Maus

We have recently finished reading "Maus". Maus was a very interesting book overall, and I thought the way the author put the book together was interesting. Art Spiegelman was the author of the book, and he had created this book through the perspective of his father and had formatted it into a comic. I thought that was a very interesting way of telling a story. I really actually enjoyed this book because it helped me understand different ways people write novels. The novel is also mainly talking about his father's experience as a Polish Jew and being a Holocaust Survivor. I believe that throughout the novel, Art displays his father very well and he makes sure the audience has an understanding of what is happening throughout the two novels he had created. The story within the book was created between 1980-1991. Within the book, Art displays mouses and cats to represent people. It is showing the different races and nationalities of the Jews and and the Germans are cats. The Germans as cats are represented through predators who prey on the Jewish mice. I believe this entire theme Art made up was quite clever and a clearly different way of portraying an interview. Overall, reading the Maus allowed me to have a different outlook on stories and books. 

Women's Strike for Equality (Historical Investigation)

My specific topic for the historical investigation was the Women's Strike for Equality. I mainly picked this topic because I thought it was interesting to see Woman create a strike just for their rights and I wanted to learn more about the topic itself. Some basic facts about the strike is that it happened on August 26th 1970, and was mainly under the person; Betty Friedan. Betty Friedan was a major feminist, and had created the strike to help create the significance of women's rights within the United States. The strike itself had created women to come together, and they were all from many different races. The strike did not completely end women's inequality but it did help spread the message across the states. The main importance behind the strike is that doing this strike was a huge risk and doing it may have caused several complications with the government and such, but Betty Friedan and others did not give up and made sure to make this strike happen. It was important for this strike to happen because Women were not getting job opportunities and equality just in general. Overall, the women's strike for equality was a big step in helping women get their freedom. 

The Cold War

The Cold War was an interesting event in history. It was a conflict that happened between the United States and the Soviet Union which lasted for a very long time. It was also a conflict that happened right after World War 2. Among this conflict, other conflicts occurred too which lead to many problems. The Cold War itself is a debatable topic and has many opinions behind it. There was a clash between two major topics which was capitalism and communism. These two major topics lead to religious conviction and the idea of both sides wanting dominance over one another. The Cold War was definitely unexpected since the United States and the Soviet Union were both allies during the World War 2, and it was expected for them to be friendly and simple. This "cold war" among the United States and Soviet Union was mostly because had distrust on many things between each other, such as the capitalist and communism factor. This misunderstanding between the two lead to the making of dangerous weapons and some interesting policies. This idea of distrust was a huge factor for this war to happen in the first place. To conclude, the cold war was to show factors of distrust between places and conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union. 

"Their Eyes Were Watching God"

In American Literature our class has been reading a novel named "Their Eyes Were Watching God". This book has been very interesting since it has looked upon many themes such as gender and time. Gender has been significantly looked upon in the novel because we have seen many men and women characters who have made interesting decisions. So far this book has surprised me because the decisions the character Janie has made have affected her life significantly. This book was created due to the differences between African and White Americans, according to the time it was created. The author Zora Hurston emphasizes the difference between African and White Americans because it shows the life of an African American. I believe that reading this novel will give many people insight of the differences between cultures then and now. Overall, I thought this book so far was a great find because it has great metaphors and analogies along the way. The idea portrayed in the novel does have many controversies, but it is a great find. Even though I have not read much of the novel, I have read enough to know that this will novel will be a really great one! 

The Roaring Twenties

 The Roaring Twenties was an era of inventions and prosper for Americans. During this time, the nations wealth had doubled creating people to become rich. Also during this time, entertainment was looked more upon and made a huge increase in growth. Even though there were people growing rich during this time, there was also an increase in poverty. Many people believed this age to be more conflict rather than celebration. This time was a birth for many new ideas, such as mass culture and new music. There is a book based upon this time, named the Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby is a book that takes place during the Roaring twenties and shows the adventure of many people who are going through this era. The mass culture was created because many people had extra money to spend and they ended up spending the money on clothes and home appliances, etc. The Roaring Twenties was also the time of the Jazz age, where many Americans wanted to dance and create new music that created a new sense of freedom for people all across the nation. Since many Americans were prospering during this era, alcohol and smoking were things that were not prohibited. They were actually influenced more with these things because of the gigantic parties that were hosted. To conclude, this era was the time of many conflicts and celebrations. 

Native Americans and Americans

Native Americans and Americans history goes a long way back. Americans have had control of the Indians for a very long time, and it ended up parting families from each other and especially children from their parents. I feel like this Indian and American situation bases off of the African American and Americans. Both African and Indians did not conquer their freedom for a period of time, and the Americans just took over. According to articles, Indian children were required to go to American schooling so they would learn the American culture. They would teach these children how to walk, talk, dress and even eat. I bet they believed they were trying to make the Indians more civilized than they already were. When I read all of these articles and even saw various pictures, I thought that the Americans may have done this to create every society to be the same. If everything was the same, then they would be able to control people better and create a larger society. Even though these Indians were practically turned into Americans, they did not forget their heritage or their culture. They still remembered everything they learned from their parents and kept those hidden. Throughout this period of the differences between Indians and Americans seemed as if the Americans wanted to take away the Indians culture by replacing it with theirs.

Emily Dickinson and Poetry

Emily Dickinson was one of the greatest poets, and have created poetry that changed the way we perceive it today. She was someone who was very secretive, and did not enjoy sharing the company of others. But when she did meet others, she would be fascinated and created poems about them. Despite the fact that she lived in this isolation, she would create poems that were beautifully written. After her death, they were found in her drawers and in the end they were published for the world to see. It's quite interesting to see that so many people create poems, about events that happen around them. Many people who have had conflicts around them, do create poems because it is a great way to let you express yourself through the use of words. Emily Dickinson's life revolved around her religion, and her isolation. But, due to this it also allowed her creativity flow through. Also, because of these poems it gave us today a new perspective on American literature. It was not just Dickinson who made contributes to the poetry society today, we can also say that Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman had a great hand in making the poetry in our society to what it stands today. Without these poets then the discovery of poems and expressing feelings would be very difficult. We should all appreciate these people for their work toward poetry today.