The way of the world

MILLAMANT: Vanity! No—I'll fly and be followed to the last moment; though I am upon the very verge of matrimony, I expect you should solicit me as much as if I were wavering at the grate of a monastery, with one foot over the threshold. I'll be solicited to the very last; nay, and afterwards. Oh, I hate a lover that can dare to think he draws a moment's air independent on the bounty of his mistress. There is not so impudent a thing in nature as the saucy look of an assured man confident of success: the pedantic arrogance of a very husband has not so pragmatical an air. Ah, I'll never marry, unless I am first made sure of my will and pleasure. I'll lie a-bed in a morning as long as I please. And d'ye hear, I won't be called names after I'm married; positively I won't be called names—Ay, as "wife," "spouse," "my dear," "joy," "jewel," "love," "sweet-heart," and the rest of that nauseous cant, in which men and their wives are so fulsomely familiar—I shall never bear that. Good Mirabell, don't let us be familiar or fond, nor kiss before folks, like my Lady Fadler and Sir Francis; nor go to Hyde Park together the first Sunday in a new chariot, to provoke eyes and whispers, and then never be seen there together again, as if we were proud of one another the first week, and ashamed of one another ever after. Let us never visit together, nor go to a play together, but let us be very strange and well-bred. Let us be as strange as if we had been married a great while, and as well-bred as if we were not married at all. I must be at liberty to pay and receive visits to and from whom I please; to write and receive letters, without interrogatories or wry faces on your part; to wear what I please, and choose conversation with regard only to my own taste; to have no obligation upon me to converse with wits that I don't like, because they are your acquaintance, or to be intimate with fools, because they may be your relations. Come to dinner when I please, dine in my dressing-room when I'm out of humor, without giving a reason. To have my closet inviolate; to be sole empress of my tea-table, which you must never presume to approach without first asking leave. And lastly, wherever I am, you shall always knock at the door before you come in. These articles subscribed, if I continue to endure you a little longer, I may by degrees dwindle into a wife.

Analysis

To me this extract seems like a woman who lives in a world where women are trapped, she doesn’t want to be trapped “the way of the world” this shows that she cannot do anything about it and that’s just the way it is. She wants to be free to make her own choices and do what she wants to do “No—I'll fly” this metaphor shows she is a powerful woman possibly quite young and naïve thinking that she will change things, this empowers the reader (especially if the reader is a woman). 
She almost laughs at the names married women get “"jewel," "love," "sweet-heart," and the rest of that nauseous cant, in which men and their wives are so fulsomely familiar” she sounds disgusted at the fact that as soon as you are married you are labelled with these names she finds them unbearable and horrific.  She sounds quite jealous of men “to have no obligation upon me to converse with wits that I don't like, because they are your acquaintance” she despises the fact that women have to follow their men and do whatever their men say just because they are a man and she a woman, this shows the diversity between men and women in the 1700s years but it shows this through a woman of that eras point of view, I like the fact that she opens up her hatred of “the way of the world” through her writing. The fact that she writes it possibly instead of saying it to somebody shows that men still have that power over her, because she can’t say it and she can only write it makes the reader feel quite sympathetic towards women in the 1700s to have lived under men’s rule and not be able to do anything about it.

She compares the relationship she may have to have with the relationships of others and states that they will all go the same way “like my Lady Fadler and Sir Francis; nor go to Hyde Park together the first Sunday in a new chariot, to provoke eyes and whispers, and then never be seen there together again, as if we were proud of one another the first week, and ashamed of one another ever after.” She mimics the others relationships by being very sarcastic but quite blunt in what she says. She makes it out as if she has seen a million relationships and they have all gone the same way and they all will, almost like it is a curse placed upon men and women to never truly have a happy marriage. This gives the reader an insight into what marriage really was like in the 1700s and that most of the time it was quite unhappy marriages possibly making the reader greatful that the times have changed so much now that we are lucky that we can choose what we do with our lives and who we spend it with.

Louis CK talks about how technology ruins society

In all the thousands of words expended this year on Twitter abuse and Ask.fm bullying – including the ones I contributed – no one nailed the problem as effectively as C.K does in the clip above. He says:

 I think these things are toxic, especially for kids … they don’t look at people when they talk to them and they don’t build empathy. You know, kids are mean, and it’s ‘cause they’re trying it out. They look at a kid and they go, “you’re fat”, and then they see the kid’s face scrunch up and they go, “oh that doesn’t feel good to make a person do that.” But they got to start with doing the mean thing. But when they write “you’re fat,” then they just go, “mmm, that was fun, I like that.”

Unlike Franzen who outright dismisses the role of Twitter and other social media in building friendships and communities, CK offers a nuanced critique:

 You need to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something. That’s why the phone are taking away…the ability to just sit there. That’s being a person. Because underneath everything in your life there is that thing. that empty – forever empty. That knowledge that it’s all for nothing and that you’re alone. It’s down there.

…sometimes when things clear away, you’re not watching anything, you’re in your car and you start going, “oh no, here it comes. That I’m alone.” It starts to visit on you. Just this sadness. Life is tremendously sad, just by being in it…

 …that’s why we text and drive. I look around, pretty much 100% of the people driving are texting. And they’re killing, everybody’s murdering each other with their cars. But people are willing to risk taking a life and ruining their own because they don’t want to be alone for a second because it’s hard.

 I think smartphones can be incredible tools but we have come to a sad point where we are slaves to them. Tied to them and fed little moments of delight to kick out a dopamine hit in our heads. Smartphones and tablets have ruined concerts. Instead of people engaged in the moment, bands stare out at a sea of glowing rectangles. They have also ruined the pub quiz, people reliant on Google over their own trivia knowledge.

Talk to any cabbie and you’ll discover what zombies many Britons have become. Rather than talking to the driver they stare down at their phones, speaking to their disembodied friends in the cloud, the same fascinating celestial choir that distracts them from dinner conversations with friends and family who have bothered to be there in person. I love technology but Louis CK is right. Smartphones have become a blight.

Analysis

I think this blog is a very good insight to how society is being affected through the use of technology. It shows the truth about how we do ruin our society by using our phones and the internet all the time. It shows that people cannot live without having their phones on them because they feel insecure or bored without it. I think this blog should show people how society will change the way we live. If we keep loving our phones so much then no one will learn how to socialise properly so we will end up lonely and I think that is what Louis intended to show is that by our constant use in technology we are damaging society. He claims that technology ruins peoples intelligence aswell “people reliant on google over their own trivia knowledge” he makes it out that people will never be smart again due to their use of technology. I think this blog is a bit of an eye opener to people that do use technology too much, it is bad for them to use it too much and they should really cut down or even stop.

The kingmakers daughter.
This book is set in the 1400's. The writing in the book is so formal and really unlike todays language that it is sometimes confusing. for example they say "god speed" when someone is going on a journey, i dont really know what this means but i guess its them asking god to give the person a safe and quick journey. You dont find people saying stuff like that nowadays.
They speak very formally unlike nowadays and they have set roles for women in these times so the writing can be quite sexist sometimes for example "again no one ansers my question as if i am not there." this is also very unmodern. This can make the reader quite annoyed occasionally especially if they are a woman.

Blackadder-Prince George meets the writer of the first comprehensive english dictionary, Dr Johnson.

The writer of this comdey plays with the language alot. He has Dr Johnson as quite posh and proper and the Prince George slacks a little. The impression i get of the Prince is that he is a little thick because he does not understand what DrJohnson is saying to him. The way that Prince George speaks and the language that he uses is quite laid back. He doesn't use good vocabulary like Dr Johnson.
It is interesting that he makes the waiter out to be the smartest in the room and the Prince to be the least intelligent. The Prince should have been highly educated compared to the waiter as he is of a higher class but he does not come across as very well educated at all. The words that the waiter uses and the way he says them makes him sound like a know it all and that he is just rubbing it in the Dr's face that he got something wrong. this is all shown by the language used and the way it is portrayed to the audience.
There is adjacency pairs used in the text. There is certain dialects used but i dont think that in the clip the dialect you would expect to go with each character is correct for example i would expect the Prince to have a good vocabulary and his dialect would show that he is rich and a member of the royal family but instead he has quite a bad vocabulary and if you only heard him talking and didnt know at all that he was a Prince you would not think that he was by the way he talks.

Everything has changed - Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran

And all my walls stood tall painted blue
And I'll take them down, take them down and open up the door for you
 And all I feel in my stomach is butterflies
The beautiful kind, making up for lost time,
Taking flight, making me feel right


Different register

An' all my walls looking high an' coloured blue
An' I'll put 'em on the floor, put 'em on the floor an' hold the door for ya
An' all I feel in me belly is flying things
The well nice stuff, fixin' what I missed
Flyin' away, with me feelin' great

Family.

Family.

Who decides the definition of that word?

The simple definition for family is a group of people consisting of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins etc.
Surely there is more to it than that?
I believe this word is open to interpretation depending on the individual.
For instance, what about your friends? Can they be classed as family?
Does family have to be blood relatives?
Are your pets a member of the family?
There are so many questions surrounding the word ‘family’, leading to so many possible answers.
You, they, we, I. It is the individual who decides the definition of the word.
We have the power to choose who to call our family.
Who we can trust, support and love. Who will be there for us when we need them, who we will be there for.
One thing is certain. Love. Family is always consumed with unconditional love.
So ask yourself. Who is your family?

 

"I look around the yard, at the warm red-brick walls capped with white coping stones that lean against the old chapel, the apple tree bowing low with the weight of the last of the fat fruit, ready for picking, the barn which abuts the granary, filled with hay, and our house set plumb in the middle of it all, warm in the sunshine, peaceful this morning, my children at their lessons."

I chose this piece of writing because I think it sets such a peaceful image in the readers mind. It is really descriptive and detailed about all the little pieces of information that most people tend to miss when they look around them.
I like the fact that the whole paragraph doesnt really have a meaning to it, it doesn't lead up to anything and it doesn't tell you any important information its kind of just useless. Also there are no full stops, it is all commas so it gives the sense that the woman is just rambling on about everything she sees which gives you the feeling that she is talking to you.