has a father figure)

Oxymorons and personification are used within the book for several effects. One such thing is ‘The Silence Spoke’ which makes no sense as silence is a total absence of sound. The fact that Joe is contradicting himself gives us the impression that he is confused. This is also an oxymoron.

‘Pain flooded’ also is a metaphor or is a personification it symbolises the feeling of pain entering his body as a flood, a sudden entrance, a sudden breach and assault by his pain. ‘Jerking fire through my join’

Simon has also personified the mountain as a giant creature he makes itout as if the mounta is a live sentient being. He is afraid of the mountain.

When joe is also in the crevasse he always talks about the silence in the cave, the silence may be similar to the void in the title. It looks like the silence is death, is continuously creeping towards him, it approaches him, the silence is an entity which is always present he talks about the very nature of the game controlling him at the summit of Siula grande. It is as if the emptiness or silence is the void which is approaching him.

The ‘blessed relief of tension’ he starts to move more into thoughts about life and about God, he uses religious words more and more often. He also uses the word limbo which is the area between life and death used in religion he believes he is reaching this stage, he is getting closer and closer to death or the void. The words malevolent and evil are also used. He also starts talking about Images of Hindu gods he saw in a temple and the statue of Apollo which he saw when he was young.

Extended description of the pain he is going through, he is always near to fainting which my take him to death or the void.

When joe is stuck in the crevasse the type of writing suddenly changes, he talks in long sentences which seem to continue to go on and on, he also seems to be questioning his own thoughts and does not believe what he says.

“I couldn’t conceive of him dead, not now, not after I’ve survived.” Here he is questioning himself, talking to himself about if Simon has died, he switches from the past tense to the future which is in italics.

He then talks about the darkness, the malevolent cackling which is coming from the darkness, he is losing his sanity, on one hand he has a cool inner voice which is keeping him safe and calm while on the other hand he is laughing, crying, he is mad or afraid. He is starting to talk about his personality splitting in two, as if he has two distinctive personalities.

“The sudden stillness and quiet after the storm.” The title of the novel, Touhing the void, may have several deeper meanings which may mirror either the attitude of to climbers within the book or may also be related to the experiences they have during their expedition. The quote above gives us an impression of what Joe, one of the climbers in the book, may think about the void.

The dictionary definition for void is a completely empty space. This may have several implications within the book such as how close to death the climber Joe came to during his journey. He may not believe in an afterlife so the void may be death or emptiness after death he faces in his journey. This shows us that the climber may have a lack of belief in God as he views death as a void.

The void could also be referring to the sudden disappearance of the relationship the climbers have with each other after the incident in which Simon end up cutting the rope causing joe to fall off the mountain.

The void is mainly used to refer to the absence of something but in this case the void has a presence so it could be something or someone may be there. This someone may be an invisible presence, this emptiness may be God. “The nature of the game was controlling me.” The fact that Joe also talks about something uncontrollable guiding him through which may show that the void is a live presence.

The title of this article ‘Up, Up and Away’ is clearly related to the article and is very effective at linking up to the text. It gives us a sense of journey, up up and away. Like we are flying to a far away land not knowing if we will make it back. This is seen in the article as the man has flown over the English channel in an armchair which is clearly very risky and could have led to the death of the man if anything had gone wrong.

Secondly, the title links to a Disney movie called up in which a young boy and an old man pair up on an adventure in which they fly into the unknown using a house which is attached to balloons much like what the individual in the article has done. The movie is also referred to in the text which again clearly shows a link and is very effective at creating an image of the experience the man had for those who have seen the movie.

The joke in the headline: “the day that armchair travel really took off” is also very effective, it creates a sense of humour around the danger which the man may have faced and how different this ‘new’ type of air travel is compared to the conventional means of aerial transport, the use of a plane. It is mainly aimed at joking at the situation the man is in and creating some humour which it clearly has done by talking about how shocked the French authorities were.

Finally the image is also extremely effectively linked to the article, it gives something to look at and shows what exactly happened, the multi coloured balloons match the humour in the title and gives a feeling of happiness and the iconic White cliffs also show us how much of a grand task this man has achieved. The image has been taken from above to show us how high the man was and also makes everything else feel small due to how high this man was. It looks more dangerous.