Category: English-IGCSE

In Shakespeare’s play “Macbeth”, Lady Macbeth is a person that is manipulative of Macbeth’s actions, however, this is only for the period before and during the murder of King Duncan, afterward, Macbeth starts to become more independent and Lady Macbeth becomes the person being manipulated by Macbeth. And the next few paragraphs of this article are the supporting pieces of evidence of this.

 

In Act 1 scene 5, Lady Macbeth said: “…be the serpent under’t…” (page 27) to Macbeth when they were having a conversation before King Duncan’s murder. During this scene, Lady Macbeth is manipulating Macbeth to commit murder by saying this. In the past, “serpent” has a bad connotation and it is the symbol of evilness and death. It is usually related and linked to Satan and Devil in Christianity which the audience at that time believed. And this scene shows the manipulation Lady Macbeth is acting on Macbeth.

 

In Act 1 scene 7, Lady Macbeth said: “…live a coward in thine own esteem…” (page 33) to Macbeth. In this scene, Lady Macbeth is intentionally making Macbeth angry by saying that he is not a man and he is not brave enough to kill King Duncan, and here, Lady Macbeth is manipulating Macbeth by saying something that is meant to make him upset, and thus, Macbeth will be committed to murdering King Duncan since Macbeth doesn’t want to be called a “coward”, which is what Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to do.

 

In Act 2 Scene 2, Lady Macbeth said: “…give me the daggers…” (page 37) after Macbeth has murdered King Duncan, Lady Macbeth asked Macbeth to give him the daggers and put them beside the servants so other people will think that the servants have killed King Duncan instead of suspecting Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In this scene, “daggers” can have different intended meanings, the intended meaning of “daggers” in this scene might be a symbol of the Lady Macbeth’s cruelness and her manipulative mind towards Macbeth.

 

In Act 3 scene 2, Macbeth said: “…Apply to Banquo…” (page 77). From here on, Macbeth is becoming more and more independent and he is becoming more manipulative himself. And he can do actions himself without Lady Macbeth’s influence. In this scene, after Lady Macbeth is aware that Macbeth is planning to kill Banquo, she tried to stop him to do that, however, Macbeth told Lady Macbeth to “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck” (3:2:47-48) in line 47-48. So here, Macbeth is manipulating Lady Macbeth.

 

Given the 4 pieces of evidence from the script of Macbeth above, we can see how Lady Macbeth went from being manipulative of Macbeth’s actions to being manipulated by Macbeth.

“Our student-writers rose to the challenge, producing authentic, responsible and powerful pieces.”  How far does this describe your experience?

This describes my experience very much. I have learned a lot of things from Writer’s Fortnight, all of the guest speaker’s experiences and stories are very interesting. My feature article is based on one of those guest speakers and I have developed the refugee crisis she (the guest speaker Ms. Joy Haugen) was talking about into a bigger issue which is the Rohingya Muslim Refugee Crisis. My piece is authentic and I have done a lot of research in order to create this piece of work. It is a challenge for me as I never experienced their (Rohingya) experiences and thus I used an interview towards a Rohingya mother to express how severe this refugee crisis is, I have overcome this challenge and I am proud of my Feature Article.

I look forward towards next year’s Writer’s Fortnight!

“A refugee’s story”

Several guest speakers came to school in the week of 14th of January. They told us about their experiences. Some told us about their jobs of saving endangered animals, some told us their experiences of fostering children, and many of those speeches were emotional. There was one which I really liked, Joy Haugen’s refugee story. In her speech on the  16th of January, she talked us through how she made her way from a refugee in South Sudan to now.

 

When Ms. Haugen was 6 years old, her relatives had to flee to Uganda, and a lot of people died during that long trip. As refugees, they lost their identities. Her original name wasn’t “Joy”. When she was in the refugee camps, the places were crowded, but the people were friendly, so she was able to locate her grandmother in a refugee camp. A few weeks later, they were sent to places where they could start their “new life” and grow their own food. She was very homesick because she couldn’t go back to see her mom and siblings because of the war. Her grandmother was always trying to make her feel happy by trying to encourage enthusiasm and optimism.

 

During that time, all resources were given by the UN, and there was no “proper job”. In the end, because her mother was fortunate to know friends at the UN, she was able to apply for asylum in the U.S. And she went to America to study in Grade 9. She still has family members in the refugee camp now.

 

“How this impacted their lives”

And this speech led me to think about a bigger issue, which is the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh. They have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh due to the governmental oppression in Myanmar. According to Vox, this crisis is a textbook example of “ethnic cleansing”.

 

And in 1991, Myanmar’s government launched another campaign called “Operation Clean And Beautiful Nation”, which caused about 250,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. And recent reports also claim that Myanmar is laying landmines at the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar to stop Rohingya from coming back.

 

According to UNICEF, there are more than 730,000 Rohingya have been driven into Bangladesh (as of January 2019). Over half of them are children. UNICEF is on the ground helping to deliver life-saving supplies and services for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. From January to December 2018, with partners, UNICEF helped the Government provide more than 1.2 million people over 1 year old with an oral cholera vaccine, and provide 380,000 people with access to safe drinking water.

 

Both Myanmar and Bangladesh did not provide them anything such as food and shelter. And the children who fled to Bangladesh don’t have any educational backgrounds, this is why they are “trapped” in a vicious cycle.

Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Bangladesh. (Photo taken by John Owens/VOA)

 

“The children’s vicious cycle of poverty and illiteracy”

As for the vicious cycle, it looks like this: “Rohingya adults are poor because they weren’t accepted by the Myanmar community -> their children can’t afford education because of poverty -> when they grow up, they are still poor because of the lack of education -> their children can’t afford education… ”

 

Many children would rather not study because they felt like they have something more important to do other than spending the time studying, which is to help their family either to flee from home or to settle in the refugee camp. Also, they haven’t been educated properly about how knowledge can actually help them to step out of the refugee camp in the future.

 

According to the New York Times, Rajuma told the journalist that Myanmar government soldiers stormed into her village in August and burned down each house. They separated the men from the women and summarily executed the men. Then they raped the women. But before raping her, Rajuma said, the soldiers snatched her baby boy from her arms and threw him into a fire. The baby was screaming for her as he burned to death. This was a terrible experience for a mother, and for the child.

 

This account is very consistent with other accounts, and besides the physical conflict between the Myanmar government and the Rohingya Muslim, the children would also have some mental problems such as autism and nyctophobia if they stay in this “war-zone” every day for a long time. How can they study if this is the case?

 

To get the young Rohingya Muslims and their children out of this vicious cycle, we must help them by giving them the education they need. And we can do that by donating money to trusted organizations, which will spend that money to help to educate them, and the education will one day help them to get out of this cycle. According to UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency), only 1 percent of the refugees attended university compared to 34 percent globally. Education for those children doesn’t only bring them out of poverty because their potential contribution and knowledge (explanation: because education has the ability to make them able to read and potentially write, and those skills are needed for basic jobs, so education can bring them out of poverty). They also give the community aware of what is healthy and what is not, which can improve the community’s health in general. Therefore education to these Rohingya youth and children is extremely important as it will not only change their lives but many generations’ lives.

(Rohingya being aided by the International Rescue Committee)

“Myanmar.” International Rescue Committee (IRC), www.rescue.org/country/myanmar.

 

If you wish to become a donor, please visit this website, thank you very much for your donation which will go towards education for Rohingya refugee children and you help might get them out of this vicious cycle: https://bit.ly/2DDPIRc

 

MLA Works Cited:

“File:Kutupalong Refugee Camp (John Owens-VOA).Jpg.” WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kutupalong_Refugee_Camp_(John_Owens-VOA).jpg.

 

Gettleman, Jeffrey. “My Interview With a Rohingya Refugee: What Do You Say to a Woman Whose Baby Was Thrown Into a Fire?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/insider/my-interview-with-a-rohingya-refugee-what-do-you-say-to-a-woman-whose-baby-was-thrown-into-a-fire.html.

 

“Queen Rania Meets Rohingya Refugees from Myanmar in Bangladesh.” International Rescue Committee (IRC), 23 Oct. 2017, www.rescue.org/slideshow/queen-rania-meets-rohingya-refugees-myanmar-bangladesh.

 

“Rohingya Crisis.” UNICEF, 26 Feb. 2019, www.unicef.org/emergencies/bangladesh_100945.html.

 

team, Their News. “88,000 Rohingya Refugees and Host Community Children to Get Education Aid.” Theirworld, Theirworld, 14 Nov. 2018, theirworld.org/news/school-aid-for-rohingya-refugee-children-education-cannot-wait.

 

Viskovich, Yanya. “Education Is Key for Refugees to Build Their Futures. Here’s How We Can Help Them Do That.” UNHCR, 20 Feb. 2018, www.unhcr.org/innovation/education-is-key-to-rebuilding-refugees-future-and-to-refugees-rebuilding-their-countrys-future-heres-how-we-could-help-them-do-that/.

Vox, director. The “Ethnic Cleansing” of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, Explained. YouTube, YouTube, 25 Sept. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=04axDDRVy_o.

Paul Sharry, the speaker, described his fostering experience.

20 years ago, he and his wife got the chance to foster children, they just want to foster since adopt is way more complex than it. He described fostering as “temporary housing” for those children. When they fostered one child, they need to go through the “vetting process” and an interview to make sure that the fostering parents won’t hurt the fostered child.

Their first fostered child’s name is David, his mom is a drug addict, so his parents can’t take care of him well, which is why he ended up here. Every Friday night, the office will call Sharry to ask “How’s your fostered child doing?” to make sure that the “family” as well.

David is different, he likes to steal things, from everywhere, when he got a present from Sharry’s family, he is surprised that he can actually own something.

He fostered David for 11 months, and David is turning from 6 to 7 years old. When David left, he was very worried, fortunately, David was assigned to another family which is a friend of Sharry’s. Sharry saw David again when he was 17 years old, and that time, Sharry already had his own kids. He felt relieved when seeing David again in 10 years.

He believes that there is no such thing as “perfect parents”, he thinks that even the worst parents can be good at taking care of children.

Then we asked if he ever fostered any other child, and he said yes, he has fostered several other children, however, most of them are more challenging than David, one of them has seen his own mother killed his brother.

We also asked that we know that some of the parents take the fostering money (the amount of money the organization/government give to the fostering parent to take care of the fostered child) and spend it not on the fostered child but themselves. Sharry said that they only receive 60 dollars a week which is not that much, and it’s “impossible” to take the money since there are plenty of “vetting” processes (checking on the fostering parents).

They stopped fostering children when he moved to the middle east, however, he said that if he has the chance, he will still foster kids.

This story touched me a lot. It let me realized that not all children are as happy as I am. And I felt great sympathy to those kids being fostered as there must be some stories behind them.

I was expecting this story to be about how he educates his fostered child, but I came to learn that it’s about his life story when fostering children.

#Writer’sFortnight

In this session, the speaker Tammie Matson let us ask questions, and then she will answer.

The first question we asked is “What drives your passion?” She answered that when she was 15 years old, she went on a trip to Africa when she saw those beautiful creatures, she decided to protect the animals there. And that trip is the reason why she decided to become a zoologist, she had a Ph.D. in zoology.

She had done both global and local endangered species protections (she used to work in the WWF). Currently, she is working on protecting elephants in Africa. She believes that if elephants are saved, the ecosystem will become better as well. It is like a “chain reaction”.

They also need to spread awareness of these endangered species in order to protect them, they usually do this by using one species to tell other people the habitats they are living in. She said that we have to have a global perspective on this issue.

However, in her job live, she faced some obstacles as well, for example, there are many cases where the government didn’t allow them to use the country’s land for conservation, however, Matson believes that building national parks can help the economy.

Their mission is to let the population of endangered species grow, and also improving their natural habitat is also one of their missions. They believe that trying not to intervene the wildlife animals unless it is very necessary.

She thinks that zoos aren’t a great place for putting large intelligent mammals, however, zoos usually give some money back to wildlife conservations.

The last questions we asked is “what is your biggest obstacle?” And she answered that the biggest obstacle right now is the climate change, which leads to the habitat loss of these endangered species.

I think this talk allows me to realize that the endangered wildlife animals are actually far more “endangered” than I thought, but hopefully, these conservation workers can give them a better living habitat, and I will do my part of spreading awareness.

#Writer’sFortnight

Zhongyi (David) Sun            16 Jan 2019

Teacher: CaA

Christian Perrin, a criminal psychologist, he studies “why people commit crimes?” He is now working at Temasek Polytechnic, and he is teaching the Singaporean police his studies.

He starts his working when he was 21 years old, working at a suicide-prevention organization. And then he changed to work in prisons, working with “the worst of the worst” (what he said), such as sex offenders and violent offenders. His “goal” is to rehabilitate them. He found out that sex offenders are friendly and manipulative. Whereas the violent offenders are not manipulative.

2014, a rapist who found this program isn’t working for him, but he still “lies” to Mr. Perrin that this program is “very helpful”, but Mr. Perrin knows that he was lying, this is when he tells us how he “detects lies”: He always conducts the conversation in a small room with nothing but chairs and table, this is to make the prisoner comfortable, and by listening to their responses, he knows that when a person lies or not, because their behaviors change when they lie. He focuses on the words people use, which caused some small conflicts in his daily life.

He worked primarily with men, however, he worked 1 year in a women prison, he thought that women are harder to manipulate.

He thinks that religion can be good or bad, when religious beliefs make one person to commit a crime, that is bad, but when religious beliefs can find criminals a “meaning of life”, it is good.

What triggered him to do this job? When he was doing GCSE, his teacher asked him to do psychology, this is when he started, and when he was volunteering at Samarpan, that is when he truly realized the importance of being a person who can

He said at the end that there are no visible traits of “being a criminal”, everyone is the same, however, he said that some criminals behaviors are caused by biological difference, but he said it still doesn’t affect them that much.

I used to think that psychologists only study on how people respond to certain acts, and I thought that today’s session will be discussing how criminals act differently with others, but now I know that criminal psychologists also study on why some people commit crimes, and try to “get in” their mind and rehabilitate them.

#Writer’sFortnight

Zhongyi  (David) Sun                                              16 Jan 2019

Teacher: CaA

This was what she said today:

In this session, Joy Haugen described her life as a refugee.

She was born in South Sudan in the mid-80s, her family was able to move to a place where there was no war since both of her parents work in Refugee Organizations. When her family moved, it takes months to hear from people back home.

When she was 6 years old, her relatives have to flee to Uganda, a lot of people died during that long trip. In Uganda, the bus from there to the refugee camp, their “destination” takes 12 hours. In the refugee camp, her grandmother got sick. As refugees, they lost their identities. Her original name wasn’t “Joy”. When in the refugee camps, people were crowded, but they were friendly, so she was able to locate her in the refugee camp. A few weeks later, they were sent to places where they can start their “new life” and grow their own food. She was very homesick because she couldn’t go back to see mom and siblings because of the war. Her grandmother was always trying to make her feel happy.

During that time, all resources were given by the UN, and there was no “proper job”. Their goals were just to survive. Her mom knew friends in the UN. And she made an application to seek asylum.

In late-1999, she went to the US and she was in Grade 9, she became very shy at school because of the skin color difference. Now, she still has family members in the Refugee camp.

She thinks that her mom and grandmother shaped her perspective.

I found this talk very interesting and influencing, it reminds me that there are always people who are not as privileged as us. And that is the reason why we need to give back to society.

Based on this session, I would like to ask a few questions:

1. How has been a refugee changed your “identity” in other people’s view?
2. When staying in the refugee camp, what makes you feel that you want to be a part of that group (UN) as well?
3. If there is a chance of getting back to that “war country”, will you do it?

#Writer’sFortnight