Romantic Victorian Project

1. One of the two historical events that occurred during the beginning of the romantic period was the beginning of the French Revolution. The French Revolution began in 1789 with the storming of a prison called that Bastille. The French were rebelling against Louis the 16th because he was rich and noble. The common people were being taxed outrageously and were hungry. Louis was not taking care of his country. The French therefore rebelled and Louis fled from Versailles to Paris. The revolution scared English conservatives because they thought that it would spread into England. English liberals liked the rebellion and were excited about it until took over and a few hundred aristocrats got their heads chopped off with the guillotine.

Just before the French Revolution, America also held a revolution against England. The revolution resulted in the colonies of the New World separating themselves from the control of England and becoming their own bosses. The very confident and powerful England felt a little differently after the declaration of the colonies independence. The separation not only hurt England's pride, but also hurt their economy.

2. During these times, I imagine that people living through these events were one of two kinds of people. The first kind being the rebels and supporters of change, who stomped their foot down and told the government how things were going to be. These were the people that participated in the riots and were literally the "Revolutionists" or the ones who made the change happen, or supported the cause without participating. These types of people were just plain out angry with the government or monarchy and were willing to show their behinds to prove their point. The settlers in the New World for example did exactly that, when they rebelled against England and declared their independence.

The second category of people were those who liked things just the way that they were. These were the people who did not support change and were usually extremely conservative and supporters of the controlling government or monarchy and had money. Money playing an important factor especially in the French Revolution. I imagine these people living in a lot of fear during this time, hence king Louis the 16th fleeing Versailles to take cover in Paris. Old Louis was afraid of the revolutionists chopping his head off with that scary looking guillotine. His supporters were just as scared, including those in England who did not want revolution to spread.

3. I think that in their literature, poets were expressing what was going on during the times of revolution. To me, it seems that they used nature a lot to express what was going on nationally and politically. The poets also explore the human mind by challenging it to think "outside of the box" and gave nature a voice. I think that the poets tried to use their poetry to send a message to the people and get the readers to think along the same lines as they did.

William Blake- I Heard an Angel

http://www.online-literature.com/blake/2886/

This poem is saying that no matter what "blessing" comes along there is always a curse that comes with it. When the angel came and sang the song of relief and positivity, "mercy, pity, peace is the world's release" the devil comes along and kind of curses what the angel said by saying that good things can't exist without the bad things. Or in other words, the bad things is what makes the good things good. I think that the poet is trying to also send a message of peace as well as tell everyone that with every good thing comes suffering.

I think that this is a perfect example of Romantic poetry because it uses spirituality and tries to get the human mind to "think outside the box" and see things from a different, more imaginative perspective. For example, no other person would really think to put a message of peace and suffering into a poem using the devil and an angel, which are complete opposites to express the message. For one thing, it is really smart because people of the time would listen to anything religious and an angel and devil theme would really catch their attention and give them something familiar to think about and process the message that is trying to be expressed.

William Wordsworth- "The Nightingale"

http://www.online-literature.com/wordsworth/2221/

The nightingale was about a bird who is supposed to be a happy creature and always sings happy songs. However, one day the poet hears the nightingale singing a sad song when he is in the woods one day. He states in the poem that "In nature there is nothing melancholy". I think that he is trying to say that in these times there is no happiness and that even nature itself is sad. To the extent that a nightingale, who is usually a happy bird is singing sad songs to express it's sadness.

I think that this is a good example of Romantic poetry because it was written in 1789, right when the romantic period and the French Revolution was beginning. It is already starting to show the sadness that was emerging from a time of lots of revolution and people being frightened or extremely angry. I imagine it was hard not having a reliable government and people were trying to overthrow what was running the country. So, I think that this poem was mainly expressing the emotions of the people as a whole at the time.

George Gordon, Lord Byron-"Solitude"

http://www.online-literature.com/byron/696/

This poem was really interesting. He is putting a new description on the word solitude. He describes being alone in the woods, appreciating nature and as he puts it "Converse with Nature's charms, and view her stores unrolled". Although he is all alone, he says that this is not solitude. this is something that you can appreciate because you are kind of at peace with yourself and in the presence of nature. Then he describes being in a crowd of people who are "Minions of splendour shrinking from distress!" and he is wandering in what I think is what he is describing the political situation of the time. He says that being alone with nature is not solitude because you are connecting with nature and you are in it's presence and everything is peaceful. But when he is in a crowd of people who are mixed up and confused and distressed in a mixed up time, this is what being solitude is.

I think that this is a good example of Romantic poetry because he makes a reference of the conditions at the time "And roam alone, the world's tired denizen,With none who bless us, none whom we can bless;" which were very sad and depressing. The people felt as though there was no guidance because people were rebelling against governments (France and the New World) and the monarchies were freaking out and not taking care of their countries (hence the rebellion). Plus, monarchies were scared of the rebellions and fleeing or hit hard economic hardships, so that is where I think that he is describing the roaming alone part. This poem as well uses nature to describe the feelings and emotions of the people and describes the social conditions.

Percy Bysshe Shelley-Ozymandias

http://www.online-literature.com/shelley_percy/672/

This poem is a little more difficult to understand than the rest. It talks about a sculpture that is alone in the middle of a desert. The person who made it put some expressions on the sculpture that were described as "whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command". These expressions were apparently the emotions of the sculptor and he made the sculpture be represented as the "king of kings". The message on the pedestal says "`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'" I think that the poet is using the sculptor as a representation of himself, expressing his own emotions onto the king sculpture and representing his idea of the monarchy, or what was representative of authority and saying that everyone should despair.

This example of Romantic poetry displays the emotions of the people with the frown and wrinkled lip mentioned as well as representing the poets and obviously the people's opinion of the king. The people of the time were disgusted with the monarchy hence the rebellions, and this poem displays what the people thought of it by making the stature a representation of the king who was frowning and saying that all should despair and be sad. He also used the desert (nature) to represent solitude and struggle for survival.

John Keats-"To Sleep"

http://www.online-literature.com/keats/499/

In this poem, I think that he is using sleep to represent his desires to escape from the time and world that he was living in. It is like, when he thinks that sleep is coming on he practically begs it to stay. He asks sleep to "Save me from curious conscience", which is of course being awake and living from day to day. He describes sleep as a way to get away from having to live and suffer life. This is a good example of Romantic poetry because it describes how people just wanted an escape and wanted to find a way to make everything bad go away. He states that he does not want to see day because it is when you have to be awake and dealing with every day. He welcomes night because it is when everything is calm and he can sleep and go into an entirely different world.

Victorian Period

Two events that happened during the Victorian period was that there was a depression in 1842 that put a million and a half unemployed workers on a type of welfare. The government was finding out about child labor and thing that happened to the children. One of the things that happened to children is that they got caught in machines and died because they fell asleep after working for 12 hours straight with no break. This was a huge problem in England and the economy began to suffer considerably as a result.

Queen Victoria began her reign in 1837 which was the first year of the depression that hit the country. During her reign, there were mass rallies protesting government policies that kept the prices for bread rising and unaffordable. There were some good outcomes from the rallies, like the Factory Acts, that limited child labor and reduced the working day to 10 hours and everyone got a half holiday on Saturday. State established schools were also a good thing that happened post-rallying.

Life for normal people during this time was really hard because of the economic conditions. England got a population boom when there was a famine in Ireland that forced 2 million people to emigrate to England. This caused an over population in cities and 10-12 people lived in one room with 1 toilet for every 250 people. These were hard conditions to live under and on top of that, the people had hard working conditions. These people who lived during this time had it hard all around.

The difference between the Romantic and Victorian periods is that Romantic times were really depressing and the monarchies took no initiative to improve the hard times that hit their countries. peopled rebelled and everything was violent. During the Victorian time, the monarchy at least tried to make improvements to relieve the stress and poverty. People still got mad and rallied, but improvement came without the people running the monarchy out of town or beheading them.

I think that the Victorian poets tried to express sadness that was felt at the time due to poverty. Poverty was a big major thing that took place during Victorian times and there was a depression going on so people were very poor and struggling for survival. Survival was another thing that I think Victorian poets tried to express in their poems because in times that were so poor, that there was 1 toilet for every 250 people, there was a lot of struggling no matter where you turned. So Struggling, Survival, sadness and poverty were the things that I think that poets during the Victorian poets expressed in their poetry the most.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson-"Wages"

http://www.online-literature.com/tennyson/734/

This poem is about a woman who is just wanting to live and nothing fancy. I think that the author is trying to use the woman to say that she is fighting for life and her right to live. As a result of fighting to live, she does not want glory or to sit on a throne as a hero. The only thing she wants to do is live her life and enjoy the simple pleasures that life gives her. She is fighting to live and wants no other reward such as glory, but just wants to be rewarded with her life.

I think that this example of Victorian poetry defines the era well because it talks about the struggle to survive and how this person is fighting to live. It describes the common person's simple desire to have the right to life and that that was what was worth fighting for. The poem says that she only wants the "wages of going on, and not to die." The wages that are talked about is what I think are representative of the low wages and poverty that these people were living in. All that they wanted was enough money to make ends meet and support their lives. This was a poem reflecting the depression that was going on.

Robert Browning-"The Pied Piper of Hamelin"

http://www.online-literature.com/robert-browning/2764/

This poem was REALLY interesting. This was basically about Peter Piper who lured a bunch of rats out of a city. The rats were taking over the city and destroying everything and eating all of the food and biting children. Then the town went to town hall and said that if the mayor did not find a solution they would run him out of town. Then the piper showed up and said that if they paid him he would take all of the rats out of the city. He did just that and when he came back for his payment, the council refused to pay what they owed him. To get back at them, Piper lured all of the children into a cave and shut them inside never to be seen again. People went looking for them to give piper silver and gold or whatever he wanted in exchange for the children. They were never to be found however and the story of what happened to the children was written on a column across from the cave where the children disappeared to remind people to keep their promises.

I think this relates to the Victorian period because the whole country is taken over by vermin and the monarchy and the government is promising to do something about it. The government however is not keeping their promises at the time to end poverty and as a result worse things happen. For example, Piper wants his money that he is promised and the council refuses and tries to give him less than they promised "But as for the guilders, what we spoke Of them, as you very well know, was in joke. Beside, our losses have made us thrifty. A thousand guilders! Come, take fifty!" They did not do what they said that they were going to do and things get worse. All of these bad things happen because the government did not keep their promise and the people suffer as a result. So as said in the poem, the moral of the story is "If we've promised them aught, let us keep our promise!" or in other words, keep the promise that you make because if not bad things can happen. This is from the Victorian government saying that there was going to be relief an none was coming.

Matthew Arnold-"Youth and Calm"

http://www.island-of-freedom.com/ARNOLD2.HTM

This poem is about death and youth and it talks about how calming it would be to be dead and not not have to go about day to day. The youth is also mentioned in this and how the youth do not want calmness. Maybe what the author is talking about is how in the poverty and times of suffering, some people want everything to be calm and others, like the youth want to rally and get what they deserve. I think that this is a good example of Victorian poetry because it goes over the escape thing again where there is no calm in the world only how everyone is dying. He says that "Calm's not life's crown, though calm is well.'Tis all perhaps which man acquires,But 'tis not what our youth desires." So he says that calm is good but the youth does not want calm, they want to rally.

Thomas Hardy-"The Man He Killed"

http://www.online-literature.com/hardy/910/

This poem was a little weird and I had a hard time understanding it's meaning. Apparently this man met another man outside an old inn. Then he describes shooting the other man dead. "I shot him dead because--Because he was my foe," so apparently they were enemies and the second that they saw each other they wanted to kill each other.

I think that this poem may reflect the foes that the people had with each other at the time. People fighting over jobs with one another, people fighting with the government. I think that the man also makes a reference to the times because he says that he sold the other man's traps and that is why they were foes. "I--Was out of work--had sold his traps--" He says that they were both out of work and so he sold his traps to get money. That was a characteristic of the Victorian time because many were out of work and poor. I think that the author is portraying this aspect of their time when he wrote the part about being out of work and the means of survival. Even if it meant stealing and killing.

Mentor Log 6

Because my mentor left Athens to go home for summer vacation on the 6th. I only completed 7 hours and 45 minutes of my 10 mentor hours. As a solution, Mr. Siegmund said to rent a foreign Japanese movie and pay attention to the cultural aspects of the movie. The movie was 132 minutes so it was a little over two hours. These two hours covers the hours that I need to complete the mentor section of my project.

The name of the movie that I rented was called The Hidden Blade, the entire movie was in Japanese so I had to read the captioning the whole time. The movie was about a samurai who was living in the time when everything was becoming modernized and "westernized". Samurai fight in battle using only swords and traditional weapons. The character Munezo was teaching and being taught how to use guns, which is not a samurai thing. Due to this modernization, Munezo was having a hard time making personal and political decisions because he was raised using the traditional tactics in all aspects, including political and personal aspects.

In the movie, Munezo and his sister's husband have a friend that leaves to join some kind of a political clan. Later, this friend gets captured and they find out his name and who he was trained by. Munezo and this friend trained together and they matched each other in skill. So, Munezo gets ordered to go and kill his friend to prove that he is innocent and had no part in the political clan. He is accompanied by guys from the community who have guns and his friend gets shot. He has to live with making this decision because it came between his honor and duty. Later he in a way deals with his decision by seeking revenge on the man who ordered him to kill his friend. His friend's wife kills herself because she slept with the man who ordered her husband be killed. She slept with him because he promised her that he would spare his life is she did. He lied of course and Munezo kills him.

All in all, I learned from this movie that the Japanese and the Asian culture hold their honor and duty in the highest regards. But, when one has to make a decision between the two, that is when a lot of trouble starts. Mostly I think that honor is what is most important to the culture because even when people have to follow their duty over their honor they usually go back and avenge their loss of honor.

Mentor Log 5

5/2/2008

11:00-1:00



This was the day that things really needed to get done. Time was of the essence and my mentor was going to be leaving in four days. We concluded that we needed to spend a little more time than we usually did on this day than any other. We got to the Tate Center and started talking about the presentation that I have to give. I asked him if he could give me some pointers on public speaking and how to keep things moving along. I told him that I really wanted to grab the judges attention and keep them from getting bored.

He gave me some general pointers about public speaking and told me that the best thing that I can do is practice behind closed doors by myself first, then to a friend or someone I know. Then, I will be a little more secure and I can make adjustments and know where my weak spots are. He said that every little bit of confidence that I have during my presentation will count a lot and that people will be able to sense it. Then he told me the old classic tricks about looking at the wall behind the people. He said that imagining them all naked did not work well for him because it made him laugh and that made him insecure because everyone would wonder why he was laughing. I found the practicing tip very helpful and I think that it will help me a lot in realizing what I need to work on. Also, it won't be the first time that I will have done it and I will not feel so unprepared.

After the discussion of the presentation, We folded an origami snail, which took about 30 minutes (it was really hard) and we folded an origami beetle. The folds were getting a lot more complex so we could only finish three in this amount of time and discuss my presentation. The last origami that we folded was a tyrannosaurus which also took about 30 minutes. They look extremely simple but are actually really hard to get all the little folds down.

When we finished , it was about 1 o'clock and my mentor said that he had to go. He said that he would send me an email telling me what would be a good time to get together and do some more hours before he leaves on the 6th. I told him that that would be fine that I was sure that my teachers would let me leave school to meet with him if that was what we had to do. Unfortunately, he never sent me an email and I assumed he was very busy moving and getting his summer arranged because I never heard back from him. I am going to pick out a foreign Japanese movie or something to complete my last 2 hours and 15 minutes. This session completed 7 hours and 45 minutes with my mentor.

Mentor log 4

5/1/2008
6:00-7:30

As planned before, I met Nate at the Tate center. Instead of going inside we went to another study place that was beside what looked like a cafeteria and sat inside there. The place had a TV right behind us. Anyways, we sat down and I pulled out some origami paper and we started looking at some origami diagrams and looking for some that we could handle folding. We found some more complicated ones that we really liked and we kept them in mind so that maybe we could try them later. The ones that we liked were the snail and the dragon. I thought maybe we could save them for one of the final pieces that were the hardest to complete to show my progress in the art of paper folding.

I told him that I wanted to try to fold the azalea. I have to admit that out of all of the origami pieces that I have dome I like folding the flowers the most. For some reason the complexity of the is so challenging and the result of such a pretty flower is so satisfying because you know that you did it yourself. I told my mentor that and I realized why the doctors that say that they use origami in rehabs and how it can be "healing" because it feels so good to know that you can create something so beautiful. For some reason flowers gave me the most satisfaction.

So we folded the azalea and I am proud to say that it turned out really well and it will be a successful addition to my origami collection mobile. Unfortunately folding this one took a lot of time. It took about 20 minutes to go through each step successfully. Like I have said before, origami folding is very time consuming. After we folded the azalea we folded the "Bird of Paradise" this one was a little less complex but it was fun to watch a piece of paper transform to a bird.

After we folded the "Bird of Paradise" it was about 7:15 and we started talking about what time we should meet tomorrow. Nate said that he had an exam at one thirty and if we met it need to be before one. So we agreed to meet at eleven and stay until about one o clock so that he would have time to get to his exam.

Mentor log 3

4/30/2008

4:30-6:00



My mentor and I decided that it would work out to meet today and try to squeeze in as many hours as possible before my project was due. So, once again I met my mentor at the student Tate center and I told him that this time I would like it if we could spend a little extra time together so that we could work on my presentation. What we started to do was collect small facts from my paper and he basically gave me an outline. He told me to make my PowerPoint short and to the point and that I need to use up my time explaining what I know not reading off of the PowerPoint. He advised me to begin the presentation with just a definition of origami, then go into the history of it. Later in the presentation, he said to begin talking about the therapeutic aspects of the project and to be sure to include some visuals.



So, when I had my outline all figured out, he helped me gather a few facts from my paper and told me that my PowerPoint and everything that I talk about should come from my paper so that the information stays consistent. This helped me a lot because it made me feel confident that I would have a successful presentation and that I had a way to make it flow together. So after he helped me with discussing my PowerPoint presentation I asked if I could talk to him about how to present my product.

I told him my idea about making an origami mobile. He gave me the idea to make sure that the mobile had dimensions so that the pieces were showing and it did not look like one big mess. I told him that that seemed to be the only way to keep the origami pieces from getting disorganized.

This time we pretty much talked about ideas for my presentation and he told me how to make it sound and look good. We did not fold any origami this time and he told me that we would do some more next time. We decided that in order to get the most hours possible we should meet definitely tomorrow and the day after that. He said that he wasn't sure about the other days because it was finals week. He also informed me that he would be leaving on the sixth of May so we should try to get in some hours Thursday and Friday. So we left it at that and I told him that I could meet him later after school at around 6:00 the next day.

Restoration Question Five

It seems to me that the most important thing to these people was surviving. In all of the text that I have read from this period in time, it seems that everyone is either dying from plague or begging on the streets for food. It seems like this was a hard period of time for all of the people in Europe. In the Journal of the Plague Year, everyone was dying from sickness and fleeing to London. The main thing that was important was surviving and getting you and your family away from the plague.

In A Modest Proposal, the main thing that was discussed was how terrible and oppressed it was in Ireland. There were people on the street, mainly women, begging for food and money to feed their many illegitimate children. It talked about how people and families and children had to steal food from the street market just to survive. Everything about this time was depressing because of all of the deaths from sickness like in the Journal of the Plague Year. In a Modest Proposal, the oppression had gotten so bad and the people were so poor that this man wrote an awful sarcastic passage about eating children because the country could not afford them and selling them and eating them would help the economy. So, I think that surviving during these times was the most important thing to these people during this time.

A Journal of the Plague year

The beginning of this reading assignment was really hard to stay attentive to. The beginning was boring because all he talked about was how the plague was starting and everybody was scared. Later he goes on about how his super religious brother was trying to tell him to flee to London away from the plague. He was going to do that but his servant who was going to assist him deceived him and left without him. His brother continued to persuade him to come to London. In the end, he decides to stay in town and says that "as my times were in His hands, He was as able to keep me in a time of the infection as in a time of health; and if He did not think fit to deliver me, still I was in His hands, and it was meet He should do with me as should seem good to Him." So basically, he says that his life is in God's hands and if God wants to take him he will and if not that is the will of God.

Later, he explains measures that were ordered by the parliament to get rid of the sickness. Some were that if you were infected or in the house of someone who was infected you were to be shut up in your own home for twenty eight days to keep it from spreading. They also ordered that all dogs and cats be killed and "That no hogs, dogs, or cats, or tame pigeons, or conies, be suffered to be kept within any part of the city," because it could spread the disease. Then later the man goes on and on about how London is infected and how death rates drop and increase and some people come back to their homes and sometimes die of the plague themselves. After talking about the measures that were taken to prevent and try to get rid of the plague, Defoe explains how the town got better and relieved from the plague. There was apparently a fire that was in London. Then the plague deaths decreased and people actually started recovering from it. At the end, people are coming back to town and cleaning their houses to live there again.

The Journal was a lot of talking and hard reading but it is an interesting account of the things that happened in those times. It made me think about what we would do different nowadays if there were a terrible deadly plague to break out. I wonder what would be done differently and if it would spread as quickly as it did in 1664.

Mentor log 2

Monday April 28th, 2008
4:00-5:30pm

The second session with my mentor that we spent was on April 28th. We decided through email that we would meet in the same place that we did before, at the Tate Center. Just like before, we could not find a study room. Since it was 4:00 we kind of expected it to be a little crowded anyways, so we just went to another table that allowed a little more freedom to talk.

When we sat down, Nate asked me what it was that I wanted to cover in particular this time. He asked me if I had any particular questions or topics that needed covering. I told him that the most important thing that I needed to work on at the time was my product. I told him that not only was the product most time sensitive, but it was what I had the most trouble on. We went on the Internet using his laptop and looked up some more Origami diagrams. When he asked me what parts were the most difficult for me I explained to him that it was understanding the diagrams and the symbols that demonstrated the type of fold that was needed.

Nate and I went through the diagrams trying to decode the symbols. Then we began to fold a paper unicorn that was a little more advanced than what we had previously attempted. From this point we agreed that it was easier to learn the symbols as we went and make the product at the same time. That day we made a unicorn, tried to make a coat but failed, and we made a samurai hat. You would never think that folding something into an animal or figure would not take so long but it is actually very time consuming. Every little fold counts. We finished by making long helmet and began discussing when our next meeting was going to be.

We agreed that Wednesday April 30th would be a good time to meet at the Tate center for another session. The time that we decided was 4:30 and we would try to stretch it out a little farther next time since I had a lot of hours to fill in a little bit of time. I told him that next time I would like to try some more advances pieces so that my product would not be so boring.

A Modest Proposal Response

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift was an interesting read and I actually thought that this man was considering telling people to eat their children until I realized that it was a work of satire. At the time, Ireland was undergoing bad treatment from England. So, in response to their treatment, Swift wrote this piece about the poor people of Ireland saying that a way to get rid of the poor and fatherless children was to have poor mothers sell their children to be eaten. This way, mothers could make a profit off of their offspring that would otherwise make them and the country poorer. This is obviously a terrible and gruesome idea and Swift was using satire and sarcasm to kind of mock the British. The British all openly thought badly of the Irish and Swift was showing that he knows that they don't like them and he was responding in this sarcastic manner to make them look foolish. Because he is so serious in proposing that the Irish sell and eat children makes the British look very foolish.

Mentor Log 1

On Wednesday April 23rd, I met with my mentor for the first time at the student Tate center. We agreed to meet at 4:30 in front of the Tate center. I called him to let him know where I was waiting for him, and when we met up, we went straight inside. The student center was nice and we looked for a study room. Unfortunately all of them were taken up, so we were stuck outside and had to talk very quietly.

When we found a table to sit at, Nate (my mentor) asked my what the main idea of my project was and what I was trying to get across. I explained to him that I was researching the therapeutic aspects of origami and that I had a research paper on it if he would like to read it to get a better idea of what I was talking about. So he read my research paper and after he finished he asked me what I would like to do during my time with him and how he could help me make my project great. I told him that I really needed help on working on my product and if he and I could work on actually constructing origami while we meet.

Nate then pulled out his laptop and looked up origami diagram instructions on the Internet. when we found some basic easy ones to try out first and warm up we folded a coot, which is a bird of some sort. We messed up on this one and the color part of the paper was on the inside instead of on the outside. We then learned the symbols that described the folding techniques on the diagrams. The next one we tried was a bear, which came with the color side out and it worked out great.

We decided that since we could read the diagrams better now, we should try something a little more complicated. So we tried the famous origami crane. Surprisingly enough, both of our cranes came out very nice and cute. We figured that we had enough time to try one more complicated one before he had his next class and before his computer died. so we folded a paper iris, which is a flower. This one was much more complicated and I had a little more trouble than he did but it came out looking really nice.

By the end of the session at about 5:45, he had to go to class and we agreed to meet again this coming Wednesday at 4:30 again. We said that we may meet on Thursday as well. When I left, I had One hour and fifteen minutes of mentor time down and a good start on my product, which is going to be an origami collection.

Restoration Project

The Glorious Revolution was where King James the second, King of Scotland, Ireland, and England, tried to make Catholicism the only religion of the land. He tried to take away power from the Parliament who obviously opposed this, and King James tried to form his own type of parliament full of supporters who shared the same views as the King. These supporters were obviously Catholic and wanted the country to be Catholic as well.


Later, when King James had a son, the Parliament expressed fear that the English monarchy might fall into a Catholic dynasty. The Parliament then called King James' son-in-law, William of Orange, who was a Protestant. William led his army into England and King James fled the country. The English Parliament then gave throne to William and his wife, Mary. The Revolution is also called The Bloodless Revolution because supposedly, no blood was shed during this fight for the rights of Protestants.


I think that the Revolution was important because it established a Bill of Rights and restricted the power that a monarch could hold. After these events, Protestants established their freedom and England became a little more free from a king that holds to much power. I thing that after the Revolution, the people had a little more say so and the government influenced alot of what modern day democracy is now. It was in this time that a Bill of Rights for a country was created, which is one of the basic elements of democracy, the rights of the individual. Another is the lessened power of the monarchy and strengthening of the Parliament, which represents the people. This aspect of governmental change also reflects modern day democracy, that is the voice and sovereignty of the people. I know that this time in English history is not like what modern day democracy is now, but I do believe that these events had alot to do with influencing it.

In the religious aspect of these events, people probably began to be a little more open minded about religion. People probably learned to accept religious differences because Parliament wanted the Protestant religion to have rights as well.



Satire- I define the word satire as sarcasam, to make fun of, or irony. A very general example of the word satire would be a funny spoof of something. Like those spoof movies such as Scary Movie that makes fun of other movies that are supposed to be scary. The movie instead uses sarcasam and makes the movie look funny. Another more specific example of the word satire would be the political cartoons that you see in newspapers. These define satire to me because they take something from a political situation, and use irony to be sarcastic about the situation or person and make fun of it.

Historical Significance Essay

The novel Great Expectations was written when the Industrial Revolution was going on in England, giving the novel historical significance. The Industrial Revolution took place in the early nineteenth century. Great Expectations takes place during this time when laborers were in high demand, resulting in many women and children becoming employed and working under poor circumstances. According to Cliff's Notes critical essay, Children and the Nineteenth Century, "Children were cheap, plentiful, and easy to control. Orphanages—and even parents—would give their children to the owners of cotton mills and other operations in exchange for the cost of maintaining them." During this time in History, there were no laws that protected workers from low wages or poor working conditions.

Charles Dickens worked and experienced this particular period in time and the book is meant to take place in this time period as well. Pip was raised in the home of his sister and her husband, Joe, who was a blacksmith. Pip later became Joe's apprentice learning the trade as a child. In these times, Pip would be bound to being a blacksmith for the rest of his life. This is the labor that he learned that would keep himself from starving. Dickens puts a lot of his experiences into the novel in the forms of the character's experiences. This novel gives a great account of what it was really like before there were protective laws like minimum wage, child labor, and the maximum hours a person could work in a week. On average, children would work twelve to sixteen hour days with hardly any food. According to Children and the Nineteenth Century, children "had little protection from governments who viewed children as having no human or civil rights outside of their parents’ wishes, and Great Expectations brings some of these conditions to light."

In a classroom setting, the novel Great Expectations would be a good novel to read in literature as well as history to study the literary and historical aspects of the novel. If you think about it, Charles Dickens is a historical figure himself because of the many novels that he has written based on time periods such as the Industrial Revolution. The novels give you the chance to read about the trials that the people living during the Revolution. The novel also deserves a setting in the classroom because it demonstrates how the laws that we and many other nations have today in order to protect the laborer from poor wages, child labor, and exhaustion.

There are other smaller aspects that are of interesting historical significance such as the currency of money during the time. A good thing to be introduced to in a class, whether it be math, social studies, or literature, is the old English monetary system. This was a system that was divided up into pounds, shillings and pence. While reading the novel, one can tell that a character is most excited to receive a one pound paper note than a sixpence coin, therefore indicating that a pound must hold more value. This historical aspect of the novel, the monetary system at the time, can instigate understanding of the system in a very simple way.

Another historical aspect is the old English social class system. During the Industrial Revolution, there was a social class system that plainly broke down into two simple categories; if you were poor and common, you worked for survival and you worked under poor circumstances, if you were rich you did not work, you instead attended schooling and were spared from labor. As indicated in Great Expectations, Pip hopes to become a gentleman so that he would no longer be obligated into his apprenticeship with Joe, in other words be "coarse and common" in Pip's words. He hoped to become rich and educated to be considered a gentleman to escape the horrors of being on the lower, "common" side of the social class system.

The contents of the novel Great Expectations holds many aspects of historical significance that deserve a place in the classroom and would just as well serve as a strong tool for teaching and understanding. It shows what living with no protection from the government was like, teaches about the old monetary system that is much different from anything used today, and it also shows how the system of social class has tightened its gaps significantly from Pip and Mr. Dickens' times. It paints a broad picture of life and living in the lives of both Pip and Charles Dickens himself. Students studying this novel get a peek into old England and learn about what a hard-knock life really contains. It shows what people in old England had to suffer through to get the laws and rights that many countries in the world have in effect today such as child labor, minimum wage, and maximum hour laws.

Charles Dickens Biography

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in South England. He had seven brothers and sisters and was the son of John Dickens and Elizabeth Nee Barrow. He had a very painful childhood due to his beloved father's many arrests. His father, John, was arrested numerous times throughout Charles' childhood due to tax debt. He worked in a Naval Pay office when Charles was young. John Dickens was remembered as a very nice and generous man and had a hospitable nature.



Charles' bitter childhood experiences began when his father was arrested on charges of debt. As a punishment, his father and his entire family except for Charles, then twelve, were sent to prison. This resulted in Charles being sent to work at Warren's Shoe Blacking Factory pasting labels on boxes in order to support the family. He lived in a boarding house nearby and walked to work everyday. He generally visited his father on Sundays when he was not working. This is where Charles began his lifelong preoccupation with orphans. His experiences during early childhood living in a boarding house and having to fend for himself and his family resulted in his feeling abandoned. These experiences produced the feelings that wrote the many books about orphans and how they became something more of themselves.



I believe that the character Pip in Great expectations, was based on his own experiences in life. Pip is an orphan and is brought up by his terrible abusive sister. Pip's sister, Mrs. Joe, brought Pip up "by hand", or in other words, a very violent and heartless manner. He was brought up in a world of bad treatment and sadness, hopelessness, and in most cases, had to fend for himself and escape his sister's violent hand. I believe that Pip's sister and Charles' mother had a connection in this book. Pip's sister always had Pip doing chores and running hard errands and treated his badly in the house. Charles' mother always forced Charles to work in the terrible factory even after his father's release. This lead to Charles feeling resentment for his mother for most of his life for forcing him to continue his torture. I believe that Charles made this connection between the two women because Pip is an orphan and Mrs. Joe is his mother figure, or the woman who raised him. Mrs. Joe is also married to Joe, who is a very nice, large hearted, hospitable man much like his father.



Throughout the book, Joe is always a source of comfort to Pip and was his closest friend throughout his childhood. Joe was almost always right beside Pip when one of Mrs. Joe's rants was going on. They both endured Mrs. Joe's terrible punishments and violence, constantly pushing them around. In the book, an incident of Joe' s niceness and friendship for Pip shows when enduring a punishment. Pip was putting his bread away in his pocket for the convict and hiding it. Joe noticed and thought that Pip had "bolted" his food. When Mrs. Joe notices that Joe is distracted, she tells him that he will "perhaps mention what's the matter, you staring great stuck pig." Upon realization that they were in trouble, Joe tells Pip that "You and me is always friends, and I'd be the last to tell upon you." After this statement, both get tar water forced down their throats to cure their misbehavior by Mrs. Joe.



I believe that Charles made Joe a figure like his father because his father is who eventually saved him from the factory life and sent him to school to be educated. But when his family was evicted from their house due to unpaid rent, Charles had to leave school. He got a job working in a law firm as a clerk called Ellis and Blackmore. There he learned how to write shorthand and became a court reporter. Later, he wrote some stories that were published in various magazines and papers and picked up the pen-name "Boz". During this time, his father was arrested again for failure to pay debts and Charles bailed him out, becoming the financial backbone for the family.



Heartbreak also became something that Charles indicated in Great Expectations as a personal experience. Charles fell in love with a young girl named Maria Beadnell, who's father was a very wealthy man. After a few years however, her father sent her to school in Paris and he never saw her again. Charles expresses his pain in the book when young Pip falls in love with the rich Miss Havisham's step-daughter, Estella. She is haughty and rude, much like the other women in his book and is later sent off to live with another rich woman and attend school. Pip, heartbroken, does not see her until years later and the book ends with Estella and Pip talking. There is really no indication of whether or not they stay together.



Later, Charles became a very well known and successful writer and exceeded his expectations. This is where I think the story for Great expectations came from. Later in the book Pip inherits money from an anonymous benefactor and learns to become a gentleman. Later to find out that this benefactor was the convict that he helped a a child. Charles becomes successful with his writings and doesn't have to worry as much about money as he did as a child, exactly like Pip. Pip and Charles grow up from troubled childhoods and become gentlemen, without the financial worries compared to when they were children.

Third novel response

After the incident with the mysterious man in the bar the book has began to pick up and get more interesting. Pip stops going to visit Miss Havisham and she pays for Pip's apprenticeship with Joe. After a while without visiting Miss Havisham, Pip decides he wants to go visit (mostly for Estella) and asks Joe for a holiday from the forge. A problem with the other worker under Joe named Orlick aroused because he wanted a holiday too. He and Joe ended up getting in a fist fight because Orlick began quarreling with Mrs. Joe as well.

Pip and Orlick both got their holidays and Pip went to Miss Havisham's only to find out that Estella was sent away to become educated. She was rude to him and sent him away very quickly. As Pip and Mr. Wopsle were entering town, Orlick caught up with them and walked home with them, much to their dislike. Upon arriving at the house, Pip found lots of people in the house and his sister had been terribly attacked. Someone had entered and whacked her in the back of the head with a hammer. This left her kind of mentally challenged and she was never the same.

Later is where everything starts to fall together. Biddy comes to stay with Pip and Joe to help do what Mrs. Joe could not do. A man named Mr. Jaggers came to speak with Pip and Joe because Pip had "great expectations" and had come into great fortune. Mr. Jaggers told Pip that he was to learn to become a gentleman. One condition was that upon acceptance of the fortune, Pip was to keep his name and was not to try to seek out his benefactor. Pip agreed. At this point I was still unsure if his benefactor was the convict or Miss Havisham. Pip got new clothes and left to London. Some time later, Pip received a letter requesting his presence at the funeral of his sister.
Pip went home and attended her funeral. Biddy told him his sister's last words being "Joe" then pausing, then "Pardon" then "Pip", and laying her head on Joe' shoulder and passing away.

The point where I stopped to write my next response was where the convict came to Pip's place of residence at the age of twenty three and told Pip "Yes, Pip, dear boy, I' made a gentleman on you! It's me wot has done it!" So after all of this time of Pip believing that Miss Havisham was his benefactor so that he may become a gentleman to be with Estelle, it was after all the convict that he helped in the marshes those many years ago. Pip has bad feelings about who his benefactor is and in a sense kind of freaks out. He thought all this time that Miss Havisham was doing this so that she could set him up with Estella. I feel bad for Pip because he has had such a painful life when he really did not deserve it. He wanted to be e gentleman so badly and now he is suffering because he feels bad for accepting a convicts money.

Novel Project Response 2

After the convict that Pip was giving food was caught and taken back to the prison ship, Pip begins to experience some more "grown up feelings and experiences. It all begins when an old rich lady who lives in a big house and is very mysterious requests that Pip come to her home every now and then to play. Pip endures a temper tantrum brought on by jealousy from his sister, and later goes with Joe's uncle to this old woman's house. The lady's name is Miss Havisham. Upon Pip's arrival, a young girl about Pip's age appears to unlock the gate. She is very beautiful to Pip and he begins to develop a crush. Joe's uncle is left outside the gate, not permitted entry leaving him very angry and walking back home.

Pip is lead up the stairs of the old home into Miss Havisham's room where she is laying down in her bed in what appears to be a wedding gown. Pip also notices that all of the clocks are stopped at the hour of nine and no longer work. Miss Havisham then tells the two children, Pip and the young girl (named Estella) to play cards. During the game, Estella pokes fun and teases Pip on his being common, commenting on his boots and clothes and about how he calles knaves "Jacks". All the while, Miss Havisham is making comments to Pip on Estella's beauty, wanting him to take notice.

Later, after playing cards, Pip is feeling very unconfident and hurt from being called common and being made fun of and humiliated. He is taken downstairs by Estella and given food to eat outside like a dog. While outside, Pip explores the grounds. He remembers something Miss Havisham saying before that about how she hadn't seen the sunlight in years. She sent Pip back with some money that day, which made his sister very happy.

During Pip's visits later in the book, he finds a decaying wedding cake in the dining room. Miss Havisham also gives him small clues into her past about being stood up at her wedding. I think that the way that she is constantly pointing out Estellas beauty to Pip indicates that she wants to see a male get his heart broken the way she did. I think that later in the book, Pip is going to fall in live with Estella, she is going to lead him on and she is going to break his heart for her own and Miss Havisham's entertainment.

After Pip's first visit, he must go to a pub to fetch a half drunken Joe. He meets a man who is conversing with Joe and Joe's uncle who has a metal pick that looked like the one he stole from Joe's workshop. Pip has fear that this is the accomplice of the convict that he helped and that he may be coming to kill him. The convict stares at him throughout the conversation and at the end of the night, gives him a shilling wrapped up in paper. When Pip arrives back home, he realizes that the paper was actually pounds (British money).

The convict hasn't shown up past this point and so far this book is making many twists and turns. I find it an exciting and unpredictable read. I think that Pip is going to acquire something to get him out of his current situation with his sister, and I think that Miss Havisham or the convict are going to have something to do with it.

Independent Reading Response 1

This week I started reading Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens. The book is about an orphan who is being raised by his very stern, tempermental older sister and her husband who is a blacksmith. She is very proud of having brought him up "by hand" when she could have left him in an orphanage or to starve. When she says to be brought up "by hand" she means that she brought him up in a very violent manner, which includes diciplinary actions such as pounding of his head into a wall, or consumption of tar water. The boy is constantly being put down and called ungrateful for his sisters' favors.

Luckily, through all of this hardship of being young, poor, an orphan, and being raised by a violent sister, the young orphan named Pip confides in his friendly and congenial Brother-in-law. His Brother-in-law, named Joe, is the father figure for Pip and is very kind to him. They often endure Pip's sister's abuse together and have conversations when she is not in earshot. Joe is the only person in Pip's life who actually looks after him and makes his difficult life a little easier.

Pip later becomes burdened by the meeting of an escaped convictwho takes his bread and demands Pip to steal from his sister and Joe. This criminal threatned Pip's life if he did not complete his requests. The criminal threatens Pip that his accomplice, a young boy that lives in the shadows, would creep into his house in the middle of the night and kill him in his sleep. The criminal is asking for "Wittle" which means food, and a file to file off his iron leg cuff. This of course terrifies young Pip by the fact that he would have to steal from under his violent sister's nose and guilty for having to steal from Joe.

Later, the convict is found and Pip is saved from trouble when the convict tells officers that he stole a file and food from a blacksmith's house. As far as I have read, I feel that the convict, despite his capture, will take a huge and important part in the story later. The first part that I have read so far is a very sad story and it seems like this boy runs in to so many hardships and so much sadness when he just deserves a break. I hope that later in the book his life begins to improve and he will find some happiness.

Beowulf's Death

I thought that Beowulf's death was a good way to end the story. I was happy with how he died because he died doing what he felt he was most suited. He felt as though his duty as a warrior and a king was to protect his people. If I were a king and I were Beowulf in the story, that is how I would want to die. The story wouldn't have been good if it hadn't have ended with a new beginning. By Beowulf dying, I gives the story some depth and leaves you thinking after you are finished reading it. The ending let Beowulf die doing what he believed was his duty and let him die more like a man. "The sad troops rose,went in tears below Earnanessto view the wonder. Lifeless on the sand, held in his rest-bed, was the man who had given them treasures. That was the last day of the prince of the Geats; he died a wondrous death."I am happy that the story did not end with Beowulf dying a shriveled old man in his bed. This was is better because it showed that no matter his age Beowulf was always ready to protect and he never changed as a person.


Beowulf dying at the end also helped bring closure to Beowulf's life and his reign as leader. The part where his warriors prepare his funeral and his mound overlooking the sea showed the respect that he earned among his people. This I think helps shape who Beowulf was and what all he achieved in his life. I like that he was the same in his youth as in his old age whereas he always acted immediately where help was needed. As a young warrior he fought Grendel and his mother with much bravery, in his old age he fought the dragon that threatened his people in the same way. Regardless of his age, he fought alone and to the death. Beowulf's death is what I would have hoped for him, myself if I were a king, and as an ending to the story. I believe that a great warrior just wouldn't die happy if he didn't die in glory. Beowulf died in glory trying to protect his people and probably died feeling fulfilled, like a great warrior.

Beowulf-Superhero Comparison

The story of Beowulf has some similarities to superhero stories in the American culture. What I noticed was most in common with the hero stories in our culture were the characteristics of the heroes themselves. All superheroes in the American culture are selfless and brave, Beowulf is of course selfless and brave. However, what I found that was most common was that the characters all risk their own lives first. Before the heroes put anyone else at risk they will fight alone to protect others. For example, Beowulf is always fighting some kind of monster to protect his people like Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. All of these monsters were terrorizing his people and he fought them to protect the people from harm. Beowulf and the heroes all have loyalty to their people and their first priority is to protect them. Beowulf and superheroes all share these common characteristics and goals. They want to protect their people against the bad guys.


Although Beowulf and superheroes from our culture are similar in nature and have the same goals, they are different in the way they present themselves. For example, Beowulf is a well known warrior and later becomes a king. In the story they present themselves to the Danish warrior and they are wearing their armor. "Then a proud Danish warrior asked them: 'From where have you carried these gold-inlaid shields, these shirts of mail, masked helmets, and battle shafts? I am Hrothgar's messenger and officer. Never have I seen braver strangers. I expect you're here to find adventure, not asylum.'" The soldiers and Beowulf did not hide their identities, they just wore what was necessary to protect themselves in battle. American superheroes such as Batman, Superman, and Spiderman are all like undercover protectors. In Spiderman for example, his makes his spandex suit to hide his identity. In the movie, the reason that he puts on the suit is to avoid people knowing his true identity. Spiderman especially didn't want his enemies to know who he was because they would come after the people that he loved. In the movie, Spiderman's identity gets revealed to the Green Goblin who then attacks Spiderman's aunt and takes Mary Jane. Therefore, Spiderman's identity is kept secret for his and his loved one's protection. The people know Spiderman is but not the real man behind the mask. Beowulf does not present himself in this manner. When Beowulf wants to help he goes to the king or straight to the monster itself to defeat them. Beowulf never wore a mask and never tried to cover his identity. For some reason, the superheroes in our culture like to hide their faces when they are protecting people to protect themselves. Beowulf however is very open about his identity, not afraid of his enemies coming after loved ones because he is confident that he will defeat them.

Anglo-Saxon beliefs

The Anglo-Saxon culture held protection of it's people and it's allies very important. This culture focused on having great warriors that were loyal to their king, heritage, people, and country. Loyalty was important because it was what made warriors want to defend their home. As long as warriors were loyal to their country and everything in it, all was secure. Beowulf illustrates the beliefs of the Anglo-Saxons in many aspects.


Protection was probably the most important thing in Anglo-Saxon culture. All other essentials of importance came underneath the protection of their country. This was demonstrated in the story when Beowulf left even in his old age to fight a dragon that was terrorizing his people. "Beowulf scorned a host, a large army, when he sought the dragon; he didn't fear the dragon's war; he trusted his strength and courage since he had survived many battles, the flashings of battle gleams, since the time he'd cleared Hrothgar's wine-hall of Grendel's family, that hateful race." Beowulf was ready for anything dispite his age. He protected his people no matter what. He was their king and that was his duty. He protected his people and put his own life in danger before anyone. He even put his own life first even when it came to his own warriors, who's sole occupation is is to risk their lives to protect. Beowulf tries to fight on his own first so that if he can win a battle on his own no other lives will be lost.


The second most important thing to the Anglo-Saxons underneath protection was loyalty. Loyalty comes from a love of something. A person would not have true loyalty of to something if this person did not care for it. If a warrior did have loyalty to his king, country, or his people, he would have no desire to protect it. Beowulf fights the dragon to protect his people because he loves and cares for the Geats. He defends and fights for them because of his loyalty to the people. Beowulf does the same for people who live across an ocean to help. In the story it says, "But a warrior of Hygelac's heard of Grendel's doings; he was the strongest of men alive in that day, mighty and noble. That man called for a ship, said he would cross the ocean and help the king who needed help. Wise men urged him to that adventure though he was dear to them. They examined omens and whetted him on." He crosses and ocean to defend a people and king that are not even his own. Beowulf shows loyalty to the king of Danes because he is an ally. He fights Grendel and his mother to protect the king and his people from the monster's terror. Loyalty is a crucial factor in the desire to protect.


Loyalty is what, in Anglo-Saxon perspective, made a warrior great. It was the emotion inside him that drove him to do the great things he did. Had not a warrior loyalty for for his king and country he would be a poor warrior. Warriors have to have a passion for what they are fighting for. This works in the same way for kings and their people as well as people for their kings. Beowulf shows how loyal he was to his people when he fights and kills a terrible dragon, dying to protect his people and warriors. The warriors were not very loyal to Beowulf in return and abandoned their king in his time of need. This story teaches the importance of loyalty and the repercussions of not being loyal to your word. These men suffered the death of their great protector as a consequence if their actions. They lost the king that they loved as a result of their broken promises to protect and fight beside him. Beowulf is a story that outlines the beliefs of the Anglo-Saxons and the repercussions of what could happen if these morals are ignored. The Geat people learned these lessons in the loss of their great king who did so much trying to protect them.

Beowulf

Response





In the twelve episodes of Beowulf, I thought that the story was going to be a big poem of boring battle tales. On the contrary, I found the story to be interesting because it tells of a good honest king who worked hard to earn his title and maintain his title as king. Beowulf actually defended his people as a king, leader and protector of his people, and put his own life before anyone else's. He was always prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice of his own life to defend his people and those of his allies. I was interested in the story because it is different than those of kings "defending" their countries by sitting on their throne. This was a king who was a warrior and had lived the life of a man, not a spoiled royal.


The parts of the story that stuck out to me the most were when Beowulf triumphed in his battles. In the battle with Grendel, I admired how Beowulf says that he will fight Grendel with his strength and not with his sword do that there will be a battle of strength between himself and Grendel. The reason that this part stuck out to me was because he was not a coward in his battles, he was sure of himself and his main interest was always to protect the people. In the battle with Grendel's mother and the dragon he demonstrates his care for his people by going to fight them in the first place. He demonstrates his desire to protect by always being the first to put his life on the line for his people and his warriors. He was a good king, interested in the well being of his people by his generosity of gifts to the people and those who fought, and his generosity in the respect of his sacrifices. This story to me was a story of a man who truly earned his title and position as a king, not by blood or ancestry, but by his deeds.


The Anglo-Saxon culture seems to be one unique to that of others in the sense that they concentrate on the protection of their people and good kings that participate in the protection and well being of their country. They emphasized what they thought of Beowulf by the writing of the poem. They were proud of the king that they had and were focused on his deeds as a warrior. They paid close attention to his deeds and keeping his alliances in good relations. For example, Beowulf crosses a sea and risks his life and his warriors for another king primarily because the Danish king was his ally.


The Anglo-Saxons also seemed to emphasize a great importance on the memorials and funeral process of kings and warriors. The importance of the funerals of kings and warriors ties in with their beliefs and what they hold high in their morals. They hold protection and loyalty with the utmost importance in their culture. Therefore it makes sense that the funerals and deaths of the men who carried out these morals would be treated with high respect. The people would want to treat the men who protected them, their country, and their king with loyalty and respect just as the warriors had done for them. Like when Beowulf dies, his men treat him and his funeral by respecting his last wishes to the exact word and made sure that it was done right. As all good kings that are mentioned in the story, the people send their "high protector" in his death ship full of riches to his next life. This indicates that while they held protection and loyalty high, the protectors were held in the same respect.