Uncle Tom's Cabin: Harriet Beecher Stowe
This book is a classic because of the impact that it had on America during its time period and even now. This book was a turning point in African American history. It exposed the poor conditions that slaves were put under, and because of it, many people in the North changed their ideas on slavery. Without this book being published, who knows how long it would've taken someone to educate the public on the true story behind slavery, or if someone would've even exposed it at all. This book is a classic because it helped to shape the future.
In this book, the idea of exposing the flaws of slavery was definitely new. Various types of print had been written about slavery, but none of them had been totally truthful. Most were written to make slaves sound more like servants instead of telling about the punishments and horrible conditions that these African Americans had to live under. Another new aspect to this book would be the fact that the author was a woman. This was not unheard of during the slave era, but what was unheard of was the fact that this book became published. Women were not respected during this time period. Most thought that all they could do was take care of the home and the children in it.
People of the South were outraged when the book was published. They did not want the way they were treating these people to be known to the rest of the nation. They did not believe that what they were doing was wrong and wanted to stick with their cruel ways. Many southerners also tried to claim that all that Stowe published were lies, but the people of the North didn't buy it. These northerners were astonished to find out what was really going on in the South. This made even more people turn against slavery and many people's hatred toward the South grew even more.
This book captured the time period perfectly. It elaborated on and showed the truth about the issue that divided the nation during the time. It shared the struggles that African Americans went through daily and the hardships that one would have to go through in order to become free. This book paints a picture of the life of an African American slave that northern Americans had never seen before.
The author is sharing her abolitionist views. She exposes the poor conditions that slaves have to live under at the time that she wrote. With this, she is trying to sway her readers to think the same. By telling stories of a slave who is trying to become free via the Underground Railroad, the author is implicitly saying that southerners are treating their slaves in a way that is cruel and that there needs to be an end to slavery.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Classics Response
The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank
This book is a classic because it is a true story written by a girl detailing her life within an unfathomable chapter of our world's history. It continues to be used in the classroom because it is a first person record of true events that enlightens students of the devastation caused by Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust. Anne Frank and her family did their best to live a normal life in an abnormal setting, having come to the realization that their story would more than likely not have a positive ending. Without the diary left behind by Anne Frank, we would not be able to take a glimpse into the unimaginable life that many people were forced to live in WWII.
Anne Frank's diary brought about a new source of literature. The idea of actually reading about someone's real struggles was relatively new and especially the brutal way Frank wrote it. Even though her diary was censored by her father and lonesome survivor Otto, Anne Frank dared to go into further detail unlike many before her. While she shared her family's few positive moments together while in hiding, she certainly didn't hold back when sharing the other side of the spectrum.
When Frank's father, Otto, became interested in publishing his daughter's diary, the world was not a fan. As stated by flavorwire.com, sixteen publishers rejected the idea before Otto's dream became a reality; however, nowadays, after our culture has changed to a more graphic and mature nature, the book is read in many classrooms nationwide and over 30 million copies have been sold.
Anne Frank's diary captured the atrocities of the Holocaust during WWII and the impact that it had on those that Adolf Hitler might have referred to as "imperfect." This book represents a typical German Jewish family in the 1940s that was struggling to survive and provide during wartime, but had the added threat of being taken away and separated from one another without knowing their ultimate fates.
Anne Frank used her diary to show future readers that even though she would be a victim of such a mass tragedy, she lived for 15 years, and she wanted her life to count for something. She decided that instead of sitting around and feeling pity for herself and the situation she was in, she would turn her misfortune into something that would enlighten people for decades. Every day that she wrote was another day that she lived, and although she didn't survive to see her diary published, her voice is still being heard some 70 years later.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Salem Witch Trial Day
September 16, 2014
I have decided to flee Salem. This option would be the best for me because I can flee to another village. Once I get to this new village, I can change my appearance without anyone else knowing. In this time period news does not travel very fast so no one would even know my original face. I would be a step ahead of the authorities. Also, no one in the new village would be aware that I was conficted of being a witch. They would have no reason to shun or think differently of me.
After reading about the other options, I would still choose to flee. This option sounds like it would be the safest and easiest on my emotional stability. If I accused someone else, I could not live with the guilt. I would never want someone to go through that. I can't dislike a person that much. I would not want to get pregnant because I could still be executed after I had my baby. I also coudn't live with myself if I were to confess to being a witch. As much as it shouldn't matter, I still care about what other people think. I would not like to stand for a trial either. The odds are two great to go against me, especially without witnesses to defend me. Refusing a trial would also not be an option because of the physical harm that it would cause me.
I have decided to flee Salem. This option would be the best for me because I can flee to another village. Once I get to this new village, I can change my appearance without anyone else knowing. In this time period news does not travel very fast so no one would even know my original face. I would be a step ahead of the authorities. Also, no one in the new village would be aware that I was conficted of being a witch. They would have no reason to shun or think differently of me.
After reading about the other options, I would still choose to flee. This option sounds like it would be the safest and easiest on my emotional stability. If I accused someone else, I could not live with the guilt. I would never want someone to go through that. I can't dislike a person that much. I would not want to get pregnant because I could still be executed after I had my baby. I also coudn't live with myself if I were to confess to being a witch. As much as it shouldn't matter, I still care about what other people think. I would not like to stand for a trial either. The odds are two great to go against me, especially without witnesses to defend me. Refusing a trial would also not be an option because of the physical harm that it would cause me.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Homework Journal #5: The Glass Castle, pp. 214-288
August 8, 2014
A) Jeannette's job at the jewelry store allows her independence because it is a way for her to make her own money. If she really wanted to, she could buy herself food or something that she really wanted instead of giving it to her mom for the whole family. Except in her case, she gives it to her mom so that her dad can spend her hard-earned money on booze. Journalism gives her independence because it is something that she can finish herself. Even though she does ask her dad to help her with one article, she is capable of finishing her writing without help entirely. They both give her independence because with them comes time that she can be alone without any of her siblings or parents bothering her. It's her release from her less than stellar life. She doesn't have to worry about all of her problems at either place because she has her mind set on getting her work done.
B) The move to New York symbolizes another turning point in Jeannette's life because she is finally away from what has been holding her back all of these years. New York represents the new life that she is starting. It gives her the opportunity to go to college and succeed. The move fulfills her dream of being able to live in a nice apartment and being able to feed herself and the rest of her siblings. She not only wanted what was best for her, but for her siblings as well. I would say that this is a more justifiable move for Jeannette because she needed to get away from her parents. They were holding her back both physically and mentally. Physically they were taking money from her and her sister, and mentally they were keeping them in such a negative community.
C) Jeannette's parents choose to continue living on the streets because they have become accustomed to it. It has been working for them so far, so they don't feel like they need to change it. They have the mindset of the saying, "If it's not broken, don't fix it." Her parents also choose to continue their old lifestyle because they have too much pride in it. They think of it as an adventure or a game. Their goal is to show people that it is possible to stay alive without the luxuries that most people have. Even though their children offer them money, food, and shelter, they have too much pride to accept pity and help from them. They continue the path that they were on when they wouldn't take anything from the welfare or any other resource.
D) Maureen stabbed her mother because Rose Mary finally decided to take charge of one of her children. She had decided that it was time for Maureen to move out and live on her own. Rose Mary even tried to tell Maureen that "God helps those who help themselves." Maureen didn't like the idea of her own mother kicking her out onto the streets. She was so enraged that Maureen stabbed her mother. Jeannette apologized because she felt like it was all her fault that Maureen had turned out the way that she had. She said, "Once she had arrived, I'd been too busy taking care of myself to look after her." She blames herself for everything that Maureen did, even though their parents should be the ones apologizing.
A) Jeannette's job at the jewelry store allows her independence because it is a way for her to make her own money. If she really wanted to, she could buy herself food or something that she really wanted instead of giving it to her mom for the whole family. Except in her case, she gives it to her mom so that her dad can spend her hard-earned money on booze. Journalism gives her independence because it is something that she can finish herself. Even though she does ask her dad to help her with one article, she is capable of finishing her writing without help entirely. They both give her independence because with them comes time that she can be alone without any of her siblings or parents bothering her. It's her release from her less than stellar life. She doesn't have to worry about all of her problems at either place because she has her mind set on getting her work done.
B) The move to New York symbolizes another turning point in Jeannette's life because she is finally away from what has been holding her back all of these years. New York represents the new life that she is starting. It gives her the opportunity to go to college and succeed. The move fulfills her dream of being able to live in a nice apartment and being able to feed herself and the rest of her siblings. She not only wanted what was best for her, but for her siblings as well. I would say that this is a more justifiable move for Jeannette because she needed to get away from her parents. They were holding her back both physically and mentally. Physically they were taking money from her and her sister, and mentally they were keeping them in such a negative community.
C) Jeannette's parents choose to continue living on the streets because they have become accustomed to it. It has been working for them so far, so they don't feel like they need to change it. They have the mindset of the saying, "If it's not broken, don't fix it." Her parents also choose to continue their old lifestyle because they have too much pride in it. They think of it as an adventure or a game. Their goal is to show people that it is possible to stay alive without the luxuries that most people have. Even though their children offer them money, food, and shelter, they have too much pride to accept pity and help from them. They continue the path that they were on when they wouldn't take anything from the welfare or any other resource.
D) Maureen stabbed her mother because Rose Mary finally decided to take charge of one of her children. She had decided that it was time for Maureen to move out and live on her own. Rose Mary even tried to tell Maureen that "God helps those who help themselves." Maureen didn't like the idea of her own mother kicking her out onto the streets. She was so enraged that Maureen stabbed her mother. Jeannette apologized because she felt like it was all her fault that Maureen had turned out the way that she had. She said, "Once she had arrived, I'd been too busy taking care of myself to look after her." She blames herself for everything that Maureen did, even though their parents should be the ones apologizing.
Homework Journal #4: The Glass Castle, pp. 155-213
August 7, 2014
A) Jeannette tries to cope with the move to Little Hobart Street by getting her house to look more like the other families' in their new community. On page 157 she says, "I kept looking for other ways to make improvements." She decides that to do this, she will paint their house by using yellow paint and paintbrushes that her dad brings home from one of his odd jobs. As far as her food deficiencies go, Jeannette copes with her hunger by sitting in the bathroom during lunchtime, waiting on all the girls to throw away their leftover food. She then goes and collects the scraps for herself to eat. Sometimes she even sticks some in her purse to help curb her brother's hunger. She also fights back against the kids that try to make fun of her and her brother for living "in garbage." She and her brother make a contraption out of a mattress and rope that will shoot rocks at the kids, hopefully making them stop using their mean words.
B) They tolerate abuse from their peers in the way that their parents have taught them: by fighting back. An example of this would be when Brian and Jeannette make the rock launcher out of a mattress and some rope to shoot rocks at the kids that make fun of them for their living conditions. They tolerate the abuse from their parents by just forgetting about it. They know that if they tell their parents, then they will just make matters worse. They tolerate abuse from Erma by doing about the same thing as with their parents - they forget about it. If they confront Erma, she will physically abuse them or kick them out of her house. If they tell their parents, the siblings will get yelled at about how they don't know how lucky they are for even having their grandma. I sympathize with Jeannette's situation a lot because she doesn't know any better. She knows that if she complains then the consequences would be bad, so why make a situation worse than it has to be? As much as I would love to think that if I was in this situation, I would stand up for myself, I know that I wouldn't. I would be too afraid. Jeannette has been taught to believe in a false reality. She definitely doesn't know any better, and the only other people that would teach her any different would've been Grandma Smith and maybe Mrs. Shaw. Grandma Smith began to teach Jeannette when she was extremely young, but when she needed to learn the most, Grandma Smith had died. Mrs. Shaw could have been another person to teach Jeannette about the real world, but the Walls' family doesn't live in Phoenix long enough.
A) Jeannette tries to cope with the move to Little Hobart Street by getting her house to look more like the other families' in their new community. On page 157 she says, "I kept looking for other ways to make improvements." She decides that to do this, she will paint their house by using yellow paint and paintbrushes that her dad brings home from one of his odd jobs. As far as her food deficiencies go, Jeannette copes with her hunger by sitting in the bathroom during lunchtime, waiting on all the girls to throw away their leftover food. She then goes and collects the scraps for herself to eat. Sometimes she even sticks some in her purse to help curb her brother's hunger. She also fights back against the kids that try to make fun of her and her brother for living "in garbage." She and her brother make a contraption out of a mattress and rope that will shoot rocks at the kids, hopefully making them stop using their mean words.
B) They tolerate abuse from their peers in the way that their parents have taught them: by fighting back. An example of this would be when Brian and Jeannette make the rock launcher out of a mattress and some rope to shoot rocks at the kids that make fun of them for their living conditions. They tolerate the abuse from their parents by just forgetting about it. They know that if they tell their parents, then they will just make matters worse. They tolerate abuse from Erma by doing about the same thing as with their parents - they forget about it. If they confront Erma, she will physically abuse them or kick them out of her house. If they tell their parents, the siblings will get yelled at about how they don't know how lucky they are for even having their grandma. I sympathize with Jeannette's situation a lot because she doesn't know any better. She knows that if she complains then the consequences would be bad, so why make a situation worse than it has to be? As much as I would love to think that if I was in this situation, I would stand up for myself, I know that I wouldn't. I would be too afraid. Jeannette has been taught to believe in a false reality. She definitely doesn't know any better, and the only other people that would teach her any different would've been Grandma Smith and maybe Mrs. Shaw. Grandma Smith began to teach Jeannette when she was extremely young, but when she needed to learn the most, Grandma Smith had died. Mrs. Shaw could have been another person to teach Jeannette about the real world, but the Walls' family doesn't live in Phoenix long enough.
Homework Journal #3: The Glass Castle, pp. 91-154
August 6, 2014
A) The Walls siblings show loyalty by standing up for each other. On page 146, Jeannette shows a perfect example of this by saying, "Erma, you leave him alone!" when Brian got touched inappropriately by his grandma. Jeannette shows even more loyalty to her brother on the next page by standing up to her father by saying, "I know what I saw." When their dad doesn't believe Brian, she tries as hard as she can to persuade him to protect Brian. Even though she was surrounded by her siblings on page 141, Jeannette was lonely. She talks of thinking about Dinitia and how she had hoped to befriend her. She says, "With a smile like that, she had to have some good in her, but I couldn't figure out how to get her to shine it my way." She's longing for friends that aren't people that she is related to. I think Jeannette was also lonely when her dad was trying to quit drinking for her birthday present. On page 117 she says, "Brian and Maureen played outside, and Lori kept to the far side of the house. Mom painted in her studio." She is literally lonely because no one was anywhere around her, but she was even more lonely because she didn't have even her father to keep her company, as he normally did.
B) The Christmas incident signified a turning point in Jeannette's life because she wanted to get away from her dad, a feeling that she had never really had before. After the mass that the family went to, she says, "I didn't like Dad when he talked like that, and I tried to move away from him, but he just held me tighter." This was her turning point in deciding that she didn't want to live like this anymore. I think the Christmas incident does change Jeannette's perspective of her father. For once, something was actually going to go right for her family. Her mother had announced that they were going to do "Christmas in the Catholic fashion." They would actually celebrate on December 25, as any other family would. This Christmas was supposed to be extraordinary, but instead, her father made it ordinary by doing what he always does: ruining the day.
C) Jeannette's life in Welch did not compare at all with her life in Battle Mountain or Phoenix. In Welch, there was no room for adventure since everything was close together in town. There was no desert for them to lay out in and sleep under the stars. Welch also brought Jeannette into her first encounters of racial unbalance with the way Erma talked about African Americans. Jeannette's life in Welch shaped her late childhood and early adolescence because of all the new things she was exposed to. In this time, she was surrounded by girls talking about how far they each had gotten with their boyfriends. This shaped her because now she wanted a boy to like her like all of the other girls were talking about. Her grandma and Uncle Stanley also helped in shaping her when they were inappropriately touching both her and Brian. This helped her to realize that there are types of people to stay away from, like her perverted uncle and grandma.
A) The Walls siblings show loyalty by standing up for each other. On page 146, Jeannette shows a perfect example of this by saying, "Erma, you leave him alone!" when Brian got touched inappropriately by his grandma. Jeannette shows even more loyalty to her brother on the next page by standing up to her father by saying, "I know what I saw." When their dad doesn't believe Brian, she tries as hard as she can to persuade him to protect Brian. Even though she was surrounded by her siblings on page 141, Jeannette was lonely. She talks of thinking about Dinitia and how she had hoped to befriend her. She says, "With a smile like that, she had to have some good in her, but I couldn't figure out how to get her to shine it my way." She's longing for friends that aren't people that she is related to. I think Jeannette was also lonely when her dad was trying to quit drinking for her birthday present. On page 117 she says, "Brian and Maureen played outside, and Lori kept to the far side of the house. Mom painted in her studio." She is literally lonely because no one was anywhere around her, but she was even more lonely because she didn't have even her father to keep her company, as he normally did.
B) The Christmas incident signified a turning point in Jeannette's life because she wanted to get away from her dad, a feeling that she had never really had before. After the mass that the family went to, she says, "I didn't like Dad when he talked like that, and I tried to move away from him, but he just held me tighter." This was her turning point in deciding that she didn't want to live like this anymore. I think the Christmas incident does change Jeannette's perspective of her father. For once, something was actually going to go right for her family. Her mother had announced that they were going to do "Christmas in the Catholic fashion." They would actually celebrate on December 25, as any other family would. This Christmas was supposed to be extraordinary, but instead, her father made it ordinary by doing what he always does: ruining the day.
C) Jeannette's life in Welch did not compare at all with her life in Battle Mountain or Phoenix. In Welch, there was no room for adventure since everything was close together in town. There was no desert for them to lay out in and sleep under the stars. Welch also brought Jeannette into her first encounters of racial unbalance with the way Erma talked about African Americans. Jeannette's life in Welch shaped her late childhood and early adolescence because of all the new things she was exposed to. In this time, she was surrounded by girls talking about how far they each had gotten with their boyfriends. This shaped her because now she wanted a boy to like her like all of the other girls were talking about. Her grandma and Uncle Stanley also helped in shaping her when they were inappropriately touching both her and Brian. This helped her to realize that there are types of people to stay away from, like her perverted uncle and grandma.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Homework Journal #2: The Glass Castle, pp. 42-90
August 5, 2014
A) The passage is a perfect representation of the Walls' lifestyle. In many situations with the family, the dad does something questionable but then covers his action with a life lesson. Like in this passage, he doesn't tend to think about what the consequences could be if one of his learning experiences back fired. This also occurs when the dad puts all of the siblings in the back of a moving U-Haul. He is so worried about getting caught that he doesn't even think about the safety of the kids and how they could fall out of the moving truck. The passage also demonstrates Jeannette's tolerant and understanding character within the last three sentences especially. Since she has no other way to explain her father's actions, she tolerates him throwing her into the water. Just like in every other instance of her life, she tolerates her father, but only because she doesn't know any better. This swimming event compares to the fire incident because both are moments of "sinking or swimming." Both times, Jeannette's parents threw her into something without assisting her in any way. In the swimming event, her father threw her into the pool with the only instructions being to swim. He expected her to teach herself, and very quickly at that. For the fire incident, Jeannette's mother was not around even though she was only 3-years-old messing with fire. She was making hot dogs without any instruction to remind her of the dangers of fire. With both events came luck, I believe. It just so happens that Jeannette swam in the pool but sank at the stove.
B) Jeannette literally describes her father in the beginning of the memoir on page 24 by saying, "Dad was a dramatic storyteller." She thought of his stories as dramatic but she liked them that way to make things interesting. Later on in that page, she continued with, "Dad always fought harder, flew faster, and gambled smarter than anyone else in his stories." This comment kind of gives me the idea that she thinks of him in an egotistical way. He always ended up as the hero, even though he might have been bluffing a bit. Finally, Jeannette described her father as having high aspirations by saying, "When Dad wasn't telling us about all the amazing things he had already done, he was telling us about the wondrous things he was going to do." Since she seems to have remembered a lot about his future plans, I'd say she would describe him as ambitious. Jeannette expresses trust in her father by always forgiving him and going along with anything he told her. Even though it might not have been the right thing to do, she had no other choice but to forgive him and trust that her father was right. When talking about the swimming event on page 66 she says, "I figured he must be right. There was no other way to explain it." She didn't know any different than to forgive him for throwing her into the pool, even though she could have drowned. I found a quote by Jodi Picoult that I think relates perfectly to Jeannette's forgiveness as a child: "Forgiveness is not something we do for other people. We do it for ourselves - to get well and move on." If she didn't know any better, she would have just wanted to forget about it, and forgiving her father helped in that.
A) The passage is a perfect representation of the Walls' lifestyle. In many situations with the family, the dad does something questionable but then covers his action with a life lesson. Like in this passage, he doesn't tend to think about what the consequences could be if one of his learning experiences back fired. This also occurs when the dad puts all of the siblings in the back of a moving U-Haul. He is so worried about getting caught that he doesn't even think about the safety of the kids and how they could fall out of the moving truck. The passage also demonstrates Jeannette's tolerant and understanding character within the last three sentences especially. Since she has no other way to explain her father's actions, she tolerates him throwing her into the water. Just like in every other instance of her life, she tolerates her father, but only because she doesn't know any better. This swimming event compares to the fire incident because both are moments of "sinking or swimming." Both times, Jeannette's parents threw her into something without assisting her in any way. In the swimming event, her father threw her into the pool with the only instructions being to swim. He expected her to teach herself, and very quickly at that. For the fire incident, Jeannette's mother was not around even though she was only 3-years-old messing with fire. She was making hot dogs without any instruction to remind her of the dangers of fire. With both events came luck, I believe. It just so happens that Jeannette swam in the pool but sank at the stove.
B) Jeannette literally describes her father in the beginning of the memoir on page 24 by saying, "Dad was a dramatic storyteller." She thought of his stories as dramatic but she liked them that way to make things interesting. Later on in that page, she continued with, "Dad always fought harder, flew faster, and gambled smarter than anyone else in his stories." This comment kind of gives me the idea that she thinks of him in an egotistical way. He always ended up as the hero, even though he might have been bluffing a bit. Finally, Jeannette described her father as having high aspirations by saying, "When Dad wasn't telling us about all the amazing things he had already done, he was telling us about the wondrous things he was going to do." Since she seems to have remembered a lot about his future plans, I'd say she would describe him as ambitious. Jeannette expresses trust in her father by always forgiving him and going along with anything he told her. Even though it might not have been the right thing to do, she had no other choice but to forgive him and trust that her father was right. When talking about the swimming event on page 66 she says, "I figured he must be right. There was no other way to explain it." She didn't know any different than to forgive him for throwing her into the pool, even though she could have drowned. I found a quote by Jodi Picoult that I think relates perfectly to Jeannette's forgiveness as a child: "Forgiveness is not something we do for other people. We do it for ourselves - to get well and move on." If she didn't know any better, she would have just wanted to forget about it, and forgiving her father helped in that.
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