Thomas

If you make a little mistake, people kill you but this is normal, this is life and I am ready for it." -Cristiano Ronaldo

Category: Humanities

Rising from the Ashes: The Revolutionary Fire that Changed France Forever

March 10, 2023 / / 1 Comment

 

IMPORTANT INFO BELOW:

(Note that I made some slight changes (added some sound effects) to my part and Benjamins part of the video, so note that this is a slightly different version of video compared to Lucas’s blog post, so examine/grade our videos seperately).

Paris, France. It was where it all started. France was a powerful state, but when King Louis the 16th continued his father’s legacy, there was major corruption. In the 1780’s, Pre-Revolutionary France was made up of a Socio-Political System called the Old Regime, or the Ancien Régime. This Socio-Political System existed in most of Europe during the 18th Century. In this social system, there was a clear divine between the privileged and unprivileged. The unprivileged had to pay taxes and were treated horrendously, while the privileged, did not pay any taxes, and were treated extremely well. People were divided into the “Three Estates” in France, The First Estate was the high-ranking church members, or clergy, the second estate was made up of Nobles, or mostly made up by the privileged class. These two estates payed no taxes at all, supported France’s monarchy and the king, controlled education, and owned forty percent of land despite being only two percent of the French Population. Moreover, they collected taxes from the Third Estate, which was ninety-eight percent of the population. The Third Estate, contrasting with all the privileges of the First and Second Estate, had no privileges at all. It was made up of suffering peasants, workers, and merchants, along with some priests. They worked, and paid lots of taxes, for example, like church tax, poll tax, income tax, and even salt tax. They had no exemptions or privileges. Frances monarchy was ruled by the Divine Rights., and was ruled by absolutism, when King had absolute power. They believed God put the world in motion, power was given by God, and noone could question God. However, soon, problems arose. King Louis the 16th and his wife Marie Antoinette were lavish spenders, and France was experiencing a drought and famine. There was also deficit spending, and the government was spending more than they could afford. In desperation, King Louis asked for increased taxes, but the Second and Third Estate refused. So he summoned the Estates General, which sparked the era of the French Revolution in May 1789. To summarize, some short term causes for the French Revolution is Bankruptcy caused by deficit spending, the Great Fear, which was caused by the worst famine in French History, and the breakdown of the meeting of the Estates General. Long term causes include Absolutism, the unjust system of the Old Regime, poor harvests, and the influence of the Enlightment, in which was a philosophy in which people used logic and reason to determine how governments are formed. Watch our video to find out more specific information about this bloody era in French History!

 

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Drifting on a raft, thoughts drifted far away, and prepared itself for what lied ahead.

January 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Unbroken, a non-fiction book written by Laura Hillenbrand, describes a breathtaking journey which started with a devastating plane crash for Louie Zamperini, and portrays how he managed to overcome these life threats with grit, determination, and optimism. The story of Unbroken was set in the devastating times of World War 2 and talks about what life was like in POW camps as well as how life was changing for everyone living through the times where shots were fired across nations. Our protagonist, or main character of the story, is Louie Zamperini. He was an American Runner who participated in the Olympics, and as he was preparing for the 1940 Olympics, he was notified that it was cancelled, and he was forced into war. This led to a series of events which showed and highlighted Louie’s sense of hope and determination when he endured tough times. Minor characters introduced in the book include Phil, the only survivor alongside Louie of the Green Hornet crew, the Bird, who was the antagonist of the whole story and symbolized the evil of the nature of war, and Mac, who did not make it out alive of the harsh times of survival on the raft. Moreover, some other minor characters that were introduced in the novel were Cynthia and Louie’s hopeful family. One of the main theme/ideas of the book was that “when history carried [Louie] into war, his resilient optimism would define him.” (Hillenbrand 9). This means that you can get through extreme hardships if you remain strong and positive in the toughest moments. To briefly sum up the plot of the story, Louie was very naughty when he was small, and he was hated in his school. He used running as a way of redemption, and he ended up qualifying for the 1936 Olympics. In 1940, World War 2 started, and Louie was forced into the military. This led to a tragic event, the crash of the Green Bomber, which resulted in Louie’s brutal survival experience on a raft for 47 days. The raft drifted to a place where they thought that their lives were saved. It was quite the opposite, and on those islands in Japan, lurked belligerent and cruel enemies that would haunt Louie for years to come…….and it was one man in particular, who shattered Louie completely. Does Louie survive on the islands that constantly threatened death? Does Louie, skinny and broken, have the grit to fight against that man who swore to murder him? Crying under a tree every day, will Louie’s sister Sylvia ever see her brother again? Read the book to find out! 

Hyperlink for Picture

 

Below is my first sample for the notebook page for lesson 3. I wanted to show and track some central ideas or themes that has appeared throughout the book using evidence from various places from the book. . As you could see, two ideas that were a huge part of our story throughout was that war affects peoples personal lives and that you can through extreme hardships if you remain strong and positive in the toughest moments. See some examples below!

 

This notebook page below shows a note-taking strategy in which I am aware of how various parts connect to another issue or topic in the book, even when it seems different. In the notebook page below, I have used 3 chunks of text and applied it to this new note-taking strategy. I used examples from different parts of the book. Some of the big ideas were WWII, Survival, Louie Zamperini, Perseverance, Optimism, Loss, Family and Fear. See below for how these ideas connect to various parts of texts!

 

 

One of the biggest events, or transition point for Unbroken, was when Louie drifted on his raft for 47 days, he drifts to an unknown island of the Japanese, the Marshall Islands. As this is a main event in our book, I analyzed the causes and effects of this event based on the things that happened in different stages of the book. To look at the causes and effects, look at the notebook page below!

 

During Lesson 8, we talked about how introductions to settings can provide us with new central ideas for the book. In the notebook page below, I talked about two scenes, when Louie arrived at a POW camp, and the description of the setting on the raft. Using the descriptive words, I created themes and ideas based on the authors introduction of a setting. Look below to examine, central ideas include how enemies will do anything for the better of themselves, or that prisoners in world war 2 were treated nastily.

This is a deep dive into my notebook, and these notebook pages are selected based on the best notes taken in our unit “Stranger than Fiction”! Thank you for going through my notebook pages!

 

(I have at least two pages of notes that is included into the blog post that include/relate and heavily focus on central ideas that was essential and was visibly important  throughout Unbroken!)

 

Thomas

Ideas of the Humanists

October 14, 2022 / / 0 Comments

To find out how Humanist I am, you should look at the infographic attached above. Humanism,  a Renaissance belief, is the idea of reviving the interests for classical history and focusing one an individuals interests in life and nature. I am 86% Humanist, this is because I enjoy studying history, but only relatively. I love learning a variety of knowledge,  I focus on life of myself and others,  but I do not enjoy the nature as much as humanists should. To balance out, I calculated that I am 86% Humanist. Learning humanism, the humanities subject seem extremely important!

(All 3 sentence types are in here!)

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Ideas of the Humanists by Thom.S

The Purse Plunderer Lingers

September 12, 2022 / / 0 Comments

 

The Found Poem above was taken from paragraph 30-36 from the short story “Thank You Ma’am,” written by Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes was an American Poet, novelist, and a social activist. He was born on February 1, 1901 and died on May 22nd, 1967. In this found poem that was created based on his short story, it shows us a Man Versus Self, internal conflict between one of the protagonists in the story, Roger. Roger is the protagonist in the story, as he is where the rising action starts with. Mrs. Jones, the lady, is the antagonist in the story, as she stops Roger from stealing from her. Roger is a young boy, 13 years of age, he was frail, and wore old tennis shoes. He had no one at his house, and he just wanted a pair of Blue Suede Shoes. The boy was poor, and it highlights a Man versus Society external conflict as well, with the boy battling against the poverty, and the Blue Suede Shoes become a symbolized object for what the character desires. There is also a Man versus Man conflict, where there is a physical fight between Mrs. Jones and Roger. However, the main conflict in this story, which is attempted to be presented in the found poem displayed, is the Internal Conflict of Roger. He was in the Woman, Mrs. Jones’s house. The door was left wide open. He could’ve ran away. However, the trust, the guidance, and the kindness that Mrs. Jones has provided the boy with makes him linger, hesitant about whether to run. 2 quotes highlight the internal conflict of Roger to the most significant way. The Inciting Incident is where the boy steals from the large woman. These 2 quotes are chosen, based on the Climax section of the book, in which the boy is left unattended, and the two options are right before his eyes. Run away from punishment or stay for gratitude and thankfulness? At paragraph 31, Langston Hughes wrote: “The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!” This quote shows that the Boy has the thought of running away, however, the word could, shows that the boy knows that he could run away now, but he is hesitant. He lingers in thought. This is the internal conflict at play. The author uses this section, this phrase, to highlight this conflict burning in Roger’s mind. In paragraph 23, the author jotted: “Roger looked at the door — looked at the woman — looked at the door — and went to the sink.” Based on this quote, we could see the conflict much more clearly. There are two highlighted sides. The woman, and the door. The woman symbolizes her trust that she has provided the boy, and the door highlights the boy’s thoughts to leave the house, and escape punishment from the fierce woman. This is the tough decision that our protagonist must make. Run through the door and out or trust the woman. In the falling action of the story, Roger makes a decision, and it reveals a lot about his character. This is the resolution of the short story as well. On paragraph 36, the author said: “He did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.” This highlights which side Roger has leaned towards. This shows us that Roger is a man who has gratitude, and through others actions, he could change his perspective, as he didn’t trust Ms. Jones in the beginning. This also shows that Roger realizes what his mistake is. He seemed impulsive and naïve for stealing, and for not thinking about the consequences when there was the inciting incident, and when we first met him through the exposition of the story. However, through his decision to stay, we could see that the character has learned. Overall, the boy learns an important lesson about kindness and trust from an unlikely source. Think about an unlikely or unexpected piece of kindness that others have done for you. Moreover, Roger realizes that no one is alone in this world, and that change is only possible if we help one another. Lastly, this teaches us that we need to give everyone a chance, no matter who you are. Gender, Race, Age, it doesn’t matter. Everyone deserves a chance, a source of motivation, and a spark in their lives. To conclude, I hope the boy grows as a person, and learn from his own mistake after this incident, and remember what the woman has provided him with. 

 

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