IB Portfolioliolio

The Scarlet Letter Creative Portfolio Character,Symbolism,Creative,Comparison,In,Thematic Topics,Identity,The Scarlet Letter, The Handmaid's Tale Loaded Lines Relationships,Character,Symbolism,In,Violence,Global Issues,Gender,Identity,The Handmaid's Tale, THT and TSL Paper 2 Final Topics Character,Comparison,In,Essay Sketch,Reconstuction,The Scarlet Letter,The Handmaid's Tale, IB Course Concluding Portfolio Poem,The Stranger,In,Monkey Bridge,My Brilliant Friend,Thematic Topics,The Scarlet Letter,Doubt,The Assault,Comparison,The Things They Carried,Death Foretold,The Dew Breaker,The Handmaid's Tale,

Daniel Arcega Mrs. Emerick IB English HL II IB Course Concluding Portfolio Over the two years of IB English, I’ve read a total of 14 works. When reviewing those works, I realized that The Things They Carried from year one and The Dew Breaker had similar themes and structures. When I investigated further, I realized the other books had similar connections. For each book in year one, there was often a similar book in year two. This portfolio will go over the connections I found between these stories and my thoughts on them. How to Read Literature Like a Professor and Hamlet           I’m going to start with the first book I ever read for IB, How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas Foster. I have decided to connect this book with Hamlet by William Shakespeare because of both novels’ relation to the art of literature. Unlike the rest of the novels on this list, these two do not have any overlapping themes and are not even the same type of work....

  Daniel Arcega Mrs. Emerick IB English HL II Compare the presentation and function of villains or anti-heroes in at least two works of prose fiction that you have studied. Both The Handmaid’s Tale and The Scarlet Letter have two antagonists: society and a person, which both serve to affect the protagonists’ freedom. The societies within the two novels oppress their protagonists’ freedom, yet contrarily also elevate them in some ways. In The Scarlet Letter , Hester’s life throughout the novel is under the strict watch of society. However, its influence transforms as time goes on. Society initially rejects Hester due to her sin. She is unable to make any lasting connections with others. (quote here) Society’s judgment eventually shifts to see Hester in a more positive light. She eventually becomes known as a treasure of the town. She feels more free to walk around the town. (quote here) Her society both oppressed her and raised her up. On the other hand, Gilead in The Handmaid’s T...

Daniel Arcega Mrs. Emerick IB English HL II The Handmaid's Tale Loaded Lines "To put her out of her misery, and myself as well. To put her out of our misery"(292).     The wording that I think is important here is "our misery". This wording suggests that despite Offred's and Serena's different roles in society, they both share the same misery. I believe this connects to the theme of gender explored by Gilead's society. Even though Serena has much more privileges than Offred, she is still a woman. Their gender leads them both to be oppressed, in different ways, under the patriarcal society of Gilead. " I'll sacrifice. I'll repent. I'll abdicate. I'll renounce"(286).      The use of asyndeton makes this line sound like a pledge, like how Offred is promising all these things to God. Additionally, the specific word choices all have subtly different meanings which affect the overall message of the line. "Sacrifice", and...

Daniel Arcega Mrs. Emerick IB English HL II Reconstruction in The Scarlet Letter           Within The Handmaid’s Tale, reconstruction is a device Offred uses in order to maintain a sense of power in her uncontrollable life. She takes events she has experienced and envisions different versions of them and imagines different outcomes. This results in many versions of the same story of which neither Offred nor the reader know the truth of reality. Similarly, the tale of The Scarlet Letter is painted as a reconstruction. Its narrator takes the stories of Hester he finds in papers and produces a streamlined narrative. As such, parts of the story can be scrutinized as to whether or not they actually occurred as the narrator claims. The potential differences in the events of the novel can lead to them having different significance. One scene that can be interpreted in a couple ways is the scaffold scene in chapter twelve. Specifically the moment where Dimmesdale...

Daniel Arcega Mrs. Emerick IB English HL II Socio-Historical Context           For my historical context portfolio, I created a model of a panopticon. A panopticon relates to The Handmaid's Tale because the society depicted in the novel is similar to that of a panopticon. On the outside is the description of a panopticon along with real-life examples as well as its connection in The Handmaid's Tale. On the inside is a ring of prison cells, creating a model panopticon. Works Cited “Internalized Authority and the Prison of the Mind: Bentham and Foucault's Panopticon.” HAAW Workplace , Brown University, 2009, https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/13things/7121.html.    Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Pantheon, 1977.