PORTFOLIO 10: LITERARY ESSAY

"All the girls love Alice", "They dance Alone" and "Where the streets have no names": The dichotomy of feeling an alien in Earth.

Lucas Zalazar

Language and Written Expression IV

Professor Saubidet

July 12, 2018

Have you ever said "I'm different"? Have you ever said "I don't agree"? Have you ever said "No"? Nowadays, everyone would be expected to believe that these expressions are common and should be easily accepted. However, reality is far different from that. Feeling in a different way or thinking in a different way, has a high cost. This is expressed, among others, in these three songs: "All the girls love Alice" by Elton John, "They dance alone" by Sting and "Where the streets have no name" by U2. These pieces of art clearly expose the difficult, and sometimes tragic, reality of those who are different from the rest of society and show their ominous fate: to be bereft of all hope.

In Elton John's song "All the girls love Alice," the rejection the protagonist suffers for feeling in a different way, drives her to live secretly, which in turn leads to a  miserable end. According to the song, Alice is "raised to be a lady by the golden rule" (1). However, she finds herself in a context she does not belong to, evidently shown by the fact "she couldn't get it on with the boys . . . " (6). Being left out, Alice secretly surrounds with other girls who are in the same position as she is, having hopes of feeling better. This futile attempt, and her tragic outcome, is a product of how society wants people to be: stereotypes.

 Manifesting publicly and silently does not alter significantly the lives of those in need, as shown in the song "They dance alone". Torn apart by the Pinochet regime, these Chilean women express their suffering through a public dance. The songwriter poses reasonable questions about how to react to this situation but finding no answer. The soldiers' "faces fixed like stone" showing that they "despise" them, proves beyond doubt that these women are left alone (4-5). Trying to look for empathy with words does not work as expected either. The damage they received cannot be alleviated and there is no way of mitigating their pain but to dance alone with their beloved husbands, fathers and sons.

The division present in society in terms of sexual, political, religious and ethnic affairs have a terrible effect on both sides, as seen in "Where the streets have no name." Whatever attempts to build unity among different people is eventually wrecked and whatever plans are designed to find a consensus are eventually dismantled:

We're still building

Then burning down love

Burning down love

And when I go there

I go there with you

It's all I can do

(15-20)

These discrepancies do not favour anyone whose desire in life is to live according to their personal beliefs. In the end, they are "beaten and blown by the wind"(23).

All in all, we have considered diverse aspects of the reality of this society directly concerned with group minorities. It has been proved that whatever path  that has been taken in order to survive in this modern society, has only brought more problems, more despair and more distance. And clearly this fault is on humankind, who is constantly inventing more and more ways of hurting others. Are we doomed to destroy one another? Who is going to find the cure for this terrible disease? If the answer to this question is humankind, then we already know the outcome for us: to be bereft of all hope.

Bibliography:

Bono (1987). "Where the streets have no name".

John, E. (1973). "All the girls love Alice".

Sumner, G. (1987). "They dance alone".

PORTFOLIO 6: HOW TO WRITE A FIVE-PARAGRAPH ESSAY.

PORTFOLIO 5: THESIS STATEMENT

How to write thesis statements

 

The thesis statement tells the reader:

 1)where you are going in your essay and

2)how you plan on getting there.

What needs to be done:

1) narrow your topic/subject

2)What's your opinion on that subject/topic? If you don't know, you should research a bit to help you form an opinion.

3) once you have formed your opinion about your topic, list 3 reasons/evidence to support your opinion.

Bibliography: Nawal Nader French (2010), How to write an A+ Thesis statement.

*The most important point of the paper is the thesis statement.

*The main three elements to determine the thesis statement are the TOPIC, the CLAIM, the REASONS THAT SUPPORT THE CLAIM. 

*Reasons can be listed at the end of the thesis statement, at its beginning or in a separate sentence after the thesis statement is presented. 

Bibliography: Heafner, C. (2011), Thesis statements - How to construct and compose (review).  

PORTFOLIO 4: TOPIC SENTENCE.

The following list states the key elements present in the video "Parts of a Paragraph - English Academic Writing Introduction":

·         Paragraph Structure

·         topic sentence

·         Body

·         Details

·         order of importance

·         chronology

·         closing sentence

 

Topic Sentences from the University of Ottawa

2) A)There are two broad theories concerning what triggers a human's inevitable decline to death. The first is the wear-and tear hypothesis that suggests the body eventually succumbs to the environmental insults of life. The second is the notion that we have an internal clock which is genetically programmed to run down. Supporters of the wear-and-tear theory maintain that the very practice of breathing causes us to age because inhaled oxygen produces toxic by-products. Advocates of the internal clock theory believe that individual cells are told to stop dividing and thus eventually to die by, for example, hormones produced by the brain or by their own genes. (from Debra Blank, "The eternal Quest" [edited]).

B) We commonly look on the discipline of war as vastly more rigid than any discipline necessary in time of peace, but this is an error. The strictest military discipline imaginable is still looser than that prevailing in the average assembly-line. The soldier, at worst, is still able to exercise the highest conceivable functions of freedom - that is, he or she is permitted to steal and to kill. No discipline prevailing in peace gives him or her anything remotely resembling this. The soldier is, in war, in the position of a free adult; in peace he or she is almost always in the position of a child. In war all things are excused by success, even violations of discipline. In peace, speaking generally success is inconceivable except as a function of discipline. (from H.L. Mencken, "Reflections on War" [edited]).

C)Although the interpretation of traffic signals may seem highly standardized, close observation reveals regional variations across this country, distinguishing the East Coast from Central Canada and the West as surely as dominant dialects or political inclinations. In Montreal, a flashing red traffic light instructs drivers to careen even more wildly through intersections heavily populated with pedestrians and oncoming vehicles. In startling contrast, an amber light in Calgary warns drivers to scream to a halt on the off chance that there might be a pedestrian within 500 meters who might consider crossing at some unspecified time within the current day. In my home town in New Brunswick, finally, traffic lights (along with painted lines and posted speed limits) do not apply to tractors, all terrain vehicles, or pickup trucks, which together account for most vehicles on the road. In fact, were any observant Canadian dropped from an alien space vessel at an unspecified intersection anywhere in this vast land, he or she could almost certainly orient him-or herself according to the surrounding traffic patterns.

PORTFOLIO 3: SPEECH ACTS

Speech acts: Constative and performative - Colleen Glenney Boggs

 

The video is about the difference between two separate parts of speech: constatives and performatives. Constatives are sentences that describe something as true or false and performatives are sentences that denote an action. Constatives can be true or false. Performatives are sentences that are meant to inspire actions. Rather than conveying a message, it acts upon the world. Sometimes words are themselves actions. This is known as speech acts. They include, ordering promising, apologising, etc. Performatives depend on context and reception. These are known as felicity conditions. The performatives should  have proper authority, be understood, clear and able to be executed. However, even if they are fulfilled, it does not mean they are going to be implicitly followed.