“Yes, we can” – Analysis

The “Yes, we can” speech by Barack Obama was a rhetorical speech intended to inspire the American people and create hope by illustrating the Obama movement as a symbol of America’s “greatness”. From the start of the extract, Obama uses the rhetorical pronoun “we” as a device to unify the country, he refers to all…

CAS Reflection #2 Special Olympics

This service has made me take responsibility in various unexpected ways. Firstly, I have to be constantly ensuring that my partner is pushing themselves in their running but not to the extent where they feel uncomfortable, this I was expecting. The area which was unexpected was the planning involved in running. The route we take…

CAS Reflection #1 Special Olympics

For the last term of CAS, I have decided to participate in service outside of school called Special Olympics. In this service, we get paired up with individuals with a mental disability and run with them around different places in Singapore. I think that the similar service Yoga with MINDS opened my own mind to…

CAS Reflection #1 Culturama

For season 1, I have decided to participate in the Culturama showcase, dancing for Tanzania. I have done Culturama in grade 10 dancing for Spain and enjoyed it a lot but I think this year will be a very different experience as I am dancing for such a foreign country. From media, Spanish class, and…

Margaret Atwood on The Handmaid’s Tale

Written in a decade of pushback against the rise of feminism in the 1970s The pushback wanted women to shove women back into the home and deprive them of their rights The Handmaids Tale was an answer to the question of what would happen if the pushback succeeded in their efforts Written when Berlin was…

The Motif of the Body – The Handmaids Tale – Chapter 13

In what ways is the control of women’s bodies reflective of the totalitarian control of the regime in Gilead? We tend to think of our bodies as instruments, tools for moving, speaking, pleasure, writing, etc. “I sink down into my body as into a swamp” – her body is a foreign and dangerous territory rather…

CAS Reflection #2 Culturama

This term I took part in the Culturama showcase, performing a Tanzanian dance. This activity was truly a challenge unlike any other I have done in IB. Firstly, I am not a dancer, and the choreography felt very advanced. I had to step out of my comfort zone and quickly pick up foreign skills for…

Imposed Identity: The Handmaid’s Tale

How was a new identity imposed on the handmaids? They were not allowed to care about their appearance – An appearance is a form of self-expression and a way of physically portraying your identity, by removing the ability to control your appearance, they removed the ability for them to express themselves through their looks. Additionally,…