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I think that the conditions that they slaves lived through were miserable and the slaves were victims of horrid acts. I manly read the writings of Louis Hughes. His life story begins as he was sold into slavery as a young boy and he gained his freedom in 1865. I believe that the thought that all slaves were born into slavery is such a horrible idea. However, the slaves that were born into slavery and over came were the ones with the real life changing stories. As I was reading I found that slave bidding system and physical examinations to be the most disgusting and horrible thoughts. I believe that the whites ideas about how to treat the slave were very unjust because they knew that the slaves couldn’t do anything to protect themselves therefore they abused them. I also thought that it was horrible that the white masters would pay people to whip their slaves for them. I can not even imagine why someone would want to whip anyone else let a long pay someone to do it! Overall, in the end I have learned a lot from these slave narratives and the narratives made the experience come alive. It seems so unrealistic that these people did not realize what they were doing to slaves was so horrible and still some people today think its ok to discriminate others. Although their are still obstacles in our society today our country has come a long way in abolishing slavery and bringing equality between each race, class, and religion.

Before I being reading the slabe narratives, I generally think that the narratives will suggest the difficulties and hard ships of slavery. Its interesting to figure that these slave narratives were written by slaves that got the chance to learn to read and write. This gave them the opportunity to vocalize there hardships and miserable life being a slave. I believe that letting the slaves learn to read and write helped them gain their freedom. Living on the east coast in a very diverse town it’s extremely hard to comprehend the miserable conditions of the slaves. Slaves barely had a life of their own, their life revolved around there master and if they did not follow they would be punished. I’m very curious to read into these slave narratives which may help me understand the true feelings of the slaves.

This clip reminded me of when we discussed Iraq in American History and were asked the same questions about what to do next in Iraq. I think that the positiction the the character of Stephen Colbery is promiting is for the draft. He clearly states that we need a draft even though a draft would cause a lot of chaos and probably cause a huge corruption throughout the United States. I think that the movie clip is trying to educate and get more people interested in the problems that are occuring in Iraq. I think it is trying to address the mutiple conflicts that are occuring in Iraq right now and the amount of soldier deaths that have happenened in the last year. The video is satirical because it is addressing the events and movements that are making the situation worse in Iraq. He trys to do this ina humurous way. I laughed at some of the jokes especially the writing on the screen. I actually just read an article online that says that Bush is going to increase the troops in Iraq. “I’m inclined to believe that we do need to increase our troops — the Army, the Marines,” Bush told the Post. Wow, i sure hope his plan works and that he is more organized and is planning for the future.

I think that the recommendations that have been suggested in the article are a good start to reforming Iraq. I think the most important thing that the U.S. needs to do is resolve the conflict between the Arab-Israeli. In order for Iraq to stabilize, the relationships Iraq has between neighboring nations have to be stable. I think it would be completely wrong to take out the troops right now. We have started to reform and somewhat corrupt the governemnt. So it is our obligation to make sure we finish out what we do. If we were to come out of Iraq so many problems could arise. Iraqs government would become completely corrupt and neighboring nations would attempt to take over Iraq. And most of all threats to the U.S. would rise substantially. As long as we are working on fixing the Iraqi government and are in the nation for a reason then we should finish out what we started in order to recieve respect and gratuity.

So far I have found that the book is very racist. At first I thought that maybe the racism was an exageration. Especially singe they used the n word so casually. However, after discussing it in class I learned that it was apart of the culture. Living a long the Mississippi river they used the language and made no big deal out of it. I also think its interesting that people today are so shocked and happy about Huck helping a slave escape. But during the time period the book takes place it is such a horrible action. I think this shows how much our country has grown and learned to accept one another. However, you can still find racism today but it is not portrayed in the same ways. I am interested to watch Huck and Jim become closer. I predict that as they become closer Huck will learn more morals and learn to become just a little bit more civilized. I think that Huck’s decision to help Jim was truely a good action and shows that Huck truely does have good qualities and is willing to risk a lot in order to help Jim. I am looking forward to the rest of the book and the changes the changes the characters go through.

As I was reading this narrative some things stuck out to me. For instance what the slaves recieved as clothes and food was barely anything. The worst thought was that the children unable to work didn’t get shoes, stockings, jackets, nor trousers given to them. I personally think that the songs the slaves are very powerful. I remember in choir a long time ago we sang a song that the slaves sang and I was too young to understand it then but now as i remember the lyrics I can picture the meaningfull emotions through the song. I think for most the songs the slaves sang fill us with sadness and sympathy for the slaves. I think the hardest thing to think about for me as that this actually happened and still today their is segregation between color and race. It is incredible to see how slaves could ever smile and laugh under the horrible and cruel circumstances, which were put on them by the brutal slaveholders. I think it is amazing that they were able to create these songs and spirituals while undergoing the bad conditions. By these songs you can tell that the slaves never wanted to give up and they wanted one day to become free. This was a very interesting and powerful narrative and I enjoyed reading about it.

I watched the adaptation of Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo Decaprio. I liked the movie however it was not what I was expecting. Expecially since it took place in a big modern city but they used shakespearen language. I think that the language and setting made the movie a little confusing at times. However, I was impressed with how well the director was able to incorporate the two together. The director was also able to incorporate our modern culture events such as the scene at the beginning of the movie at the gas station. However, the setting was weird at times for instance the amusement park. I think its hard to make modern movies of shakespearean plays considering the setting is completely different. I think it was fun to watch the movie and a good adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.

Being Iraq and what to do next is one of the hardest decisions our country is making at the moment. I definately think that the U.S. has made progress in Iraq however, i’m not sure if it was the right decision to go in the first place. Considering that if we were to leave very suddenly i think Iraq would fall to pieces and the U.S. would be very threatened. Therefore i think we should stay in Iraw and finish what we started in the first place. At this point I think our country is doing everything we can for Iraq and once we figure out what to do next everything will be better in the end. I think that we should take out some of the troops in Iraq because in the past couple of months there has been more and more deaths of U.S. troops. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/iraq_us_deaths The family and friends of the soldiers are even more upset then ever because it is so dangerous our seas. I think it is important for the U.S. to attempt to create a strong government in Iraq but we can’t risk any more of our soldiers lives trying to do it. I think that worst part of this all is that the people of Iraq probably don’t even realize how many soldiers have died yet they aren’t stopping any of it. Also in the U.S. no one realizes what the innocent people in Iraq are going through. Sgt. Ryan Poetsch doubts Iraq-

“As a soldier, I am going to do whatever we got to do,” he said. “As a personal opinion, I don’t think we need to be in this city, period. How much money and how many soldiers is it going to take when these people don’t want our help? They just don’t. We don’t even know who we can trust.”

Is it really worth it to be in Iraq? There are so many questions that need to be answered. In my opinion, if Bush wants to know what to do next well just ask the Soldiers… they’re the ones fighting in Iraq they see whats going on every day. They know the truth!

The ending of Night was not the usual ending you would expect out of such an important event. The last line of Night when Eliezer looks at himself in the mirror and sees a “corpse” is such an eye opener. I think that Elieze’s attempt to survive through out the book is finally shown and said to be just out of pure luck that he had survived all a long. I think that Elie Wiesel has left the readers with out hope and faith that he will move on and is glad to be happy. I think that it would be umbelievably hard to move on after seeing so many deaths and your still alove. Eliezer definatly realizes that he has changed and what he has witnessed in the Holocaust is life changing. The past books i’ve read about the Holocaust have always left the reader with a rosy message but in Night it leaves with the truth. The book leaves the reader with questions about God and his influence in evil. It does not answer the questions or cover up the truth. I think I’ve found my self wondering about God and how hope and faith can help you get through anything. However, sometimes its hard to believe that God is actually there and will make everything ok like during the holocaust. This was such a good book and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to really experience the Holocaust.

So far in Night there have been so many graphic scenes. Elie Weisel describes every instance so in depth. A part that stook out at me the most was when Eliezer and other people watch a man risk his life for soup. Its so sad because as the man reaches for the soup about to eat it he is shot and falls lifeless to the ground. Another part was when the child was murdered! It seems that through out the book no character has cried but as they watch the child be murdered they break down into tears. It seems that God is represented at this time in the book and how it is disgraceful for God to let this poor child die. The story seems to be a symbol of survival especially as executions continue on, Eliezers father and himself struggle to live as they become weak. I believe that even in Eliezers situation when he made the choice to leave the hospital i think that there is no way to know what you should do. Especially since the whole journey for Eliezer has been a mystery of terror.