World History since 1500: The Payne Book Blog

Choose one of the following prompts to answer. U se at least three specific pieces of information no one has yet used in their blog posts and at least six specific pieces of information total, ONLY from Part 2 of The Underdogs , with a page citation for each; also, use at least 300 words in your answer.  1) Discuss three actions or violence, cruelty, or greed that you found particularly memorable to you in Part 2 . For each act, discuss who did it, to whom did they do it, why do you think they did it, and how others reacted to it. What do these stories tell us about how having power other others without fear of consequences changes people, especially those who had been oppressed their whole lives? OR 2) How do War Paint and Camila illustrate for us both the opportunities and limitations of women in the Mexican Revolution? OR  3) Who do you think the three most interesting (not necessarily likeable) characters in this chapter are, and why? How does each character...

Of all our books in this class, The Underdogs deals most with death, chaos, and disillusionment in the face of revolution. The author , Mariano Azuela, himself participated in the Revolution and wrote this book in 1915, in the very middle of the fighting. While the characters are mostly fictional, Azuela based them off of people he knew and fought alongside--or against.   The Mexican Revolution started in 1910-1911 with the overthrow of the tyrant Porfirio Días by the popular Francisco I. Madero . By 1913, however, Madero himself was deposed and murdered in a coup by one of his generals, Victoriano Huerta . By 1914, Huerta was also defeated by another popular uprising, but these revolutionaries were not united. So, fighting would continue for 6 more years, mainly under four factions: Pancho Villa (a bandit from the north), Venustiano Carranza (a politician from the north), Álvaro Obregón (one of Carranza's generals who turned on him), and Emiliano Zapata (a peasant from th...

Choose one of the following prompts to answer. U se at least three specific pieces of information no one has yet used in their blog posts and at least six specific pieces of information total, from Part 3 (chapters 20 to 24 ), with a page citation for each; also, use at least 300 words in your answer. 1) How has the tribe of Umuofia fallen apart? What do you think are the three main factors contributing to this falling apart, and which is most important? OR 2) How does the shift of perspective from men like Okonkwo towards certain white men radically change the narration from the beginning of the book to the end? How does this demonstrate how the sources of information we draw from deeply influence what kind of history we tell?

Choose one of the following prompts to answer. U se at least three specific pieces of information no one has yet used in their blog posts and at least six specific pieces of information total, from Part 2 (chapters 14 to 19 ), with a page citation for each; also, use at least 300 words in your answer. 1) Kinship networks -- family ties -- are a key component of the story of West African cultures. How does this section of the book demonstrate the centrality of kinship networks for Okonkwo and those around him? When those family ties become strained, how do different characters respond? OR 2) How do interactions with missionaries emphasize the differences, not only between white and black cultures, but among different black African peoples? How does the author's perspective help us see Christian missions as a threat to most people in Okonkwo's culture and yet also attractive to some people in that culture?

The following question relating to the world told of in chapters 8-15. U se at least three specific pieces of information no one has yet used in their blog posts and at least six specific pieces of information total, with a page citation for each; also, use at least 300 words in your answer. 1) Discuss three rituals in Umuofia in chapters 8 to 15. How do they bring order to the village and establish roles for different kinds of people? Who benefits and who suffers from each ritual? Which ritual do you find most attractive, which one do you find least attractive, and why?

Using material from chapter 10 and the appendix, answer one of the following prompts, using at least three specific pieces of information no one has yet used in their blog posts and at least six specific pieces of information total, with a page citation for each. Also use at least 300 words in your answer. 1) The first several chapters were "letters" written by Father Rodrigues that gradually faded into the main narrative of the novel. Now, in chapter 10 and the appendix, there are two different kinds of sources used to advance the story. How do the changes in writing format throughout this part of the book reflect the difficulties of using historical documents to write history? Pretending for a moment that all the accounts in this section of the novel are real historical records, what do you think happened to the protagonist, Father Rodrigues, and what evidence do you use to support that claim? OR 2) Assess to what extent Kichijiro, Ferriera, and Rodrigue...

Using material from pages 154 to 178, answer the following prompt, using at least three specific pieces of information no one has yet used in their blog posts and at least six specific pieces of information total, with a page citation for each. Also use at least 300 words in your answer. Why does Rodrigues trample the fumie, and how does that change his faith? What are the similarities and differences between Rodrigues and Kichijiro, and what does it tell us about how cultural differences affect how foreign ideas and beliefs are received?