Map Analysis

North America (1778):

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl

We all knew that in 1778 we weren't completely expanded across America, like where we are today. This map shows the 13 original colonies. There are some major differences in this map compared to a map looked at in 2014. First off, Virginia is the biggest colony and takes up some of the area that Pennsylvania would be in today.  This must be why so many men signed the Declaration of Independence from Virginia, because it was the BIGGEST colony. Then if we look at North Carolina and South Carolina, they are both two small slivers of land. This map definitely points out the power that Virginia held over America at that time.

The map “narrates” our history by showing the expanse of Virginia. It is telling us that although other colonies were being created and expanding, Virginia was the biggest and most important at the time. This is super important in our history, because it shows that Virginia was definitely important during expansion. They kept making it bigger and bigger than the other colonies, showing that the ideas behind Virginia’s colony were extremely valued by the people of America.

THE GREAT GATSBY

As we were wrapping up our Great Gatsby unit, we got the chance to watch Baz Luhrmann's version of The Great Gatsby. He made some very important stylistic choices that in the end helped make this movie a classic.

To begin, one of the best choices Luhrmann made for the movie was when he introduced Gatsby. The audience is hearing a lot about the famous Gatsby and they even see his shadow and outline a few times, but they never get to see his face until he has become a real mystery to the audience. Just like in the book we are hearing a lot of rumors about him, but we don't actually get the chance to see him until Nick is walking up the stairs at one of Gatsby's famous parties and we see his ring flash to the audience then we know that Nick is talking to the one and only Gatsby. This gave me, an audience member, a wave of excitement! The minute that Gatsby turns around and raises his glass we know he is one important dude!

Luhrmann made a lot of smart camera angle choices for the movie. When we are getting our first look at Gatsby's big and glorious parties, the camera is moving and switching angles like crazy. I feel like Luhrmann wanted the audience to understand the chaos that ensues at a Gatsby party! He wants us to understand that things are constantly happening everywhere and all the time at these parties. Another camera choice he made was the camera was angled up whenever Gatsby was thinking and hoping about his future with Daisy. The angle made the audience member feel that hope with the way we look up at Gatsby's happy face.

Flowers were a huge part of Fitzgerald's book and Luhrmann made it a point to put many flowers into the movie. There were two points where the flowers played a huge part. The first one was when Gatsby was setting up Nick's house for his reunion with Daisy and then again at the end. Those flowers represented the beginning and ending of Gatsby and Daisy's short-lived relationship.

The Great Gatsby definitely deserves the title of a classic, because it was so intensely thought through. There are many more stylistic choices that Luhrmann made for this film, but I thought these three really hit on some of the major points he was trying to make! Well done Luhrmann, well done!

Social Mobility and the American Dream

As a personal opinion, I do not believe that social mobility is something we have very much of here in the United States of America. We have the opportunity to move up and down the social class ladder, but it doesn't happen very often. Then the question of hard work and money come along, does hard work really influence your financial status. And to this question I would also say no. There are so many families out there that work hard just to have a meal before them at dinner time and there are others that work hard to get the CEO promotion and along with that promotion comes money, where as the satisfaction of hunger does not.

In SOURCE C, the students use a reference from The Great Gatsby, the green light represents something that someone strives for. We all strive for something, some of us just haven't found it yet! One quote from SOURCE C is, "I think this American dream is an interpretation of a white, poor man's dream." This is unfortunately true. The American dream is something people always look forward to, but has anyone ever gotten there? I haven't ever heard of anyone saying, "Oh, I have reached the American dream!" No. It is a goal that we continue to strive for. It is a place we will never reach, but it is one of the best motivators out there. We will always have something to look forward to, that is what the American dream is.

When we say hard work do we mean physically or mentally? Or both? That is up to the interpreter, but in my case I would have to say both. You first need to put your mind to it, whatever it may be, then you must physically go out and conquer your goal. In SOURCE E, a profile was done on women whose fathers were doctors, but they went to gain a PhD in history with the aim of teaching at a public university or college. A PhD, they were surprised when they didn't make as much money as their fathers. They put in an equal amount of hard work though...why is that? It depends on multiple factors, which is why hard work and financial status have nothing to do with each other. Each situation is a different circumstance, so we cannot say that the two are related.

SOURCE A focuses on the lives of rich kids. These are the kids that are advancing, because their mom and dad have money to help the advance. I don't think that these kids are understanding how hard work really works. These are the kids that are getting things handed to them. They may be advancing financially, but they aren't getting the chance to work hard on their own. The kids that actually know how to work hard are the ones who have been put in situations where they have had to actually work hard, not the ones who just got it.

Social mobility is something we don't have much of now,but maybe in the near future we may be able to handle. I still and most likely will always believe that hard work and financials aren't always related. This blog was an eye opening one!

Social Class

I've been thinking of this for awhile now. We have always, always, always had social class. I can't think of a time when we didn't have social class. If you can think of a time when social class was not an important factor in anyone's life, please let me know!

We took a "What Social Class Do You Belong In?" quiz on Christian Science Monitor. The quiz asked us 30 questions and based our "social class" off of our answers. My social class was, bourgeois vous, or for those of us who can't read French, it just means upper middle class! I agree that this is the correct social class for me to be placed in. I'm fortunate enough to go on vacations and my family can afford a lot of things, but when it comes to things like paying for college we don't have some long family line or a well known last name that would pay for it. Paying for college is definitely going to be a difficult to pay for!

In class we also got the chance to watch a small excerpt from the documentary People Like Us. This film was ideas about social class from the eyes of those living in that social class. We watched a part of the film about a woman who lived in an old, broken down trailer with her three sons. She worked part time at Burger King, but had to walk 10 miles just to get to work. Her kids are embarrassed to have her show up to a public place or event. They try to avoid her. It's so unfortunate that this is a situation that, not only this woman has to live in, but many families in the United States have to deal with. We like to focus on the positives that are going on here in America and the bad things going on in other countries, because it makes us look better. It makes the citizens of the United States think, "Oh, it's not that bad here, because we have all of these good things going on, and in other countries they are suffering so much." But here in America we don't like focusing on our own problems, and we definitely don't like focusing on good things happening in other countries. Why is that? Shouldn't we want to focus on making America better? Shouldn't we want to applaud other countries for doing great things? It seems very backwards to me. We need to focus on those who live life in lower social classes and help them out! 

Do you ever think there will be a time when we won't have social classes? I can't ever see it happening! But if it did, would it be a good thing?