Corioalnus IOC Passage Analysis

Introduction and context:

• Passage taken from Coriolanus
• This particular instance/passage occurs toward the end of the play
• Act V, Scene III
• Important passage due to the fact that Shakespeare highlights Coriolanus' emotional connection with his mother, this is significant as throughout the entire play Coriolanus is portrayed as someone who is rather emotionless.

Overview:

• In the buildup to this passage, we are shown that Coriolanus and Aufidius unite.
• Aufidius’ people the Volscians walk towards Rome with Coriolanus
• There to meet Coriolanus is his mother
• Her main intention is to convince Coriolanus to spare Rome

Structure:

• The passage is structured chronologically
• There are no flashbacks to earlier instances in the play
• The organisation of the passage is fairly important as the audience is able to witness the effect of Coriolanus’ mother on his actions

Main Idea:

• The main idea communicated in this passage is that Coriolanus’ pride is defeated by his mother. His mother’s wishes are his commands and thus highlights that he is mortal and emotional after all. Much of the play Coriolanus is likened to fictional animals such as a dragon, which may highlight immortality as well as power and dominance. However, within this passage the audience witnesses how this power and dominance is subdued. Volumnia is used by Shakespeare as a catalyst to imply that Coriolanus is emotional and not emotionless. 
• Essentially throughout this passage Coriolanus is overpowered by his mother which thus signifies that indeed he isn't the all powerful.

Commentary Structure:

Sequentially- As the passage is structured chronologically, it is easier to move swiftly through the lines explaining the stylistic devices as well as the significance of Shakespeare’s choice of language. 

IOC Outline: Boys and Girls

`IOC Outline:

Boys and girls:

A: Context of passage:

This particular instance of the story occurs immediately after the narrator allows one of the horses to runaway from their barn, this passage occurs towards the end of the story. Alice Munro’s Boys and Girls is a story revolving around the coming of age theme, and highlights through the use of symbols as well as literary devices the impact of gender roles imposed on society. The title of the story is significant in that it highlights the main idea of the story. 

Setting is vital in allowing the reader to understand the strictness of gender norms at that particular time, and thus allows the reader to create an emotional connection with the unnamed protagonist.

B: Overview

The passage occurs towards the end of the story, it captures the commotion associated immediately after Flora had been let free to run away from the barn, it further mentions the killing of Flora by the men.

C: Narrator

The story is being told from the perspective of the narrator, allowing the reader to gain an emotional connection with the protagonist. Tone of the passage indicated that the reader is reflective, as throughout the passage the protagonist questions her actions, this is further exacerbated as the protagonist states “ I supposed Laird would tell. I wondered what would happen to me. I had never disobeyed my father before, and I could not understand why I had done it.”

D: Structure

The pace of the passage is rather fast, yet it keeps up with the rest of the story. The passage is aimed at the protagonist reflecting her actions. Generally follows a chronological order.

E: Main Idea

The main idea of this passage is to essentially allow the reader to draw parallels between both the protagonist and Flora. Furthermore, the purpose of this passage could be to portray the gender roles imposed on women at that particular time, and that the protagonist has grown up to accept this and realise that is how it will be. Highlights the coming of age experience, essentially that is the main aim of the story. 

F: Commentary Structure

Commentary will be presented sequentially. 

G: Body sequential:

• Immediate opening is fast-paced, this is to imply the reflective nature of the protagonist. Further used to imply the worry experienced by the protagonist. 
• Flora’s actions can be a symbol used to represent the protagonist. Once she escapes from the barn, she is free. Similarly, the protagonist wants to escape from being held by gender norms.
• The passage highlights the coming of age theme.
• Flora’s killing is symbolic of the fact that the protagonist’s freedom will be short lived. Gender roles will always be apart of her life. 

IOC Practice!

Practice IOC



https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_f0znqZh6R-YmRrOXRlbFdHM3c/view?usp=sharing

Alice Munro and David Foster Wallace

TASK: Considering the above, in what ways could Wallace’s theory about education be applicable to the writing of Alice Munro? Justify your conclusion. Through his essay This is Water, David Foster Wallace aims to imply the importance of being “well adjusted”, he explains that the freedom humans experience through education allows us to be adjusted, conscious and sympathetic. Furthermore, Wallace highlights the utmost importance of learning how to think, essentially freeing yourself from being “slave to your head” by controlling what you think and especially thinking positive and happy thoughts. Wallace further implies the importance of education in developing emotional intelligence and empathy amongst ourselves, he continues to suggest the significance of literary fiction in aiding how we think as well as building our emotional intelligence. The quote from his speech which really resonated with me was "There is no experience you've had that you were not at the absolute centre of”, this made me think really hard about a memory where I was no in the centre of the entire experience. Moreover, this highlights his point that as individuals we are too self-centred, we only worry about our interest and not that of others. Furthermore, Wallace highlighted this point through the use of an example later on, where he explained the emotions one feels stuck in traffic, the feeling of annoyance and irritability. However, on that same road are people who are driving an SUV as they have been in an accident before and the size of the SUV makes them feel safe, whilst there are others stuck in the same traffic jam, as their child has been admitted into hospital. Wallace aims to imply that through literary fiction, we interact whilst reading with so many different protagonists, that we are then enabled to put ourself in a similar situation. Moreover, Wallace’s speech on our self-centredness and the importance of literary fiction draws parallels to Alice Munro’s writing. Through her stories she aims at portraying to the reader, the difficulties and struggles various protagonists face in overcoming stereotypes associated with them. it is no coincidence that Alice Munro writes her stories in such a manner, she uses her setting as well as other factors to help the reader identify with the protagonist and thus is allowed to communicate with the protagonist on an emotional level. The manner in which each protagonist struggles allows each of us to immerse ourselves in their situations which thus causes us to develop our emotional intelligence and empathy.

Achebe's Upbringing

Throughout the novel “Things Fall Apart” our understanding of the context is grounded on the personal upbringing and history of author China Achebe’s demonstration of certain events, values and characters in accordance to his life experiences. This acts as a means to develop a significant catalyst in driving the reader to understand the cultural context in which the novel is written. Topic Sentence: Achebe’s Christian upbringing enabled him to bolster his style of writing including his native Igbo culture, his upbringing vastly affected his understanding of cultures and religions and in turn affected his writing style. Topic Sentence: Achebe’s appreciation of both his religion and culture allowed him to divulge into the consequences of colonialism and thus the reader was able to gain a deeper understanding of the Igbo culture’s values and beliefs in his novel. Topic Sentence: Due to Achebe’s upbringing being predominantly in English, he persevered to achieve cultural catharsis within and through the use of the English language, as well as his writing style in his novel.

Things Fall Apart gender blog post

Thesis: Throughout the novel, Achebe sets distinct boundaries between the protagonist (Okonkwo) and other characters based on their gender. This is illustrated as Okonkwo’s perspective of different genders shapes his unstable and unpredictable narrative. Topic Sentence: Okonkwo’s perspective of gender is further highlighted during the “week of peace”, in which he sinfully beats his wife; this implies the symbolic association of wife abuse likened to hyper masculinity. This develops Okonkwo’s understanding of women as powerless to both him and society. Topic Sentence: Ezinma being Okonkwo’s favourite child inherits masculine traits, similar to her father, this demonstrates Okonkwo’s appreciation of this lapse in gender adversities hoping she had been a boy. Moreover, this implies Okonkwo’s perception of males to be superior to women. Topic Sentence: Nwoye, Okonkwo’s oldest son is a stark contrast to Ezinma’s character, symbolising traits similar to Okonkwo’s father, Nwoye is demonstrated as weak and lazy, these are traits Okonkwo despises, however, Nwoye strives to please his father and mature as a masculine character. This demonstrates Okonkwo’s evaluation of the Igbo values as to what a man should be like.

Tragic Hero- Okonkwo

Throughout the novel, Things fall apart, Achebe evolves Okonkwo as a power hungry, self sufficient character which both personifies and opposes the Igbo culture. Okonkwo’s character is unique, we find that his tragic flaw is developing and gaining the qualities of his father, he does all in his might to abstain from turning into his lazy father, Unoka. Achebe skilfully manipulates Okonkwo’s character to be portrayed as one who suffers from Hubris, this pride and arrogance developed Okonkwo’s downfall, his main purpose was to remain in power and never to be perceived as weak, Okonkwo is presented further as a character void of emotions, as he believes showing emotion is a symbol of weakness. His killing of Ikemefuna, and beating his wife during the Week of peace have severe ramifications and lead to the murder of the boy at the funeral, which in turn leads to him being exiled, this is the peripeteia of the novel, which transforms his fortunes. Essentially, Achebe establishes Okonkwo as a tragic hero in order to evoke various emotions from the audience, the protagonist becomes an antagonist. Achebe utilises Okonkwo as a tragic hero in order to develop a downfall, which in turn progresses into tragedy, this enables the audience to connect with the character on an emotional level. Moreover, Achebe highlights to the reader that various actions have serious repercussions and in this case Okonkwo’s actions led to an internal conflict within the character. A character portrayed as being powerful, was now defeated into being powerless. Okonkwo’s actions defeated him physically and mentally, his actions led to his sorrowful and sinful death.