Letter to London Company

After reading Chapter 5, imagine you are John Smith.  Write a letter to the London Company reporting on your progress as the new leader of the Jamestown colony.  What early obstacles have you faced?  What successes have you had?  What problems have the London Company presented you with? Please be sure to include your relationship with other English colonists, your relationship with the Indians, and Pocahontas.  What do you think it will take to succeed in the new world? Use textual evidence throughout.

Get creative and show what you know from the reading.  Also, please use the first person voice. This assignment is due on Tuesday, October 4th.

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Dear London Company,

Although the Englishmen and I have picked not such a great piece of land, I have become very friendly with the Indians. There are a lot of marshy areas of land, which isn’t good because the mosquitoes get attracted to it. It is also hard to hunt because the forest is far away from the fort. There aren’t so many crops growing around us, but there is a harbor very close to the fort. We have very delicious oysters, they taste so fresh and they are so big! “The English men spent a few weeks exploring the Bay Area. They feasted on strawberries (“four times bigger and better than ours in England”), and oysters (“which were very large and delicate in taste”), and noticed grapevines (“in the bigness as a man’s thigh”). The oysters and mussels “lay on the ground as thick as stones: we opened some and found in many of them pearls.” (Pg. 26)

The Indians are very nice and I have met a beautiful princess named Pocahontas. She is as sweet as an angel and protects me if the Indians try to hurt me. “She is a bright eyes Indian princess who was about 12 years old when the settlers first came to Virginia.” (Pg. 29) Her father is the Powhatan, who is the ruler of all the Powhatan Indians. At first I don’t think that the Powhatan wasn’t very fond of me because I was an English settler, but we soon became friends.

Soon the Indians started calling me the Werowance of Jamestown! I came up with a motto  “If any would not work, neither should he eat.” (Pg. 30) I made this rule because a lot of the English men weren’t working as hard as they should have been, so since I was the chief I made this rule. I also knew that all the English men wanted and needed to eat, so this rule would make them work hard. London Company, you shouldn’t have payed the English men before the voyage!“ To make things worse, the London Company, which had paid for the voyage, showed poor sense. It gave all the colonists salaries and did not allow them to own property. No one had a reason to work hard, because the hard workers got the same pay as those who did nothing. “ (pg. 28) This has made them think that they don’t have to work  hard because they already got their pay. If you payed them when we came back from the voyage, they would have worked harder because they didn’t have their money yet.

Overall this voyage to the New World has been a success, and will write back to you on our achievements. I hope this letter has arrived to you safely and in good enough form to read clearly.

Yours Truly,

John Smith

Notecards

Colonial Clothing: Undergarments

Source:

Walker, Niki, and Bobbie Bedell. The Milliner . Crabtree Publishing, 2001.

Quote:

“Being fashionable involved more than just wearing the latest clothing. Women had to be dressed properly underneath their gowns, too! Colonial women wore several undergarments including a shift, stays, stockings, petticoats, pockets, and hoops. Undergarments were made of cotton, linen, or silk. The undergarments of wealthy women were made of finer materials than those of working women, they owned more of them.” (pg. 20) 

Paraphrase:

• There was more to just wearing the latest clothing. 
• Women had to be dressed underneath their clothes too.
• The English women had to wear many undergarments.
• They had to wear a shift, stays, stockings, petticoats, pockets, and hoops.
• There were three types of materials that were used to make undergarments, silk, cotton, or linen. 
• Wealthy women wore undergarments with finer materials. 
• The working women didn’t wear as many fine materials. 

My Ideas:

English women had a lot of undergarments to wear underneath their clothes. It was a long process to put on all the clothes, and some undergarments needed help by another person to put on. For example on the back of stays there was a lace that had to be tied and looked like you needed help tying the lace. I wonder if in the summer the women got hot from so many undergarments. There were seven undergarments that the women had to wear including a shift, a stay, stockings, petticoats, pockets, and hoops! Were the hoops heavy since some were made out of metal? Was it hard to breathe with the stays tightly pulled around the back? What if you slouched with the stay on, would it hurt because of the hard material inside? What about when a women had to lean over if they dropped a sewing needle, would the stay snap? The main idea of the stay is to improve posture and support the back. Children also had to wear stays to develop a good posture. Women even had a garter above the knee to keep the stockings from falling down. One of the first undergarments that you put on is the shift, the main job of the shift is to soak up the sweat. I can infer that it was very uncomfortable to have wet sweat on you for the whole day. It must have been hard to put on all of these undergarments. All the other cultures, Indian and African didn’t wear any undergarments. Most of the Indians didn’t even have clothing on half their body. These cultures were very different in clothing style. 

History:

Created: 10/13/2016 01:09 PM

Is it Better to Have Ignorance or Knowledge?

Imagine a world with no color, emotion, and everyone is ignorant except for two people in the whole community. This is The Giver by Lois Lowry. In the Giver there is a boy named Jonas, he is like all the other kids in the society until he gets assigned to the job of the receiver of memory on his 12th birthday. He realizes that his world isn’t so perfect by receiving memories and show him that there is more than just following the rules of the society. In his memories he sees colors, and gets to feel pain and happiness that his society doesn’t have. Is Jonas going to try to change this perfect world, or try to live by these unfair rules? This society is a dystopia because everyone is ignorant, except for the Receivers of Memory.

In the Giver people are kept ignorant. The community keeps the people ignorant by having a perfect world with no pain, emotions, or any differences. For example all the memories of pain are kept from the people in the community. The people are kept ignorant by not knowing what pain or happiness is, or any emotions. On page 90 in The Giver the Giver is explaining to Jonas how the community needs someone to take in all the pain. “But it certainly made them aware of how they need a receiver to contain all that pain. And knowledge,” (Giver, 90). The Giver’s words show that the community relies on the receiver to hold in all the pain and memories. This is important because without anyone knowing about the memories people are kept ignorant. In The Giver most memories are of pain, love, and happiness. In Jonas’s community there is no emotion. There is no expression of love, and Jonas comes to understand that when he asks his parents if they love him and they scold him for misusing language. The people believe that it is easy to contain a perfect world by being kept ignorant. But being kept ignorant may not seem like a good solution to Jonas. It is also important to have knowledge from these memories to realize that Jonas’s perfect world may not be so perfect after all.  

In Jonas’s community people don’t have any knowledge. The only people who keeps all the knowledge is The Giver and Jonas, they are knowledgeable because of the memories. By receiving memories Jonas gets to experience emotions, and gets knowledge. On page 102 in The Giver Jonas experiences the feeling of happiness that he has never felt before. “There are so many good memories,” the Giver reminded Jonas. And it was true. By now Jonas had experienced countless bits of happiness,” (Giver, 102.) By receiving these emotions through memories Jonas gets some knowledge. Pain and happiness are some of the emotions, with these emotions Jonas realizes that his world isn’t so perfect. He notices that there is no happiness in his community and no love. In his memories he gets to experience the emotions that he normally doesn’t get to experience. The other people in the community don’t notice that their world isn’t so perfect, they think it’s a perfect world because they haven’t received the memories. Jonas starts to realize that in his community everyone kept ignorant and the same. He notices there are no emotions, and is starting to notice that his community is not such a Utopia.

Jonas’s community is not a utopia because everyone is kept ignorant. Making people live in ignorance deprives them from living in a real world. Having pain and knowledge are feelings you would have in a real world, but Jonas’s community had never experienced them. A utopia is a place where people are recognized by their differences and where people can make mistakes, but learn from them, it’s a place where people have feeling and pain. How would you feel if you were the only one in a whole society who knew things about the real world? Would you be frustrated or try to make a change about it?  

Themes: Ignorance and Knowledge

Paragraph #1: Introductory Paragraph (GIT)

Grabber Statement (G):

Imagine a world with no color, emotion, and everyone is ignorant except for two people in the whole community. This is the Giver by Lois Lowry

Introduce Plot Summary (I):

In the Giver there is a boy named Jonas, he is like all the other kids in the society until he gets assigned to the job of the receiver of memory on his 12th birthday. He realizes that his world isn’t so perfect by receiving memories and show him that there is more than just following the rules of the society. In his memories he sees colors, and gets to feel pain and happiness that his society doesn’t have. Is Jonas going to try to change this perfect world, or try to live by these unfair rules?

Thesis Statement (T):

This society is a dystopia because everyone is ignorant, but the receivers of memory.

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Paragraph #2: Thematic Analysis

Topic Sentence (T):

In the Giver people are kept ignorant.  

Explanatory Sentence (E):

The community keeps the people ignorant by having a perfect world with no pain, emotions, or any differences.

Evidence (E):

For example all the memories of pain are kept from the people in the community. The people are kept ignorant by not knowing what pain or happiness is, or any emotions. On page 90 in the Giver the Giver is explaining to Jonas how the community needs someone to take in all the pain.  “But it certainly made them aware of how they need a receiver to contain all that pain. And knowledge.”

Analysis (A):

The Giver’s words show that the community relies on the receiver to hold in all the pain and memories. This is important because without anyone knowing about the memories people are kept ignorant. In the Giver most memories are of pain, love, and happiness. In Jonas’s community there is no emotion. There is no expression of love, and Jonas comes to understand that when he asks his parents if they love him and they scold him for misusing language. The people believe that it is easy to contain a perfect world by being kept ignorant. But being kept ignorant may not seem like a good solution to Jonas.

Concluding/ Transition (C):

It is also important to have knowledge from these memories to realize that Jonas’s perfect world may not be so perfect after all.  

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Paragraph #3: Thematic Analysis Continued

Topic Sentence (T):

In Jonas’s community people don’t have any knowledge.

Explanatory Sentence (E):

The only person who keeps all the knowledge is the Giver and Jonas, they are knowledgeable because of the memories.

Evidence (E):

By receiving memories Jonas gets to experience emotions, and gets knowledge. On page 102 in the Giver Jonas experiences the feeling of happiness that he has never felt before. “There are so many good memories,” The Giver reminded Jonas. And it was true. By now Jonas had experienced countless bits of happiness,” pg. 102

Analysis (A):

By receiving these emotions through memories Jonas gets some knowledge. Pain and happiness are some of the emotions, with these emotions Jonas realizes that his world isn’t so perfect. He notices that there is no happiness in his community and no love. In his memories he gets to experience the emotions that he normally doesn’t get to experience. The other people in the community don’t notice that their world isn’t so perfect, they think it’s a perfect world because they haven’t received the memories.

Concluding/ Transition (C):

Jonas starts to realize that in his community everyone kept ignorant and the same. He notices there are no emotions, and is starting to notice that his community is not such a Utopia.

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Paragraph #4: Concluding Paragraph (ROC)

Restatement of Thesis (R):

Jonas’s community is not a utopia because everyone is kept ignorant. Making people live in ignorance deprives them from living in a real world.

Overview of Main Points (O):

Having pain and knowledge are feelings you would have in a real world, but Jonas’s community had never experienced them.

Concluding Sentence– Comparisons and Connections (C):

A utopia is a place where people are recognized by their differences and where people can make mistakes, but learn from them, it’s a place where people have feeling and pain. How would you feel if you were the only one in a whole society who knew things about the real world? Would you be frustrated or try to make a change about it?