Pump Earphones

I was asked to try out Pump earphones and here's what I found... The sound quality is awesome, especially compared to my Apple ipod ones. I liked the option of ear support for different ear shapes, and how flattering to find I have very small lug holes! I even found the v smallest painful to use, not an issue I've ever encountered with my ipod ones. For moving around I had some issues with the plugs coming loose. Possibly something to do with not being able to have the ear supports in? And the particularly bright orange wiring is def not a subtle colour! So would I recommend? Well, for audio quality, definitely, but only if you're going to be relatively static.

Some hints on the WW1 essay

P. Today’s technique is alliteration Q. ‘the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle’ E. Talk about alliteration and how it’s used – what effect does it create on the reader – does it sound like gunfire? Is it positive or negative? Onomatopoeia – links to the title, there’s lots of references to sound. Appeals to our senses and gives us an idea of what it was like in the trenches. Aural – relating to sound as a sense P. Strong feelings / attitudes. Who’s for the Game. Rhetorical questions. Q. Any rhetorical Q from the poem. E. What is the effect of the RQ? How do we react to it as a reader – intimidating, make us think, motivate us? Has the purpose of the poem changed? What is Pope’s attitude to war? P. Jessie Pope uses an extended metaphor in ‘Who’s for the Game?’ to compare the war to…. Q. Line 1, line 2 or line 3 – you choose! E. By comparing the war to a match, it’s showing how masculine the people who go to war are. Just like if you play sport at school, people see you as more manly! Pope doesn’t take the war seriously, she underplays it. She wants to make it seem fun so people join the team!

Wilfred Owen

P. Another way Wilfred Owen creates strong feelings is by using punctuation unusually. Q. ‘GAS! Gas! Quick, boys! –‘ E. Owen uses the punctuation to show strong feelings such as panic, worry and being terrified of the attack. In this quote, the first word is in capitals, which shows how it would have been delivered, with a shout. The exclamation marks and the short sharp sentences have the effect of conveying this emotion. By using the exclamation marks we get a sense of the tone and the panic in his voice. The comma after ‘quick’ separates the words and the idea of Owen calling the men ‘boys’ suggests he feels paternal (like a father) towards his men, suggesting his loyalty. The double dash at the end again is used as a separation between the supposed dialogue and the action that follows. Owen does this later on in the final stanza, where he separates the memory from the ‘now’ of the poem.

Sympathy and Curley's Wife

P. We’ve talked a lot about how Steinbeck presents Curley’s Wife in a negative way. Even though we don’t have evidence yet about the good in her, we do, as a reader, feel sympathy towards her. Q. ‘Tell her to stay the hell home where she belongs.’ E. We begin to feel sympathy for her because… In this quote the alliterative ‘hell home’ emphasises where the men believe she belongs. Using the word ‘hell’ suggests… P. Another reason we feel sympathy for her is how women are treated in America at this time. Q. ‘you give me a good whore house every time.’

Jail bait

P – After seeing her for the first time, George says this about Curley’s Wife: Q – ‘I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her.’ E – Jail bait is another example of slang. It means…. George also uses a double negative ‘no’ and ‘never.’ This emphasises how negatively he views Curley’s Wife. He sees her as ‘bait,’ which will lure men to ‘jail,’ both of these adjectives are very negative, giving us more evidence that Curley’s Wife is only shown as a bad person.

Curley's Wife and her phallic hair...!

P – The way Steinbeck describes her suggests the negative, promiscuous nature, of her character. Q – ‘Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages.’ E – The simile is repeated by Steinbeck in the novel. This gives it extra significance. By comparing her hair to the sausages, Steinbeck creates phallic imagery here, the sausage is representative of the penis. This emphasises her sexual nature. The simile could also suggest that her hair is full bodied and ‘meaty’ or that it is greasy. It is ironic that her hair is curly and she is married to Curley, perhaps Steinbeck is creating a pun here.

Of Mice and Men

How do writers present the good and bad in people? Point – Relates to the question Quote – Your evidence taken from the text Explanation – Explain how your quote proves your point. Talk about language features. (That’s the English bit!) P – Before we even meet Curley’s Wife we get a negative impression of her from Candy. Q – ‘Tart’ E – The way that Candy describes her, using slang, gives us the negative impression, because ‘tart’ in this case means someone who is sexually permissive. P – Another negative impression we get of Curley’s Wife is when we first meet her in the book. Q ‘A girl was standing there looking in. she had full rouged lips…heavily made up. Her fingernails were red”. E – Steinbeck repeats the word ‘red’ in his description of Curley’s Wife. Red is usually associated with… (add your own ideas) Our connotations of this mean that we think Curley’s Wife is… (add your own ideas) which is negative.