The Loner

What are your impressions of the boy and the children?

My impression of the boy is that he is an introvert boy but he has a desire of being accepted by the children.

From the first stanza, we can see that the boy “leans on the playground wall” for support and the playground wall gives him a sense of security. He was so bored to the extent that he “smacks his hands against the bricks” and “traces patterns with his feet”. However, this only keeps him occupied for awhile. “Scuffs to make the tarmac squeak” shows that his attention span changes from being focused to getting bored again. “Back against the wall he stays” shows that he is possibly envious of the children and also defensive at the same time as his back is always against the wall which can imply that he is on the lookout. “never plays” shows that he always returns to the wall, and that shows that he yearns to be accepted, to join in.

My impression of the children is that they are very mean.

From the third stanza, we can see that they pass the boy running, skipping, walking, in slow huddled groups, “low talking”. This shows that they are whispering in close groups and that also shows that do not want him to hear what they are saying. “familiar clique” shows that the children are not lonely and having a group of close friends gives them emotional protection and also, they are in their comfort zone. Thus, it shows that they have no intention of accepting another person into their clique. They “never speak” to him and did not make any effort to reach out to him. “neither nor we will yield” tells us that both parties are stubborn and do not want to leave their comfort zone; neither party is willing to give in and take the first move.

Jack and The Beanstalk

Jack deserves my sympathy because he has led a poor life when he was a young boy. He had to live on only cow milk. But one day, they decided to sell the cow for it did not produce any milk. In turn for the cow, a man gave Jack a few strange looking beans which were said to grow right up to the sky. Indeed, they did, and these beans changed Jack’s life. However, this made Jack greedy, for every trip he goes up the beanstalk, he will return with something valuable and it would be sold for money. "and Jack made up his mind to try his luck once more at the top of the beanstalk" and "Well, Jack was not content, and it wasn't long before he determined to have another try at his luck up there at the top of the beanstalk." Shows that Jack was not satisfied with what he had; he was greedy. However, this does not change my view; I still sympathize with Jack as his intention was to help his mum and him to overcome their financial problem.

The ogre also deserves my sympathy because his coins, golden hen and his golden harp were stolen by Jack even though he did Jack no wrong and even ended up getting killed by Jack. These items were rightfully his and it was right of him to retaliate as Jack had absolutely no right to take them without permission. I feel for him as I think it was a wronged death, not counting the fact that he had taken the lives of many innocent young boys to satisfy his hunger. Thus, I think that the ogre deserves my sympathy too.

1(a) What tempts Jack to trade his cow for the magic beans? The fact that the magic beans would grow right up to the sky by morning if he planted them overnight tempts Jack to trade his cow for the magic beans.

(b) How many times does Jack go up the beanstalk? Jack went up the beanstalk three times.

(c) What does Jack do each time he goes up the beanstalk? He would plead the ogre's wife for food and when the ogre comes, he would hide in the oven. When the ogre is asleep, he would then come out of the oven and steal what the ogre was fiddling with before he falls asleep.

(d) How does Jack kill the ogre?
Jack climbed down the beanstalk as fast as he could and shouted for his mother to bring him an axe when he was near the end of the beanstalk. Then, Jack jumped off the beanstalk and began to chop the beanstalk and when the beanstalk was cut into two, the ogre fell down.

(e) What happens at the end of the story? Jack and his mother became rich by selling the golden harp and the golden eggs; he married a princess and lived a blissful life.

2(a) What was Jack’s attitude like when he went to the ogre’s house the second time?From "and Jack made up his mind to try his luck once more at the top of the beanstalk", it tells us that Jack was just trying his luck.

(b) What is your impression of the ogre?My impression of the ogre is that he is cruel and money-minded. "My man is an ogre and there's nothing he likes better than boys broiled on toast." shows that he is cruel as he does not care for the life of another being. "and after that he goes to a big chest and takes out a couple of bags of gold, and down he sits and counts till at last his head began to nod and he began to snore till the whole house shook again." and " "Wife, bring me the hen that lays golden eggs." So she brought it, and the ogre said, "Lay," and it laid an egg all of gold. " shows that the ogre is money-minded as he would do something related to money/gold after his breakfast.

(c) What is your impression of Jack?My impression of Jack is that he is a greedy boy. "and Jack made up his mind to try his luck once more at the top of the beanstalk" and "Well, Jack was not content, and it wasn't long before he determined to have another try at his luck up there at the top of the beanstalk." shows that Jack was not satisfied with what he had already stolen and due to his greed, he went up the beanstalk two more times after the first, and each time, stealing something valuable.

3(a) Did Jack trespass illegally into the Ogre’s house?Yes, Jack did trespass illegally for the third time up the beanstalk. For the first and second time, the ogre's wife had granted him permission to be in the Ogre's house. However for the third time, Jack did not approach the Ogre's wife, instead, he waited for the Ogre's wife to appear and he crept into the house.

(b) Did the giant (ogre) deserve to die?Yes, he did, because he had taken many lives of young boys to satisfy his hunger when the boys did nothing to offend him, thus, I feel that the ogre deserves to die.

(c) Was Jack right in taking the eggs, the harp and the hen?
It was not right of Jack to take the eggs, harp, and the hen, because they did not belong to him and no permission was granted by the ogre to allow him to take them.

(d) Should we blame people who take from others if they are trying to help their family?
Yes, we should, because even though they are trying to help their family, though should not take from others as it is still considered as an offence. If they want to help their family, they should not do this to worsen matters as if they get caught, the consequences will be more serious. They should help their family by approaching teachers for help if they are students, and look for jobs if they are adults.

Do you sympathize with The Joker?

I sympathize with The Joker to a great extent for he had a difficult past.

My first reason for sympathizing with The Joker is that he had a difficult past. The Joker was actually an unnamed laboratory assistant who quit his job at a chemical company to become a stand-up comedian, but was unsuccessful. “Desperate to support his pregnant wife” shows that he would do anything to get money to support his wife. He was so desperate that he even agreed to guide two criminals through the plant to rob the card company next door. During the planning, he was informed that his wife had unfortunately passed away. “Grief-stricken, the engineer tries to withdraw from the plan, but the criminals strong-arm him into keeping his commitment to them” shows that The Joker was not as cold-hearted as most people think he is for he was forced to continue to assist the criminals even after he wanted to back out.

My second reason for sympathizing with The Joker is that he has a disfigured face. In the attempt to guide two criminals through the plant to rob the card company next door, The Joker was confronted by Batman. The Joker panicked and jumped into the chemical plant's toxic waste catch-basin vat to escape Batman and is swept through a pipe leading to the outside. Once he was outside, he discovered that the chemicals have permanently bleached his skin chalk white, stained his lips ruby red and dyed his hair bright green. This unfortunate mishap “drives him completely insane and results in the birth of the Joker”. This shows that The Joker’s disfigured face has caused him to be greatly traumatized and has caused him to be mentally unstable.

I think that The Joker deserves my sympathy because he did not choose to be what he is now. He had a difficult past and back then, his intention was to just escape from Batman. Little did he know that his face would be disfigured and in turn caused him to be greatly traumatized and suffer from mental disorder. In conclusion, I feel that The Joker deserves my sympathy.

What have you learnt from this lesson?

I have learnt to look at people from different viewpoints and how impressions are formed through appearance, actions, speech, relationship with others and background. “Heroes may not be perfect; villains may have valuable traits.” Thus, we should not judge a book by its cover. We also should not judge a character by our first impression as characters often have more than one side to them. For example, Batman may be a hero, but he used evil and illegal ways to save the city. I have also learnt that even if we are smart, rich and have many positive traits, but we can do things to hurt others, that would not make us any better than a villain. Hence, we should always be conscious of our actions and very careful of what we say to our friends, as sometimes, simple actions and words can hurt others. We should be “an everyday hero”. (:

credits:
Miss Li and her powerpoint slides
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_The_Killing_Joke