Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Ethnocentricity

The ethnocentricity on the British first impacted the First Australians which later on created a very big conflict between the two races. When the first fleet arrived, the colonists were dumbfounded by the way the first Australians lived and how they were different compared to them. They said that the way the Aboriginals lived was uncivilized and barbaric. The British were also very critical on the clothes that the Aboriginals wore, they said that the clothes were also barbaric and uncivilized. However, the Aboriginals were very amazed and confused by how the British people lived and they were amazed and confused by what they wore. They couldn't tell whether they were a female or a male. The Australians were able to live and share the land that they owned, this is how the British were able to stay. The British's mission was to originally make a strong relationship between them and the natives. They tried to convert them into living the 'right' way which they thought was the right thing to do. One example of the British trying to convert an Aboriginal is when the British kidnapped Bennelong. The British took him to the governor's house to live the 'right' way. They gave him clothes that the British wear and they taught him to read and write English. They even took him back to England to show the strong relationship between them and the Aboriginals. When he got back, he left the governor's house to go live with his people again. The British were very offended by this act so they wrote about Bennelong and they described him as a savage and barbaric and how he couldn't be helped. They also said that the conversion was unsuccessful because he was a Aboriginal and they were animals. At first the ethnocentricity wasn't so big, but then a few years later, a war broke out between the two races. The relationship was very brutal for the next few years between the British and the Aboriginals.

Monday, March 28, 2011

The Rabbit Proof Fence Part 2

Dear Reluctant Australians,

I have writing this letter to you and your friends for you reluctant Australians to say sorry to the natives of "your" country, the Aboriginals. This was once their land, and now you have taken it from them. You guys only didn't take their land, you took their children away from their mothers forcefully to put them in this "camp" where the children would learn the right way to live, a lot of them not seeing their families again. If you guys can't picture this, just imagine that your home land get invaded by strangers and they set up camp and take your land. They treat you as the minority class and then treat you as slaves Then later on, they think that the way your community lives is not the proper way to live, so they take your children right out of your hands to put them in some "camp" for them to learn the right way to live. Anyone who resists was beaten or shot. This is what the Aboriginals felt like. This is a reason why you should apologize to the Aboriginals. I'm not saying to give back what was theirs, but for starters, we can give them an apologies.
Sincerely,
Evan Rapson

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Molly

In the movie, Molly is the oldest of daughter in the family. She is 10 years old and very wise. When the three sisters are taken away to "camp", her two sisters didn't want to go because they were scared that the tracker was going to catch them. Molly in this movie is a hero because she is very brave, wise and helps her sisters get back home. One point in the movie, Molly shows her wisdom because when they were about to escape, there was a storm coming so that the rain would wash away their tracks, this made Molly sure that she and her sisters want to escape. At the moment in the movie, they successfully escaped and have a very long walk back home.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Julius Caesar Act one Scene 1

Marullus.
Why rejoice? What conquest does he bring home?
What captured prisoners follow him to Rome
Chained to the wheels of his chariot?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!
O you hard hearts, you cruel people of Rome!
Didn't you know Pompey? Many times
You climbed up to walls and battlements,
To towers and windows, yes, to chimney tops,
Your babies in your arms, and there you sat
All day, patiently waiting,
To see great Pompey pass through the streets of Rome.
And when you barely saw his chariot appear,
Didn't everyone shout,
So that the Tiber shook under her banks
To hear the echo of your sounds
Made in her concave shores?
And do you now put on your best clothes?
And do you now choose a holiday?
And do you now throw flowers in the path
Of the man who comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?
Be gone!
Run to your houses, fall on your knees,
Pray to the gods to hold back the deadly disease
That would be a fair punishment for your ingratitude.
Flavius.
Go, go, good countrymen, and for this weakness
Gather all the poor men like you;
Bring them to the banks of the Tiber, and weep your tears
Into the river, until the water overflows.
[Exit all the commoners]

We'll see if their poor characters are affected.
They feel so guilty that they leave without speaking.
You go down that way towards the Capitol;
I'll go this way. Strip the statues
Of any decorations you find on them.
Marullus.
Can we do that?
You know it is the feast of Lupercal.
Flavius.
It doesn't matter. Let no statues
Be decorated with Caesar's trophies.
I'll go around
And scatter the rest of the commoners.
Do the same yourself wherever they are forming a crowd.
These growing feathers that we pull from Caesar's wing
Will make him fly at an ordinary height,
When otherwise he would soar too high to be seen
and keep us all under him and afraid.
Context:

Marullus is saying that they should take down all the decorative that are in Rome that has something to do with Caesar coming back to Rome. They tell all the commoners to go home and don't come to the celebration. They will go and take off the decorations at Caesar's statue.

Significance:

This passage is significant because because it shows the first signs of the conspiracy and the plot to go against Caesar.