Awkward IOC

This blog post is focused on the IB Internal Assessment: the Internal Oral Commentary.  In this assessment, we are placed with our teacher in a room while we talk about an excerpt we are given for about 10 minutes.  

If you so choose to listen to my sick, awkward, uncomfortable, and shaky voice, the link to the audio should be included below (Mrs. G I swear I uploaded it but if it doesn't work just know technology hates me and I'll email it to you):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6i6Kr4wZRDJZkpJQnZPVVgyWjctaDNkWXFUMjdISGVuY3FF/view?usp=sharing

I really love how I was sick for this assignment.  Gotta love nasally voices and sniffles.

Okay I'm done with complaining, here's the rest of the assignment...

Here's the break down of my self-grading:

Criterion A: 

7/10:  I give background of the text:  the range it was published, current events that influenced the writing of the text, the author's name, and a quick synopsis of the story.  I don't believe I chose passages that fully supported my comments upon the text  but I do believe my comments, observations, and claims were supported by the evidence I chose from the excerpt.

Criterion B:

5/10:  I talked about the tone created in the reader through the author's use of diction and ambiguity of the discussion of the woods.  But that's where it ended, and I believe that's all I discussed as far as author's influence upon the reader.  So do I deserve a lesser score? 

Criterion C:

4/5:  I believe I give the structure of what I am about to say before I go on saying it.  I give background in the beginning, I state my thesis, and then I follow the structure my thesis gives.  I don't believe it is impeccable or flawless, but I do believe it is "mostly coherent."

Criterion D:

3/5:  Throughout the commentary, I talk in a formal yet casual tone, as if I'm talking to a close friend's parent and I'm trying to talk to them in a respectful manner (to impress them) but I want to still show pieces of my personality, so I try to remain casual.  I also pause a lot and use "um" and "like" quite frequently.  

My excerpt and notes that I used for the IOC!  Wow they are soooooo neat (that was sarcasm).

Judging a Book by its Many Covers

Okay so... Never Let Me Go...

This novel, by Kazuo Ishiguro, is about clones in a society where clones are created to harvest and donate organs to the "regular people" in need of a transplant.  This novel makes the audience ponder what it truly means to be human.

There are a wide variety of title pages, but two really stuck out to me:

Title Page "A"

Title Page "B"

Both of these title pages feature plot points from the novel (A:  Tommy's final fit in the field, B:  Tommy, Kathy, and Ruth's venture to the boat), as well as fading wooden backgrounds.  Besides any other obvious similarities (such as the same title and author), I couldn't find any further similarities.

As far as differences go... well I've got a treat for you!

1. The colors used are VASTLY different:

• "A" features stark, darker hues of blue and gray that give a scarier mood to the audience.  Also makes everything look metallic and synthetic. "B," on the other hand, displays hues of yellow and brown, which tend to be more comforting and serene.

2. They look like completely different novels:

• "A" is extremely dark.  The foggy background and the barbed-wire body are both setting the mood as dark and sinister.  This novel looks like it could be a horror story or some type of extreme science fiction.  "B," in contrast, looks like a romance novel.  The placement of the boat, the colors (even used in a Nicholas Sparks novel), and the landscape's reflection onto the ocean make this novel look happy and promising.

3. The neatness of the title pages vary as well:

• "A" is extremely messy.  The font on the page is inconsistent, as the letters vary in size, placement, and color.  The word "let" being the largest word places emphasis on it.  This makes the audience wonder, will the characters have the capability to hold on to something and choose not to?  Art featured on "A" is also messy, as the background is blurry and the body is crudely drawn. The author's name is also very small.  This could have been done to make the audience select the book based on how it looks, and not necessarily who wrote the novel.   

• "B" has a VERY different organizational tactics.  The title falls below the authors name, both front and center.  This font is not scraggly like "A"'s font, and is easy to read.   The emphasis of the title page is placed on to the author's name, and the creator of this cover page must assume that the people who select this novel will choose it because of the author.

4. "B" lists awards and recommendations while "A" doesn't:

• "A" doesn't have any of the awards or words of praise that "B" has.  This could be because "A" was created before "B" was, or it could be another choice of the creator.  If "A" had included awards or praise then I think the title would be less powerful as a whole, as they would take away some of the synthetic qualities of the cover.  "B" is probably including it to convince the book-buyer-person to purchase the novel.

In short, I find that "A" would draw the attention of those interested more in science fiction, while "B" would draw in more of the audience that likes romance.  Those two aspects are represented in the novel as a whole, so in the creation of two different titles the artists were able to appeal to a larger audience, therefore, convince more people to purchase the novel.

(Which brings up a thought:  why do authors write books?  Do they do it for money? fame? as a catharsis? I don't know, that was just an intruding thought I had.)