Author: Tevin Hamilton

Tevin Hamilton

English 2400-Section D049

Prof. Sean Scanlan

Oct 6, 2022

Coffeehouse#2

Indoctrination

The chapter “Down with the King” portrays how children might perceive the current king of the country and allows the readers to gain insight into the fact that in school kids are being taught that they should love the king and that he is someone who has been chosen by good. This brings a much more introspective view in the chapter much earlier in the story where the soldier came in and took control of the school, the chapter down with the king allows you to see that the reason for controlling the school wasn’t to introduce and enforce superficial things like the headdress and the clothing the people but instead allow so that they can influence the young impressionable mind of the kid and put indoctrinate the children in believing what the king wants them to believe. The line that best illustrates the undertone of why the king took control of the school is when a young Marjane says to her father, “I love the king, He was chosen by God,” after saying this line Marjane tells her that what her teacher has been teaching, this was while her parents were discussing the protest against the king rule talking about the progress that has been made.  It was only after Marjane’s father explains to her that the king wasn’t chosen by God and how the current king came to do that Marjane starts to move away from this idea. It was in this chapter you were shown the true repercussions of something that happen in the first few chapters because while Marjane’s parent and the parent are out protesting against the king’s rule their children are being taught to love the king and almost in a sense worship him as he is some who God chose to rule.

Tevin Hamilton

English 2400

Section D049

Prof. Sean Scanlan

Sept 17, 2022

Coffeehouse#1

    In the short story, “New Boy”, by Roddy Doyle uses the title not only as a literal symbolism about the Character joseph journey a new school but also metaphorically to symbolize the change in joseph later on in the story and him taking the steps forward to move  from the boy rocked with grief and being a child again and able to laugh. The physical symbols of the title new boy,,first begins in the beginning of the story with the author dropping hints about the fact that Joseph might be from a different country; the author does this through joseph taking phrases such as “your dead” literally and no even realizing it is a threat but instead interpreting it as the other boy just saying that everyone will eventually die someday. Through thia the author established who joseph was and later in the story when the author reveals the death of Joseph’s father, you realize that this line of thinking by Joseph is not only revealing a difference in culture but also the state for Joseph mind in the wake of his father’s death. Through the establishment of how serious joseph is in the beginning of the story breaking down phrases that he does understand into was that he can interpret them as well as the he interprets them leading to conclusions such as when he breaks down the prase “your dead” and concludes that kelly means that everyone eventually dies.  The author is not only using that as a way to symbolize cultural deference but to portray the state of mind Joseph is in when he goes straight to inderpren threat kelly is saying everyone eventually dies this shows a synicilism that is not usually present in children it is only after the reveal oh Joseph’s father death and joaeph finding the body are a le to identify the secound meaning behind Joseph breaking down kellys threat.

Later in the story the author shows a shift in Joseph character when the teacher confronts him,Kelly and quin about what happened and Kelly starts to make jokes about, you see a clear difference in the response from Joseph he he is no longer interpreting the things kelly is saying in a lateral sense and he is even laughing at the jokes this symbolize Joseph joking from someone outside the culture being inside but even mire than that when Joseph starts to cry as he laugh this him cleansing him self and begin a new as someone that has been through a tragedy but is not defined by it and can still be a child. Through this form of literal and metaphorical symbolism the author shows Joseph being new to the country and his state of mind, and then later on the transition to him starting to understand the culture more and not interpreting thing a lateral and being able to laugh at jokes going fron a closed child who being through a hardship to opening , in a way coming out of his cocoon and being reborn as a new boy.just as he does with the title showing the.