The Monster Within!

                                                                       

                                                                                        A-3 English

                                                                                                       11/18/10

The monsters in literature that stick with us through the decades are not the ones that come purely from imagination. The monsters that we write about, think about, and make movies about most are either the monsters that we create or the monsters we become. We are afraid of the part of ourselves that is most like the monsters we fear.
One example that supports this idea would be werewolves. A werewolf is a monster we fear because he/she/it represents the part of us that can’t control ourselves and the animal side of us that can’t reason.

Werewolves are scary, but what we most fear about them is the part that we ourselves have in common with them. Our worst habits and attributes make and inspire all monsters. We take the things we hate most about ourselves and exaggerate it, and eventually we come up with this big monster that is in reality a reflection of all the worst of us. This reflection is our own way of feeling secure, because we have something/ someone to blame all our horribleness on.

Werewolves are huge hairy creatures that come out at the full moon and loose all mannerisms. No one knows exactly for sure where or how the first werewolf came to be. But we do know that humans become werewolves when they are bitten by one. Often time’s humans are more afraid of becoming a werewolf then the actual werewolf, even though they are vicious monsters that are murderous and have no reason or since of control over themselves. People came up with the werewolf as a comfort in justifying others and their own failure to be able to control themselves, for example immorality, addiction, and bad habits and actions. People would just say that since a person is acting strange she/he must be a werewolf. Although on the other hand part of the reasons humans came up with the werewolf is to justify their own mistakes by having someone else to blame it on. Even though we know that not being able to control our own bad habits is horrible for us, our mistakes sometimes control us until we’ve lost all control of ourselves just like a werewolf we’re similar to them in this way. Knowing that you are somewhat like a monster can be scary too.

People become this monster when we can no longer control our natural human tendencies, desires, bad habits, and the more animalistic part of us shows; the part of us that just understands the need to survive. We fear this monster so much because we are afraid of losing all control of our innermost thoughts and free agency, the ability all of us have to make our own decisions. That’s a scary thought, having no control over ourselves. It’s bad enough when people are captives and have no control over their actions, but being a werewolf is like having someone control not only your actions but your own mind as well. It’s funny how much we love our ability to think and act for ourselves and how afraid we are of losing that capability.

We fear monsters that we ourselves make up because they emulate what we most fear and need to work on. We are afraid of our own failures and sometimes successes. This is why the monsters us humans make are so scary because we freak ourselves out and create things that in reality are fake. We can learn that instead of fearing and hiding from our weaknesses we should face our weaknesses and learn from them.

Ancient China

                                                           Ancient China!                              11/18/10 B-4 History

Introduction:

China’s culture is beautiful and amazing and with all that culture comes almost 5000 years of history, stories, and traditions. From the first dynasty until now is a legacy of hardship, war, and success. Only the land itself can tell of China’s past, and from its past where it’s going. Only time can tell the truly amazing story of Ancient China!

History and Dynasties of Ancient China:

China originated from many original tribes which fought and expanded to become what is now modern day China. China has progressed through five different major time periods: primitive society, slave society, feudal society, semi-feudal society, semi-colonial society, and finally now a socialist society since they became The People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949.  

Humans first came from India and Central Asia to China around 50,000 B.C. These people were Stone Age people that hunted, gathered, lived in caves with dogs, and wore fur and leather. Around 4000 B.C., they began to domesticate. They farmed rice and kept sheep and chickens. In 3000 B.C. people lived in houses, made pottery, and learned how to pull chariots with horses.

In the Bronze Age around 2000 B.C. the Chinese people had developed writing. Soon after the Shang Dynasty began, Shang’s army conquered most of China and united it under one emperor. From this point on people measure time in dynasties, or a family of related rulers.

In 1100 B.C. 481 B.C. the Chou Dynasty took over China and in 700 B.C. lead the people to make iron tools and weapons. In 481 B.C. China fell to ruins and consisted of 6 warring states that fought each other until 221 B.C. or the Qin or Ch’in Dynasty. In this dynasty the Great Wall of China was built. Then the Han Dynasty started the trade with Parthian and the Roman Emporia. They also invaded India and brought Buddhism to China. This success didn’t last very long and China fell apart again; but this time into three kingdoms in 220 A.D. In 581 A.D. Emperor Wen Ti took all three kingdoms and started the Sue Dynasty. During this time/dynasty Yang Ti made a canal to connect the Yellow River and Yantze River.

The next dynasty was the Tang Dynasty. Under this new rule taxes and trade became better and more organized. However, some civil wars weakened them until the Sung Dynasty took over in 960 A.D. By this time traders then started to sail south to India instead of using the Silk Road. In 1279 A.D. the Mongols who were from Asia conquered China. The Mongols did a good job in running the huge empire until people started dying from the plague and the empire fell apart. The Ming Dynasty took over China and they were finally an independent empire again.

Ancient Chinese Class System:

            Like many ancient societies of the past, China had a very detonate class system. You could tell who was rich just from sight. Only rich people wore silk, because it was a symbol of their status. In some dynasties only rich people were allowed to wear smooth silk instead of itchy wool and cotton. Often the high ranking officials and the emperor himself would decorate themselves with: jade, gold, and silver bracelets. Women wore silk slippers and beautifully decorated wooden shoes unlike the straw shoes the lower classes wore. The richest man was always the emperor. The emperor and the empress often had different palaces and different gates to the same palace because no one could use the same gate as the emperor. In the Ming and Qing Dynasty the emperor lived in the Forbidden City.

During the Song Dynasty the rich began binding the feet of young girls with strips of cloth. This painful process stopped the growth of feet forcing woman to take small steps, and have very small feet. Because people thought small feet were so beautiful this painful foot binding process spread to other classes as well. Poor farm girls were the only luckily ones that didn’t have to suffer through this, because they were needed to work in the fields. This practice died out in the early 1900’s.

The Great Wall of China:

The Great Wall of China was built in the 7^th century B.C. It was built for military defense much like the Hadrian’s Wall in Europe. In 221B.C. the Qin Dynasty unified the small city states that China had been made up of. Qin linked the walls that they had already built. Most of it was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Over the last 2000 years it’s been rebuilt and modified. The wall is mostly built of natural resources from the land like earth, stone, and compacted sand. Because it was always changing and being rebuilt it was very hard to determine the length, but it’s about 6000 kilometers. If counting all the separate walls in China it’s around 50000 kilometers.

The Qin Dynasty 221-206B.C.:

            Qin Shi Huang, sometimes said as Chin, was one of China’s greatest and well-known leaders. He even gave China its name. He conquered and unified the 6 warring states. He built part of The Great Wall of China, 700 palaces, and his amazing tomb.

 Qin was obsessed with the idea of becoming immortal. He wouldn’t even eat food that would make him fart or burp because he thought it would make him die sooner. There are a few legends that tell of his quests to find the elixir of immortally.

            In 206 B.C. he was murdered at the age of 49, he had only reined over China for 11 years. He believed that whatever he was buried with would go with him to the afterlife. So he was buried in a huge tomb along with his army of 10,000 clay statues, known as the Terracotta Warriors. He was so worried about things being stolen out of his tomb that he even had the workers that designed it killed and buried with him in it so the secrets would be told.

            Conclusion:

            In conclusion I want to say that I loved learning about ancient China.Ancient China is a truly magnificent place that has a lot of fertile culture and history. I hope someday I’ll be able to go to China to further explore their culture and way of life.          

Frankenstein

                                                                                                                                                                                      Why Frankenstein is Scarier than His Monster!                           11/16/10 A-3

            Victor Frankenstein is actually scarier then his monster because firstly the monster is pretty innocent, and secondly the ability people have to create evil is more powerful and horrific.

            I think that Frankenstein’s monster was innocent because he just wanted to be loved. He wasn’t out to get anyone well except Dr. Frankenstein, in all truth he just wanted someone to love and someone to love him. What the monster looks like is what makes it creepy not its soul. Although I do think this monster has the ability to bring out the worst in us as people with our natural tendencies to judge.

            I think that Frankenstein is scarier because he is actually able to create a monster out of dead people. Really who would even want to play with dead people? I think what individuals make is a reflection of themselves, and he make something evil so that’s pretty scary. So really he must be evil inside.