Munro Practice IOC

This is a practice IOC on a passage from the short story Passion.

https://soundcloud.com/user715790245/munro-practice-ioc

Little Boy

Andre Hazes is a Dutch folk singer and instantly turned into a star when he released his first single Een eenzame kerst (‘A lonely Christmas). His music falls under the genre Levenslied (song about life), which depicts the lives of the ordinary. As a folk singer originating from a popular place in Amsterdam, many people are able to relate with his feelings and the meaning behind his songwriting. Amsterdam is known for its cosines (due to its size) and everyone is familiar with the people around them. A close bond exists between a lot of Holland’s inhabitants and Hazes is the extra force enhancing this affiliation. Considering Hazes discusses the ordinary, subtle and sensitive aspects of life, almost everybody can empathize with the themes he brings to light. Little Boy is an ode to his son Melvin about the rules and realities of life, the confrontations of growing up and the virtues of living. It pulls the attention of a wide scope of people, as we have all gone through the process of getting a taste of life, like Grace in Alice Munro’s Passion. There are ups and downs, people who will let you fall but you will have to stand up again and continue to live life to the fullest. These are general morals about life, which anyone can associate themselves with. This is the reason why Hazes can effectively evoke emotions, he knows how to bring people together and make them united by discussing the obstacles we all face from time to time. These are the English lyrics of the Kleine jongen (‘Little Boy’):  

[My] little boy,

You're on this world so you'll have to fight like me

I can know it

Life isn't always easy,

There are obstacles at every moment.

[My] little boy,

There are many good people,

But bad ones exist too, it's a pity it's true

But you have to think;

That soon you'll realise

That honesty wins from lies

Refrain

This life goes so fast

There is so little time, so live, you're free

But be wise and make the people happy

Then you'll be truly happy

Because life's so short

Many things will change once you get older

You still play with LEGO, but that'll soon change!

It's a pity, but you won't stay small

[My] little boy,

At school you'll notice it's all about grades and power

It's life

So learn what you have to

And then you'll be the one who has the last laugh

[My] little boy,

And once you're grown

Then maybe your father isn't anymore

Then tell your children this story from your old man

Refrain

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkX7ga_uR-U

You choose how and what to think

David Foster Wallace revealed an intriguing theory in his essay This is Water about learning how to think and the impact on one’s self. Once you have control over your mind, you will be able to adjust thoughts, steer your mentality and develop sympathy to care about other people’s contemplations. Educating your mind to positively change the unconscious frustrations that run your brain’s thinking in dreadful situations is what Wallace considers pure freedom. He brings to light the self-centered outlook we deep down all insensibly abide and how this ‘natural default-setting’ can be controlled once you learn how to think. Wallace thoroughly evolves this thesis by inflicting a real life situation of adultery procedures that triggers the instinctive behavior to regard yourself as the ‘absolute center of the universe, the most vivid and important person in existence.’ At one point in one’s life, most likely referred to as adulthood, the experience of day-to-day routines starts to interfere with the way we view ourselves in comparison to the rest around us; in This is Water a hard-working man awaits his turn at the cashier in a packed supermarket and can’t help but acknowledge his own pettiness. This is the point where a ‘well-adjusted’ individual would activate their emotional intelligence to empathize with the rest of the people in the supermarket who might endure more complex frustrations besides a hungry stomach and a tired body. It is that mental switch which sets your mind free and educates you to impart “attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.’ You can change the way you think and choose to think differently.

In relation to Alice Munro’s short stories, Wallace’s theory communicates a strong parallel to the subject matter of her writing. Munro embraces the significant aspects of day-to-day life and includes emotional intelligence as a way of developing empathy amidst her characters. In turn this can influence the audience to become aware of the essence of emotional intelligence and deliver a positive impact on the way we get to choose how to think. In Free Radicals, Munro develops the character Anita to sympathize with a murderer in order to save herself. She fabricates a story in which she kills “Nita” to compensate the man’s offense and connect to his thoughts conducive to the determination of her subsequent life course.