Form 3 English - Week 1

Form 3 English - Week 12015

Part I: A Fighters Lines by Marzuki AliI am old and worn

and have lost all my strength

sufferings

and the history of the fight for independence

have forced sacrifices

that know no name

or life

from the wheelchair of the rest of my days

I, body and energy crushed

see and cannot do much

these times are too big a challenge

for the remnants of my crippled years

the net of deceit spread everywhere

disturbs meIn the name of justice

Wake up and form ranks sons of our ancestor

Be brave

And erect a wall of people

Stand up heirs of our freedomI have no more voice

It is you now who should speak Marzuki Ali

Summary

This poem talks about the feeling of a retired soldier who had fought for the countrys independence. This poem is looking from the first person point of view who is a retired soldier as the poem uses the pronoun I , as seen in the stanza 1. In this stanza, the persona says that he is old and worn and has no energy. From this Stanza, we know that the persona once had become a soldier and he had suffered a lot to free the country from invaders. Many lives had been sacrificed to fight for our independence. At that time, they fought with all of their will.

Consequently, he is wheelchair bound. Due to the loss of energy and the fact that he is now old, he has enough energy to only be able to sit on the wheelchair. This is portrayed in Stanza 2. After years of independence, the persona sees that the people are trying to destroy themselves by indulging into the world full of lies. Now, there is nothing much he can do as how he did before- protect the country. This is shown in the lines:

see and cannot do much

these times are too big a challenge

for the remnants of my crippled years

the net of deceit spread everywhere

disturb me

In stanza 3, the persona calls out to the younger generation to stand up and protect the country. Due to the spreading of lies, he now urges new generation to speak out their opinions and fight for their freedom. He tells us in order to fight for our freedom, first we have to be united, erect a wall of people and fight for the sake of our nations harmony.

Synopsis

Our ancestors worked very hard for independence. Many died for the country. In the midst of struggling for independence, he was injured and now he is wheelchair bound. He was strong then. However, the challenges facing the country are far greater than before. He is unable to fight it now. He has no more power to control or change anything although he has a strong will. Due to his strong will and in the spirit of patriotism, he urges the youngsters to see the truth and not drown in sea of lies. He stresses here that if we, as the younger generation cannot find the way to stop the dishonesties and lies we are putting our countrys fate in danger as this dishonesties can actually shake the stability of our country. As the persona feels helpless, he wants the younger generation to come forward and fight in the name of justice.

Setting

In this poem, there are two settings. First is in an independent country- independent of colonial rule and any foreign control. This is shown by the line, and the history of the fight for independence have forced sacrifices that know no name or life. The word history tells us that the persona is reflecting the past. The second setting is an old man sitting on a wheelchair inside his abode- home where he sits and ponders on the days problems. This is shown in Stanza 2 (Line 1), from the wheelchair of the rest of my days.

ThemeThe important theme in this poem is patriotism. The personas experience of being a soldier; fighting with the enemies and going through hardships has made him a person who loves his country. But now he is old and disabled and cannot do much to free his country from current challenges. Due to his patriotism he cannot bear to see the country sink in the sea of lies, he urges the young to fight for it. He urges the younger generation to unite in spite of their differences and speak out the inequalities and dishonesties in the community so much so that the freedom retains.Tones

The persona voices out his hopes through various tones. There are three different tones in the poem. In Stanzas 1 and 2, the persona enhances the tone of frustration as he shares his disabilities and weariness of not being able to fight for the country anymore. They are shown through the line, I am old and worn. Apart from that, the line from the wheelchair of the rest of my days , stresses his disability and leads him to feel frustrated. He shows the tone of disappointment as he talks about the deceits that have spread everywhere as what he says in the line, the net of deceit spread everywhere disturbs me. He also feels disappointed as he and his friends have fought so hard but now people themselves are creating problems due to greed and deceit. His tone changes dramatically as in Stanzas 3 and 4, he goes from frustration and disappointment to hopefulness. He eagerly urges the new generation to stand up and rid of their fear of voicing out their opinions as stated in the line, In the name of justice wake up and form ranks sons of our ancestor and Be brave. At the same time, he also stresses on the needs for the younger generation to be united and seek for their freedom as he clearly states in his lines, And erect a wall of people and Stand up heirs of our freedom.

Symbols

A few symbols are highlighted in the poem. First is the wheelchair that connotes disability. The wheelchair symbolises the sacrifices for the country-the hardships he went through for the sake of achieving the countrys independence. Although, he is now wheelchair bound, he still has the will and determination to awaken the younger generation from their long sleep on how important it is to retain the independence achieved from the sacrifices made by the older generation like him. Another symbol in the poem is a wall of people. It symbolises unity of the people. In this poem, it refers to a need for the younger generation to unite themselves regardless of race, skin colour or background to speak and not to be influenced by the deceits being spread. It is also important for the younger generation to erect a wall of people to retain the independence achieved.

Metaphor

One major literary device used in this poem is metaphor. A metaphor is comparison made between two things without the use of words such as like or as. In this poem, we can see there are two examples of metaphor. In Stanza 2 (Line 6), the persona uses the net of deceit where he voices out problems encountered by the younger generation. The modern generation deceives each other and how the deceit is being spread- it is widespread just like a fishing net that spreads out when cast into the sea. The next metaphor is as in the Stanza 3 (Line 4), a wall of people where the persona feels that the people need to be united and become like the concrete wall to counter any challenges met.

Moral Values

Whether we are young or old, we must fight for our country. We may be physically handicapped but we can still contribute as we can be alert mentally. We must value the issues of human rights that our ancestors have fought for.Practice 1-Answer the questions below based on the poem of A Fighters Lines

1. What kind of tone do you sense from the first two stanzas?

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2. Why does the persona feel helpless?

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3. Describe what the poet means by the last two lines in stanza 2.

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4. Which two phrases refer to the younger generation?

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5. Which phrase tells us to be united?

______________________________________________________________________________6. What has the present generation inherited from the older generation?______________________________________________________________________________

Part II: The Railway Children

IMPORTANT EVENTS IN THE RAILWAY CHILDREN

1.WHEN MOTHER FALLS ILL ( CHAPTER 3 )Mother falls ill. Peter fetches Dr Forrest. The doctor gives the children a list of food that their mother needs. Mother says they have no money to buy the things on the list.The children write a message on a white sheet for the old gentleman on the 9.15 train. It tells him to look out for something at the station. Phyllis gives the old gentleman a letter. The letter explains what happened to the childrens mother and asks the old gentleman for help to get the things on the doctors list.That evening, Perks delivers a large box to the childrens house. Inside the box are all the things in the list plus some extra things and a letter from the old gentleman.

2.SAVING THE TRAIN ( CHAPTER 5 )One day, the children took a walk along the top of the hill beside the railway line. Suddenly, they heard a noise and saw half the hillside crashed down onto the railway line below. The children realised that the 11.29 a.m train was in danger. They used the girls red petticoat to make six flags to warn the train.The train came down the track too fast. Bobbie was afraid that it would not see them. She ran onto the line waving two flags. The train stopped just twenty metres away from Bobbie.3.A BIRTHDAY FOR PERKS ( CHAPTER 6 )The children asked to have the cakes on Thursday. They wanted to make a birthday tea for Perks. Peter wanted to ask everybody in the village to help them give Perks a nice birthday. Not everyone was kind. Old Mrs Ransome said no one remembered her birthday so she did not want to help but many gave them all kinds of things to Perks. The next day, Bobbie and Phyllis gave Mrs. Ransome roses and a handkerchief for her birthday.On Thursday, the children went around to collect presents the people had promised. At three oclock, the children took the presents and the pram to Perks house. When Perks came home and saw the pram and the presents, he was angry. He thought people would laugh at him for being poor and needing their things. Bobbie explained that the people wanted to give him the presents because they liked him. Perks calmed down. He was glad that his neighbours thought so kindly of him. The children stayed for tea.

Model Answer: Choose an event in the novel that portrays the hardship faced by the main character. With close reference to the text, discuss how she/he tackles the problem.

Based on the novel The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit, I could see the hardship faced by Bobbie, the main character of this novel.In this novel, Roberta or Bobbie and her siblings lived with their parents in London. One day, two strangers came and took their father away. After this sudden event, they had to move to a small house in the country. Their life changed and they had to face a lot of hardships. Bobbie, the eldest child in the family and the main character in this novel directly felt the hardship. An event that portrays the hardship faced by Bobbie is when Mother fell ill.Peter fetched the doctor and before the doctor left, he listed the things needed for Mother. They did not have the money to buy all the things listed. Bobbie loved her mother very much and had to think of a way to overcome the problem. She and her siblings wrote a message on a white sheet for the old gentleman on the 9.15 train. It told him to look out for something at the station. Phyllis gave the old gentleman a letter. The letter explained what happened to Mother and asked the old gentleman for help to get the things on the doctor's list. That evening, Perks delivered a large box to the house, Inside the box were all the things on the doctor's list and some other extra things. Bobbie finally got all the things in the doctors list for her mother with the help of the old gentleman.Two weeks later, Bobbie and her siblings wrote a message on a white sheet telling the old gentleman that Mother was getting better. This event shows how Bobbie, the eldest child in the family tackled the problem. Although Bobbie was still a child, she had a lot of good qualities which other children at her age do not possess.

The Railway Children-(12 marks)

Based on the novel of The Railway Children, describe a character you dislike. Support your answer with evidence of the novel.

Your answer must be more than 50 words.

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PAGE 7English Form 3 @ CHENG SK