VCE English

TONE: to begin with, Day adopted a somewhat humorous tone which allowed her to establish a sense of intimacy with the readers. Her voice turned to one of longing and nostalgia throughout the blog as she recalled the days when tattoos were a symbol of oppression. Disappointment is hinted at when she realises that today, it is rather a fashion statement and has been commodified. There is also a sense of regret, as she looks at her own tattoo and realises that because of social attitudes, that tattoo on her skin has forced her image into one of fashionary statemennt, when initially it was a symbol of her rebellion as a feminine. This tone full of longing becomes contagious to readers as they too realise that modern society has “dimished’ the image and “power” which tattoos once yielded

a) that the image of tattoos has changed over time. This is made undeniably clear by Day and inevitably becomes adopted by the readers as part of their views. This is important.

however she implictly argues against getting a tattoo, yet this is not the majority of her argument, the other one is) As the onus is placed on the reader to decide they read the opinions and are swayed either for getting tattoos or against.

MM: Do you feel that fantasy is closely married to martial history?  Can we have interesting fantasy stories that are about things other than great wars and the conflicts between man and monster?  Is armed conflict an essential element for such a broad swath of literature? JBC: Armed conflict certainly isn’t a necessary component of fantasy — but it is a human endeavor full of high drama which can reveal the best and worst elements of human nature. Therefore an author will find it a quite efficient way to reveal character, move action forward, and as Lois McMaster Bujold suggests, find the worst things you can do to your characters. Fantasy may also have a particular affinity for war and battle as a means of allegorizing great conflicts of concepts of good and evil, but there is plenty of fantasy that gets along quite well without it – think of the vast majority of the Discworld series, for example, or the early books of the Harry Potter series.

JBC: Armed conflict certainly isn’t a necessary component of fantasy — but it is a human endeavor full of high drama which can reveal the best and worst elements of human nature. Therefore an author will find it a quite efficient way to reveal character, move action forward, and as Lois McMaster Bujold suggests, find the worst things you can do to your characters. Fantasy may also have a particular affinity for war and battle as a means of allegorizing great conflicts of concepts of good and evil, but there is plenty of fantasy that gets along quite well without it – think of the vast majority of the Discworld series, for example, or the early books of the Harry Potter series.

MM: Do you feel that fantasy is closely married to martial history?  Can we have interesting fantasy stories that are about things other than great wars and the conflicts between man and monster?  Is armed conflict an essential element for such a broad swath of literature?