WW2 Letters

I am going to be a pilot from the Battle of Midway. I watched a documentary about the battle and it really interested me. This battle was the most decisive battle between the US and Japan. It was the first battle being fought over seas between ship fleets. Us was the underdogs not expected to win.

My letter is going to be kind of a diary from the perspective one one of the pilots that just got back from the battle.

Blog #15

-Postwar rebuilding:

I am really interested in the postwar rebuilding because it shows in the countries now. Randy made a good point when he told us that Japan and Germany have the strongest economies. The reason for this is caused by the process in which the country was rebuilt after a war. He made the relation between the successful countries and North Korea which hasn't really recovered from a war so they are cut off from the rest of the world. I hope to learn more of the reasoning behind this.

Blog #14

1. What are the most interesting aspects of World Wars 1 and 2?
WW1: It was the first war where there were tank battles. It as the first war where there was an estimated trillion dollars in war costs.
WW2:80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn't survive World War 2

2. What do you hope to learn about these wars?
I hope to learn the causes and effects of the war and how it effected the people.

3. How/Why are these wars important today? How do they impact and/or inform our world today? hint: think about alliances, democracies around the world, cultures, international institutions, nuclear (and other) technologies, etc.

These wars are what formed our alliances that we still have to this day. Also around the world countries have conflicts and disagreements and these wars are what those stemmed from.

Final Grapes of Wrath

In the novel The Grapes of Wrath the tone is set early on when the Joads, a migrant family is forced to move out of their home. As one can imagine this will be depressing and a struggle for the family. When all of the main characters are introduced, we have a typical family with a few exceptions. Tom Joad, Ma Joad, Rose of Sharon and Pa Joad are the migrant family but early on in the novel Tom meets an ex-preacher who he becomes friends with. The group’s journey is like a rollercoaster with very little ups but many downs.

We first met him when he was deciding that he didn’t want to be a preacher anymore. He was sleeping with women from church, didn’t believe in what he was preaching and he believed that the holy sprit is found split up equally between the people. J.C., these initials demonstrate power and the strength of an individual. Throughout the novel Jim Casy is the leading figure that reflects Jesus Christ. In the novel we see the Dust Bowl in the perspective of a migrant family.  Steinbeck describes a time of unfair poverty, unity, and the human spirit. Early in the novel we meet Jim Casy, "A man sat on the ground, leaning against the trunk of the tree. His legs were crossed and one barefoot extended nearly as high as his head."  At this point of the book we meet a calm relaxed ex-preacher. Shown through different forms Jim Casy is seen as Jesus Christ.

When Ma Joad is introduced in the novel, she jumps right out as one with high sprits. She is one to think about others before she thinks about herself. In the middle of the book when the Joads are traveling to California Grandma dies and without question Ma takes matters into her own hands and doesn’t tell anyone so that they can make it through the checkpoint with the excuse that grandma was very sick and they needed to get her to the hospital soon.

A setting of poverty is a constant through out the whole book. Steinbeck makes it more obvious when family members and friends start dying. The novel starts out with two men driving in a old run down truck and one of the men is hitch-hiking, this means that the man was too poor to have is own car or pay for his own ride and this event sets the tone for the entire novel with it just getting worse and worse. Once the family leaves to head to California the setting starts to get bad, we read about the car salesmen who rip people off, we read about the gas station owner and how the Joads are trying to get gas from him for free and we hear about grandma and grandpa dying. The setting was never exciting of pretty; it would either be ugly (hoovervilles) or gross (the crops being sprayed with poison).

In conclusion, the characters grew closer progressing through the novel, yet the setting grew more depressing. This goes to show that the tone set, was not done by accident, but to prove a point, that nothing went well during this time, and i how shitty life can get.

Blog # 12

Public works projects directly benefited communities. For example buildings, dams and canals. The new deal promised many things to reassure the American population that every thing was going to be ok. The famous part of the new deal was the Social Security Plan which is still around to this day.

Blog # 11

Dear President Obama,

I have a plan that I think could change the crises that is currently going on. I feel that we should make welfare a temporary option for the poor. What I mean by this is for example if someone is out of work, they get money for a year, at the most, and in that time it is put on them to find a job. This will save us all so much money because many people are taking advantage of this. This is not fair to the people paying for these lazy people who don't care about what they do and don't even try. Take this into consideration.

Sincerely,
Grant Garrity

Blog # 10

I think this book is perfect in showing what the farmers went through. I think that the Jode family represents the average family at that time because they did so many things that families back then would have done. The book also does not have many happy experiences, they were all sad and depressing like when the grandparents died. This was wrote this way to show how depressed the people of that time were.