Pit and Pendulum ending

I think the Pit and Pendulum should end alot better than it did.  It ended with someone just rescuing the man.  That's boring.  I think it should have had something to do with how he tries to escape from the heated walls.  Maybe there could be like a trap door hidden in the floor that he finds and he somehow finds the trapdoor and escapes.  I think that would be a much better ending.  And to add suspense and fear, he should be frantically searching for a way out and even get hit and burnt with one of the walls once or twice.  Just as soon as he is about to get squished in between the walls he finds the trap door and escapes forever.

The Fall of the House of Usher

This was one of my favorite stories we read in class.  It kind of reminds me of a scary movie.  It starts off with the storm and then it just builds up suspense and terror from there.  It was really interesting and exciting to read because I didn't want to put it down.  Once I read a part I couldn't wait to keep reading to find out what happened next.  I think Edgar Allen Poe is an amazing writer.  His stories draw people in and keep them there.  The Fall of the House of Usher was by far one of my favorites.  I could almost see the story happening like a movie in my head.  It would be really interesting to see how it would turn out if Hollywood did try to make a movie out of it.  It would be almost impossible because Poe is so descriptive.  He is an amazing writer and i loved reading this story.  Because of this, I am definatly Pro-Poe.

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Political Climate of the 1950s

By 1953, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy had become one of America's best-known politicians through his campaigns to uncover subversives in government operations. His attacks on the U.S. Army in the fall of 1953 led to the first televised hearings in U.S. history, the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954. The American public watched McCarthy live in action, and they didn't much care for what they saw. Popular approval for McCarthy eroded during the hearings and his eventual fall from power became just a matter of time.
In the fall of 1953, McCarthy conducted an investigation of the Army Signal Corps. His announced intent was to locate an alleged espionage ring, but he turned up nothing. However, McCarthy’s treatment of General Ralph W. Zwicker during that investigation angered many. McCarthy insulted Zwicker's intelligence and commented that he was not fit to wear his uniform.

On March 9, 1954, CBS television broadcast Edward R. Murrow’s See It Now program, which was an attack on McCarthy and his methods. Subsequently, the Army released a report charging that McCarthy and his aide, Roy Cohn, had pressured the Army to give favored treatment to G. David Schine, a former McCarthy aide who had been drafted. McCarthy counter-charged that the Army was using Schine as a hostage to exert pressure on McCarthy not to expose communists within its ranks.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations decided to hold hearings that became known as the Army-McCarthy hearings, televised from the Senate Caucus Room. McCarthy relinquished his chairmanship position to Republican Karl Mundt from South Dakota so that the hearings could commence. Both sides of that dispute aired on national television between April 22 and June 17, 1954, for 188 hours of broadcast time in front of 22 million viewers. McCarthy’s frequent interruptions of the proceedings and his calls of "point of order" made him the object of ridicule, and his approval ratings in public opinion polls continued a sharp decline.

On June 9, the hearings reached their moment of greatest drama, when McCarthy attacked a young legal aide of Joseph Nye Welch (Army Chief Counsel). The aide, Fred Fisher, had once worked for the National Lawyers Guild (an organization with communist ties) and Welch had advised him to stay away from the hearings for his own good. Even though the man was not present, McCarthy impugned his character. Welch’s reply became famous: “Until this moment, senator, I think I never gauged your cruelty or recklessness .... Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” When McCarthy attempted to respond, Welsh cut him off demanding that the chairman call the next witness. Hesitating for a moment, the silent gallery broke into applause. McCarthy was stunned. The hearings drew to an inconclusive finish shortly afterwards.
Televised coverage of the hearings exposed McCarthy’s obnoxious demeanor did much to ruin his reputation, and later led to his censure by the U.S. Senate on December 2, 1954. His nasally “point of order” phrase became a national cliché and members of the subcommittee became household names and faces. The Army-McCarthy hearings live on in the memories of millions of Americans, aided by filmmaker Emile de Antonio’s documentary film Point of Order.

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1769.html

I think that the McCarthy Trials really shows how much of a differance our court systems have evolved and changed from then to now.  It impacted their daily life because most of these trials were televised and in the media.  Many people watched and listened to it all happen which kind of made them involved.  People didn't all know how to react to it.  It affected each group differently. The trials were very public and many people knew about them.  It changed how people saw certain things in some cases even.  I learned that even the simplest things can spark controversy and can cause a lot more drama then it was meant to.

The Skeleton in Armor

The Skeleton in Armor was one of my favorite poems we read in class so far.  I thought it was very cool and interesting that he could tell so much about this person just by looking at his skeleton.  I also thought that this poem was very meaningful because the skeleton was almost speaking to the writer.  If the writer would have gotten one part wrong, it could have changed the entire story.  It was important that the writer pay very close attention and get every detail exactly right.  This poem told is a narrative poem because it is just a story.  It tells a story but in the form of a poem.  It flows like a poem and has a rhyme scheme.  I like how this story paints a picture, and I can almost see it all happening.  His life was very intersting and it is amazing that the writer of this poem could get his entire life story just by looking at his remains and skeleton.

The Crucible

Going into the Crucible, I thought it was just going to be a random story about the Salem witch trials.  Girl does something bad, town blames her for being a witch, she goes through dumb tests, fails, and they hang her.  Story told.  But in the Crucible it goes into detail about one specific story.  I found it very interesting that everyone was so quick to blame one another for being bewitched.  Just because someone was dancing it made her a witch?  There are so many signs that these people probably should have seen going through this.  Who came up with these 'witch tests'?  How do you determine that someone is bewitched?  Anyway, it was even weirder that since Betty was passed out through most of act one, no one suspected her at all.  Even when she mysteriously woke up and joined right in on the conversation.  In class we talked about how she faked fainting so she wouldn't be accused.  Couldn't more people have just pretended to faint to save themselves?  Anyway, in act one everyone found it so easy to blame other people and get defensive about their side of the story.  I think whoever started calling people witches just did it to start some drama and see how many people would take him/her seriously.  Obviously, they got what they were looking for. 

Poem by Anne Bradstreet

By night when others soundly slept
And hath at once both ease and Rest,
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best.


I sought him whom my Soul did Love,
With tears I sought him earnestly.
He bow'd his ear down from Above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.


My hungry Soul he fill'd with Good;
He in his Bottle put my tears,
My smarting wounds washt in his blood,
And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.


What to my Saviour shall I give
Who freely hath done this for me?
I'll serve him here whilst I shall live
And Loue him to Eternity.

(http://www.annebradstreet.com/by_night_when_others_soundly_slept.htm)


I'm not really sure how to do this assignment, so I figured I'd just pick one of Anne Bradsteet's poems and write what it's about and a reflection about it.  This poem is about a woman who cannot sleep because she keeps thinking of her husband...but he is dead.  Everyone else is asleep and she can't bear to fall asleep without him.  He is looking down at her from Heaven and she trys her best not to cry.  She puts faith in her Savior and vows to love him for eternity.  Unlike some poems, this one seems very vague the first time you read it but then when you actually think about what it's saying, it makes sense and you just start to picture it going on in your head.  Anne does an amazing job telling a storyin this poem.  I could picture the whole story while I was reading it.  This poem starts out sad, but it ends with true love and her never letting go or forgetting.  I really like this poem because i think it tells a story and puts a picture in my head without flat out telling me.  It makes me think.

Squanto

So, I chose to research Squanto because he sounded like an interesting person...but mostly because I like his name(:  When I did research him, though, I found out that he was one of the only Native Americans that could speak the English language.  That made him one of the only ones who could communicate with the Pilgrims.  He could speak their language because he had previously traveled to England and learned their language.  He was also one of the older men of the community, which means he was very wise also.  He was a Patuxet Indian.  He was born in a vilage which used to be located near the site of the New Plymouth.  He had several encounters with white men/pilgrims when he was growing up.  He spent alot of time with them, during which he learned their language and helped them make deals and communicate with other Indians.  The pilgrims treated him well and even gave him clothes to wear.  They invited him to travel back to England once when they were ready to leave.  He accepted and went to live with members of the crew.  Unfortunatly Squanto got homesick, so Captain John Smith arranged for another voyage.  On the way, he was accidently sold into slavery in Spain, but luckily he fell into the right hands and was taken care of.  He eventually made his way back to America, though.  Back in America, he was a big help to Pilgrims.  He built them houses and taught them how to hunt and cook.  He died of a fever in 1622, but without him most of the Pilgrims would not have survived and the story would have ended very differently. 

Pocahontas

This is a picture of Walt Disney's version of Pocahontas.  In the Disney movie, Pocahontas is a beautiful young woman who meets John Smith and falls in love with him.  Her father sees that they are in love and accepts John Smith.  Then in the end, they all live happily ever after.  The real Pocahontas, on the other hand, was a young girl.  She was barely a teenager.  Her father and the others want to kill John Smith, but Pocahontas convinces him not to.  Her father ends up adopting him, and later John Smith and Pocahontas develop a relationship.  Some parts of the Disney movie have facts behind them, but most of it is fiction and just a kids movie.  I love the Disney version of Pocahontas, and i want to believe that they all lived happily ever after...but they didn't.  I am still going to go with the Disney version. [=

native american cultures

So after reading all these stories about native americans, I find it kind of hard to believe that we are so similar. Did we steal ideas from them? Becasue clearly there was definatly some relations throughout them.  I found it really interesting that their constitution had so many rituals.  I always pictured native americans to be the culture that sits around a fire and tells stories and dances (no offense).  But apperently they had a written constitution, and their lives were based on more than just dancing around a campfire.  I kind of wish that I could visit one of their meetings or story-tellings. Just to see what it would be like.... But then again, I'm sure they think the same about us...

heyyy(: