TSI characters

Characters
Brother
Brother is the lead protagonist of the story and also the narrator. He is not given a name but is referred to by Doodle, his brother, only as "Brother." He is six years old when Doodle is born. Brother has a high opinion of his own ability to run, jump, and climb, and wants a brother with whom he can share these activities. When it becomes clear that Doodle is capable of little more than lying on a rubber sheet and crawling backwards, Brother grows ashamed of Doodle's limitations and regularly taunts him. Though Brother loves Doodle, the love is tainted with cruelty and embarrassment.
At the urging of Doodle and his parents, Brother reluctantly allows Doodle to accompany him on all his expeditions, pulling him along in his go-cart. Driven by shame at having a crippled sibling, Brother forms a plan to secretly teach Doodle to walk. Eventually, he succeeds. This initial success is not, however, enough for Brother, who is determined that Doodle will not shame him by being seen as different when he starts school. Brother pushes Doodle to do more and more strenuous activities until one day, he breaks into a run, leaving Doodle trailing. Doodle overstrains himself trying to keep up and dies of a heart attack. Brother weeps over his fallen brother and recognizes the symbolic link between Doodle and the beautiful and rare scarlet ibis that had fallen dead from a tree in the family garden earlier that day.
Daddy
Daddy, the father of Brother's family, has a coffin built for Doodle soon after his birth, in the belief that he will die. When Doodle survives, Daddy builds a go-cart for Doodle so that Brother can pull him around.
Doodle
Doodle is the mentally and physically retarded younger brother of the narrator, Brother. His family initially calls him by his given name, William Armstrong, but Brother nicknames him Doodle (after a doodle-bug, because of his habit of crawling backwards) and the name sticks. From the first, Doodle is a disappointment to his family, especially to Brother, because Doodle can only lie on a rubber sheet and crawl backwards. Everyone expects Doodle to die, but he defies them all and survives, becoming a loving boy with a strong attachment to Brother. Doodle is pulled around in a go-cart by Brother until Brother teaches Doodle to walk. This achievement, however, seems more important to Brother than it does to Doodle.
Doodle's real strengths lie not on the level of his physical prowess, but on a more subtle inward level, to which Brother seems blind at the time the action takes place. From the beginning of his life, Doodle defies death and refuses to recognize the coffin that Daddy builds for him as his own. He shows a sense of wonder and respect for the natural world, crying with wonder at the wild beauty of Old Woman Swamp. He is the first to notice the visiting ibis and honors the bird by giving it a careful burial while finding a way of respecting his mother's orders not to touch it. The fact that Doodle is the only member of the family to care for the scarlet ibis enough to bury it shows his compassionate heart and emphasizes a symbolic link between boy and bird. This symbolic link is confirmed when Doodle dies on the same day as the bird and in a way that mirrors its fate.
Doodle's greatest fear is of being left behind by the impatient Brother on their expeditions together. When this happens one day, he dies of a heart attack while trying to keep up with Brother.
Mama
Mama, the mother in Brother's family, despairs of Doodle's future from the beginning. She tearfully predicts that Doodle will never run or climb with Brother and believes that he might not be mentally normal. When the scarlet ibis drops dead from the tree, Mama forbids Doodle to touch the bird in case it is diseased. Mama's attitude to Doodle is reflected in her attitude to the bird: in both cases, she fails to see the beautiful and miraculous and expresses only fear and anxiety.
Aunt Nicey
Aunt Nicey is aunt to Brother and Doodle. She delivers Doodle and is the only person who believes that he will live. She has a religious nature, giving thanks to God when Doodle shows everyone that he can walk. Because Doodle is born with a caul, traditionally believed to be "Jesus' nightgown," Aunt Nicey warns that he should be treated with special respect since he may turn out to be a saint. Though prompted by superstitious belief, the comment shows an appreciation of Doodle's spiritual qualities and foreshadows a suggested symbolic link between Doodle, the ibis, and Christ.

SCARLET IBIS themes

Conflict between Love and Pride
The Scarlet Ibis explores the conflict between love and pride in Brother's relationship with his physically and mentally disabled brother, Doodle. Brother loves and appreciates Doodle, but Brother's love for Doodle is challenged by two very human failings: pride, and the cruelty that results from it. Brother feels embarrassed and ashamed of Doodle's limitations and obvious differences from other people. He decides to make Doodle walk and swim. Teaching Doodle to walk is Brother's first success. When Brother's family congratulates him on his success, he cries with shame, because he knows that he acted not out of love but out of pride, Brother's pride again triumphs over love when he continues to push Doodle to harder physical feats in spite of Doodle's obviously declining health. In the end, Doodle's heart fails under the strain. Brother then realises his mistake, he repents while sheltering Doodle's body, crying.

The Desire to Make over Others in One's Own Image
All of the family, except Brother, accepts Doodle as he is. However, their acceptance is not portrayed as entirely positive, as it comes with a heavy dose of resignation and hopelessness about Doodle's prospects. Mama and Daddy are so convinced that he will die soon after birth that Daddy orders a coffin for him and they did not help when they saw him straining to flip himself from his belly back on his back, knowing the strain would kill him. When Doodle does not die, Daddy makes the go-cart, accepting that Doodle will never walk. The consignment of coffin and go-cart to the loft are signs of the progress that Doodle makes in being like his older brother.
Brother's impatience with Doodle's limitations is as ambiguous as the rest of the family's acceptance of them. But Brother's attitude is the more dangerous because it forces change on a body that is not equipped to deal with it and on a mind that does not desire it. Brother's success in re-making Doodle in his own image is greeted as wonderful progress by everyone except Doodle. He did not understand why he should struggle to avoid being different from everybody else at school. Because the story is told from the point of view of Brother and not Doodle, it is not clear how much Doodle's life is improved by his new skills. But it is certain that after the initial success of the walking project, Brother's attempts to push Doodle further are destructive to Doodle's health and eventually contribute to his death.

Reference

http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ssfs_0000_0023_0/ssfs_0000_0023_0_00023.html

THE LOTTERY

Shirley Jackson's short story, The Lottery , aroused much controversy and criticism in 1948, following its debut publication, in the New Yorker. Jackson uses irony and comedy to suggest an
underlying evil, hypocrisy, and weakness of human kind. The story takes place in a small village, with population of 300 over people and where the people are close and tradition is paramount. A yearly event, called the lottery, is one in which one person in the town is randomly chosen, by a drawing, to be violently stoned by friends and family because they think it would help them in the harvest, maybe for sake of doing it. The drawing has been around over seventy-seven years and is practiced by every member of the town. I actually expected the winner to receive a prize or something of that manner. I only realised the ugly truth of the winner's fate: Death, by friends and family. I think that Jackson is making a statement regarding hypocrisy and human evil. The lottery is set in a ordinary town, where everyone knows everyone and individuals are ordinary. Families carry the very ordinary names of Warner, Martin and Anderson. Jackson's portrayal of extreme evil in this ordinary, friendly atmosphere suggests that people are not always as 'pure' they seem. Along with human evil "the Lottery" presents a weakness in human individuals. This town, having performed such a terrible act for so many years, continues on with the lottery, with no objections or questions asked, and the main purpose being to carry on the tradition. "There's always been a lottery", says Old Man Warner. "Nothing but trouble in that," he says of quitting the event. However, the villagers show some anxiety toward the event. Yet everyone still goes along with it. They fear the tradition, they fear Old Man Warner. Not a single person openly expresses fear or disgust toward the lottery, but instead feigns enthusiasm because of the fact that if they confront their disapproval, they might be rejected or even be the next one to be stoned! The failure of Mr. Summers to replace the black box used for the drawing shows the villagers' fear to change anything that has to do with the tradition, even a minor thing like changing the box. I feel that this story ios very sick. Sick in a way that Mrs Hutchinson's family, her children and her husband have the heart to stone her. Even her youngest son was given a few pebbles to stone his mother with. Because of this tradition, family member dont love and care for each other, thus leading to cruelty to each other.
Reference http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/14390/analysis_of_the_lottery_a_short_story_pg3.html?cat=38

AAP project

In this advertisement, a leopard and its cub are wearing size tags. The camera angles used are Medium shot and Point Of View shot. The purpose of the medium shot is to show the whole magnificent bodies of the leopard and its cub-with size tags. When a person especially an animal lover will feel the impact, mother and child are not even spared due to fashion. The worst thing is that the leopard cub is wearing a size tag labelled S, that also made an impact on the reader and will persuade him to stop buying clothes with animal skin. The Point Of View shot is used to makes the reader feel that he is in the scene and seeing it. This is a good advertisement as i was encouraged by the advertisement to think and show emotion.

Reflection on Angles

Hey guys! I noe tt this is kinda late, sry. I was waiting for the 3angles results. HAHAHAHAHA think i will tell u first, no way! U have to finish reading this post. Anyways those who noe pls read...
Frankly, i already forgot the date that we tried to get shortlisted. All i remembered is that Kay Han was hilarious when he made his speech( those who still remembered!)=) Then, Ian, Jun Mao, Shawn Yeo and me had to present our speech that we made in class in the auditorium. I GEI KIANG, i crushed my speech after presenting it then i had to write it out agn. -.-" Yeah then we had to wait for 1 week until the results comes out. I must say it was a very close fight, good to noe tt the class has so many good speakers ;) I had to go for the full dress rehearsal on Friday and the finals on Monday. Juz to refresh my memory as well as yours, my topic was, Is Singapore ready for a female PM? Yeah. My impromptu was Paper chase. I totally screwed up my impromptu! i didnt noe wad paper chase was and i said that it was your teacher chasing after your homework! HAHA! Although I was a little dissapointed that i couldnt get top three( Joshua Lim was devastated!), I felt its the learning experience tt matters. RIGHT, JOSHUA LIM??? And yeah i got into 3angles. Im sry but you all have to follow me on 31 March 2.30 to 5. ( I might be wrong, i'll keep you posted! Maybe i might not even get into the finals so u gotta w8) And yeah tt is all

J.K.

Project

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INGREDIENTS: Essence of Chicken 99.68%, Caramel (natural source) 0.32%

Brain Power™
Brain Power™ is a science-based formulation aimed at supporting the functions of the healthy brain, protecting against toxic damage, and arresting or reversing age-related brain decline. This formulation provides, in highly bioavailable forms, nutrients clinically proven to support memory, concentration and the other higher brain functions. These nutrients operate through diverse mechanisms, facilitating brain oxygenation, metabolism, circuit integration, and antioxidant defense. Catastrophic brain decline: Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, other dementias—are virtually epidemic in Western societies. Among the general U.S. population, aged 65 and over, as many as 1 in 4 are likely to progress to Alzheimer’s disease; of those currently aged 85 and over, 1 in 2 may develop Alzheimer’s. Dementia is readily distinguishable from aging of the brain, because healthy individuals can get into their 90s with only modest loss of mental skills. Cognitive decline can be detected long before dementia becomes established, and if initiated at this relatively early stage dietary supplementation with proven “brain nutrients” can often arrest the decline and partially restore lost function.

• Phosphatidyl Serine (PS). This is a phospholipid substance which is a building block for the brain’s approximately 100 billion nerve cells. Of the nutrients proven most beneficial to the brain, PS is the most impressive for its degree of efficacy and its impeccable safety record.
  
• Phosphatidyl Choline (PC). This is a phospholipid related to PS. It is a nerve cell membrane building block, as well as the body's foremost biochemical reservoir of choline, a precursor for acetylcholine.
  
• Phosphatidyl Ethanolamine (PE), and Phosphatidyl Inositol(PI). These are other phospholipids that are related to PS and are building blocks for nerve cell membranes. Both PE and PI are involved in the membrane-level events that render the nerve cells optimally functional: activation of the cell interior, energy generation, transmitter action at specific receptors, synaptic integration. Their presence is intended to help synergize the actions of PS and PC on brain performance.
  
• Ginkgo Biloba Standardized Extract, as Phytosomes. Ginkgo biloba standardized extract is proven effective at increasing blood flow to the brain and providing antioxidant protection to the brain tissue.
  
• Taurine. This amino acid is a potent antioxidant for the brain, and also has electronic homeostatic properties linked to its capacity to buffer intracellular calcium and magnesium as well as sodium and potassium.
  
• L-Glutamine. This amino acid is included in the formulation because it readily enters the brain where it can be utilized for energy and is a precursor to nerve transmitters. It is also a precursor for glutathione. Glutamine reserves can become rapidly depleted after surgery or other stress to the tissues. Glutamine is biochemically distinct from glutamate, which is not a good candidate for dietary supplementation since it has potential for excitotoxic damage to the brain.
  
• L-Glycine. This amino acid participates in electronic buffering and chemical transmission in the brain. It also is a building block for glutathione.
  
• Vitamin B6, as Pyridoxine Hydrochloride. This vitamin is required for a number of metabolic pathways that support optimal brain function. It is required for the conversion of homocysteine to cysteine (a precursor for the antioxidant glutathione). When given together with vitamin B12 and acid, which are also included in this formulation at meaningful intake levels, vitamin B6 completes the nutrient triad necessary to efficiently recycle homocysteine, which can interfere with the brain circulation and cause stroke. Deficiencies of these key metabolic cofactors are common among elderly populations.
  
• Vitamin B12, as Cyanocobalamin. This vitamin is often found deficient in vegetarians and the elderly, and deficiency symptoms can mimic dementia: memory loss, personality and mood changes, fatigue.
  
• Folic Acid. This vitamin-like substance is integral to the development and on going homeostasis of the nervous system.
  

Each three (3) capsules provide:
Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine hydrochloride)
20 mg
Folic acid (as folate)
400 mcg
Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin)
250 mcg
Phosphatidyl Serine (PS) (as LECI-PSTM)
100 mg
Ginkgo Biloba Phytosome Extract
30 mg
Choline (as PhosphatidlyCholine, PC)
100 mg
Phosphatidly Choline (PC)
127 mg
Phosphatidyl Ethanolamine (PE)
82 mg
Phosphatidyl Inositol (PI)
36 mg
Taurine
500 mg
L-glutamine
125 mg
L-glycine
125 mg

The Background Of Flowers For Algernon
Flowers for Algernon was written at a time when the United States was fomulating new definition and ways of treating metally disabled people, a revolution of sorts necessitated by the civil right movement with its acquisition of equal rights for Afican Americans. Tis begged the question of equality for all eople and the tone that Flowers for Algernon conveys is one of understanding and tolerance. This message was reflected by political and social changes of the time. The President's panel on Mental Retardation organised in 1962 eventually declared the General and Specific Rights of the Mentally Retarded in 1968 and replaced the term "retardation" with "developmental disability".
Just For Fun
A common criterion for diagnosis of mental retardation is an IQ of 70 and below. Signs of it includes

• Having trouble speaking
• Finding it hard to remember things
• Have trouble understanding social rules
• Having difficulty discerning cause and effect
• Having trouble thinking logically
• Persistence of infanile behavour

Flowers for Algernon: An Overview
Charlie Gordon is a mentally retarded person with an IQ of 68, much lower than an average person's IQ of 100. He is working in a factory as a janitor. He is also in love with his teacher Miss Kinnians. Charlie is a very honest and determined to improve person, so Miss Kinnians recommended him for an experiment-an expeiment that can change his life forever. This experiment artificially increases an IQ of a person or animal and is supervised by Dr Strauss and Dr Nemur. This experiment had already been tested on a white lab rat called Algernon. This is a very touching story about Charlie Gordon's ultimate goal of finding friendship, acceptance and love.

Flowers of Algernon: Algernon
Algernon is a depiction of Charlie's fate in the hands of Dr Nemur and Dr Strauss and the experiment. There are many similarities to be drawn between Charlie and Algernon that indicates his role as a "lab rat" for Science.

• Initially, Charlie races with Algernon in a maze ten times and loses all of them, whereby he acknowledges Algernon's awesome brain power. "I dint know that mice were so smart"(Progress report 3). When Charlie defeats Algernon after the operation shows that Charlie's brainpower is increasing.
• "Everyone identifies me as Algernon. In a way we're both the first of our kind"(Progress report 13)
• When Algernon started to be aggressive and hostile, Charlie became hostile too. When Algernon started to regress in intelligence, Charlie also regressed too.

When Algernon passed away, it is like a prediction of what is going to happen to Charlie. When Charlie weeps for Algernon and puts flowers on his grave, it is not just for the sense of connection that he feels to Algernon, but a grieving as he thought that he was going to die too. So Charlie in a way is Algernon.