World War I: causes, course, and consequences

World War I

Journal Exercise 6.1A: Impressions of War

My most vivid image of war comes, most likely, from a movie I watched when I was only a few years of age. It was a black and white movie and there are just a few scenes that still persist in my mind. The action was sometime in 1944 and it accounted the Normandy Campaign of the Second World War. The Germans were entrenched in a small, but charming French village (I still have the vivid image of the Gothic church in the village), and they were fighting to the last of their resources in order to stop the Allied advance into France and towards the German border. Despite their heroic defence, some of their actions were indeed barbarous: upon retreat, they blow up the remaining buildings in the village in an attempt to stop the Allies. There is also something else that rests in my mind: although the almost neutral portrayal of the German army, you cannot but feel them as "the bad guys."

My first image went back several hundred years ago to the medieval wars, when principles such as chivalry and loyalty took over the more pragmatic present vision of war. I had several images of cavalries clashing together, only to be later transformed into modern clashes between tanks and infantry or between tanks and tanks. Modern armies = more destruction, more pain inflicted on the enemy, but also on the innocent civilians.

Lesson 6 Journal Entry # 2 of 13

Journal Exercise 6.1B: Responding to Literature

1. The state referred to as "The Shadow" appears in Elliot's poem in three different occasion, each time coming as the interlude or the sandwiched entity between two other notions. I think that the Shadow is the individual conscience in each of these cases. I think it is the way that each individual decides to act on something before moving forward with a plan and the inner, deep thoughts that go on in his conscience before that happens.

Here are the notions that he compares in each case:

the idea and the reality the motion and the act the conception and the creation the emotion and the response the desire and the spasm the potency and the existence the essence and the descent

Part 2: I think that the nouns on the left side are all abstract nouns, while the nouns on the right are all very real actions that the individual undertakes. The connection between them is that one precedes the other. The Shadow is somewhat of the connection between them: man's conscience that turns an abstract concept into a real action.

I think that the hollow men are religious and there are several verses pointing out in this sense, most notably "Lips that would kiss/Form prayers to broken stone," but other then that, the poet is trying to emphasize the idea that the hollow men have lost all their particularities, all characteristics that may differentiate them from other individuals. As they are "hollow," there are no more values, no more traditions and no way to differentiate. They are a brand of their own.

I think that Eliot uses the imagery of "hollow men" to emphasize and argue his idea that contemporary history is indeed futile and anarchical. The hollow men seem to move about with no particular goal, except maybe that of preserving, to the degree to which this is possible, their own lives. Their own characteristics and particularities are removed so as to reveal the futility of their actions.

However, I also believe there is some hidden hope in Eliot's verses: the shadow. The fact that there is still a conscience may point out towards the idea that, after the futility of contemporary history, there may be something to build on the next future.

3. The main difference in the approach that the two poets use is the fact that in "The Rear Guard," the loneliness of the soldier is emphasized, while in "Dulce et Decorum Est," the group attitude is most important for the poet. In "The Rear Guard," the soldier groping about is provided with no communicated partner: the sleeping soldier has been, in fact, dead for several days: "Terribly glaring up, whose eyes yet wore/Agony dying hard ten days before."

In "Dulce et Decorum Est," there is a very strong group attitude, including the situations when danger affects the group and warnings are issued so that everybody is able to hear them. These are shouted out loud and there is a certain spirit that takes away the loneliness of war and provides a group feeling to the war: " Gas!7 Gas! Quick, boys! - an ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets8 just in time."

World War II

Lesson 6 Journal Entry # 3 of 13

Journal Exercise 6.2A: Rites of Passage Activity

My grandfather told me about a fountain pen that he received on the day he went of to college from his father and that he still used nowadays - it is remarkable how a 100 years old fountain pen can still be functional. As for my part, I would like to always have with me the watch that I received 10 years ago from my parents. Every time I look at the watch, I see my parents encouraging me in my enterprises.

Lesson 6 Journal Entry # 4 of 13

Journal Exercise 6.2B: Responding to Literature

The most important technique used is the repetition: he repeats the word 'victory' three times, only to emphasize that 'without victory, there is no survival'.

W. Churchill also uses interrogation to make the address more personal. He perpetually asks "what is our aim?...what is our policy?" In order to make the King understand that this is a joint effort from the entire country and all its representatives.

He uses metaphors in several parts of his speech, including his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" reference. His intention is to emphasize the fact that he will offer all for the final victory and that this is what he expects from all others involved.

The poems are a lyrical approach towards the war, while Churchill, despite his use of metaphors or others figures of speech, provides a very realistic approach in his speech. From these pieces, World War II seems both an absurd engagement and a mixture of energies and individualities.

Lesson 6 Journal Entry # 5 of 13

Journal Exercise 6.2C: Writing a Persuasive Essay

I am going to write a persuasive essay on racism. Despite significant progress in the last decades, including the abolition of Apartheid, racism is still something that influences many societies.

In the European Union, for example, the Roma population is persecuted and their freedom of movement in the EU is sometimes limited. For sure, some of the individuals from this community tend to commit crimes when they travel abroad. However, this is not representative to the level of the entire community.

There are many Roma who work in the EU and do it very well. Each individual should be judged against their own performances and this is something that should be valid for the members of any community. The fight against racism needs to continue until its full eradication.

The Holocaust

Lesson 6 Journal Entry # 6 of 13

Journal Exercise 6.3A: Your Reflections on the Holocaust

Some of the documentaries on Discovery provide the worst and most terrible images of the Holocaust. Whether these are dead bodies or living humans, all emaciated, the individuals presented in these documentaries showed the horrors of the Holocaust. One can only feel excruciated by the fact that humans were able to do this to other humans. I think it is essential to remember the Holocaust so that this will never happen again in history.

Lesson 6 Journal Entry # 7 of 13

Journal Exercise 6.3B: Responding to Literature

All pieces present the Holocaust from the perspective of the individuals themselves. They are all realistic approaches, but approaches that have a strong subjective background and, from this point-of-view, they also have a very personal touch to it. All the pieces present the Holocaust as a horror and as something that has to be avoided at all costs in the future.

The overarching purpose is informational: the authors need to present and show what has happened. In order to do this, they employ all instruments at their disposal and emphasize what was, so that what is going to be will not be the same. Indirectly, they also show where hate between humans leads.

Defending Human Rights Lesson 6 Journal Entry # 8 of 13

Journal Exercise 6.4A: Freedom can list the freedom of speech, the freedom to associate with whomever I want and to meet with whomever I want, the freedom to print whatever ideas I want, the freedom to vote for whomever I want etc. I also have the freedom not to exercise some of my rights, such as the right not to go and vote. Some of the countries where this is not true are Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Cuba, North Korea, Libya, Syria or China.

Lesson 6 Journal Entry # 9 of 13

Journal Exercise 6.4B: Responding to Literature

Modern British Poetry

Lesson 6 Journal Entry # 10 of 13

Journal Exercise 6.5A: Responding to Literature

The poem was written in 1919, which is immediately after the First World War. I think that Yeats is, on one hand, enthusiastic about the end of the world and the coming of a new era. On the other hand, I think he is also a bit circumspect about what this new era is likely to bring about: more anarchy? The fact that the world has escaped the tragedy does not mean that it is over the hurdle yet: it can still spiral out of control, just like the hawk in the poem.

The second poem refers to the death of one's father, while the first has an ever presence of nostalgia throughout the writing. In both cases, many of the words used incline to suggest suffering and sadness, such as 'tears', 'crying' and 'grieved'. Some of the metaphors and epithets are used in the same manner.

A the dying light," "go gentle into the night" and "close of the day." I think that these metaphors provide a very lyrical approach to death, not like my own. I am agnostic and believe that death is simply the end, as well as just another phase of life to which we should not pay too much attention to.