Chapters 32 - 33

Blog – What does Huck mean when he says “Human beings can be awful cruel to one another? What does Twain mean by having him say it?

Huck is refering to the King and the Duke when the towns ppl tarred and feathered them. I thing what Huck is saying is that yes the King and the Duke were stealing from ppl and misleading them but they weren't physically abusing them like the ppl were. I Think what twain is showing is how ppl tend to lash out at one another weather the recipieant desserved it or not. ppl get notions and then act uppon them often by hurting others, and i think one main point he is trying to show is slavery, because the ppl tarring and freathering the king and Duke think their actions are justified because they were swindling ppl, and i think this is supposed to reflect how ppl treated blacks like crap because they believed them to be lesser beings as if this justified what they were doing.

Chapters 28-31

What does Huck decide to do about Jim? Why does he decide to do it?

We see huck struggling with himself over weather or not he should turn Jim in or protect him. He origianly decided that he would only ever do what was the easiest. However he got to thinking about Jim as a friend and he vowed that even if it means going to hell he'll save Jim.
Huck actually at one point left Jim on the raft so that he could go out and turn him in but when the oppurtunity came he lied to protect Jim. He wasn't sure weather this was the right thing to do or not and he was sure Tom sawyer would never 'sink to such a level'. this is also odd for huck because tom is his model but in the end he chooses his friendship with jim even if its the harder decission

Huck Finn Chapters 24-27

How do the King and Duke swindle the family at the funeral? Compare King and Duke to Huck? Who is the bad guy?

The King and Duke pose as the brothers of this wealthy disceased guy. They pretend to be generous, kind, caring relatives when really what they do is they steal their money and sell off their property with the intention of getting rich and then slipping out of town before they get caught. The real question here is Who are the Bad guys? Well obviously the King and Duke are bad because they are stealing money and property from orphans, but Huck to is the bad guy in this story because he just sits back and watches this happen. Sure in the end he steals the money from King and Duke with the intention of giving it back to the girls but then instead hides it with the dead father. He could have told someone that King and duke were frauds but he didn't and by remaining silent he is equally to blame.

Blog – Why does Huck want to help the men on the wreck? What does this show us about him?

Huck wants to help the men on the wreck so that rather then drowning they can be tried and hung. This shows that he believes strongly in people getting what they deserve and he believes strongly in justice. He may not be into religion but he does have a sense of morals and does know, for the most part, right from wrong. He feels that if someone does something wrong then they deserve to be punished and he holds this view in many cases.

Huckleberry finn, chapt 7-11

Blog – What trick does Huck play on Jim? Why is he tricking him now when he didn’t want to before?

Huck comes across a rattlesnake in the cave so he kills it and as a joke he curls it up and puts it on Jim’s bed. Now at the time when he decided to do this I’m sure it seemed harmless and funny but what he forgot is that the mate of the rattlesnake would join the dead one and since Jim didn’t notice either of the rattlesnakes he was bitten. Huck originally didn’t want to play a trick on Jim because he didn’t want to get caught, but now him and Jim are living together on this island so to Huck he’s just playing a harmless trick on a friend just for the fun of it. Plus Jim had told Huck that it was bad luck to touch a snake skin and I think that Huck kind of wanted to prove that their was no harm in it but after the incident with the rattlesnake he decided that perhaps there was something to snake skins being bad luck.

hmm...

Is Eustace the ‘last American man’? Why or why not? Is that idea a good or bad one?

I don't think that Eustace is the last american man. I feel that he compromised his origional goals and got caught up in the rush of modern life. I also feel that what makes America unique is that we can all be different and do what we want (to an extent) but I feel that Eustace got caught up in trying to impress his father and living his fantasy, which living your fantasy is a typical american thing, but his fantasy isn't the only fantasy and thats what makes Eustace Conway one of many american people.

Eustace and his apprentice problems

• Blog – Why do the apprentices dislike Eustace so much? Would you want to work for him?

The apprentices dislike Eustace because they feel that he is over controlling and expects to much of them. Eustace does all the work the apprentices do, but he is very controlling. He expects them to be able to do everything he can do on the first day they arrive. I feel that he teaches them the same way his father taught him (which is making them feel stupid till they get it right. (I personally feel that Eustace is a hypocrite in that he is exactly the same as his father). He says he never gives out complemnts which can be damaging to the people working for him, and he of all people should kno this because all he ever wanted was a compliment and awknoledgement from his father.

Riding ur horse across america

• Blog – Why does Eustace want to ride his horse across the country? What is one significant thing that happens to him on the trip?

Eustace has been traveling all around the world with some other person for a hiking companion, so I think he wanted to instead try and get closer to nature by traveling with a horse, but he also wanted to take his younger brother Judson along so they could bond and become closer, unfortunately that didn’t happen Judson did go but they seem to have discovered more division than likeness. A lot of events accourd on this trip, Eustace bought quite a few more horses and a mule, we also see Eustace becoming more like his father and rather hypocritical, he seems to be all about leaving the rush of modern life at the beginning but then he himself can’t slow down for even a second, he has to set all these records, he just doesn’t seem to want to slow down and enjoy life.

Eustace and his social problems

“Only two short years after founding Turtle Island, Eustace was starting to burn out.”
Eustace begins to become stressed Blog – How does the increased pressure of running Turtle Island effect Eustace? How is by all the work it takes to run Turtle Island. He still goes to schools and speaks about nature, which takes up a lot of his time, he still has tons of paper work and phone calls to make, and work that needs to be done around Turtle Island. It’s almost as though he doesn’t have time for himself or nature anymore, he just works and works as though he was stuck in the corporate world rather than in nature. He also is having trouble relating to the people around him. He gets frustrated when they fall short of his expectations (and his expectations are quite high), when they don’t seem to work hard enough or if to him they appear to be fooling around. He is also having trouble with his girlfriends, he can’t seem to keep one and this is really frustrating him because he feels by now he should have a successful family, but each of his relationships seem to fall apart over pretty much the same thing.

The begining of Turtle Island

Blog – What does actually starting Turtle Island do to Eustace? What does it allow him to do?

When Eustace first starts Turtle Island, he was thrilled to have the space but soon found that he was working himself to death. He needed money to pay back his father and to make the park work, so now he’s running all over the USA talking to schools and organizations. He is also filing paper work and making phone calls in his spare time, and when he gets a break he devotes his time to constructing Turtle Island. However, after he gets past this long and rocky start, he is able to open his park, and teach children and adults in a much more effective way than just speaking to them in a school auditorium or gymnasium. I think that now that he has Turtle Island and can more successfully get his message across to people, he’s feeling a much deeper sense of accomplishment and can therefore feel better about himself and have less stress over changing the world.

All Natural

Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food. In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight;

I think that this segment of the essay is talking about how as children we appriciate nature and we still contain that inocence so that we can understand it and be one with nature. However as we get older scociety changes us. It takes away that inocence and connection with nature and turns us into cold spiteful beings searching hopelessly for a purpose that we long ago had torn away from us.

to be continued

advocacy groups #2

the earlier blog is my first idea however it may change I know some animal welfare groups in Indiana, so I might do my paper on one of those groups
hmmmm...
maybe

Advocacy groups

Blog – What are your preliminary paper ideas? What groups do you feel should be aided or empowered?

I'm still trying to find a group here in Indiana, but I would like to do my paper on a group supporting pro-life. I feel that this is a group that here in america is not being taken seriously. Here in america we have all sorts of freedoms, including since 1973, the rite to destroy human life.
I find the US to be extremely hypocritical, for example its illegal to go out into the streets and shoot someone or stab someone, but it is perfectly legal for someone to put a scisors through the back of a baby's head in what is known as partial birth abortion.
I find this to be a disgusting violation of the constitution and not just partial birth abortion but all kinds of abortion. Think about how many people arn't with us now because someone decided they didnt' want them. Think about it, what if my parents or your parents decided they didn't love us enough or they just didn't want us, we might not be here.
This is the sad reality of abortion, it destroys life, familys and friendships.
any way yeah so thats my idea.

The Fourth of July

What does Fredrick Douglas think of the 4th of July?

Fredrick Douglas was asked to speak to the people on the 4th of July, he makes the comment in his speech that it is a mockery. He goes on to talk about how to the slaves the 4th of July is a scam, it's false and hollow. He talks about how the white people celebrate their liberty and freedom, while the slaves must suffer and work. How there work becomes almost unbarable, because they must endure the happiness of those who are free as they celebrate their hypocritical and false holiday. Throughout his speech he says that he is not there to argue against slavery though the majority of his speech was talking about how unreasonable it is to even think that slavery could be just. He goes on to say that in this hour the US, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.
Kind of a slap in the face to all the americans out there that day celebrating the apparent greatness of their country, but I feel that it was a neccassary wake up call to those out there who are that messed up in the head that they can't see the obviouse barbarity and hypocrisy in slavery.

Linda's relationship to william

William is Linda's brother. They are both very close to each other. William like Linda was one of Dr. Flints slaves. He watched over Linda's children after she went into hiding and during the time that they were in prison. William and Linda's children were sold to Mr. Sands, (the father of the Children), who had promised to free them. Mr. Sands however did not free them and while they were up in the norhtern states William ran away. Linda has a strong trust in her brother William, she sent Benny to stay whith him in California and throughout her life they confided in one another.

end of story

Blog – How does Linda finally attain her freedom? Why does she have mixed emotions about this at the end of the book?

Mr. and Mrs. Dodge (daughter of Dr. Flint and Linda’s owner) are in some financial trouble, and they wish to find Linda, because to them she is nothing more than a valuable piece of property. They come to New York searching for her and they go to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce were Linda was employed, however after hearing that her mistress was in town Linda fled to California with Ellen where she was going to meet up with William and Benjamin. Mrs. Bruce offered Mr. Dodge $300 for Linda and the children. Mr. Dodge said that this price was to low, but after being informed that Linda had friends who would be transporting her to Europe, he decided that $300 was better than nothing. Thus Mrs. Bruce bought Linda her freedom. Linda was grateful to Mrs. Bruce for this act of kindness but at the same time she felt that it seemed wrong to have to pay someone for something that wasn’t rightfully theirs to begin with.

America, England the North and the South

As we’ve seen throughout this book and the history of the United states, the Southern states were the slave states and the northern states were the supposed free states. Linda herself upon arriving in the Northern states expresses her joy of finally being on free soil, but later she comments upon how she no longer calls it free soil and the many predjudices that the African Americans suffer from in the North. We also see that when she goes to England, people there are not predjudice against others based upon the color of their skin.
Its interesting how two countries from the same origin separated only by the atlantic can be so different, and how the Northern and the Southern states really aren’t all that different though many Americans believed them to be. Both the North and the South were full of people ignorant to the feelings of others, just because they were slightly different, but looking at England and other parts of Europe that wasn’t the case. Once slavery was decided to be inhumane it was quickly delt with and made illeagal. Whereas the US just kept pushing the subject under the rug not wanting to cause a problem within the country.

The chains of slavery

Why does Linda get so upset when her daughter is given a gold necklace to wear? What is she comparing that act to? Do you agree with the comparison

Linda is upset by this gold chain/necklace because to her it represents the chains of slavery. Even if the chain is of gold she doesn’t want her daughter to be in the chains of slavery. She describes slavery as an iron chain that enters the soul and no matter how nice the chains are life just isn’t worth it if you’re bound by slavery.

dangerous love

Linda says that love is dangerous in slavery. Do you agree why or why not.

I feel that love in general is dangerous because at any time the other person could break your heart, but I feel that it is more dangerous in slavery because at any moment the person you love could be taken away. You have no control over what happens and you have no way of protecting the one you love. They could be whipped or tortured and all you can do is stand by and watch, or one day you could be with them and the next, they would be up on the auction block or being sold somewhere far away. In a slaves life nothing is permenant except the pain they feel, at any moment something you hold dear could be snatched away never to be seen again, and I think this is the point Linda is trying to make when she says love is dangerous.

Jefferson=Hypocrite

This essay presents a much different side to Jefferson than the man who helped write the Declaration of Independence. How can one person hold such conflicting opinions?

Jefferson views African-Americans as inferior to whites, he seems to view them almost as though they were animals. He says that slaves should gradually be freed but when they are free they should have to leave and go off some where away from the whites. Jefferson believes that when freed they should be sent away to form their own colonies in order to prevent racial disagreements and mixing of the races. To me it would seem that Jefferson is a hypocrite because he’s going on about not mixing the races, when he in fact had an affair with a black woman. He’s trying to set this moral standard and ideas when in fact he himself is not following any of these rules. He seems to be nothing more than a hypocrite trying to appeal to society.

Title

Wy is it important that this book is truth, not fiction? Why is it important that the editor didn't clean it up, either in terms of language or content?

I feel that it is important that the book is real (truth) rather than fiction, otherwise it could seem false unrealistic and over exaggerated, and when your discussing such an important and controvesial subject such as slavery it is important for all the facts and events to be presented in a real and believable way. I also feel its important that the editor did not clean up the book in terms of language and content, because slavery is a terrible thing and that's what the book is trying to show. So by cleaning up the language and content the book would have become less realistic and it wouldn't have adequately shown how horrible slavery is.

The Decleration, hmmm... interesting

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Well all that sounds quite nice, but is that really how things went back then and even today. All "Men" are created equal, well if you ask me that certaintly wasn't true. How can congress, most of which were wealthy white males, who owned slaves, claim that all men are created equal when they themselves arn't treating everyone equally. There were no African-americans or Native Americans in Congress. Why? Because the majority of white males considered them to be inferior. You'll also notice that their were no women in political scociety. Women were also considered inferior, their job was to stay at home, do the house work and support their husbands in their pursuit of happiness. Essentially the purpose of woman during this time was to be seen and not heard. Both women and slaves had these unalienable rights taken from them. They didn't have liberty, and they wern't allowed to pursue their own happiness.
It would seem to me that perhaps the founding fathers were living in some sort of fantasy world that not even they could live up to. They over looked the wrongs that they were commiting and wrote up this document as a way to protect their rites, not to give rites to others.

Paine and Panic

Paine says that ‘panics can produce as much good as hurt.’ What does he mean by this? Do you agree?

I agree with this statement. To me it seems to mean, that panic can be good but it does have a bad size. Panic can create unity amongst people and give them a drive to achieve a goal, however at the same time it could split people up and cause extreme disorganisation. It also has the capability to shatter a drive for a goal, panic can cause depression and depression can efectively destroy an effort.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God-wtf-they were way to strict

In Jonathan Edwards famous speech sinners in the hands of an angry God, he is painting for us the image of the early Puritan beliefs. Basically they believed that they were all doomed to go to hell. That the day you're born you're basically doomed, but if you lived a good life just maybe, maybe (not even like a 1% chance), but maybe God will change his mind and let you go to heaven, but if someone was to put it into words like that then it was considered heracey. During this time, the colonies were pretty close knitt and there was really no room for disagreement, unless you wanted to be banished from your colony or tried for being a witch. In the case of Anne Hutchinson, she was banished for believing in spiritualism, that God can speak directly to someone without needing a minister or priest to interpret. So most of the colonist, Puritans included, weren't very tolerant. You either follow the beliefs of the colony exactly or you get out. There was no room for the slightest bit of differance, the Puritans especially were socially repressive, if you didn't believe exactly what was being preached to you, then you just had to deal with it and keep it to yourself if you wanted to stay in the colony. It was like super clique to the extream, if you wern't exactly the same as everyone else than you're just not allowed in the group and you have to go find another one that'l take you. Kind of sad really.

Elaborate on Class disscusion

I did find todays class discussion to be quite fascinating, because I had not looked at the book from that point of view. Gatsby=Gun (Gatsby gets shot), none of the love is real (symbolizing how they only focused on their material possesions and therefore could not know true/real love).
I think that todays disscusion brought out a much deeper meaning of the book. Now that we know this we can percieve the book differently all that was in doubt has now hopefully for most been cleared up.
The main Themes of the book, The Green Light, Love, Class, God/religion, they all tie together now in a much deeper way than before. Overall I think this was a very good book, with many controversial issuse and morals, which in the end made for a very interesting story.

The Great Gatsby chpt. 9

React to the attendance at Gatsby’s funeral. Why do the people who come, come? What is it meant to show us?
No one really came to Gatsby's funeral except Nick, his father, and owl eyes. Nick was there because he felt sort of a responsibility to Gatsby, and because he was one of the few who actually new them. His father was there because he was proud of his son and cared for him deeply. And Owl eyes was there again repressenting the all seeing and the all knowing. I think that the lack of people to attend Gatsby's funeral shows just how shallow the world is and how very few people actually new him. Everyone went to Gatsby's parties but none of them bothered to pay their respects to him or even show up to his funeral.
The title of the book is the Great Gatsby but when you think about it was Gatsby really that great, everyone knew Gatsby for his parties but no one seemed to know him and after he was gone no one really seemed to care. He tried to build himself up but in the end it dosn't seem to have done him a whole lot of good because no one is going to remember him, He was just another lost soul trying to find his place in this world.

the end^-^

The Great Gatsby-chpt. 7+8

These chapters are the climax of the novel. Explain how something mentioned earlier might have hinted at this happening.
For me it was when Tom and Gatsby decided to switch cars, it was like a little red flag going up and saying um yea something big is obviously going to happen. My first guess/thought was that there was going to be some sort of mix up involving Gatsby's yellow car, which is true becuase Tom told Wilson that he owned the car. Also, when they were driving back home, Daisy and Gatsby were driving the yellow car (Daisy was the one Driving), but Myrtle had seen Tom driving the car earlier so she thought it was him, so she runs out to get his attention and talk to him, Daisy who is really the one in the car panics and plows Myrtle over. So, really in conclusion the fact that they switched cars brought about a big turn of events determining the end of the book.