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The Functions of the Narratee in Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the DayStåhlberg, Andreas January 2008 (has links)
<p>Since its publication in 1989, Kazuo Ishiguro’s third novel, The Remains of the Day, has received a great deal of attention. It has been the object of criticism as well as acclaim and even been turned into film. It is the purpose of this essay to explore reader communication and characterisation The Remains of the Day by analysing its narratee, i.e. the receiver of the narrator’s story within the text. This entails the application of a reader response approach on the level of the narrative. More precisely, the investigation focuses on the functions of the narratee in the areas of reader communication and characterisation of the narrator and main character of the novel, Stevens.</p><p>I argue that the narratee, as an agent of the narrative, has two prominent functions in the novel: the first is as a tool for the author in the characterisation of the narrator of the story, and the second is as a device for achieving communication between author and reader. My thesis is that the narratee is not utilised in a mere supportive capacity in the novel, but as a primary way of achieving reader communication and characterisation of the narrator. Thus, methodologically this investigation is performed in part by reconstructing the narratee, and in part by analysing the communicative situation contained in the narrative.</p><p>The investigation yields ample evidence to support that the narratee, as a device of the narrative, is utilised as a primary way of achieving reader communication and characterisation of the narrator in the novel. The narratee’s indirect influence in the novel is surprisingly tangible and the narratee is revealed as a major mover of the narrative. In addition to this, the analysis shows that the narrator can also be his own narratee. In this regard Stevens’s role in the narrative is twofold: he is both the narrator, who tells his story, and the narratee, who receives the story. The duality serves to highlight and reconcile the complexities and idiosyncrasies of his conflicted character, as well as make the narrative more accessible to the reader.</p>
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British, American or Mid-Atlantic English : What accent do Swedish learner use and where do they get their influences from?Pettersson, Jessica January 2008 (has links)
<p>Titel: British, American or Mid-Atlantic English: What accent do Swedish learners use and where do they get their influences from?</p><p>Författare: Jessica Pettersson</p><p>Engelska C, terminsuppsats 2008</p><p>Antal sidor: 38</p><p>Abstract: The main purpose of this paper was to determine whether learners in lower secondary school used the British English accent, the American English accent, or if they perhaps mixed the two accents. I also wanted to find out from where the students got their influences. It is no longer prohibited in the Swedish curriculum to use other accents than the British one, and due to that it was interesting to see if the learners began to get their influences from somewhere else but their teacher. Teachers are also free to choose what accent they want to use. It often seems to be the case that learners take after their teacher’s pronunciation, but it is widely believed that they are also influenced by the English they hear in their spare time. Most of the learners in this investigation said in the survey that they preferred watching TV-shows and movies from the USA and therefore appeared to prefer an American accent. My informant study shows that most of the learners who took part in the test spoke with a British accent when reading single words, but when it came to reading sentences a mix of the two major varieties became noticeable. The results indicate that learners are first and foremost influenced by their teacher and what accent he or she uses and to a somewhat lesser extent by the English they come across when they are not in school.</p><p>Nyckelord: British English, American English, Mid-Atlantic English, pronunciation, accents, influences.</p>
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The Code of the Hero : in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the SeaEklöf, Tobias January 2006 (has links)
<p>Title: The Code of the Hero in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea</p><p>Author: Tobias Eklöf</p><p>English C, 2006</p><p>Abstract: By examining the depiction of Santiago, his actions, life style and role models as well as his close relation to the author I show how he grows from an old worn out man into a true hero by following a particular stance towards life; a code. The protagonist's approach to life and being put to the supreme test of overcoming bad luck, through the struggle with the marlin, creates a hero. In addition, the depiction of Santiago in terms of undefeated nature adds to his heroic proportions. The adversity of old age and the recent bad luck force the old man to challenge and defend his claimed championship. By catching and killing the ultimate opponent he recovers his selfhood. As I will show, there are two important role models providing the old man with strength and endurance during his battles. Joe DiMaggio gives the old man courage and stands as a symbol for the right way of living, a man who defied pain to achieve greatness. The boy Manolin provides the old man with strength as he plays the role of the observer, Santiago's audience. The boy is also the inheritor of the mastership, given by the protagonist. Both Joe DiMaggio and the boy Manolin fit Santiago's code and are therefore a direct source of inspiration. The results of Santiago's actions, of living according to his code, are illustrated through the ultimate sacrifice: crucifixion. The protagonist follows his code right to the very end, and is therefore undefeated, though facing physical defeat (loosing the fish to the sharks). The parallel between the old man and Christ's passion is created as a symbol for the inevitable; we are all going to die, what matters is how we live the life we are given. Christ never abandoned his belief and he eventually was crucified. Santiago chooses to stick to his code, and confront death with grace.</p>
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How to Improve Students’ Writing and Speaking SkillsElftorp, Fredrik January 2008 (has links)
<p>English is one of three core subjects in upper secondary school and it is essential that students</p><p>receive a good education in this subject. Since writing and speaking are such prominent parts</p><p>of the English language, the teacher is obliged to possess knowledge of how to improve</p><p>students’ proficiencies in an efficient way. The question is how to use this knowledge when</p><p>the teacher is supposed to compose different methods for lessons, evaluate the exercises and</p><p>give proper feedback to the students.</p><p>This investigation is based on various literary sources, interviews with teachers and</p><p>questionnaires with students and the background information is the basis for the interview</p><p>questions and the questionnaire.</p><p>There are endless possibilities for appropriate exercises to improve writing and speaking and it</p><p>is impossible to investigate every single one there is in a relatively short essay. I have,</p><p>however, found a fair number of methods, which will be described in this paper. In order to</p><p>evaluate exercises, the teacher needs to be prepared and know what to focus on in the exercise</p><p>as it is in progress, but also listen to the students’ opinions since they know if they have</p><p>learned anything or not. Correction of spoken errors should be handled cautiously by the</p><p>teacher but the students should be made aware of the written mistakes they make.</p>
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How to Tackle Translation Problems in a Text on Rugby : Translating culture and style in “Football, Identity, Place: The Emergence of Rugby Football in Brisbane” by Peter HortonJansson, Ulla January 2007 (has links)
<p>Abstract</p><p>This is a study of translation problems encountered during the translation of the article “Football, Identity, Place: The Emergence of Rugby Football in Brisbane” by Peter Horton. Focus is directed at two different types of translation problems. One of them concerns the cultural differences between the readers of Horton’s text and the translated text. Swedish readers are rather unacquainted both with the sport of rugby and with Australian geography. As a consequence, it may be problematic to translate rugby terms or geographical names. These kinds of problems were often solved by transferring the cultural word and/or adding explanations to the translated text.</p><p>The second type of translation problem concerned the stylistic level of the text. The translated text is aimed at a broad readership and therefore the stylistic level had to be lowered. Four different techniques were used to make the translation less formal than the source text. One of them was to avoid nominalizations by using a corresponding verb form instead. A second technique was to reduce the number of parenthetical insertions. Thirdly, it could be done by using fewer words before the finite verb to make sentences less left-heavy. And the forth technique involved choosing common everyday words rather than uncommon or formal words.</p>
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Metaphors and Terminology in Social Science : A translation and an analysisHelleklev, Caroline January 2006 (has links)
<p>This essay deals with the translation and analysis of a text on human rights. The analysis focuses on terminology, figures of speech, idiomatic expressions and oblique translation (modulation). The core of the essay concerns terminology and metaphors (or figures of speech), with the last two parts complementing the first two. For the terminology part Victor H Condé (1999) is the main source, when dealing with figures of speech both George Lakoff & Mark Johnson (1980) as well as Christine Alm-Arvius (2003) are the sources used. In the third part the theoretical source is Rune Ingo (1991), and in the last part Vinay & Darbelney’s (Munday 2003) ideas on modulation are discussed.</p><p>The source text was rich in metaphors. For this reason it proved very interesting and illuminating to discover how many metaphors that we (or at least the translator) may be unaware of that we use every day. In the text there were both easy-to-spot metaphors, for example half-digested medieval ideas, as well as the ones that are more hard to find, for example on what foundations do rights rest.</p><p>It was the terminology that posed the biggest challenge during the translation process. However, several of the terms are used in almost the same form and manner in the two languages, two examples are policy (policy) and regime (regim). The challenge here was if a term was used in the same manner in English as in Swedish and in such cases the Swedish Parliament’s website www.riksdagen.se was very useful. Another challenge has been idioms and expressions since it was sometimes hard to find good translations for them and many times the whole context was the key to finding out the author’s intent. An example of this is keep both feet firmly planted on the ground which was translated into som försöker vara så verklighetsknutet som möjligt.</p><p>Keywords: translation, human rights, figures of speech, terminology, modulation</p>
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To be or not to be : An essay about students’ perception on motivation related to schoolOlsson, Gustav January 2009 (has links)
<p>This essay investigates how students become motivated and if there is any difference between a teacher’s and a student’s viewpoint concerning motivation.</p><p>In order to carry out this investigation a survey was carried out. To get even greater knowledge of this subject, four interviews with two teachers and two students were also carried out. A total of 60 individuals took part in the survey.</p><p>The result shows that motivation is an important factor in school. Many students thought of motivation as the feeling of doing something without being forced. The reasons for students being motivated were many, but they could all be traced back to the teacher. How the teacher acts in the classroom is the biggest motivational factor.</p><p> </p>
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Stories of Old : The Imagined West and the Crisis of Historical Symbology in the 1970sBlom, Mattias Bolkéus January 1999 (has links)
For all the criticism that has been leveled against cultural representations of the American West, ideas of the westward expansion and its significance have remained powerful impulses for the negotiation of history and identity. Such notions of the past, and the cultural symbology with which they can be expressed, are more or less available to writers and other cultural agents for employment in political, cultural, or literary discourse. Understood in this way, the imagined West, to use Richard White's term, has continued to supply material that affirms or contests political and ideological change. The rejection of the conventionally imagined past in the 1970s provided writers with an opportunity to re-formulate historical representation and to make sense of history anew. Thus the imagined West reinforced its paradoxical status in American culture as a symbolic resource that signifies both historical inertia and constant change. This study investigates representations of the West as they appear in the literary discourse of the 1970s. In readings of four non-genre texts, Don DeLillo's Americana (1971), Robert Coover's The Public Burning (1977), Joan Didion's The White Album (1979), and Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff (1979), this study situates the cultural symbology of the West in a historico-political, cultural, and literary context. The study shows how these four writers utilize preconceptions about the meaning of the past, at the same time as they reshape that past to fit their own literary and ideological strategies. They do so by incorporating into the texts elements of historical representation and their ideological constituents, or ideologemes. Taken together, these texts are seen to illustrate the trajectory of the imagined West during a time of critical negotiation of American history.
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Edna’s Failure to Find Her Female Role in Kate Chopin’s The AwakeningKämpenberg, Kristin January 2007 (has links)
<p>In The Awakening we meet Edna, a woman in search of her female identity. She is uncomfortable in her role as the “patriarchal woman” and has trouble becoming either a “modern woman” or an “emancipated woman” To fully understand Edna’s search one must understand the patriarchal society in Chopin’s works and what it means to internalize this system. Edna searches for a different female role than that of the “patriarchal woman” but she has problems internalizing any one of the roles due to her previous choices, current social position and lack of support in her quest. This essay explores what these previous choices are and why they have placed her in her current position. She has a lack of support, which is crucial if she is to break out of her current female position. Edna’s realization that she cannot obtain a full acceptance in either one of these three female roles finally led to her choosing suicide. This essay also explores why she chooses this final way to resolve her problem. Critics have said that the suicide is not in tune with the rest of the novel, but I will in contrast show how the ending is indeed very much in tune with Chopin’s portrayal of Edna. The confusion that Chopin shows in Edna’s character throughout the novel explains why Edna in the end takes her own life. Our protagonist is a woman who searches for an identity that she cannot find due to choices she has already made and a society which she cannot change, and in that light suicide is a viable alternative.</p>
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Patriarchal madness : Patriarchal oppression and madness in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso SeaTennholt, Karolina January 2005 (has links)
No description available.
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