Humanities – Ariel

Category: Humanities

Ten Savage Years of Bloodshed

My Journal was written from the perspective of Pancho Villa, a realistically existing revolutionary, who abundantly propelled the Mexican revolution. Pancho Villa – a man born in a laborer’s family on June 5, 1878, in Durango – spent his adolescence as a fugitive for murdering a Hacienda who assaulted his sister. Consequently, he kept a high hatred towards the domineering, wealthy Haciendas and their president who suppressed the poor to make an immense class difference, Porfirio Diaz. Aiming for justice, equality, and freedom, Pancho Villa joined rebelling forces at the beginning of the revolution. He has been through multiple wars, embarked on revolts, and soon became one of the most influential revolutionaries. This is his story of success, pursuit, and powerfulness.

The Mexican Revolution from 1910-1920 was a long and atrocious struggle among Mexican citizens (mostly peasants) and the presidents they were dissatisfied with. The revolution began in the background with widespread dissatisfaction with the elitist and oligarchical policies of Porfirio Díaz that favored wealthy landowners. Initiating with the pursuit of land reforms, the revolutionary constantly fought against any corrupted president which resulted ultimately at the end of the 30-year dictatorship.

The Mexican Revolution was successful in a way that many things such as the governing system, societal rules, and economy have made great improvements. After Obregon took the presidency, he acknowledged the desires of poor Mexican citizens and managed to restore order, peace, and prosperity to Mexico after a decade of abundant political changes with civil war. Firstly, he gave official sanctions and entitlement to organizations of laborers and peasants, offering a shorter work time with higher wages and land reformations which was the cause of the revolution in 1910. Furthermore, Madero’s Minister of Public Education, José Vasconcelos, implemented a massive expansion of access to public, secular education in rural and developed areas which facilitated socialist education in about 1930. This program brought Mexico worldwide fame and importance. In addition, this revolution marked the end of the 3 centuries of dictatorship and a rapid flow of system by establishing Mexico as a constitutional republic. Similarly, it was in 1928 when the presidential term was extended from four years to six years, and established a rule of no successive reelection due to the experience of Diaz, Huerta, and Carranza attempting to manipulate the reelections. There was also an economic prosperation, accomplished by the extension of railroad, highway, and airline networks to nearly all regions.

However, this revolution not only made changes for the better but also created changes that were causing worse consequences than before the revolution. For example, the revolution originated and continuously with rebels against the presidential reelections that dissatisfied the citizens; consequently, the violence continued after the revolution and had some sort of uprising produced in the 1920s during every presidential election. In addition, following Obregon’s aims, the country focused more on reality and education instead of religion. Therefore, problems with the church developed when Calles, the president following Obregon, instituted vigorously anticlerical activities; in revenge, the church suspended all religious ceremonies and approved sponsoring a rebellion in western Mexico known as the Cristeros.

On the other hand, many things from before the revolution persisted as continuities. Firstly, Mexican antique culture was highly persistent in the form of art. Many radical mural painters such as Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiro, were commissioned to portray revolution culture and destroyed infrastructure, exalting the indigenous past. Furthermore, after the revolution, the government and country remained a strong military-developed country with many successful warmen.

In conclusion, even though the revolution caused many changes for the worse created bloodshed and there were an abundant number of innocent casualties killed in the atrocious battles, the revolution ultimately ensured a fairer society with education, justice, and agreements. Therefore, without the Mexican Revolution, there would not be the current prospered and righteous Mexico.

“I Would Rather Die on My Feet Than Live on My Knees”

March 28, 2024 / Ariel / 0 Comments

“I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.” – Emiliano Zapata

The Mexican Revolution is not as well-known as some other atrocious, large-scale, or influential revolutions; however, this revolution demonstrates the evil of human nature’s avarice for power and the endeavor of poor peasants for justice to the fullest extent. When a revolution has revolutionaries with peasants, workers, women, and children, it is no longer only a competition for power, but also a defense for rights. This Common Craft video highlights the major events and turning points of the Mexican Revolution. Ruled by three centuries of dictatorship, the originating moment of this revolution was when the lower-class citizens finally realized that they were unsatisfied with their lack of rights, their president for confiscating land for no reason, and violent forces that manipulated them. Rulers who gained power upon their promises to the revolutionaries betrayed them, which is the main reason the Mexican Revolution lasted for a significant period of 10 years. Ruthless battles were fought, denouncing plans were written, and immense rebellions against a common enemy were rebelled. It is certain, that without the Mexican Revolution, Mexico could not become the Mexico it is today. Some argue about the revolution’s significance, but that is yours to determine. Now it’s your turn, watch the video below to see if you think the Mexican Revolution was a success or failure.

My Understanding of the Book “Unbroken”

January 30, 2024 / Ariel / 0 Comments

My book club book Unbroken is a literary nonfiction categorized book written by Laura Hillenbrand. Written in 2010, this book narrates a World War II biography of survival, resilience, and redemption. The story begins with the most problematic child in town discovering and developing his talent for running. Louie Zamperini was born 1917 in New York as an Italian immigrant’s son, his childhood was bullied and detested until he became an Olympic runner. His dream of winning the Olympics soon crashed when Germany and Japan started World War II, which forced Louie to give up on running and participate in war. During his harsh time in the war, he was captured, tortured, and faced with the fear of death. However, he went past all these situations and ended up unbroken.

This notebook page “Tracking Complexity” on day 3 represents my understanding of the parts that seem familiar and how they happen to connect with parts at the beginning of the story. This further elaborates on the central idea of Louie’s resilience and perseverance established by what he experienced when he was small supports him going through hard situations. I used representations of blue boxes pointing to red boxes, demonstrating how what Louie has been through in his childhood directly impacts his future.

This notebook page “Parts that connect” on day 7 illustrates different parts of the book and a central topic or issue that connects the book as a thread of motif. The book centered on issues like injustice, WWII, and endurance, and focuses on how parts of the book that connect to these topics will lead out the central idea or social issue. Issues like endurance and personal dignity then connect back to the central idea of Louie’s perseverance and resilience.

Authors use different literary methods to dispose the tone of the story, including describing a descriptive setting. This notebook page “Analyzing descriptive passages” on day 8 shows my understanding on page 129 and how I analyzed for this page to have a meaning in hinting at the central topic of religion and hope. The author uses a sudden change of tone emphasizing the loss of hope and the realize of reality.

As I read further into the book, everything seems to be led with each of the next things happen. This notebook page “Cause and Effect” portrays a plot mindmap illustrating all the connections of events in this book. Cause and Effect can be just one event leading to another, or could be a whole system of consequencing events that may lead to further effects. The book Unbroken has an incredible plot line with a domino of cause and effect. You can clearly see that each event has a foreshadow or sign at the start of the book hinting at the affected events.

Sometimes when you start reading a book, parts don’t seem to connect or make no sense with the content. However, when I gradually reach to the end of the book, those unfitting parts seem to make sense. This notebook page “The Joy of Rereading” on day 10 illustrates a connection at the end of the book about religion and dignity to a part in the middle of the book which seems kind of unrelated (as Louis wasn’t religious). When I was reaching the end of the book, something about Christianity and Louie awakening his religion seemed familiar, I decided to reread a part, then figured out that the parts when God first was mentioned were a foreshadowing of his future religion.

Am I a Humanist?

October 27, 2023 / Ariel / 0 Comments

First of all, what is a Humanist? A Humanist is a person who is part of the system of ideology Humanism, who believes in the human ability to shape society and prize individuality more than class or family. Humanism started during the Renaissance period and was inherited all the way to the current period. I think I am a Humanist because of my comparing beliefs and features with the thinking method of Humanists and my appreciation of classical literature. I believe that Humans are the operation of society and we have the power to control our lives over the Gods. Humanists learn through past literature, understand their culture, and renew ancient Rome and Greece’s achievements. While imitating the past, they are also making further discoveries by questioning everything with their brain and further developing deeper knowledge such as math and science. This as makes a connection with the education I am having now, as our curriculum one aspect focuses on humanities (history, grammar, geography…, etc.), and the other studies math and science. Therefore, I agree with the Humanist points and is definitely a humanist.

Snatch and kick, stay or leave?

August 29, 2023 / Ariel / 0 Comments

The found poem is a multimedia product created by the combination of words and phrases picked out of the short story “Thank You Ma’am ” and relevant, descriptive pictures that convey the conflicts inside this story. In the story “Thank You Ma’am”, Langston Hughes presents two contradicting conflicts. One of them takes place in the story’s rising action and is an external conflict. The protagonist, Roger, at night time, tries to steal from a woman with a large purse because his poor family couldn’t afford his wanting. Here stands the external conflict from page 1 to page 2 between Roger and the woman. As reflected in my poem, I chose most of the verbs that were used to describe the conflict such as “snatch her purse” and “kicked him”, which creates the scene of character versus character conflict. You can also see that my poem’s background is divided into two halves, the top representing the external conflict, and the bottom representing internal. The top picture illustrates the scenery when Roger tries to steal the purse and associates with the words chosen from the first conflict. In contrast, the second conflict takes place in the climax of the story and is the internal conflict that reveals the theme of this story. On pages 3, 4, and 5, the phrases “he looked at the door, the door was open, – looked at the woman, the woman, trust him,- looked at the door, he could run, run, run,” display the hesitation and inner struggle of Roger deciding whether to stay or not, which is the internal conflict of Roger between him afraid of being punished but also not wanting to disappoint the woman’s trust in him. The bottom two pictures of the poem show his choices: run away(the open door) or stay to live up to the trust of the woman(picture of hand).

Ariel

"I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious" - Albert Einstein