2010
HSC English Standard – Module B ‘Witness’
By Aiman Ahamad
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John Book and Rachel Lapp could never have a successful permanent relationship. Do you agree?
Relationships may be permanent or temporary. Different relationship will experience obstacles but may receive considerable rewards. There are many factors that can affect the relationship between people like clash of cultures, their inability to conform to alternate societies and the fundamental values upon which they base their lives. John Book and Rachel Lapp could never have a successful permanent relationship. “Witness” (1985) directed by Peter Weir. The clash of cultures between Rachel and John is a major factor that affects
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This is reflecting how she is being influenced by John’s presence and not conforming to the Amish values. Rachel is determined to not be negatively influenced by the ‘idle gossip’ about herself and John. In the final moment of the scene John is sitting on the back of the cart while the rest of the men were singing a song in German. This emphasise that he doesn’t belong. This scene exhibits John’s desperateness of trying to be accepted into the Amish community. It also reflects the growing connection of John and Rachel’s relationship as Rachel devalues her culture in order to get closer to John.
Rachel’s attraction to John leaves her with an inner moral dilemma as to conform to and uphold the Amish values, or to give in to her desire and break the cultural rules and be with John. There are several scenes that reflect Rachel’s nonconformity. In the ‘Barn building’ scene where Rachel serves John first emphasise that she is breaking her cultural values in order to be close to John. There are also signs of nonconforming when Rachel removed her bonnet before embracing and kissing John. When Rachel dances with John to the music in the ‘breaking the rules’ scene, she is taking a large step in devaluing her culture as she dances with an ‘English man’ who is not her husband. In the ‘bathing’ scene where Rachel deliberately exposes herself to John, she is inviting him to take advantage of his attraction to her.
The Amish are critical of John as he does not ‘fit in’, meaning he
The complexity of Rachel’s character differs within the play. On the one hand, Rachel is portrayed in a male disguise showing she has independence as she has taken matters into her own hands, her successful manipulation through disguise perhaps demonstrating her intelligence and how easily women can dupe men. This could also suggest that she is not acting according to the social ‘norms’ for women in the 60s demonstrating that she doesn’t fear people’s views of her although she is a woman. She demonstrates her strength and independence as she takes matters into her own hands ‘I’ll take two hundred in cash’ and acts in a violent way ‘Rachel slaps Francis’, portraying the growing power of women. On the other hand, Bean could have done this to project the message that women cannot hold any power without the help of a man. Although she has decided to solve her problem herself, she has had to dress up as a man to do so, thus showing that women’s roles are often tokenistic. The motive behind her plan was also for a man illustrating the length a women will go for a man. Had Rachel not dressed up as a man maybe she would not have gotten so far, her success in doing so
Although Rachel is very emotional, in the only dialogue between her and Mrs. Pierce she sounds very shy, unsure of herself, not ready to confront and timid.
In the story “Eleven”,Rachel is forced to wear and ugly burgundy-colored sweater,by her teacher, that symbolizes lack of maturity,weakness,and power. There are multiple lines in this story that
Rachel is obsessed with the idea of being perfect and needing to uphold an image of perfection, however she has finally realized this is not attainable. Living in the Congo is an
Imagery is another literary technique that is used to characterize Rachel. In the incident over the red sweater, Rachel states, “That’s not, I don’t, you’re not… Not mine.” I finally say in a little voice that was maybe when I was four. “From this line, a picture is painted through words to show Rachel’s facial expression and her reaction to having to admit that the sweater belonged to her. Cisneros also paints a picture of Rachel when she states, “all of a sudden I’m crying in front of everybody. I wish I was invisible but I’m not. I’m eleven and it’s my birthday today and I’m crying like I’m three in front of everybody”; in reference to Rachel having to wear “the ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope”. From that statement, Cisneros shows how sad and upset Rachel was about having to put on that sweater.
Beyond racial divide, Kingsolver portrays how Rachel’s self-obsession leaves no room for her family in order
This inner defiance gives evidence to Rachel’s determination and individuality. The sweater now represents a sort of barrier and if she submits herself to it, she fears the world of ages and maturity.
Rachel took her arm away from his but still walked close to him. Then he had cried out "Rachel! Do you not love me? Is not my love for you as sacred as anything in all of life itself?" Rachel was quiet. They passed a street lamp. Her face was pale and beautiful. He had made a movement to grab her arm and she had moved a little farther from him. "No," she had replied. He then said "Some time--when I am more worthy?" he had asked in low voice, but she did not hear him, she did not even say goodnight and went into her house.
One of the events in this book was the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party was the dumping of 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. Rachel and Debby, Sarah’s older sister, believed that Paul was one of the people who dumped the tea, but Paul denied it. Sarah and Debby, Sarah’s older sister, started talking about Rachel. They said that Rachel is really worried for Paul because he could get hurt or even killed. Rachel had already been worried about Paul but she was more worried when he started doing more stuff. This made Rachel unhappy because she doesn’t want anything to happen to
, she is giving the readers a way she knows how to describe her feelings. This shows her character because its her describing her feelings in a personal way. The point-of-view of the story helps to characterize Rachel. By the story being in Rachel’s point-of-view, the reader gets first person responses to events.
Women take an oppressive role and Rachel is sure to not be taken under a man’s hold. While faking an engagement with a man involved in political affairs, Eeben Axelroot, she knows how to use her physical features to make him expose his intentions. In addition to that, she uses what she knows about others through Axelroot to her advantage. At one point, while interested in marrying a rich ambassador, she says “ After what I know about that man, I can wrap him around my little finger” (Kingsolver 428). Rachel also understands that although men keep women in the house daily, they cannot go on a week without them cooking or supporting their
This further impacted the children Rachel and Leah, being the oldest daughters in the family. Rachel was a daughter that loved her father and she at first felt that he was the best person in the world. She would always follow him around and be his little princess, that was until she started to see the bad things that he started doing in the dark, mysterious place they were living in. She started to see how arrogant and defensive he became throughout the community and how he threw hissy fits. She realized that enough was enough and she needed to grow accustomed to this new place by herself, just like the narrator did in the poem. This is because she knew that her dad was just going insane and he wanted too much power. She now felt bad for her mom and what he had done to her, and wanted to side with her mom to get out of the community that they were in because they had enough of it. Another thing that happened in the Congo while she was there was something absurd and scarring to say the least. Her sister had started to hunt with the men for meat and Rachel saw what they did when they killed the poor animals lives. Rachel was so startled and appalled that she had to become a vegetarian for a short time while they were there. This just shows that she had to adapt to a new lifestyle because she could not think of eating a poor animal that had an innocent life, but her sister Leach could have cared
Her arrogant tone and malapropistic diction show that she has no intention of learning the language of Kilanga or communicating with the people there. For example, when she is making fun of Mr. Axelroot she says the he may have forgotten “we Christians have our own system of marriage, and it is called Monotony” (Kingsolver 405). This along with many other times she uses incorrect syntax and malapropism shows that Rachel is trying to act older than she is and causing miscommunication between her and others. She also is arrogant and comes to the Congo with the belief that whites honestly are superior to other races.
Eyewitness identification and testimony play a huge role in the criminal justice system today, but skepticism of eyewitnesses has been growing. Forensic evidence has been used to undermine the reliability of eyewitness testimony, and the leading cause of false convictions in the United States is due to misidentifications by eyewitnesses. The role of eyewitness testimony in producing false confessions and the factors that contribute to the unreliability of these eyewitness testimonies are sending innocent people to prison, and changes are being made in order to reform these faulty identification procedures.
In the opening scene, Rachel is at her husband’s funeral and the service is conducted in German. At a glance, you can tell that it is a very tight-knit community and that this person was well liked by the entire Amish town. The next scene shows us that Rachel and her son Samuel are going to the city to take a train so she can visit her sister. As she boards the Amtrak to go into Philadelphia, her father tells her to “be careful out among the English”.