ELP

I think Handmaid’s Tale has quite a strong connection to America as Margret Atwood feared that real life could become handmaid’ tale. It’s impossible to see the true feelings of the entire population of a country and you always have to take what the media say is true with a pinch of salt, so it is just as likely that America is heading in a handmaids tale direction, as that it isn’t heading that direction. Gilead is controlled by a very far-right leadership which is upheld by Christian views, Atwood was worried that  it would become like that in real life.

I knew before reading this that stress, worry and anxiety were all different things. For me I definitely do all of them but usually I am able to stop before I cycle through all of them, I think anxiety is a long term thing in my opinion. For me for it to be anxiety it would have to be over a period of time. Stress is usually associated with school work for me but worry can happen at any time about anything really.

I don’t think any song can be universally important to everyone, it’s just up to you what music you prefer. My favourite songs aren’t on the top 25 list and I don’t think listening to any of the songs on that list are important to me. Especially not number 11 from the Cats soundtrack. Which still haunts me after watching the film. I found my favourite songs through just looking Spotify or having people share bands and artists with me and listening to it on my own. I think in most of my favourite songs I like the beat and music to it and the lyrics just fit into it. In some cases the persons personality adds to it, but I have never started to listen to someone based off their personality alone.

How can we help one another during the coronavirus outbreak? What can you, your friends, family and community do to look out for one another?

I think the biggest thing for everyone is to stay in contact with their friends and family, online of course. As humans we need some social contact and especially in a difficult time like this when we could have family and friends directly effected by the virus it is vital to keep talking to people that you normally would. As well as offering extra support to your friends. As highlighted in the article I think during these few months people have certainly come together to help each other like I, personally, haven’t seen before. It is times like these when the good comes out in the people that can make a difference. But from a community point of view it is the same for the people you don’t know as the ones you do and it’s just to be nice as everyone is effected in some way. And while we are all experiencing the same thing, people are dealing with it differently and in the community I think we all need to be more understanding of each other.

In this photo stereotypes are being broken as a girl is fixing something and doing handy work, this opposes the usual stereotype that it is the man’s job to fix and do DIY around the house or anywhere.

In Home Fire we see the contrast between what Eammon and Anneka are doing compared with her praying is a strak contrast. This is also similar to the picture where the women stand in the Yemen desert which in the photos contrasts heavily against the black burka. The contrast here I think is meant to symbolise how Anneka feels in Home Fire too as she has to choose between her faith and trying to get her brother home through the use of Eammon to get to his father. This can be translated to everyday life for a muslim or someone of any religion as choices will come up in their life where they will have to make a decision between compromising their faith and breaking the rules of a religion. It also shows how people can sacrifice what some people would consider normal in order to abide by the rules that their faith has set for them.

During the scene in Home Fire Aneeka takes off her hijab which signifies how she has removed herself from the religion for that time and she even puts Eammon’s hand on her chest and says “We match” that could allude to the fact we are all the same on the inside. This relates to Al-Arashi’s photos too as you cannot see anything of the person bar the silhouette of the burka surrounding them, which again alludes to the idea anyone can wear it and that we are all the same. However that is what is troubling for the people who need to deal with discrimination everyday is that they are not made to feel the same and people abuse that which leads to the discrimination.

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was a British politician who was prime minister of the U.K in 1940-1945. He lead Britan to victory in World War 2. He was also PM again in 1951-1955. He was one of Britain’s greatest ever strategic minds and his speeches have become legendary, his “We shall fight them on the beaches” speech is the most widely recognized. I want him at my dinner party as he would be a unique perspective as he fought in the military when India was under British Rule as well as commanded an army in World War 2 against the Nazi Empire. He would also have a wide variety of views as in his early career he was a member of the liberal party, before switching to the conservatives for the rest of his time in Parliament.

Adolf Hitler

While I in no way agree with Hitler’s views, it is no doubt that Adolf Hitler is one of, if not the best military strategists to ever live. He was able to rally an entire country into doing something awful and did so without the people’s rebellion against him. He was voted into power and did not take over by force, the way he managed to deceive an entire nation was quite impressive, even if it were for the completely wrong reasons. He is a very strong-willed individual with a strong sense of national pride as he started WW2 as a result of him feeling that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair on Germany, as well as another opinion he had on a certain religious group. It would be interesting to see his views on things and to see him interact with Churchill.

Tommy Shelby (Fictional)

Thomas Shelby is the leader of the Peaky Blinders, a gang from 1920s Birmingham. In the show, they are one of the most feared gangs in the county and any other organization that dares to rival them usually ends up with someone being killed and not on the side of the Blinders. They have taken on both British, American, Russian and Scottish opposition and coming out on top 9/10 times. I would like to have him at my dinner party as he is a very smart and charismatic man who also fought in WW1, and while he was a member of parliament in later seasons he has a distaste for authority and at times can be very violent, of which the foundations of the Peaky Blinders was based on. It would be interesting to see the interaction he has with men like Hilter and Churchill.

I thought my paper 1 went quite well. I thought I wrote at a decent standard despite a few spelling mistakes but it has definitely improved from last year, as I have always struggled with my spelling. I needed to relate my ideas more towards the soup and how it is an advertisement rather than just pointing out the issue with it. For next time I just have to keep in mind the purpose of the picture and write more about that, which I feel will push me to that next grade band. I definitely enjoy writing a text like this more than what we have done before.