In the last chapter I read, we are finally told the reason for Miss Havisham's strange behavior. I am not sure whether you remember, but Miss Havisham was an old lady, who paid Pip to come to her house and play cards with her adopted daughter. When he main character met her, he was shocked : She was wearing her wedding dress and had one shoe put on. She had no idea which day it
was, had pulled all the curtains so that no daylight was present in her room and all the clocks in the room were stopped at exactly twenty minutes to nine. The reason for that, I just found out, was that a few years ago she was completely inlove with this man and was ready to do anything for him. A few people had told her to be careful but she didn't listen. The two were about to get married, everything was ready. Then, less than an hour before the ceremony was about to start, he sent her a letter saying that he is leaving her. The even worse thing is that it is supposed that the man was in a conspiracy with Miss Havisham's half brother and that they shared the profits.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Dreadnought: Introduction (Part 2) - The Germans
The German Challenge
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The German Empire composed of many small city-states
Wilhelm II became Kaiser of the German Empire in 1888, which at that time, the empire was a new industrial empire in Europe. Wilhelm II had the determination of Germany becoming a world's superpower. To be able to do that, Germany must create a large navy... too rival the British. Wilhelm's inspiration came from his English ancestry, his grandmother, Queen Victoria. He knew the importance of sea power and how it would help spread German influence throughout Europe.
Already in 1880s, the German Empire acquired colonies 5 times larger than the Mainland. However, this was done with the help of the British navy and Empire. In fact, the Germans relied on the British most of the time. Its merchant fleet (2nd largest in the world) depended on British harbor and protection throughout the globe. German ships were based off British designs. British and German officers looked at each other as brothers. Germany and Britain were looking for a partnership, or perhaps an alliance to rule the world... Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
German Ironclads (metal ships that were very popular and powerful at the time)
On the other hand, the Germans cannot depend on Britain forever. The Germans thought that they must protect its merchant fleet with its own dependable navy. The German greed for a strong navy led them down a path of 'evil'. They longed for a navy powerful enough to invade Great Britain, strip Britain of her colonies and sweep the British merchant fleet off the face of the earth. The competition for the most powerful navy commenced...
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Private Peaceful 1
My Secret scripture book is momentarily on hold because of a slight issue and in the mean time i have started a new book called Private peaceful written by a very famous author Michael Morpurgo. I have read one or two of his books before and enjoyed the delicately written but quite sad book. This book is based on Innocence and love and courage and cowardice it says on the front cover. It is very relevant to our theme because its a novel based on the first World War. At the back cover the blurb says :" As young Thomas peaceful looks back over his childhood from the battlefields of the First World War, his memories are full of family life and deep in the countryside" I have read book before such as the Secret scripture focusing on the past life of a character and also seeing the point of view from within the characters head. I am curious to see if their are more than one narrateur and more than one point of view and if the story is complicated to follow or not.
So far in this novel I have discovered that there is a little boy named Thomas Peaceful otherwise called Tommo who is walking down the street with his older brother Charlie about to go to his first day of School. Tommo does not want to go and is complaining about his boots being to heavy and that his collar is chocking him. Tommo is scared of Mr Munnings and his raging tempers and hi long whipping cane. Tommo has an older brother named Big Joe that doe not have to go to school and is always happy spending his days in a tree singing. I believe that it is odd that Big Joe does not need to go to school and never has : maybe Big Joe has some mental issues or was not forced because he did not need n education ? Later on Tommo sees a dead crow hanging on a fence and after that a rather unusual paragraph is shown about an other bird : " The robin was watching me from Father's rose bush, her black and beady eyes unblinking, begging me. Father was in that bird's eye." These lines are interesting to me in a very subtle way because we find out that his father died and how Tommo loves birds especially robins and how once a mean crow did a murderous deed. In my point of vue Tommo is trying to relate the admiration for his father and how in something he loves he finds is farther's should and how his father was taken away from him in a torturous manner.....
I am so far enjoying this book and will be continuing to post and read :)
So far in this novel I have discovered that there is a little boy named Thomas Peaceful otherwise called Tommo who is walking down the street with his older brother Charlie about to go to his first day of School. Tommo does not want to go and is complaining about his boots being to heavy and that his collar is chocking him. Tommo is scared of Mr Munnings and his raging tempers and hi long whipping cane. Tommo has an older brother named Big Joe that doe not have to go to school and is always happy spending his days in a tree singing. I believe that it is odd that Big Joe does not need to go to school and never has : maybe Big Joe has some mental issues or was not forced because he did not need n education ? Later on Tommo sees a dead crow hanging on a fence and after that a rather unusual paragraph is shown about an other bird : " The robin was watching me from Father's rose bush, her black and beady eyes unblinking, begging me. Father was in that bird's eye." These lines are interesting to me in a very subtle way because we find out that his father died and how Tommo loves birds especially robins and how once a mean crow did a murderous deed. In my point of vue Tommo is trying to relate the admiration for his father and how in something he loves he finds is farther's should and how his father was taken away from him in a torturous manner.....
I am so far enjoying this book and will be continuing to post and read :)
Monday, November 17, 2014
My opinion of the "First casualty" by Ben Elton is that it has a good story line and gives us some detail about how the war was at that time. However i don't think it was very well written as in class we found some errors that the author made. I would say the book we started now "To kill a mocking bird" by Harper Lee is a much more sophisticated and grown up book.
The First Casualty, by Ben Elton, my opinion.
I found that the book The First Casualty was a reasonably boring book. I found that the story wasn't particularly exciting, but had some good moments. In all, the book was a bit slow. However, I find that the book was a good choice because it depicted the horrors of the fist world war, and gave accurate examples of what life was like.
It helped me picture the horrors of the war and when I went to the trenches I knew what it was like.
One of the main criticisms was the fact that Kingsley was so perfect at everything he did ant that made the book less thrilling in the war scenes because we knew that he would not die.
I very much enjoyed the detail in some parts of the story however ;)
I found that the book The First Casualty was a reasonably boring book. I found that the story wasn't particularly exciting, but had some good moments. In all, the book was a bit slow. However, I find that the book was a good choice because it depicted the horrors of the fist world war, and gave accurate examples of what life was like.
It helped me picture the horrors of the war and when I went to the trenches I knew what it was like.
One of the main criticisms was the fact that Kingsley was so perfect at everything he did ant that made the book less thrilling in the war scenes because we knew that he would not die.
I very much enjoyed the detail in some parts of the story however ;)
Friday, November 14, 2014
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton Chapter 1 "The Gypsy Child"
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton is a biography of a very famous explorer's life written by Edward Rice. In his book Edward Rice captured the immense passion of the man as no other biographer has before him. Edward Rice spent a number of years collecting details that make this study and biography of Richard Burton so much better. Sir Richard Burton is both a fascinating and controversial figure. He was as brave as he was brilliant. His curiosity for the strange and the unknown was almost insatiable. This curiosity led to lots of dangerous situations. Over his many years as an explorer, he suffered from almost every disease imaginable.
So that was a tiny glimpse on who Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton was. Richard Francis Burton was a very common English name back in the 19th century but was also a Gypsy or Romany name and everyone believed that he had the appearance of a Gypsy. His father, Joseph Burton, however was a very well respected man and a lieutenant in the British Army. He was sent to Sicily at the age of 17 in 1806 to fight in the Napoleonic War when he should have really been at school, and was said to have been the youngest officers at the time. When he arrived back to England he met a bride for himself, her name was Martha Baker. Martha Baker was a very rich woman and she helped Joseph Burton pay off troubles he had with his estates in Ireland.
Shortly after their wedding, they had their first child, Richard Francis Burton, after Martha's father and Joseph's brother. Being raised by an officer from the army meant that Richard was a very disciplined child, but he got fed up of being pushed around all the time and learnt how to use and wield guns at a very young age. By the age of 9, Richard Burton was a "hard-core" child and a criminal in a way as he used take his father's guns and use tombstones as targets to shoot at and shot out the stained glass from the church windows.
So that was a tiny glimpse on who Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton was. Richard Francis Burton was a very common English name back in the 19th century but was also a Gypsy or Romany name and everyone believed that he had the appearance of a Gypsy. His father, Joseph Burton, however was a very well respected man and a lieutenant in the British Army. He was sent to Sicily at the age of 17 in 1806 to fight in the Napoleonic War when he should have really been at school, and was said to have been the youngest officers at the time. When he arrived back to England he met a bride for himself, her name was Martha Baker. Martha Baker was a very rich woman and she helped Joseph Burton pay off troubles he had with his estates in Ireland.
Shortly after their wedding, they had their first child, Richard Francis Burton, after Martha's father and Joseph's brother. Being raised by an officer from the army meant that Richard was a very disciplined child, but he got fed up of being pushed around all the time and learnt how to use and wield guns at a very young age. By the age of 9, Richard Burton was a "hard-core" child and a criminal in a way as he used take his father's guns and use tombstones as targets to shoot at and shot out the stained glass from the church windows.
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