The Soldier

The Soldier

National Service requires all male Singaporean citizens and second-generation permanent residents who have reached the age of 18 to enrol in the military. They serve a two-year period as Full Time National Servicemen, either in the Singapore Armed Forces, Singapore Police Force, or the Singapore Civil Defence Force. When a conscript completes his full-time service, he is considered to be "operationally ready", and is thereafter known as an Operationally-Ready National Serviceman. National Servicemen are the equivalent of other militaries' reservists. As Singapore has a limited amount of manpower, and there was not enough resources to support a professionally trained army, Singapore has decided to train its own citizens into National Servicemen so when disaster strikes, Singapore citizens would be fully-prepared to take on any challenges.

I think that National Service should not be made a compulsory in Singapore as two and a half years in National Service means that I would go into university late and I would be spending two and a half years practically doing nothing. I do think that it is important to a certain extent as I feel that Singapore should be able to defend itself without relying on others, but on the other side, I also feel that there is not a need to waste such a long time in National Service as the world is much peaceful now.

I do not think that I have the same sense of patriotism for Singapore as the sense of patriotism presented in the poem, as I do not feel a sense of belonging to Singapore.

Book Review_Pride and Prejudice

Pride And Prejudice

By Jane Austen

Review by Chen HuangYan

This novel revolves around the Bennet family and takes place at the turn of the 19th century in rural England. The Bennet family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their five daughters - Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine, and Lydia - live in comparative financial independence as gentry on a working farm, Longbourn. Since Longbourn is destined to be inherited by Mr. Bennet's cousin, Mr. Collins, the five marriageable daughters and mother will be without a home and income once Mr. Bennet dies.

The mother worries about this predicament, and is anxious to find husbands for them quickly. However, the father doesn't seem to be worried at all. Elizabeth, the heroine, is convinced that she should never marry unless she feels compelled to do so by true love, even though she has no real ideas about how she will survive financially.

Elizabeth Bennet is of the opinion that her sister Jane, being kind and beautiful, will find a wealthy husband, and that she can then live with her.

The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, moral rightness, education and marriage in her aristocratic society of early 19th century England. Also, unexpected events happen and Elizabeth begins to realize that she may have misjudged Mr Darcy, the man who loves her, and there may be more to Mr Darcy than meets the eye.

The captivating story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy is one of the most charming and romantic comedies ever written.

I feel that this is an extraordinary story as the writer, Jane Austen, depicted the scenes and events in the story well and brings the unexpected into the general picture. This is also an excellent novel for those who seek for romance stories.

Book Review_War of the Worlds

War of The Worlds

By H.G.Wells

Review by Chen HuangYan

The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by H.G.Wells. It describes the experiences of an unnamed narrator who travels through the suburbs of London as the Earth is invaded by Martians. It is one of the earliest stories that details a conflict between mankind and an alien race.

The War of the Worlds is split into two parts, Book one: The Coming of the Martians, and Book two: The Earth under the Martians. The novel is narrated by a writer of philosophical articles who throughout the narrative struggles to reunite with his wife, while witnessing the Martians rampaging through the southern English counties. Part one also features the tale of his brother, who accompanies two women to the coast in the hope of escaping England as it is invaded.

The narrator is at an observatory in Ottershaw when explosions are witnessed on Mars, causing interest among the scientific community. Later a meteor lands on Horsell Common, southwest of London, close to the narrator's home in Woking. He is among the first to discover that the object is a space-going artificial cylinder.

When the cylinder opens, the Martians — bulky, octopus like creatures the size of a bear — briefly emerge, show difficulty in coping with the Earth's atmosphere, and rapidly retreat into the cylinder. A human deputation moves towards the cylinder, but the Martians incinerate them with a heat- ray weapon, before beginning the construction of alien machinery.

The narrator incredibly escapes the terrible ordeals while the weak dies under the martians feet.

I liked the part where the aliens from Mars, armed with heat rays and black gas, begin exterminating humankind and the narrator goes through terrible ordeals and remained unscathed, except for some slight burns and scars. It was definitely a thrilling and scary adventure.

Home Based Learning Task 2

Home Based Learning

Rainbow Death

Difficulty Rating: * *

America did not foresee

Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!

Expecting others to pay a high price.

Now thinking twice?

Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.

Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.

All the deceit continues to spread.

Nefariously America led astray -

Generations untold WILL pay -

Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson

Task 2

Question: Complete the template provided below (Annex A), focusing on (1) Point of View; (2) Situation and Setting; (3) Language/Diction; and (4) Personal Response, and post your response to Task 2 on your blog. This template is based on John Lye’s ‘Critical Analysis of Poetry’, and you can make reference to this in Annex B when in doubt.

Answer: Point of View: From the statement “Now thinking twice?” Hubert believes that America should have thought twice before using Agent Orange, and he believes that America is at fault first as America invaded Vietnam and had sprayed Agent Orange in Vietnam. In other words Hubert feels that America should reflect on this incident. The statements “Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn” and “Nefariously America led astray” also supports Hubert’s point of view that America should reflect as it tells us that America, flaunting its power over the world, had sprayed Agent Orange into Vietnam although they were mindful that they were killing innocent human beings. Hubert’s point of view is affected because of his background. Because Hubert personally is also affected by the Agent Orange sprayed in Vietnam, This has changed his perspective of Agent Orange in hatred and anger.

             Situation and Setting: The historical setting in the poem happened in the Vietnam War that happened from 1961 to 1971. During the Vietnam War, between 1962 and 1971, the United States military sprayed 20,000,000 US gallons of chemical herbicides and defoliants in Vietnam, eastern Laos and parts of Cambodia, as part of Operation Ranch Hand. The program's goal was to defoliate forested and rural land, depriving guerrillas of cover; another goal was to induce forced draft urbanization, destroying the ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside, and forcing them to flee to the U.S. dominated cities, thus depriving the guerrillas of their rural support base and food supply.

             Language and Diction: Hubert used many words like potpourri, omnipotent, deceit, nefariously, and execrable to enhance the sad tone of the poem. It is also to express the death of innocent human beings and the selfishness of America.

            Personal Response: I myself hold hatred against wars as I believe that wars give nothing but destruction and the loss of innocent lives. From the poem, I have learnt that although one possesses great power, he must have the ability to control this power and not flaunt it or use it against innocent human beings. With great power comes great responsibility.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/31702310/Poems-and-8-Steps-Table

Home Based Learning Task 1

Home Based Learning

Rainbow Death

Difficulty Rating: * *

America did not foresee

Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!

Expecting others to pay a high price.

Now thinking twice?

Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.

Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.

All the deceit continues to spread.

Nefariously America led astray -

Generations untold WILL pay -

Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson

Task 1

Question: Based on your understanding of the selected poem, perform extensive web research and write a report on your blog detailing the conflict represented in the poem(s) of your choice. Bear in mind that this piece of background information will allow your blog audience to further understand the poem as well as your analysis of the poem in Task 2.

Answer: Hubert Wilson is a Vietnam War who served in the USAF Security Service. Together with a dozen or so intelligence school graduates, they were prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating to be sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in Southeast Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of them were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and it was a more contaminated environment than Da Nang. After staying there for about 18 years, he started to have unexplained headaches and limb pains. His central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progessive limb pains etc. No doctors have been able to diagnose the illness. Since his brain is still functioning moderately well although he has mobility issues, he has decided to turn to writing.

This small poem speaks of a modern day ingredient of warfare that has caused appalling death and suffering – not only to its intended victims, the Vietnamese people, but also the service personnel that used or even just came into contact with “Agent Orange”.

According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects. From 1962 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called “Rainbow Herbicides” employed in the herbicidal warfare program.

This poem may remind us that wars aren’t over when the wars are over. Although wars have ended, but the aftermath of wars have remained and one good example is that children in the younger generation are affected by Agent Orange.


http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html