Monday, June 06, 2005
Lea Shim
June 6, 2005
Honor's Humanities
Honor's Essay 2
Shane, by Jack Schaefer, wasn't quite informing about the time period and the events, only about the lifestyle of a farmer out in the country. It talked about how food was simple, and how there were lots of chores to do. It was interesting about how it showed the conflict over land even between Americans. We only briefly went over border conflicts in history, and they didn’t say they went as far as what happened in this book.
Call of the Wild, by Jack London, wasn't really informative either, since it was from the point of view of a dog. But it did go over what we hadn’t studied in history. I think it was the Klondike Gold Rush. I had never learned anything about the subject, so most things were new to me, like how the men camped with hardly any covering at all, and the dog trading for example.
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, by Ernest J. Gaines, focuses mostly about the post Civil War issues, while in history we’re learning about before and during the Civil War. The book also talks more about the troubles African Americans faced- discrimination, segregation, etc. The history textbook has said that slavery wasn't the key reason for the start of the Civil War, although it was a part of it.
The dilemmas in the book are things we probably couldn't completely imagine, like the 'Secesh' killings and men like Albert Cluveau. They were all based on the racial discrimination, the social imperfections that were more prominent back then. Jane and Ned had a problem finding a job until they met 'Bones'. Since black people had very few rights, including not being able to press charges against a white person, Jane and Joe Pittman, her late husband, had to pay their way out of their jobs, since the plantation owner tried to make them stay. They didn't really have the right to quit completely. The place Jane lived in when she was over 100 years old was ruled by a landlord, and if you did anything at all that seemed rebellious, you were kicked out and had to move. These difficulties showed that even though the African Americans were free, they still didn't have the same status as the whites. They still hardly had control over their lives, and even though they were free to look for jobs, it was very hard to find someone who'd hire them. Men like Albert Cluveau killed anyone who spoke up about these topics.
The whole basis of this book is about how hard Jane's life is because of the scars of slavery. However, in history, it says that slavery wasn’t the only big issue between the North and South. They fought also because of their differences- their economies relied on different products, so their populations, resources, wealth, and needs were different. It's odd how the book makes it seem like that was the only reason for conflict, while the history textbooks say otherwise.
These three books are set in different time periods in totally different areas of the country. They all showed sides to events and phases in history that the textbooks never really went into, and 2 out of the 3 books weren't part of the topics we've studied. This is why I couldn't relate my knowledge to the books much. It was interesting to have an insightful way to learn about the Arctic trade, early America, and African American rights after the Civil War.
it stopped raining @ 10:35 PM
|
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
i'm pretty far... past where Tee Bob killed himself. i didn't really understand that part. why was that woman always sitting on the ground when he was on his horse? 0_o and how could he love her so much to run away with her? and kill himself when she refused? and i don't see why they couldn't have made it work... didnt his father interracially marry too? or did i miss something... *sigh* all these characters are confusing, because the book only uses like ONE sentence to introduce them, then brings them into the story a chapter later.... T__T
and what are they talking about?? 'the one'?
it stopped raining @ 9:57 PM
|
Monday, May 16, 2005
yes the book is finally long enough to write 5 posts on... i'm on pg. 58
the book introduced jane/tiley, and after about 5 pages, i knew that she was extremely obnoxious and arrogant and grr.. T__T but i dont understand how at the beginning her mistress whipped her so much and wanted to kill her just because she 'sassed' her... anyways, the first example of jane's annoying-ness.
The driver said: "Shut up. You ain't nothing but trouble. I ain't had nothing but trouble out since you come in that field.""If I ain't nothing but trouble, you ain't nothing but Nothing." I said. I mean honestly... thats like the lame 5 year old answer... and she had NO idea where Ohio was... shouldnt she have asked someone along the way for directions first? before she headed out and almost got captured? or almost had to stay in that school? and how can she possibly survive on corn and apples?
I feel really sorry for Ned... Jane may be a good babysitter, but I don't think she's very good at the whole survival thing. you can only go so long without meat. when you're traveling a few miles a day, on foot, you're going to get tired, and vegetables won't sustain you. but it was really sweet how Jane took him with her, and she lets him rest whenever he needs to.
It's odd.... everyone uses the N word so... lightly. it's just another word to them. i wonder what made it so offensive now adays. maybe it's just because they were considered not even people back then, so it didn't really matter what they were called.
it stopped raining @ 5:09 PM
|
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
wow... i finished the book... that was a SAD ending... Buck just goes on with his life alone in the valley, terrorizing the indians and roaming with the wolves in the winter 0_o
but why did the indians even kill thornton for?? it's not like he was interfering, or killing all the buffalo or anything.
i wonder what would have happened if Buck hadn't gone to hunt the moose, and stayed with thornton. would he have been killed along with the other dogs too? or would he have been able to save thornton?
it's a little odd how buck is described as being huge, especially compared to the wolves. but aren't wolves really big too?
it stopped raining @ 5:47 PM
|
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
i'm on page 40
it's a little scary how Buck becomes primitive. not just physically (hard enduring body, taste buds and digestion, etc.) but also psychologically. he howls at the moon, has a killing instinct (like going after the rabbit) and starts fights with Spitz a lot. and eventually kills him. which is kind of cool in a gruesome way.... lol at least he won't really have any trouble with leadership anymore.
it's also odd to have a book being told from a dog's point of view. like, how it describes the pride of the sled dogs, and how it's the only thing that keeps them driving on. or how he learned to trick francois or perrault so that he (buck) didn't get a whipping
when the book described the perilous riding conditions, it surprised me. i didn't think that riding in the snow would be that dangerous... but i guess in the mountains yea it would be.
"
Six days of exhausting toil were required to cover those thirty terrible miles. And terrible they were, for every foot of them was accomplished at the risk of life to dog and man. A dozen times, Perrault, nosing the way, broke through the ice bridges, being saved by the long pole he carried, which he so held that it fell each time across the hole made by his body." - pg. 29. that would be scary... that every single step you took meant you could fall into the freezing water... but if he fell in, wouldnt he be so shocked that he'd let go of the pole?
it stopped raining @ 8:06 PM
|
Monday, April 18, 2005
i'm on page 16
I feel SO sorry for Buck! i mean, he was taken, unknowingly, to his imprisonment practically! and did they HAVE to beat/strangle him? and why couldnt they have put some food in his cage?? and did the judge even agree to sell him? i cant believe the men taunted and tortured him like that...
it stopped raining @ 4:58 PM
|
Sunday, April 03, 2005
hmm Shane was so short it's hard to think of anything else to write... so yea here's something. lol i'm going to try to drag this out at looong as possible... i might get 100 words heh
I'd rate the book a 7.5 out of 10. it was odd how it showed life on the frontier (at least for the most normal part) as somewhat easy, unlike... lets say, in the movie we watched in history (with the girl... mercy or something? prosperity...? lol) which showed life on the frontier as hard and gruelling. and it was weird how they didn't show any natives in the book... unless they drove them all out already T__T
i really wonder what happened to shane... if he died from the bullet wound, or if he just went on wandering to other places, and doing for them what he did for the Starretts. that'd be cool. he's like the lone ranger hero type lol...
it stopped raining @ 5:28 PM
|
