Edgar Allan Poe

Once I started reading, "The Fall of the House of Usher," I soon realized that I enjoyed reading this better than the other assigned readings. In the beginning, the way the house was described along with how he talked about his friend Roberick Usher, really caught my attention. I knew that there was something strange about that house and his friend right from the beginning because something strange had to be going on for for him to be so effected by seeing the house and his friend again.
My first impression was that Ushers sister was already dead. But then as I continued to read on, she made an appearance by walking down the hall. I soon became confused because I didn't know whether she was deceased or not. Even after I have finished the literature, I still don't know exactly what happened to the sister. But I do feel that Usher was suffering from some mental illness based on him not leaving the house because he was so scared, thinking that something is keeping him there. Along with what he does with his "so called" dead sister. I also found it strange that the doctor never said a word about Ushers medical condition, maybe he suffered from the same mental illness that his sister suffered from, which went undiagnosed.
Before the sister was put into her entombment, I found it strange that she still had color to her face, along with a slight smile of the mouth. Based on what I read, it seemed to me that she didn't look dead at all. All that I could think of to explain this situation was that maybe she was faking, playing a prank on her brother. But would she really let the prank go on knowing that she is becoming enclosed in a tomb? Then I thought that maybe she had some kind of disease that temporarily paralyzed her. But if that were the case how would she have gotten out of the coffin that had a screwed on lid, along with being enclosed inside copper doors? In less maybe Usher went back to mourn over her again and didn't tightly close the coffin and lock the door again when he left.
Another strange part in the literature was when the book that was being read to Usher seemed to be coming alive. Next thing you know, the dead sister is standing in the doorway and falls on Usher, which resulted in both of their deaths. It all seemed so strange to me. I feel that Usher imagined all of this due to all of the stress that happened in his life, his parents dying when he was so young, and then the loss of his sister who was all he had left. With no friends or family to turn to, he started to go a little crazy. I think he actually believed in his mind that all of the events that took place in the literature was real, when it really wasn't. Maybe even after a few months of the narrator living in that house, he too, eventually became a little crazy and started to believe everything was real.

Thomas Jefferson

While reading about Thomas Jefferson, I had a little trouble with trying to understand how he truly felt about people of different race. It seemed to me that he talked so openly about this subject, and that he used words to describe the natives and African American people that seemed very harsh to us, but weren't to Jefferson as he wrote them. In class we talked a lot about how raciest Jefferson was, but I see it differently.
On page 35 and 36, Jefferson wrote about his feelings towards the native Americans. At first, I thought that Jefferson thought very little of the natives, especially when he referred to the natives as, "barbarous," and referred to the whites as, "civilized." But he also wrote that he was a defender and a critic of the native land, recognizing the many differences between the whites and natives. He also wrote that he cited many positive attributes of American Indian culture. I don't think that Jefferson was trying to speak about the natives in a bad way, I feel that he just used the word "barbarous" to point out the differences between how the whites lived and how the natives lived, the whites being far more advanced in their way of living than the natives were.
When Jefferson wrote about the African American people, it seemed to me that he had mixed feelings about them. Jefferson's writings were a little confusing to me on page 36, but I interrupted as him not truly knowing how he felt about slavery. He seemed to want everyone to be free, but because there was so much prejudice against African American people in that time, along with so much hatred, he didn't know if freeing slaves was the right thing to do, being afraid of race wars.
On page 47 and 48, Jefferson compared the white and African American people. At first I couldn't believe how he talked about the African Americans. He wrote, "They have less hair on the face and body. They secrete less by the kidnies, and more by the glands of the skin, which gives them a very strong and disagreeable odour. This greater degree of transpiration renders them more
tolerate of heat, and less so of cold, than the whites." It seemed very harsh to me and made me a little angry, but after I read on I felt differently. I don't think that he meant anything negative about the African American people in that statement. I believe that he was just trying to compare the two different races the best way that he could. Which is why he also talked about the positive things about African American people. If he had so much hatred about them, why would he even bother to write anything good about them. Plus, when he used the word "disagreeable" to represent their odour, I felt that he was trying to think of a nicer way to say that they had a bad odour (I believed that was mentioned in class). But he didn't take into consideration why their physical appearance was like that, which was due to them working so hard as slaves.
The one thing that I couldn't understand is why Jefferson hated Phyllis Whately so much. It seemed to me that Jefferson couldn't even criticize her poems because he thought she wasn't worthy enough. Was it only because she was black? Maybe he was more raciest then I originally thought.

John Smith

I found the reading about John Smith to be very interesting, although it was hard to understand at sometimes. I believe that once John Smith discovered that life in Virginia was full of opportunities, he began to forget about the reasons that made him leave England. Once he was elected president of the council, he established a, "tough-minded, practical regime that stresses social order, the general welfare, and long term goals rather than the quick profit motive," which drove many of the colonists to come to Virginia in the first place. He didn't believe in all of that in England, but once he became in charge they became his ways. Smith is doing the same thing to the colonists of Virginia that he didn't like in England.
When Smith was sent back to England after being severely injured in a gunpowder explosion he began convincing the people of England to move to Virginia so they can have a better life because of the unlimited material and moral benefit. But he didn't take into account that the natives were their first.
I feel as though Smith was trying to change the natives to much, especially by trying to covert them to Christ.
As I was reading the last part of the story that talked about Pocahontas saving Smith, I couldn't help but wonder how much of that part is true because it's difficult to know which parts of Smiths life are fact or fiction. But I like to believe it's true because it's nice to see the whites and natives uniting as one.