The Martian Chronicles- ISU BLOG POST #4

Social Issue
The social issue of colonization in this book has intensified as more and more as people continue to come to Mars. This evident by by how senior citizens have come to Mars after retirement to start a new life. Also, humans have colonized Mars so much that they have started to rename places. This shows that with the increasing human population on Mars, the control that humans have over Mars has also increased. Colonization has become a real issue in this book because humans now have so much power on Mars that Martians have little say on what happens on their home planet.


Connection
Humans practically control Mars now because they so much power. They were once colonizers but now they are "controllers of the red planet." In the history of the world, there have been many times where people who were trying to colonize somehow managed to completely takeover a land. The British have been considered to be one of the best colonizers of all-time because in past centuries, the British have colonized and settled in various continents like Europe, North America, and Asia. The British Empire had set up multiple colonies in North America by the 1800's and after this they colonized parts of Africa and Asia. At this point in history, the British had so much control over the world that they were a dominant and powerful nation. What happened in the past relates very much to my book "The Martian Chronicles". What the British did and what the humans have done on Mars connect because they both started off colonizing small parts and then eventually created a dominant empire that controls an entire planet. In both cases, a group of people who just wanted to settle and start some colonies on an unknown place ended up becoming the dominant rulers of that land.

This connection has made me realize that a lot can change overtime. In the book, whatever happens in the future will be unexpected and who knows, maybe the Martians will once again be the controllers of their home planet. This connection has made me understand the anything can happen in this book because so far everything that seemed expected did not happen.

The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas

Retell
This movie was about true and loyal friendship between the most unlikeliest of friends. In Nazi Germany the family of a Nazi commandant moves from Berlin to an unknown place that is located close to a concentration camp called Auschwitz. Bruno is a nine year old boy who seeks adventure but when his family forbids him to explore, he gets more tempted to go on adventures and explore his surroundings. Bruno goes against his parent's orders by exploring and this leads to him seeing a young boy sitting on the other side of a fence. The boy is named Shmuel and he is wearing striped pajamas and a cloth cap. The two boys start talking and Bruno questions Shmuel about his living conditions and why there are so many people on the others side of the fence that are wearing the same clothes. Bruno continues to explore the woods near his house and he often spends time at the fence with Shmuel. One day, Bruno puts on the stripped pajamas and goes on the other side of the fence to help Shmuel find his lost father. In the concentration camps the extermination of the Jewish prisoners begins, the boys find themselves in a gas chamber which ultimately leads to their death. 

Relate
The historic event that this movie was based on was the Holocaust. There have been a couple of moments in history when a person has taken their hatred to extreme levels. In the Holocaust, Hitler wanted to exterminate millions of Jews and he succeeded in doing so. This connects to other genocides that have occurred in the past like the one in Cambodia in 1975. This event was caused when Khmer Rouge took control of the Cambodian government in 1975 and began a "re-education" campaign targeting political dissidents or people who didn't agree with him. These citizens consisted of doctors, teachers and students who were suspected of receiving education, the consequence of this was that they were tortured at a prison. In the four years that Khmer Rouge was in power for, two million Cambodians died. The Holocaust and the Cambodian genocide relate because in both cases a person has abused their power to get rid of people they didn't like. 

Reflect
From this movie we learn that we can overcome all of our differences to maintain a loyal friendship. This is evident by how a German sacfriced himself to help out his Jewish friend, their friendship was so real that they ended up dying for each other. When Bruno's parents discovered that their son had died they realized that inncoent people were being killed like their son. From this movie we should take in how friendship can overcome hatred which can lead to people realizing their mistakes.

The Sniper News Article

Streets of Dublin Turn Into a Battlefield

   Last night, three dead bodies were found on a street on a street in Dublin. Two of the people shot were men while the other was an elderly woman. It is said that this was another act of Ireland trying to get independence.

   The street was filled with blood, weapons, and dead bodies which has to be the result of an epic fight.

   With the Irish pushing for independence, the Republicans probably were trying to rebel against this, that’s probably what sparked this shootout on the street.

   People who heard the gunshots last night have said “It was brutal , we were all so scared, we thought that we were also going to get shot.” Other people who are pushing for independence have expressed their feelings by saying “If fighting is the only option for independence, then it must happen!”

   Many questions are being asked about the people who died last night like who, what, why, and how all this happened. All the people who were killed were shot and it appears as if it was one person who caused all this. All the bullets that were fired came from one direction and from the same gun, it is being said that this person was a Republican.

   The streets of Dublin have turned into a battlefield and they’re no longer considered safe due to the events and deaths that occurred last night. 

THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES- blog post #3

Social Issue

After reading more of this book, another social issue has arose. The first one was colonization which was evident by humans taking over Mars and starting to develop small towns there. This new social issue is racism because many African Americans are going to Mars to escape the racism they are facing on Earth. This displeases the white people because they are no longer going to have anybody to boss around. The African Americans build their own rockets so they can now emigrate to Mars. 

Connection to a News Article

  http://articles.latimes.com/2014/mar/28/entertainment/la-et-stephen-colbert-accused-of-racism-over-asian-tweet-20140328

This article's main message is that many people get discriminated against based on their race and ethnic origin and that they have taken action to stop it. This connects to my book because the black people in America were getting discriminated against and facing racism which led them to take action, they did this by emigrated to Mars. In the article it is Asians that are facing racism on social media and they are taking action by having the original messages deleted. In both cases, a group of people have faced racism which has caused them to take action.

 

This picture depicts how it would look as if a rocket was actually landing on Mars.

Slam Poetry

Colonization
Why do they think they can just takeover our land?
That's not fair
But why would they care

These people just want land
They don't care about us
But they ain't going to get away with this
They ruined our space
And now they are going to get chased

Author's message in The Sniper

I think Liam O’Flaherty’s message in this story is quite clear and very important. His message is that that conflicts can make us do actions that we won’t regularly do and will end up regretting after.  This is evident when the sniper had to kill three people because that was the only was he could survive. Also, after he killed the people on the street he felt bad but he overcame that guilt by realizing that killing them was the only option to survive. After, when he saw that the man he killed was his brother the story ended but afterwards the sniper was probably regretting his decisions. But what could he do, it was the only option. This shows what actions that we will have to make in a conflict and what the consequences or outcomes of our actions maybe.

The Sniper Summary

The short story "The Sniper" is filled with thrill and a lot of unexpected events. It starts off with a sniper on a rooftop where he was just minding his own business until  two bullets from the opposite side of the street almost hit him. He looks on the opposite side of the street and he sees another man with the intentions of shooting at him. Soon after an armored car pulls up on the street below him where an old woman tells the enemy where the sniper is located. To defend himself the sniper shot the man who was driving the car and the old woman. But the other enemy on the opposite rooftop was still alive and he continued to shoot and eventually the sniper was shot. He healed his wound on his forearm by putting iodine on it and then wrapping it up. Now the sniper’s main objective was to only kill the enemy and he had come up with a plan to do so. He was going to make it appear as if he was dead and when the enemy was satisfied that he killed the sniper, the sniper would fire back at the enemy. The sniper was successful in executing his plan and the enemy was now dead as he fell off the rooftop. The sniper was quite impressed to see how good his enemy was at shooting and was curious who this person could be. As a result the sniper went down to the street to see his enemy’s face who turned out to be his brother. The author’s purpose in writing this story would be that you will have to do anything if you want to survive in a war or conflict.