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March 28, 2024, 08:30:52 pm

Author Topic: Please give feedback on my Invictus/Ransom Paragraph  (Read 568 times)  Share 

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AbyssFenix

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Please give feedback on my Invictus/Ransom Paragraph
« on: August 23, 2019, 04:42:14 pm »
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Hey AN, would really appreciate some feedback on this intro and BP as I have a SAC in a week or so

Attaining the ability to forgive is an arduous task, for it requires absolute mental fortitude in the face of devasting losses. It is thus much easier to fall into the clutches of revenge, acquiescing to the primal instincts of man with a singular goal and an interim benefit to ostensibly fill the vacuity currently present within themselves. Indeed, the quest for attaining vengeance does give palpable strength to one, yet after having attained this aggrandised goal, it leaves one drunken with rage to rampage in an effort to find more satiation, clawing themselves into a vicious cycle. Therefore, forgiveness, though initially difficult, is presented to be the better option, from which only benefit occurs and in comparison, has a much better attainment of liberation, to ultimately subside the pain of loss. However, it is evident that a mutual forgiveness is necessary to strike a healthy balance in the ability to achieve greater benefits as both sides can thusly have a cascading positive effect on their milieu.

Revenge is the primary innate feeling that humans crave to in order to compensate for their losses, whereas forgiveness is initially bitter and painful and thus accessible to only the mentally fortified. This notion of revenge is portrayed in Ransom during Achilles’ lamentation for the death of his adopted brother, Patroclus. David Malouf depicts Achilles to be “weeping without restraint” whilst “pouring fistfuls of dust over his head” which reveals how one of the most revered Greek warriors is rendered to be in an almost childlike state whilst drowning in his own dark despair, signified through the dust. This fine substance would continue to infest his own body, climbing the routes of his mouth and nose, spreading itself all over, much like his anguish. Being inconsolable, Achilles then turns to “deal[ing] with Patroclus’ killer”, Hector, as he finds it to be the only way to placate his burning anger and has no thought of forgiveness. Here, Malouf lucidly illustrates that humans, even great warriors, inherently turn to vengeance before all else, regardless of the consequences that may arise, such as Achilles’ “spirit set[ting] off on its own downward path”. Where Malouf depicts the easy path most would take, one of desiring revenge, Clint Eastwood in Invictus evinces the path of forgiveness that Mandela takes, one of pain which many others cannot comprehend. Previous to his presidency, Mandela was identified as a “terrorist” by the Afrikaners and is consequently wrongly imprisoned on the grounds of treason against South Africa. Having spent 27 years of incarceration, the innate human emotion that one would express, evidenced by Achilles in Ransom, is pent up fury. Yet Mandela is portrayed to have “come out ready to forgive the people who put [him] there,” even after having spent a significant portion of his life in a “place of wrath and tears,” which outright astounds Pienaar. Eastwood highlights the solitude that Mandela had experienced by the use of a high camera angle looking down on the single chair in the room, the sombre lighting evanescing with the dark colour of the furniture to elucidate the bleak circumstances and reality that Mandela faced; which is further bolstered by the gloomy non-diegetic recital of the poem ‘Invictus’ in the background. It is only Mandela’s mental calmness and discipline, revealed through his “human calculations” during the whole course of Invictus, that allows him to successfully subvert the standard feeling of anger into clemency. Therefore, though both texts utilise dark language to depict arduous circumstances, Malouf reveals through Achilles that the initial response to any adverse situation is anger, which can become uncontrollable; whereas in stark contrast, Eastwood displays in Invictus that through rational clarity, one can instead subscribe to the notion of forgiveness, which does nothing in the interim to subside the pain. Nevertheless, forgiveness is shown to have its benefits in the long term, where vengeance becomes detrimental.
« Last Edit: August 23, 2019, 04:55:13 pm by AbyssFenix »
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alrightally

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Re: Please give feedback on my Invictus/Ransom Paragraph
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2019, 07:42:16 pm »
+1
I haven't read the paragraph yet, but I would definitely recommend introducing the texts in your introduction instead of your first paragraph. Shape your response around the texts, not the other way around :)
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