Cartoon Analysis: Peppa Pig

Most people in our generation can recall being in front of a television as a child to pass time by or when your parent is busy. If you're not familiar with this scene maybe you've witnessed it with your younger siblings or relatives who has been put in this predicament. However, aside from leisure time, does watching particular children shows say anything about what's normal and how people should react to certain situations? Maybe the shows that children watch are trying to portray and instill social norms in their mind so they know how to "act" and what to expect.

There are many children TV shows that display these norms and one of them is Peppa Pig which creates an almost perfect happy family of pigs that live like humans. Peppa Pig has the ideal family of a mother, father, and two children a boy and a girl. The show creates this ideal family because it is what society wants and that is what you're expected to do when you have your own family. Everyone in this show is always happy and there is rarely ever a conflict between any of the characters.

In this show both of the kids are very energetic and are very close to each other. Peppa pig is the oldest daughter and is always ready to play outside and be with her friends. She always asks questions and wants to help out with everything. the fact that her character is the oldest child that still is somewhat mature protects her innocence. She is also the most important character emphasizing that children and adolescence is important. The youngest brother, George is mostly quite and loves to play with his sister and friends. He is not really aware of certain things that go on around him and he always wants to be active like his older sister. I believe that the writers are trying to show that if a pig is willing to be active and not lazy, like they're usually portrayed, then the child should also be active and imaginative. The adults in this how are not really focused on as they have little roles in the show. Peppa's mother works from home and still cooks for the children while the dad occasionally helps. The little significance of the adults is also shown through their names because they are always called "momma" and "pappa."

This TV show displays energy in children, friendliness, and family norms. Peppa pig also shows that there are never any real problems as everything is solved quickly and the show ends with everyone being happy and laughing. Valuing innocence and simplicity is the focus of the show through all the characters.

The Individual Tackling Society

Amahd Young

Ms. Parham

AP La+C

January 14, 2015

​Everyone in this room may agree that at one point in your life you questioned your role in society as an individual. Maybe you’ve always seen it as you were the ant or test subject surrounded by things and people who would predict your life and future, but what if I told you it’s the opposite? What if it is up to you to predict society’s future and your own life only being influenced by the things society has to offer. There are many ways in which society can shape the individual and there are ways in which the individual can shape society. Society and the individual will always have a gap but the question you have to ask yourself is; is it up to me or is it up to society to bridge that gap? 

The individual can be seen at the puppet master of society, holding all the strings that are connected to society itself. The puppet master creates the show and is able to make his/her own ending and beginning with little limitations. The individual is able to let go both metaphorically and literally, as the control is not in society’s hands, it’s in the individuals. 

Although the individual is capable of holding the power over society, society can still influence the individual as it already has done to most of you at a very young age. Society has impacted your individuality because of the way you grew up viewing your surroundings which set or instilled certain images and situations in your mind. Based on psychology, these images and situations is what you build your life around, comparing everything to the standards society set for you as a child and the standards it is still setting for you as I speak. However as an individual it is up to you to let “the wilderness rise up to you” (Wallace Stevens). Do not become “grey and bare” because of society because you’re capable of taking on society and shaping it to your liking.

So the next time you have a moment to yourself and you’re thinking about your place in society make sure you know that itis your choice to let society shape you or whether you are going to shape society.

Is It Better to be Late and Despised or on Time and Loved?

The Morals of the Prince
Yet a prince should be slow to believe rumors and to commit himself to action on the basis of them. He should not be afraid of his own thoughts; he ought to proceed cautiously, moderating his conduct with prudence and humanity, allowing neither overconfidence to make him careless, nor overtimidity to make him intolerable. Here the question arises: is it better to be loved than feared, or vice versa? I don't doubt that every prince would like to be both; but since it is hard to accommodate these qualities, if you have to make a choice, to be feared is much safer than to be loved. For it is good general rule about men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, liars and decievers, fearful of danger and greedy for gain.

Imitation 

Yet my mother should be on time to make it to Thanksgiving dinner and commit herself to this on behalf of the family. She should not be late cooking her own dish; she ought to proceed quickly, planning accordingly, allowing neither time to make her careless, nor perfection to make her very slow. Here the question arises: is it better to be late and despised or on time and loved? I don't doubt that everyone cooking for Thanksgiving would like to be on time; but since it is hard for my mother to accommodate this quality, if she had to make a choice, it is much safer to be on time than be late. For it is good general rule about family on Thanksgiving, that they are hungry, emotional, tired, and anxious, fearful of being let down and greedy for a good family dinner.

Power & Control

Although Machiavelli's excerpt and Civil Disobedience are similar, the essential concepts of the two are different. Machiavelli's excerpt speaks to the prince and the ruler of a society, while Thoreau speaks to the subordinate and to the citizen.

The overall concept in Machiavelli's excerpt is that in order to gain power you have to instill fear into the people. In order to do so you can not be civil or rational, like Thoreau believes in his writing of Civil Disobedience. Machiavelli thinks you have to make people be afraid so they can do what you want, as "...to be feared is much safer than to be loved." Fear, playing a part in power and control, is a re-occurring concept in both of these works, even though it is indirectly mentioned in Civil Disobedience.

Thoreau speaks for the subordinate and the common "man". Thoreau writes that a man should act upon his own morals and not follow the government because what they want is not always morally correct. Thoreau also writes that the common "man" should go against what the government and laws says and do what they feel is morally correct for himself.

Machiavelli makes it clear that fear is needed in order to have power and control of a person or government. Making people fear you is not showing them that you are trying to make them fear you, but appearing to them in a very assertive, powerful, and demanding way gives them a reason to fear and listen to you. Thoreau correspondingly believes that a government is unjustified in their actions. Thoreau believes that the government does whatever it needs to do to gain power and control its citizens.

These two different authors took two different approaches on how one should act when placed under a situation involving power. Thoreau believes a man should act upon his morals and Machiavelli believes a man should not act upon your morals but what your interests are as a person under power and control.

Rhetorical Analysis Outline

Rhetorical Analysis Outline of "Malala" Speech

Purpose: To inform people about the issue and persuade them to join her cause of speak up for what's wrong.

Audience: The audience is everyone ... even the Taliban as she constantly says "we" and "everyone."

Context: Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for giving a speech on July 12th, 2013 at the UN after terrorist attacks, the speech was organized by the President of the UN General Assembly

Section 1: Introduction
Purpose: sets a tone to let the audience know she is thankful for everyone and being able to speak on this day.
Appeals: Establishes ethos and pathos
Technique:  addressing everyone to make sure everyone is included and thanked. She tries to make everyone feel like they're apart of her healing process.
Effectiveness: this was very effective because she kept everyone included so they can feel like they were being helpful.

Section 2: Uniting Everyone In Other Ways
Purpose: showing that it's not only her that wants change and stands up for what isn't right, but there are others as well and they all need to unite.
Appeals: a lot of pathos—"My ambitions are the same. My hopes are the same. My dreams are the same.
Techniques: uses a lot of repetition, sentence variation and an analogy--"we realized the importance of pens and books when we saw the guns."  

Section 3: Addressing The Problem and Proposing A Solution
Purpose: letting everyone know what the Taliban is doing and convince the audience that everyone has to take a stand against what is going on around them.
Claim: "the pen is mightier than the sword"
Evidence: she talks about a boy in her class who said, "A Talib doesn't know what is written inside this book" meaning they are afraid of other people learning what they don't know.
Warrant: people, mostly women, want to be educated and they want rights to be able to chose if they can be educated without being threatened or shot at.
Techniques: use of diction or word choice exaggerates the situation, using words like ignorance and deprivation; repetition is used.

General Evaluation:
Malala spoke on behalf of everyone who struggles with some sort of oppression and for people who can't raise their own voices for rights or equality. Malala spoke about a general problem, common in the Middle East, expanding it to a specific topic--education. She used a lot of pathos and ethos to appeal to the people she was speaking to as she tried to unify everyone and have everyone fight for the same cause. As she did this she did not dehumanize anyone in the process, even the enemy also known as the Taliban; which goes back to her strong use of ethos. Malala used education as her base, but didn't talk about education in a broad way the entire time which is why her speech was powerful through her structure.

Social Change Project: Q1

Dear Ms. Koroshetz,

     The teenage population is in a re-occurring silent crisis in which adults are not aware of; I am here to inform you on their behalf. Teenagers in high school are not only confused about school, but they're confused about all the other social and personal aspects. We, as the "future", have to endure the burden today's society puts on us. An article that appeared in Psychology Today that stated "the average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the ealy 1950's." We are expected to behave a certain way around our friends and a certain way around our parents and it becomes difficult to put on these "masks" and transition between them. We even try to masks our problems since it's hard to talk about them because we feel like no one can relate to us. Going to the school psychologists may help some of us, but not everyone is comfortable with opening up to an adult who we believe can't relate or will only make the situation worse.

     Seeing how involved you are with our school and how the students benefit from the assemblies we have, like the awareness of bullying, I believe that I can offer some ideas that may relive some stress from you. 

     Since teens go through this much stress and change during high school, I think creating a self help group for teens in high school will be a great start to helping us become more open about our problems and anxiety. This group will talk about anything that may come to mind that we may be needing help with in our new, profound, scary life. The group will consists of all teenagers seeing that we relate best with our peers who are likely to be going through the same thing. The ultimate goal would be to create a comfortable environment where people would not be forced to talk, but to make them comfortable with talking about what they're going through. I belive these meetings can be a success even if one person talks the entire time or a few people don't say a word at all because they'll all be getting something out of the conversation.

    I would love for you, as an involved principle, to help me not only create this group for this highschool but help start a change in the stress and anxiety that we endure on a daily basis. Thank You for your time and I hope to hear back from you soon as the crisis increases every day.

                                         Sincerely, 

             an advocate of the silent teenage crisis: Amahd Young

Logos (Teens Anonymous)

It is easier to solve most of the problems and complications that you are having in life if you would just talk about them with others.However, with teenagers it is more difficult to just open up to someone, specifically an adult, that may make them feel uncomfortable because they feel like they can't relate with them. 

To make things easier on teenagers, a group can be created that'll consists of teenagers facing similar problems to make these problems subside. A group that'll consists of teens who may be experiencing the same struggles as one another can help them solve their problems. The point of these meetings would not be to force the people to talk, but to make them comfortable with talking about what they're going through. I think these meetings can be a success even if one person talks the entire time or a few people don't say a word at all. 

If you find this hard to believe just think of other group meetings that were created to help people relate to one another to solve a common problem or reach a common goal. If you were to go to an AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting, a nonprofessional and self-supporting group, today you would find that everyone in the room is essentially there because they want to solve the same problem or all have the same problem. Each individual may help each other grow and work at their goals by talking to people who they feel may understand them; there would be a wide range of people who attend these meetings. For some people, simply speaking out loud will help their cause while others have to have feedback and engage in  conversations more while others can simply sit there the entire time without saying a word. The fact that there is no set goal or pressure for and individual at each meeting makes it a lot easier on the participants to open up to talk about their problem or experience with alcohol.

Why not try to "recreate" a widely known organization with a different goal, name, and age group?