Practice IOC Outline - Family Furnishings

Context:

This passage is from the short story Family furnishings and is situated early in the story where the narrator was fond of Alfrida. The whole collection in which this short story is in share the element of love. 

Overview:

In this passage we see the narrator exploring the complex family relationships, as well as a flashback being used in order to characterise Alfrida.

Narrator:

The story is told from the first person perspective. This allows the reader to gain insight on  thoughts and how she perceives other characters. This does withhold some information to the reader. Additionally the first person perspective allows readers to see the emotional connections between characters. 

Structure:

The passage is mostly dialougue, with a flashback also being used. Imagery, symbols, and allusions are included throughout this passage which allows the reader to understand certain aspects better. Like the whole short story, this passage also mostly follows a chronological order, however like in the whole story, a time shift is present. 

Main Idea / Purpose:

The purpose of this passage is to tie the entire short story together. This passage is also significant as the complex family relationships of the narrator’s family are revealed, which develops the theme of family dynamics.

Sequential Body Analysis:

Chunk 1 (lines 2-9):

• Theme of power is developed 
• “some sense of triumph”
• “moment of power”

Chunk 2 (lines 10-22):

• Flashback - characterises Alfrida
• Symbolism
• “bells started to ring” (context is WW1) - symbolism for fear, reflects Alfrida’s fear due to her extra-marital pregnancy
• “they were just children” - symbolising/alluding to innocence
• Foreshadows relationship reveal 

Chunk 3 (lines 23-39):

• She starts to piece everything together
• “now I was aware of two things”
• Overlooks truth
• the protagonist never finds out the true relationship between her father and Alfrida
• Metaphor
• Cold fish
• “dark face against the light” - mystery surrounding the character Alfrida. pieces things together about the relationship of her father and Alfrida, but ignores it and chooses to not see the light and stay in the dark. 

Conclusion:

The main idea of this passage is to tie the whole story together by the narrator putting pieces together as seen in chunk 3, as well as to explore the complex relationships of the narrators family. 

Practice IOC

A practice IOC on a passage from The Moons of Jupiter: https://soundcloud.com/lukas-schroth/moons-of-jupiter-practice-ioc

Literary Lyrics Activity: Lay Me Down by Sam Smith

The music video depicts Sam Smith at a funeral in a church, standing in front of a recently deceased’s coffin. Through the use of a flashback, it is revealed to the audience that the deceased person in the coffin at the church was actually Sam Smith’s husband. The music video then returns to the present day which is some time after the funeral, depicting Sam Smith sitting in the church, and mourning. Sam Smith effectively creates a emotionally powerful song through the lyrics, melody as well as the visual aid. The song is written in the first person perspective, allowing the audience to see the story from the viewpoint of Sam Smith. This makes the song more emotional and personal, especially through the visual aid. Additionally the lyrics makes this song more emotionally powerful due to the specific word choice, as seen in this small passage: Deny this emptiness / This hole that I'm inside / These tears / They tell their own story / Told me not to cry when you were gone / But the feeling's overwhelming, it's much too strong. The song is also made more powerful through the visual aid which show the audience what Sam Smith’s life was before his husband had died as it uses a flashback to show when they got married and how happy they were. This makes the song more emotionally powerful, especially as after the flashback Sam Smith is seen in the church alone, mourning over the death of his husband.

Wallace's theory of education and Alice Munro

In the essay “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace, the author suggests that freedom acquired through education is the ability to be conscious, sympathetic and adjusted. This is seen in the essay when he says that “You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn’t.” David Foster Wallace develops this thesis through the use of various examples, such as the supermarket and the traffic. These examples aid the thesis of the story, it being to not be so self centred. Through these various examples, the reader is presented with the possibility that other people are or could also be in a similar situation of just wanting to relax after having a had day. This is however only recognisable when people stop being self centred. This theory relates to our inquiry question of “How can literature develop empathy and emotional intelligence?”. This is because when you stop being self centred you will have the opportunity to have empathy with other people as you will stop continuously thinking about yourself, and will instead also think of the rough time that other people may have. This is portrayed in the essay through the various people that are listed who, even though you might not know for sure, might have also had a rough day or more. The emotional intelligence also relates to this, as it is the ability to pick up on body language and the emotions which people give off. 

Wallace’s theory about education can also be applied to the writings of Alice Munro. Many, if not all, short stories by Alice Munro are not plot driven and prompt an emotional response rather than a intellectual response. Munro’s plots have more of a day to day routine aspect instead of the whole story which builds up the a dramatic climax like in many plot driven stories. In the short stories, Alice Munro’s deep meaning can only be appreciated once it is thoroughly analysed as the stories are not plot driven and Alice Munro rather raptures the emotions of the characters and the emotional relationship between them. Furthermore, the Alice Munro stories also often relate to the inquiry question as these short stories often develop empathy and emotional intelligence. This is often done through the use of the first person perspective in the stories, as this perspective allows has the ability to have empathy with the other characters by understanding the feeling that these characters share with the narrator. Due to the first person perspective in many of the Alice Munro short stories, the main character is in the centre of the action, a theme which is also seen in the “This is Water” essay by David Foster Wallace. 

Meaning through personal history

Thesis: Chinua Achebe’s personal background is apparent in his novel Things Fall Apart as he includes both the values and belief of his Christian upbringing as well as those of his native Nigerian background, through characters such as Okonkwo and Mr. Brown, in order to allow the readers to interpret the meaning of the novel without any bias created by the author. 

Topic Sentence 1: Having grown up during the colonisation period, Achebe uses characters such as Rev. Smith and Mr. Brown in order to portray the negative and positive effects of the missionaries arriving to the Igbo land to his audience.

Topic Sentence 2: Due to his Nigerian background, Achebe uses the characters Okonkwo and Uchendu in order to show the audience the rich Igbo culture and its values, as well as the effect that christianity had on the Igbo society. 

Topic Sentence 3: In order to show an appreciation towards the best values of both cultures, Achebe uses characters such as Nwoye and Obierika as they both question some of the tribe’s traditions and values. 

Gender Influences

Thesis: Depending on one’s understanding of gender influences in the novel Things Fall Apart, audiences can have different interpretations and understandings of the Igbo society and culture due to the unique values and traditions of the Igbo people. 

Topic Sentence 1: In order to fully understand the gender influences within the novel, one must identify and fully understand the gender roles in the Igbo society, as well as it contribution to the overarching themes of the novel

Topic Sentence 2: Personal upbringing and culture shape the way someone perceives the novel thus depending on one’s values and beliefs, it shapes the way gender influences is perceived in the novel. 

Topic Sentence 3: Depending on the time period in which the novel is read in, it influences how the novel is perceived and the role of gender influences as society norms and values change. 

Tragic Hero

In Things Fall Apart, the author Achebe purposely characterises Okonkwo as a tragic hero in order to reflect the collapsing Umuofia society and destruction of the whole Igbo culture. In the novel, Okonkwo’s hermatia includes his hyper masculinity, being too quick to action without thinking situations through, and being too quick to anger. Both being quick to action and quick to anger contradict Igbo value, which ultimately leads to his peripeteia and Okonkwo getting banished. Achebe did this on purpose in order to show what happens when one lives in a very unique culture, but does not follow its values. Even though he is a well respected man due to his many titles and wealth that he has been able to accumulate, his obsession for power and personal failures act as a barrier to greater things, and rather lead to his downfall. In the novel, his downfall begins when he kills Ogbuefi’s son by accident as Ogbuefi’s funeral. Similarly, the Igbo culture also experienced a downfall due to it being colonised. The society’s downfall can be clearly seen through the character Okonkwo when he returns from his seven year exile and finds Umuofia being colonised. His inability to accept change and being colonised ultimately leads to his downfall as he tries to resolve the problem the only way he knows, by fighting back, as he does not want to be seen as someone weak like his father. However the others do not believe that this should be solved with violence, and would rather accept the change. This finally leads to Okonkwo hanging himself as he is unable to adapt to change and looses faith in his community. This also reflects the downfall of the Igbo culture due to colonisation. Achebe characterises Okonkwo like this purposely, as this also reflects the Igbo culture prior and throughout its downfall.