Charlie's Online Journal

Comparison Essay

The poems ‘Remains’ and ‘The Emigreé’ both interpret power in many different ways. In the poem ‘Remains’ the power of guilt is show to express the feelings of a man who has just killed another, whereas in the poem ‘The Emigreé’ there is a power of memory and denial shown to suggest how the protagonist feels about her home. In this essay I am going to explore how power is presented in the eyes of both protagonists.

In the poem ‘Remains’ the speaker states to us that ‘His bloody life in my bloody hands’. This quote shows us that the main protagonist is in deep guilt and regrets what he did previously. He constantly relives the event in his mind when he closes his eyes. The character towards the end of the poem begins to slow down and realize what he has done, whereas in the start he was adrenaline rushed and didn’t real recognize the depth of the situation. The word ‘Bloody’ is shown in two different ways one being literal and how the main protagonist literally has blood on his hands. Secondly it also has a metaphorical meaning as you could say the character has blood on his hands but you mean he is guilty of something awful he has done.

In ‘The Remains’ there is a power of regret shown, whereas in ‘The Emigreé’ there is a power of denial. I say this because the speaker is in constant disbelief about any negative things being put towards her home. This is show when she states ‘it may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants but I am branded by an impression of sunlight’. This shows that all she knows of her home is sunlight and she ‘is Branded’ by the goodness of her memory, not for what has become of her home. This shows denial because the speaker doesn’t want to believe anything anyone says and this is denial. There is something similar in ‘The Remains’ as the speaker does not want to see the man ‘when he closes his eyes’ so the protagonist tries to ‘flush’ out the man in his mind with drugs and alcohol.

In the ‘Remains’ the speaker is so traumatized by him killing a man and states that ‘He’s in my head when I close my eyes’. This quote alone does show the power of guilt as he may be thinking about that poor man being ‘Ripped apart by a dozen rounds’, But the power of memory is also shown through the quote as the man is constantly reminded by this hellish act and is reminded through seeing ‘his blood shadow’ every morning ‘on the streets, and out on patrol’. This deep memory of the killing of that man who was ‘possibly armed, possibly not’ will haunt the man every day, until he excepts what he has done, as shown when the protagonist see’s the man when he closes his eyes. This also shows a theme of denial much like the power of denial shown in ‘The Emigreè. The protagonist doesn’t want to have the man he killed in his head all the time so he uses drugs and alcohol to help him deny that the man he killed, doesn’t exist.

In both ‘The Emigreé’ and ‘The Remains’ power of memory is used to amplify the situations each of the protagonists have to face. In ‘The Emigreé’ the speaker ‘Is branded by an impression of sunlight’ and this shows how her memory of her home is so deep within that she compares her memory with ‘Branding’ which suggests it is permanent. That is what the speaker in ‘The Emigreé’ is trying to show, that her memory of her home is so strong, she is ‘Branded’ with an image of ‘Sunlight. In ‘The Remains’ the power of memory is also shown through the dreams the speaker has of the man he gunned down while he was ‘out on patrol’. These dreams of the man the speaker has are not just dreams they are nightmares. The speaker says ‘He’s here in my head, when I close my eyes’ and this shows how the man might be reliving the situation over and over in his mind. He now feels repentant for everything he has done and possibly could wish to undo his actions.

In conclusion, In ‘The Remains’, power is shown through the guilt of an man killing another man and in ‘The Emigreé’ power is shown through the memory of home and how you can never forget where you are from. I think ‘The Emigreé’ best discusses a theme of power as memory is one of the most powerful things on earth and a memory of where you are from can never be forgotten. I say this because no matter where you are in the world you would represent and be proud of your home. In this case the women in ‘The Emigreè’ will not accept any negativity being said about her home and what she remembers of it for her memory of home is implanted in her mind.

Imagery

Imagery depends on what you can see in your imagination.

“All flesh is grass”

This is a powerful image in how it suggests the “flesh”, meaning bodies of humans, is now one with the grass. This shows how men and women are gunned down and left to rot with no remorse or guilt.

“A half-formed ghost”

This image suggests a person is dying and is becoming a “Ghost”. The words “half-formed” gives me an image of the man lying there, desperately needing medical attention, but not getting it.

Structure in the Remains

Point 1

“On another occasion, we get sent out to tackle looters raiding a bank”                       He seems relaxed, he doesn’t seemed concerned with anything happening at the beginning of the poem. He’s telling his story. “His bloody life in my bloody hands”. The speaker has become depressed.

Point 2

The last verse of the poem only has two lines so it will stand out. This helps the poet to focus on the guilt of the speaker.

Point 3

“The drink and the drugs won’t flush him out/he’s here in my head when I close my eyes”. The enjambment helps the poet continue the point about how the man cannot get away from the image of the dead man in his head.

Through the structure of Armitage’s poem he communicates a feeling of guilt. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker seems calm and unconcerned with the events happening. He talks about “another occasion” which he was “sent out” in the beginning just as if it were a story. However, by the end of the poem the speakers persona has completely changes from unconcerned and calm to depressed and guilty. Towards the end of the poem we start to realise how the man feels broken after killing the man and cannot live with himself. Armitage shows us this feeling of utter guilt in the last verse of the poem. The last verse ends only in two line, whereas every other verse ends in four. The last verse consolidates the feeling of guilt in the speaker as he feels unable to live a regular life anymore.

This essay will be based on the perspectives of the three main protagonists : Asha, Abdul and Sunil, of Mumbai. All three of the characters live in the slum town of Annawadi which is next to Mumbai’s international airport. Each individual has their own view of Mumbai whether it being good or bad and the each have their own roles they have to play to survive in the slum. Asha has become the slum lord through hard work and dedication, Abdul is the manager of his own rubbish scavenging business and is very isolated in his opinions of Annawadi and finally Sunil is also in the rubbish scavenging business but he is the one who collects the rubbish and sells it to people like Abdul for him to sell. I will be exploring in this essay how Katherine Boo presents each of the characters through the numerous language techniques she uses.

In this book we were first introduced to Abdul. We are told how he is not comfortable around his neighbours through the quote, “His general approach towards his neighbours was this: The better I know you, the more I will dislike you and the more you will dislike me”. This quote could show how little Abdul cares for his neighbours and how much he dislikes them. Annawadi is shown to be a place with no opportunities and no good, in the quote, “This was the gentle going hour of which he hated Annawadi the most”. This quote coming from Abdul shows how even in the early hours, having to wake up realising you are basically nothing and have no real opportunities, is truly why he disliked Annawadi.

Secondly in this book we are introduced to Asha and we are told how she is the mother of Rahul and how she has ambitions of becoming the slumlord of Annawadi. This is basically a landlord of slum property, typically one who charges rent and controls the way the money coming in and out of the slum, is distributed. Later on she found an opportunity, which in her eyes was very rare, she notices the present slum lord does no longer have the hunger for power and she feels this may be her chance to prove herself worthy of being the new slumlord. Although a slumlord is an unofficial position or rank Asha feels this position is where she will show her true power and dominance.

The difference between Asha and Abdul is that Abdul feels that there is a sense of community in Annawadi. Every day he wakes up and sees how every single house is made up of the same things and feels everyone in the slum share one important aspect of this book. ‘Poverty’. However Asha in her new position doesn’t see Annawadi that way. My reasoning for this is because Abdul makes a living through hard work whereas Asha makes her living through scamming people. There is also one major difference between the two residence of Annawadi, Abdul is a lot poorer than Asha who has all the money you could want.

Finally we are introduced to the character Sunil who is a rubbish scavenger who works for someone like Abdul. He collects the rubbish and sells it to Abdul who then sells it for more. These two characters are extremely similar in the way that they see Annawadi as a community and how they make an honest living unlike Asha who sees Annawadi as sort of a prison she needs to escape and does not make an honest living. For Sunil unlike Abdul and Asha, poverty is at every turn.

Abdul and Asha although they are not stupidly rich they still have some money to turn to and to buy in some cases luxurious items. Whereas Sunil doesn’t have that privilege. He does have little amounts of money coming from the rubbish he sells to Abdul but that is still not enough to live a healthy and natural life. Through all of these doubts and mountains in Sunils way he still finds a solution to carry on living that is what is remarkable and so unique about this character. He is at the bottom of the food chain and is making his way to the top slowly but surely by working hard.

Although these characters are different people they all have something in common. They all want to make something better of there life even if it seems impossible to them. Asha, who, before became the slum lord, was just an ordinary slum dweller. Abdul was in the same situation as Sunil, at the bottom, picking up trash. But now Abdul is the one who is in charge of his own business in which Sunil takes orders from. Now although Sunil isn’t as high ranked and successful as Asha or Abdul, he keeps on trying to make his own opportunities in Mumbai as in his eyes Mumbai is a land of opportunity.

Now in conclusion I believe that each perspective is completely different because each person not even these specific characters, everyone in the slum, all live separate and different lives whether it be in poverty or all the wealth in the world. So Mumbai can be presented in so many ways depending on the person. It could be presented as heaven or hell, paradise, the abyss or even purgatory. I say this because people such as Asha, Abdul and sunil are either treating Mumbai like its more than what it is or like something to just survive in.

Dear mr fields

The new is travelling around the globe and its not only good news. These horrific actions of yours onky seem like another attack by a police officer as they think they are better than everyone else. I still have some disbeliefe towards this savage example of brutality as it is a video and may only show one side of the story. You may have had a reason for doing what you did and justify your actions.

All the videos that have been put up on the Internet for everyone to see only show you violently attacking the young girl. Did she do anything first? This question has been asked many times but I still believe that even if she did anything first that does not give you the right to attack her. At that time of you asking her to leave you are in he dominant position as you are stood and she is sat under her desk. You have no need to throw her onto the floor when you are dominantly standing over her baring in mind the age gap, she was 14. This is now making an example of why some children may not want to go to school as they may not feel safe at their school.

You were put on leave from your duties for a reason unknown and you were given the responsibility  of  being a law force in the school so why would you man handle the girl if you were given a strict duty to keep them safe you made them feel the complete opposite. You have been specifically trained to handle those situations especially for each age. For an adult and for a minor. That girl was a minor and you treated her as if she was an adult. There could be some speculations of racism as you were both from different cultures but that could easily be just a misunderstanding.

You say why should I treat them with respect when they don’t treat me with respect in my opinion is a false statement because if you treat someone with respect you will always get it in return. You may not get it for a long time but you will always get it. Also your statement still gives you know right to physically abuse a minor for disobeying such a small act in fron of a class full of children the same age. You are in a class full of young teenagers and your act is going to either make them feel scared and unsafe at school or you are basically teaching them to wrestle someone to the ground if they don’t do what you say.

What you did that day was indeed unjustifiable and you yourself probably know that your actions are teaching the wrong thing to young students who still have their whole life to live. Some people think what you did to that girl was a good thing and if this is true the this is a confused world.

Titus Andronicus

in the play Shakespeare uses a variety of language devices which all have there own meaning for revenge in the poem that symbolize how other people feel about the theory of revenge to each of the characters. He shows first how the revenge of tamora towards Titus gradually grows throughout the play for what he had done to her sons at the end of the story as well as the start of the story\play. One language structure Shakespeare uses is a series of metaphors and similes to desribe something in the play to what it is not like when Marcus reacted to Lavinia by saying “if I do wake let a planet strike me down” which shows he doesn’t want to see the pain and suffering of poor Lavinia. He used allusion to show how Titus went from being a proud and humble warrior to a sad and crazy man an example of his craziness was when he reacted to Marcus furiously when all he did was swat a fly as it approached from the sky. Titus before shows his dominance over tamora by sacrificing her sons only for it to lead to the death of him and various members of his family which shows that revenge isn’t always the best solution to end a problem.

Shakespeare introduces the term of ‘innocent victims’ and what he basically means by that is most of the characters have been killed for a plot for no reason and for doing nothing wrong. A person who died in this way was bassianus the emperors brother was killed by tamora and her sons the frame Titus and his sons for the murder because they were the only people standing in here way to live as the emperes of Rome. The death of individuals such as bassianus sends the emperor mad and leads him to murder the sons of Titus Andronicus from the trickory of the sneaky man Aaron. Aaron was the man who had a child with tamora while she was being married to saturninus but to only fall in love with the child of his and tamoras and help Titus to end the reign of the traitor and the goth. This act of treachery was nothing more than another act of revenge from the past of Tamora.

A language device that stands out the most was the sense of Dramatic Irony that Shakespeare uses and this means when the reader or audience know something that the characters do not. An example of dramatic irony is when tamora plotted revenge on the Titus andronicus family for what he had done to her sons. She had started by violating and desimating the only daughter of Titus andronicus. Before when she was watching her children being sacrificed to the gods for the mischief she had brought upon the land, she thought in her mind that she would bring pain and sorrow to Titus family and she did by killing Titus sons and killing Lavinia in a way of stopping her from having a life.

In conclusion I think that the tragedy of the Andronicus family should be taught in school because the meaning isn’t violence and gore its about cosiquence and how one stupid action can bring the gods down on you. This is also themed around revenge and how is portrays how other character think about themselves an example how Titus portrays his thought of revenge to Tamora by feeding her sons to her and by stabbing her with a dagger with the sharpest point. Shakespeare uses these language devices to make the story more suitable and more intruiging to the eye of the reader and of course the audience. In the end its called a tragedy because the family die of revenge overcoming them by making them react to something that someone else did to them , there family or even the people around them.

Revenge is a word that comes up a lot when you are doing an analysis for the story of Titus Andronicus because so many of the characters have there own meaning of revenge like Tamora she is full of emotions because Titus had murdered her sons and she took ‘Revenge’ on him by killing his daughter in a way so she was unable to up hold any task at hand  which made Titus not want to see her in pain any more so he put her out of her misery and then put that despicable woman , tamora , to sleep once and for all.

In shakespears story Titus andronicus he uses a large amounts of figurative language to compare something to something it will never be or will never happen. An example of one of shakespears figurative language device ” if I do wake, some planet strike me down”, this this quote shows that titus would rather be killed then see his neice Lavinia suffer from what the traitors sons had done to her. The device shows how powerful and destressing seeing how Lavinia had been violated. The quote taken from act 2 scene 4 of Titus andronicus shows that Titus would rather die then see what had become of Lavinia and see what could possibly happen to her. Titus’s reaction echo’s that of Lavinia as he wishes to die like Lavinia did when she was being brutally violated. Shakespeare had also used a hyperbole to communicate how distressed Titus was to see his poor neice Lavinia in that terrible state in person and state of mind.In shakespears story Titus andronicus he uses a large amounts of figurative language to compare something to something it will never be or will never happen. An example of one of shakespears figurative language device ” if I do wake, some planet strike me down”, this this quote shows that titus would rather be killed then see his neice Lavinia suffer from what the traitors sons had done to her. The device shows how powerful and destressing seeing how Lavinia had been violated. The quote taken from act 2 scene 4 of Titus andronicus shows that Titus would rather die then see what had become of Lavinia and see what could possibly happen to her. Titus’s reaction echo’s that of Lavinia as he wishes to die like Lavinia did when she was being brutally violated. Shakespeare had also used a hyperbole to communicate how distressed Titus was to see his poor neice Lavinia in that terrible state in person and state of mind.

How is love presented in sonnet 18?

in sonnet 18 William Shakespeare shows so many variations of language to describe love within the hundreds of his sonnets. Love is presented by Shakespeare using Hyperboles to describe a certain mysterious woman or a young nobleman in which the speaker loves very much. In the quote “Shall i compare compare the to a summers day? Thou art more lovely and temperate” , he is trying to present a woman or man as more beautiful than a summers day. There is a rhyming scheme of a,b,a,b,c,d,c,d,e,f,e,f,g,g. Each of the letters that is representing a rhyming couplet and some of them are “Day” and “May” or “Fade” and “Shade”. I think that each word has to mean something like day and may are liked because they both are representing a date in time and the words fade and shade both kind of represent darkness.

Shakespeare also used techniques such as metaphors , similes and onomatepia and some of these aren’t used in all of them but i have found evidence of them in sonnet 18. I have found things to state that Shakespeare was talking about a male because he repeated ‘he’ , ‘his’ and ‘him’.