Category: Humanities

Jocelyn’s Journal

ClaireHumanities

Jocelyn is a 18 years old (1770) girl living in Boston with her father. Her father and she came to America to search for a better life where they could become anyone they want. However, she struggles as her opposition against Britain and her father’s loyalty and desire to remain attached to Britain clash. In 1775, Despite her father’s strong opposition, she volunteers as an army nurse during the revolutionary wars. This journal tells about her story throughout the whole American Revolution from 1770 to 1783.

As shown in the journal, various things have changed after the American Revolution. More people were involved in politics, as it gave political power to all the white men who owned property. Out of monarchy, America had a president leading their country, and Britain was no more in control of their laws. Additionally, birth was not destiny anymore: anyone could become anything they wanted to. However, some things remained the same. White, rich men were still in charge. On the contrary, women like Jocelyn had no political power, slaves stayed the same as slaves, and Native Americans even got worse treatment after the Revolution. Although American Revolution had its limits on its results, it is still considered a valuable historical event as it showed people’s power to fight for their liberty.

A Glorious Morning for America

ClaireHumanities

American Revolution Common Craft Video by Claire and Chelsea

 

American Revolution is a valuable historical event that showed the power of people winning the huge battle against the Great Empire. Under the control of Britain, American colonists start to feel unfair and declare their independence from Britain.

Revolutions happen when people wish for a change in certain political power or organization and decide to fight for themselves. Through looking at different revolutions, I learned that revolutions take the form of organized movements that aim at a certain goal. In American Revolution, American colonists had the desire for a system of self-government, which was undoubtedly incapable under Britain’s power. Thus, all 13 colonies of America united together, setting up Continental Congress and Sons of Liberty, and fought for their liberty. Similarly, in Russian Revolution, peasants who felt high suppression under the Tzar gather forces themselves and stand against the Tzar.

Even though the American Revolution might seem not much like a revolution, it was truly ahead of time in its revolutionary ideas. While the Russian Revolution ends up being under the complete control of Lenin, the Americans develop a system of self-government, allowing ordinary people to gain political power.

The Survival Under 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert

ClaireHumanities

Below are my video and writing about the theme and the central ideas from the book “Trapped.”

 

“Trapped” is a book written by Marc Aronson that explains the story of 33 miners trapped under 2,000 feet below in San Jose Mine, Chile. This book describes in detail both above and below the Chilean desert, how the trapped miners survived together and how the process of the rescue went. One theme of this book is that cooperation and teamwork are important for survival.

The trapped miners held each other to not lose hope, and whenever they started losing hope, as a team they cheered up again. In addition, the rescuers were cooperating, too. They really worked together to save the miners not knowing if they are alive or not. Due to this teamwork and supporting one another, all 33 miners were able to be alive until the rescuers reached them, and the rescuers were able to reach them as quickly as possible.

There are two main reasons why you should read this book. First, it is a true accident of trapped miners that we have to recognize and have a think about. Today, many of the employees work in unsafe workplaces (including mining). However, the jobs cannot be stopped because it is an important job that affects our daily life (mining – electricity, fuel). By reading this book, we can realize the situation of the workers and pay more attention to the issues. Second, this book is not only about how the world rescued the miners, but also a story that shows how cooperation is an important key to survival. It is very interesting to read how the trapped miners got together and hold each other to not lose hope and stay alive. It makes the readers to think about the power of cooperation and putting ideas together. Since the end of 2019, coronavirus had spread throughout the world widely. To quickly get out of this Covid19 situation, all of us have to cooperate together. Thinking of our current situation, this book is inspirational and relatable.

One thing I learned in this unit and reading this book was rereading an important part of the book for a deeper understanding of the content and finding the connection with main ideas. Before, I never tried rereading a part even though I did not understand it well, because I thought it was a waste of time. However, now I know that it is an important process that helps me to come up with deeper ideas.

The Boxer Rebellion and the Legation Quarter

ClaireHumanities

The Boxer Rebellion deserved a bad reputation because of the violence they committed against foreign powers. The Rebellion was organized by people who believed in martial arts and magic, who resented foreign powers. The organization first targeted its government, which was Manchu. However, as their government started to support them, the boxers turned their back to the foreigners completely. The boxers did not have a complete and agreed thought, but they had a strong belief that they committed violence and tried to remove foreign powers. They killed foreign missionaries including innocent Chinese Christians. Over 230 people were killed by the boxers and churches and houses of the foreigners were burnt. Additionally, the boxers cut off the telegram of the French post office where every communication in and out of Beijing was passed through. They also blocked the railway at the railway station, and therefore no one could neither enter nor get out of Beijing. This isolated not only people that were a threat to the boxers but also innocent foreigners in the legations and churches. The newspapers reported the death of foreigners in Beijing because they could not communicate with each other. This was blocking the freedom of communication during the business and commerce they were doing in China that was agreed on in the treaty. Also, the German Minister Clemens von Ketteler was murdered by the boxers in the legation quarter. Boxer Rebellion, a group of people who had a strong belief and who did not try to accept the foreign culture, deserved a bad reputation because of their violence and brutality that can never be justified.

Hermia’s Instagram

ClaireHumanities

hermia_l

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Hermia

🌼 Be Brave 🌼

Followed by lysander_h,  demetrius_h, egeus_d + 3 more



my love

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hermia_l

pizza station

Liked by lysander_l and 489 others

hermia_l


O hell! to choose love by another's eyes! #true #love  

lysander_h

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I love you so much Hermia❤️

egeus_d

You are mine! Either die or marry @demetrius_h

helena_d

Why are you always so beautiful?

hermia_l

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hermia_l

I'd rather wither away than give up my virginity to someone I don't love. #speak #up #for #yourself

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theseus_e

Make wise decisions, Hermia. 

helena_d

Call you me "fair"? That "fair" again unsay. O happy fair!

hermia_l

under the tree

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hermia_l

Godspeed, fair Helena! Good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!

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demetrius_h

What do you mean Hermia? I love you!



In William Shakespeare’s play, “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Hermia is a character who is struggling for true love. Hermia is a brave and affectionate character who believes in true love. In “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Hermia is in love with a man called Lysander. Lysander also loves Hermia, but Egeus, Hermia’s father wants her to marry another man called Demetrius and so does Demetrius. Hermia disagrees with the law of Athens: the father’s right to choose a lover for his child. She complains, “O hell! to choose love by another’s eyes!” (line 140). This shows that she believes in true love, and she wants to marry her love, Lysander. Desperate to marry Lysander, she decides to escape the country where the laws of Athens could not reach her. Hermia is a brave and independent character who knows how to speak up for herself and make a wise decision. She did not want to follow the life that her father had decided for her but make her own life with Lysander. She said, “I’d rather wither away than give up my virginity to someone I don’t love (line 80).” Hermia has her own opinion, and she puts it into action. It is not easy to leave one’s country just for love. But she knew that it was better to leave her own home, Athens, and live her own life she wants outside. This shows that she is a brave and wise character. Lastly, Hermia is an affectionate, kind, and friendly character. At the end of Scene 1, when she meets Helena, she greets Helena: “Godspeed, fair Helena! Whither away?” (line 180). Even though Helena does not react to Hermia kindly because of jealousy, Hermia is being friendly and affectionate to Helena. In “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Hermia is loving, being brave, independent, and kind. She is a character who pursues true love, and who is courageous and affectionate.

Wishes Make You Greedy

ClaireHumanities

Everyone is born with greed, but the most important thing is to realize the danger of greediness. In this short story, “The Monkey’s Paw,” it shows the danger of greediness. The White family has a magical object that can grant any three wishes. They already had all they needed and lived ordinarily before the Monkey’s paw was handed to them. Because they received an object that could change their lives, they made unnecessary wishes. However, wishes always came with a price. In this story, William W. Jacobs, the author, believes that greed usually leads to terrible consequences.

In the beginning, Sergeant-Major Morris, a man who had experienced Monkey’s paw before, advises the Whites: “‘If you must wish, … wish for something reasonable.'” (Jacobs 99). Morris has experience with the Monkey’s paw and helps the Whites to make a wiser decision. This message warns the family to be sensible when making a wish with the Monkey’s paw. However, one example shows them being greedy, when the Whites made their first wish, saying, “‘I don’t know what to wish for … It seems to me I’ve got all I want.'” (Jacobs 115). This phrase shows that they did not need anything more, and they knew that they did not. However, because they were able to make wishes, they wished 200 pounds. And as a result, they received 200 pounds. But it was a pay for their son, Herbert’s death. Their greediness and hoping for more than they needed led to Herbert’s unexpected death. Further along in the story, they made even more serious wishes. Mrs. White told Mr. White, “‘No, we’ll have one more. … quickly … wish our boy alive again.'” (Jacobs 242). To save Herbert, they made a second wish. Herbert’s death was the outcome of their greed, but they did not stop there and desired more. The second time, they did not wish for money, not an object, but one’s life. And the result of the greediness was terrible: Herbert came back home as a living corpse. Because of their selfish desire, their son died and turned into a living corpse. As shown in the story, greediness and hope for an extreme change in life always require a price. This story of the Whites shows that wishing for something unnecessary commonly brings unexpected and unpleasant consequences.

Only Shame is to Have Shame

ClaireHumanities

I made a found poem with words from a short story “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan. This story is about a Christmas Eve Dinner of Amy’s Chinese family living in America. In this story, the main external conflict is character vs. nature conflict. Character vs. nature conflict is when a character is struggling with any force of nature. Amy is embarrassed about her family culture and is ashamed to show her crush, Robert her family’s Christmas Dinner. I tried to show Amy worrying about how Robert will think about their family culture. I used words like “terrible,” “despair” to emphasize how Amy was feeling that night.

For my background image, I chose a Chinese dinner table because I thought it was important in the story. With my words, I made important words bold to show what word is important to catch the conflict in the story. I also made certain words bigger to show exaggerated.