“You changed too. Not right away, but it happens. And it’s in that bathroom where it all begins. Where you begin (page 54).”

In chapter two of The Brief  Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, it switches from Oscar narrating to his sister, Lola, narrating. Lola is older and the complete opposite of Oscar. She is tough, athletic, and rebellious. She challenges her mother’s teaching by arguing with her mother and running away from home. Her life choice was sparked by the realization of how her life will eventually end up like her mothers’. She was called to the bathroom by her mother so her mother can show her physically the tumor on her breast. When Lola felt the tumor, she realizes that she doesn’t want to live a life like her mothers’. Once she realizes what she that she says: ” You changed too. Not right away but it happens” which means that this moment changed her view on how her life should be. She might not have done anything about it until later on, which is why she said the change wasn’t “right away”, but this simple and brief moment was life changing. This quote is an important quote as it explains why Lola is so different from her brother, and it also shows how small moments in life, can make a huge difference.

“…a plot was discovered, which had been formed by the negros in the town, to seize the arsenal…to join the negros of the plain,overpower the guards,and entering the town, complete the destruction of the white inhabitants.” (page 68)

In Leonora Sansay’s second letter she writes about how much the Cape as changed since her last letter and things aren’t going so well in the area she escape to. The negros were starting to attack the area. This is ironic because based on previous reading we have done in the class, the whites are normally the ones causing the destruction and taking over other’s homes. For insistence , when Christopher Columbus took the Natives lands away from them. He killed most of the Natives believing they are savages and needed to be killed or converted. In other words he wanted to get rid of the Native inhabitants.

So now that the negros are the one’s causing destruction. Sansay writes “complete the destruction of the white inhabitants” to show the plan the negros are trying to accomplish. The negros are trying to took over the whites’ land and make it their own. They don’t want to be seen as the lower classes anymore. In a way they are showing the whites that whites aren’t the superior class. They too can conquer land.

Alexander Hamilton accomplished many things in life, before he was shot by Aaron Burr. Alexander Hamilton had many roles. He was a great lawyer, he was chief for George Washington during the American Revolution, he was United States’ first secretary of Treasure and lastly he was a founding father.

He strived to build a stronger federal government by arguing the Articles of Confederation was too weak and didn’t protect the people or the country itself. (Alexander Hamilton “Plan of a Constitution for America”)So he suggested a new Constitution. He focused mainly on strengthening the central government. Along with ratifying the Constitution, he also took part in strengthening the economy in the United States (After Alonzo Chappel Portrait of Alexander Hamilton). Even though Alexander Hamilton wanted to relieve the debt America owe during the American Revolution, the Southern States were afraid of the sudden shift in power. The Southern states were fearful of the central government having too much power. The fear of one side having more power is similar to when the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was created. The French had a National Assembly to discuss the corruption of the government. Those who were in the higher estates obviously didn’t want the lower estates to have a say on the new laws because they believed they had the most power and that the lower estates opinions didn’t matter. They were scared that they were going to lose power to the lower classes.

Similarly, when Hamilton proposed the idea of a stronger central government, the Southern states didn’t agree to it because that means the states would lose power. So Hamilton had to come up with a compromise to make sure the Southern States will be loyal to the government but Hamilton will still have a strong central government. The National Assembly however didn’t have much of a compromise. They stated that all man has natural rights at birth regardless of class. So the National Assembly formed seventeen articles that protected basically everyone in the estates. Obviously different people from different estates had issue when specific articles. But the goal of the articles was to make sure the lower estates will have a say in the government as well. In Hamilton’s fight for a new constitution and stronger economy, he had to use persuasion and compromise to get what he wanted.

The forming of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen and the forming of the new Constitution and stronger economy both started out with difficulties as one side feared of losing their power. However both of these documents were formed to protect their citizens and to protect their countries. Therefore there were sacrifices that had to make for both sides. Luckily for Hamilton, there was a compromise where both sides were happy with the discussions. But for the National Assembly a set rule was made and it affected everyone in a good way or a bad way. Even though there was no compromise, overall the results benefited many.

CALIBAN

“…they themselves wonder why we do not eat our enemies and do not use as food their flesh which they say is most savory…”(pg35)

When I first read this sentence it surprised me not only by the fact that the tribe people ate humans but also by the fact that the tribe people thought the Europeans whom didn’t eat humans were abnormal. This made me think about how when we are introduced to new customs and cultures, the first thing we usually do is to criticize it or question it. So in order to make ourselves feel more comfortable in new areas, we try find things that we are familiar with or we try to change the area around us into something that is more relate-able.  In this case between the tribe people and the Europeans, they tried to convert the tribe people to Christianity. The Europeans viewed the tribe people’s customs as monstrous and thought the tribe people were the ones who needed to change to fit in. This method might have worked in the past, but now we have to learn to be more open minded in different customs and values. We don’t have to like the new custom and culture but we have to respect their values.