1984 2

Most anything the party does persuasively appeals to pathos or ethos. Of course, they cannot give a logical argument to back up anything, so logos is out of the question. Anyone who can see through the advertisements are kept quiet because of the party's ability to remove people from the consciousness of everyone in their sphere of control. A great example of both is the two minutes hate, which is not only a persuasion attempt, but also a sort of amplifier for other advertisements. In this two minutes hate, the enemies of the party are displayed menacingly and the people in the hate are artificially made extremely angry. This, of course would appeal to their emotion and they will continue to associate Eur/Eastasia negatively. Then, they are artificially made proud and happy as an image of Big Brother appears. The emotional state of the observers is altered to different extremes based on the situation, and Big Brother appears more trustworthy, so other ads featuring him will have more impact.

1984 1

    With its slogans, the party seems to be trying to increase its influence over the people. War is peace could mean that a time when one is not at war with the enemies of the state, one is never at peace because of threats and dangers from an unoccupied enemy. Freedom is slavery could mean that when one is truly free from rule, one is also leading a meaningless existence with only survival to occupy oneself with, becoming a slave to your own needs. Ignorance is strength could mean that the less one knows, the better a tool they become. Each slogan, while I would consider them completely false at first glance, have some truth to them when looked at from various points of view. While still important to Oceania's philosophy, the first two slogans I would consider less important as propaganda. An authoritarian fascist state would have to keep their population in check, and the more ignorant and carefree they are, the easier they are to control and manipulate. At some point, the children of Oceania would grow old and have children of their own. As it has been shown in the book, children are the biggest slogan swallowers in the country, and once they raise children of their own, they will likely engross them even more in the party's slogans and propaganda. This would eventually give the party an iron grip upon the populace, making the country much stronger in the process.

Shakespeare final

When I did my response project, I attempted to fiddle with the five act structure in Much Ado About Nothing. To try to do this, I removed conflicts and major characters in order to see if I could screw with the structure of the play. It failed miserably. Anything I did could be mended in a few stitches in the story and it would still be considered a Shakespearean classic. After the presentation, I thought to myself: is this really unique to this play? I began to test this with different books from different genres i.e. Robin Hood, Huck Finn, The Andromeda Strain and Flowers for Algernon. What I found is that in some books, you can do a lot without messing up anything, however, in other books, a minor change is enough to wreck the story. Robin Hood was likely a poor choice, considering that the story consists of multiple unrelated conflicts, but I was surprised that Andromeda Strain still retained its interesting story despite the changes I made. It made much less sense, but could still be construed as enjoyable. Flowers for Algernon fared poorly in this experiment. Some changes i made changed nothing, while others messed up the flow of the story and made the book no longer make sense. What I found is that when there is a large overarching theme or conflict, the changes made affected the story more than if there was not.

Shakespeare blog post 4

    The ending of Much Ado About Nothing most definitely points to it being a comedy. An obvious hint to this lies in the staggering number of characters that are still alive. If this play were a tragedy, multiple things would have occurred differently. Hero most likely would have actually died at the slandering, leading all the characters to despise Claudio and Pedro. This would continue with Benedick acting upon Beatrice's request and killing Claudio either in an honorable duel or an assassination, the former leading to Benedick being killed by Claudio's final dying strike and the latter leading to the execution of Benedick. Beatrice, upon being informed of Benedick's death, would likely off herself. Then Dogberry would go to Pedro with the news of John's plot and He, along with Leonato and Antonio, would mourn the loss of the others as the last ones standing. This play of course ends with everyone very much alive and some characters being newly married. The "problem person" is captured and everyone keeps joking as if nothing happened in the first place. These characteristics are the hallmarks of comedy endings, there is a wedding/pregnancy/party/feast and the "problem person" is killed/captured/exiled/unfollowed. All of these are present with Hero and Claudio getting married and the Benetrice ship setting sail all the while John gets himself captured. Much Ado About Nothing is most definitely a comedy, as you can tell by the ending.

Shakespeare blog post 3

There are many examples of dramatic irony in Much Ado About Nothing. For example in Act 2 scene 1, Don Pedro is putting the moves on Hero so that she and Claudio will marry. All of us in the audience knows Don Pedro is doing some serious trickery, but Hero has no idea. There are other, larger instances of dramatic irony, as we saw in act 2 scene 3 where Benedick is tricked by Pedro, Claudio and Leonato into believing that Beatrice is in love with him, and so he falls in love  with Beatrice. In act 3 scene 1, Beatrice is tricked by Hero and Ursula into believing that Benedick is in love with her, which at this point is not entirely untrue. In these scenes, Benedick and Beatrice are getting tricked by Don Pedro as he hatches his ultimate plan to get the two to fall in love. We all know that Pedro is matchmaking, as he points out that Benedick is hiding in a bush, and proceeds to ask Leonato about the “fact” that Beatrice is madly in love with Benedick. Leonato and Claudio were either previously informed of Don Pedro’s little idea, or they just took the joke and rolled with it. Either way, it worked fabulously. Hero and Ursula then played the same joke on Beatrice, and she proceeded to fall in love with Benedick. As all this happens, we know that Don Pedro is playing a intricately designed game of matchmaker, and Benedick and Beatrice being none the wiser. Next, it is Pedro’s turn to get bamboozled, as in act 4 scene 1 after Hero has been shamed, the friar hatches a plot of his own to get Claudio married to Hero. We know that Hero is pretending to be dead, but Claudio and Pedro don’t. From this, Claudio and Hero get remarried, John gets captured, and everyone lives happily ever after, well, except John. There are many examples of dramatic irony in this play, these are just a few examples.

Much Ado About Nothing prompt 1

For this blog post, I chose to follow the thought in the conversation between Claudio and Benedick when they discussed the fact that Claudio was in love with Hero. To follow the thought, I shortened metaphors into short sentences carrying the main idea across. For example: "play the good flouting jack?" -> "do you mock me?". I also did away with most of the Victorian English to make the passage more understandable. 

Actual text

Claudio: Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of Signor Leonato?

Benedick: I noted her not, but looked on her.

Claudio: Is she not a modest young lady?

Benedick: Do you question me as an honest man should do, for my simple true judgment? Or would you have me speak after my custom, as being a professed tyrant to their sex?

Claudio: No, I pray thee speak in sober judgment.

Benedick: Why, i' faith, methinks she's too low for a high praise, too brown for a fair praise, and too little for a great praise. Only this commendation I can afford her, that were she other than she is, she were unhandsome, and being no other but as she is, I do not like her.

Claudio: Thou thinkest I am in sport. I pray thee tell me truly how thou lik'st her.

Benedick: Would you buy her, that you inquire after her?

Claudio: Can the world buy such a jewel?

Benedick: Yes, and a case to put it into. But speak you this with a sad brow? Or do you play the good flouting jack, to tell us Cupid is a good hare finder and Vulcan a rare carpenter? Come, in what key shall a man take you to go in the song?

Claudio: In mine eye, she is the sweetest lady that I ever looked on.

Benedick: I can see yet without spectacles, and I see no such matter. There's her cousin, an she were not possessed with a fury, exceeds her as much as much in beauty as the first of May doth the last of December. But I hope you have no intent to turn husband, have you?

Claudio: I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my wife.

Benedick: Is't come to this? In faith, hath not the world one man but he will wear his cap with suspicion? Shall I never see a bachelor of threescore again? Go to, i' faith, an thou wilt needs thrust thy neck into a yoke, wear the print of it and sigh away Sundays. Look! Don Pedro is returned to seek you.

Follow the thought

Claudio: Benedick, did you observe Hero's beauty?

Benedick: I saw her, but beauty seemed absent.

Claudio: She is such a modest woman, isn't she?

Benedick: Do you want me to answer you honestly? Or do you want me to answer as others would expect of me, as a man who thinks lowly of the opposite sex?

Claudio: I would hope you answer me truthfully.

Benedick: She is not fit for praise, though I will offer her this: If she were not such an important figure, she would be unseemly. As she is now, I have no interest in her.

Claudio: You think this is all fun and games! Tell me what you really think.

Benedick: If she could be purchased, would you?

Claudio: A beauty like hers is priceless, not even the world equals its value.

Benedick: The world could easily buy it, and then much more. But is this how you truly feel, or do you mock me, saying blind Cupid can hunt rabbits and Vulcan, God of smithing, would make an excellent carpenter? What will it take for me to convince you to stop swooning over Hero?

Claudio: I think of her as the kindest woman I have had the good fortune of seeing.

Benedick: I do not need glasses to see, and I see nothing of the sort. Her cousin would be beautiful if not for her overwhelming anger that overshadows her good looks completely. I hope you will not become a husband.

Claudio: I am still wary of marriage, but I may change my mind if Hero would be my spouse.

Benedick: Will I ever see a good bachelor again? Would you really give yourself into marriage? To be willingly forced into a yoke and made to work with little chance of finding freedom again? To exhaust yourself during the holy day of rest? Anyway, Don Pedro is here to see you.

All the light we cannot see prompt 1

    The structure of this novel is strange because every two or three pages, it changes character perspective. In those two or three pages, the author includes an important event, exposition, or some sort of buildup. While strange, this method is effective at keeping the interest of readers over long periods of time. The author employs a "cliffhanger approach" not unlike television programs to retain the attention of viewers. In those three page chapters, there is always some interesting plot point that isn't immediately clear or isn't immediately resolved. That clarity or resolution could occur in the next few pages or in the next few sections. This constant feeling of the unknown keeps the reader interested and wanting to know more. This is very common in television programs because those who tune in want to know what happens and because they left you on a cliffhanger, you have to see the next part to find out. The author's use of this strategy will keep the reader interested and their interest will cause them to recommend the book to others because it was interesting. Recommendations lead to more people buying the book which leads to making loadsamoney. This may not have been his reason to make the book like this, but it's a perfect recipe for making more than the usual amount of money writers make.