Wednesday September 26, 2012
Today we discussed different types of sources. Apparently there are several different degrees of sources such as intentional and unintentional. An intentional source is something that is created to be used later or to record an event, belief, or opinion. Intentional sources are things such as court cases. An unintentional source is something that was create for personal use and the creator did not think that it would later be used as a source. Unintentional sources can be things like works of art, letters, and diaries. The diary of Anne Frank is one of the most well-known unintentional sources that almost everyone knows about.
We also talked about the difference between external and internal sources and how to evaluate the validity of a primary source. Before deciding to use a source a historian must make sure that they are aware of a few things. The historian must know some basic information about the author such as how long after an event was the source written, the author's point of view, and the candor. A historian must also be aware of the audience that the work is supposed to be aimed at. The intended audience can often explain the use of language. For example, if an author is writing a book for people who have never been taught about the Great Depression the book will be very basic and will go into details explaining the definitions and key players and events. Now, if a book was written on the same topic but was aimed at people who primarily study that time period, the book will go into much more detail and it will not explain key terms or definitions because it is assumed that the audience is already familiar and knowledgeable about the topic.
For today's class we were also supposed to read chapter four of "Doing History." This chapter directly goes along with what we discussed in class, but in more detail. The book explains that it is important to identify an author's purpose for writing, their tone and language, and the significance of what the writing is about. It also talks about evaluating pieces of oral evidence, such as interviews and speeches. The same things should also be considered (purpose, tone, point of view, author's background), but it should also include why the oral source was produced and why/how it has survived the test of time. It also focuses on dissecting parts that people play, such as why a person is interviewing another person. One of the most important things to remember is that you should always try to gain as much information about a source before you use it in your writing because it could actually contradict your argument, or not even be a valid piece of evidence.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Secondary Sources
Monday September 24, 2012
Today we were told to bring in a secondary source that relates to our topic. If we did not bring in a source, we would have been forced to sing "Call Me Maybe." Unfortunately, our class is always on top of their game and no one ended up singing. At the beginning of class we started talking about internet sources. Using the internet as a source was a new thing in the lat 1990s. These sources were mostly credible because they were peer reviewed, meaning they went through an extensive routine of being changed, formatted, etc. First, the person must write an article and do their citations. Then the author must send it to a magazine, newspaper, journal, etc. These people would usually give the paper/article to an editor to make sure it is even worth their time messing with. Then from there, the editor would give the article/paper to 2-3 experts in the field that the paper is about. These experts would check the facts, offer further insight, and offer changes. The paper would have to go back to the author for revision, then eventually back to the editor. This whole process can take anywhere from two to four years! Because this process took so long there were not many secondary sources on the internet. However! Back in 2005/2006 a new innovation came to the internet! It is called Youtube.com! Anyone can make videos or powerpoints and post them on the internet! Some things on youtube are quite credible, while others are just a laugh. It seems like youtube has been around forever! Anyway, youtube made it possible for people to imbed clips of film or movies into their online journals and articles. These clips can make a paper much more exciting and give the reader a break.
We also talked about how to figure out if a secondary online source is credible. When one is looking at a website they must keep in mind:
-Author: are they credible? what are their connections to the topic?
-Audience: who is this text written for?
-Publisher: is it a academic or popular press? what other things have they published?
-Historical Argument: what's the main topic/argument that the author is trying to make? (this is usually
found in the preface, introduction, or conclusion, but one should not have to hunt for it!)
-Author's point-of-view: what stance are they taking on the topic? are there any biases? (usually a person
has to read a little bit into the text to get a sense of the point-of-view)
-Author's Sources: it is important to check an author's sources to see where they got their information
from! if the source has several footnotes/end notes and a long bibliography it means that the author
did their research and are well-rounded and informed on the topic)
A person must/should check all of these criteria when deciding to use a secondary source. This check list makes sure that the source is credible and that the author has experience/information about the topic.
We actually did an activity with our "Doing History" book today as well. This activity helped me to figure out if my source was credible and worth using in my paper. These questions asked us to look at our source by asking questions such as:
-What is the author's background?
-Who published the monograph?
-What is the author's point of view?
-What is the historical argument?
-What primary sources are used in the monograph?
...and more questions like that.
My book was called "The Tree Army" and was about the different CCC groups throughout the United States during the Great Depression. It actually had more pictures than it had writing because it was a pictorial. This book seems very credible though because there were not only primary sources in the form of pictures, but there were stories and interviews from people who worked for the CCC. Wednesday we are supposed to bring a primary source to class. I think I will be bringing an article from the Chicago Tribune if I don't find another source from now until then.
Today we were told to bring in a secondary source that relates to our topic. If we did not bring in a source, we would have been forced to sing "Call Me Maybe." Unfortunately, our class is always on top of their game and no one ended up singing. At the beginning of class we started talking about internet sources. Using the internet as a source was a new thing in the lat 1990s. These sources were mostly credible because they were peer reviewed, meaning they went through an extensive routine of being changed, formatted, etc. First, the person must write an article and do their citations. Then the author must send it to a magazine, newspaper, journal, etc. These people would usually give the paper/article to an editor to make sure it is even worth their time messing with. Then from there, the editor would give the article/paper to 2-3 experts in the field that the paper is about. These experts would check the facts, offer further insight, and offer changes. The paper would have to go back to the author for revision, then eventually back to the editor. This whole process can take anywhere from two to four years! Because this process took so long there were not many secondary sources on the internet. However! Back in 2005/2006 a new innovation came to the internet! It is called Youtube.com! Anyone can make videos or powerpoints and post them on the internet! Some things on youtube are quite credible, while others are just a laugh. It seems like youtube has been around forever! Anyway, youtube made it possible for people to imbed clips of film or movies into their online journals and articles. These clips can make a paper much more exciting and give the reader a break.
We also talked about how to figure out if a secondary online source is credible. When one is looking at a website they must keep in mind:
-Author: are they credible? what are their connections to the topic?
-Audience: who is this text written for?
-Publisher: is it a academic or popular press? what other things have they published?
-Historical Argument: what's the main topic/argument that the author is trying to make? (this is usually
found in the preface, introduction, or conclusion, but one should not have to hunt for it!)
-Author's point-of-view: what stance are they taking on the topic? are there any biases? (usually a person
has to read a little bit into the text to get a sense of the point-of-view)
-Author's Sources: it is important to check an author's sources to see where they got their information
from! if the source has several footnotes/end notes and a long bibliography it means that the author
did their research and are well-rounded and informed on the topic)
A person must/should check all of these criteria when deciding to use a secondary source. This check list makes sure that the source is credible and that the author has experience/information about the topic.
We actually did an activity with our "Doing History" book today as well. This activity helped me to figure out if my source was credible and worth using in my paper. These questions asked us to look at our source by asking questions such as:
-What is the author's background?
-Who published the monograph?
-What is the author's point of view?
-What is the historical argument?
-What primary sources are used in the monograph?
...and more questions like that.
My book was called "The Tree Army" and was about the different CCC groups throughout the United States during the Great Depression. It actually had more pictures than it had writing because it was a pictorial. This book seems very credible though because there were not only primary sources in the form of pictures, but there were stories and interviews from people who worked for the CCC. Wednesday we are supposed to bring a primary source to class. I think I will be bringing an article from the Chicago Tribune if I don't find another source from now until then.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Bibliographies Due
Wednesday September 19, 2012
Today our bibliographies were due! I was very nervous because it seemed like everyone else had more sources than I did, then again, I was not able to get into the archives at the Aurora Historical Society or schedule an appointment at the Aurora Library. I most definitely need to find more sources than what I have and really buckle down and get crackin' on this paper. After we handed in our bibliographies we did some exercises to get us thinking. Today we were also supposed to read chapter one of "Writing History." Chapter One was all about starting to write a history paper, the different types of papers, how to search for information, and more. The book makes a good point when it discusses how to develop and explore your interests. I know from experience that I find it much easier to write about something that I find interesting rather than just have a teacher/professor give me a topic to write about. The topics on how to research information was very interesting, but it did not help me very much. My senior seminar paper is too narrow for online databases to be of any real help. I will have to basically completely rely on the historical society, the library, and and other primary sources that I can find, like interviews. I want to see if I can go to a nursing home and find an old person that I can interview about their experience with the Great Depression. I was thinking about it and they wouldn't even necessarily have to be from the Aurora area, just as long as they came from a small town similar to Aurora. This would give me personal first-hand experience. The only problem is that nursing homes now-a-days are very strict, it might be difficult for me to get in to talk to someone I don't know and I can't just call up the place and ask if they have any old people that were born around 1910-1925 (old enough to remember the Great Depression). But still, this is a theory that I will definitely be trying out because I know that once I get into a nursing home I will be sure to be able to find someone to talk with (old people love to tell youngsters about the "good ol' days!).
The book talks about using reference material, but I have already looked in a couple just to get an idea of my topic. Reference books are not that helpful for my topic because it is so specific, but some books do a good job giving a brief overview of the before, during, and after situation. I would probably not use a reference book, like a dictionary, because like we talked about in class, it should only be used when trying to define any terms that the reader may not be informed about.
One thing that we did in class today really helped me! Professor Butters had us do some writing exercises that helped us bring our papers into perspective. We were told to write about the main argument of our papers and then to create a basic outline. Ever since I had this awesome English teacher at Waubonsee, I LOVE OUTLINING!!! So I think I have a pretty good outline going, of course, it all depends on what kind of information that I can find. I just have to make sure that I stay focused on the cultural/social aspect of the Great Depression and not go too much into the business/economy part of it. I think I will give a section of my paper to workers programs (CCC & WPA) and federal/state aid. I was also thinking that I can look into the Elk Lodge and the American Legion of Aurora and see when they were established and if they did anything during the Great Depression. I am really REALLY not looking forward to writing my annotated bibliography! But, alas! It must be done! The one thing that made me laugh about this chapter "If you have to abandon your topic, do it early." HA! we are married to our topics and definitely not allowed to change it now! Paper is due in about 80 days, time to get crackin!!!
Today our bibliographies were due! I was very nervous because it seemed like everyone else had more sources than I did, then again, I was not able to get into the archives at the Aurora Historical Society or schedule an appointment at the Aurora Library. I most definitely need to find more sources than what I have and really buckle down and get crackin' on this paper. After we handed in our bibliographies we did some exercises to get us thinking. Today we were also supposed to read chapter one of "Writing History." Chapter One was all about starting to write a history paper, the different types of papers, how to search for information, and more. The book makes a good point when it discusses how to develop and explore your interests. I know from experience that I find it much easier to write about something that I find interesting rather than just have a teacher/professor give me a topic to write about. The topics on how to research information was very interesting, but it did not help me very much. My senior seminar paper is too narrow for online databases to be of any real help. I will have to basically completely rely on the historical society, the library, and and other primary sources that I can find, like interviews. I want to see if I can go to a nursing home and find an old person that I can interview about their experience with the Great Depression. I was thinking about it and they wouldn't even necessarily have to be from the Aurora area, just as long as they came from a small town similar to Aurora. This would give me personal first-hand experience. The only problem is that nursing homes now-a-days are very strict, it might be difficult for me to get in to talk to someone I don't know and I can't just call up the place and ask if they have any old people that were born around 1910-1925 (old enough to remember the Great Depression). But still, this is a theory that I will definitely be trying out because I know that once I get into a nursing home I will be sure to be able to find someone to talk with (old people love to tell youngsters about the "good ol' days!).
The book talks about using reference material, but I have already looked in a couple just to get an idea of my topic. Reference books are not that helpful for my topic because it is so specific, but some books do a good job giving a brief overview of the before, during, and after situation. I would probably not use a reference book, like a dictionary, because like we talked about in class, it should only be used when trying to define any terms that the reader may not be informed about.
One thing that we did in class today really helped me! Professor Butters had us do some writing exercises that helped us bring our papers into perspective. We were told to write about the main argument of our papers and then to create a basic outline. Ever since I had this awesome English teacher at Waubonsee, I LOVE OUTLINING!!! So I think I have a pretty good outline going, of course, it all depends on what kind of information that I can find. I just have to make sure that I stay focused on the cultural/social aspect of the Great Depression and not go too much into the business/economy part of it. I think I will give a section of my paper to workers programs (CCC & WPA) and federal/state aid. I was also thinking that I can look into the Elk Lodge and the American Legion of Aurora and see when they were established and if they did anything during the Great Depression. I am really REALLY not looking forward to writing my annotated bibliography! But, alas! It must be done! The one thing that made me laugh about this chapter "If you have to abandon your topic, do it early." HA! we are married to our topics and definitely not allowed to change it now! Paper is due in about 80 days, time to get crackin!!!
Monday, September 17, 2012
Library Day!
Monday September 17, 2012
Today was a library day. I finally got some time to work on my paper! I went to the Aurora Historical Society earlier today and I was looking up some information from my paper and I discovered that I am not really interested in the business/economic side of how the Great Depression effected Aurora. Instead, I think I am going to focus on the cultural aspects of the Great Depression, such as music, education, family status, population, suicides/deaths, civilian programs, and programs that the state or federal government started (like the CCC of WPA). I think, for me anyway, that it would be more interesting and that I could look at diaries and newspapers articles to kind of get the "feel" of how the depression personally effected people. Since we had time in class today, I found a nice list of books about Illinois and the Great Depression on the Aurora University Library website, then I went and hunted a lot of them down. I wanted to see if the librarians could hold the books for me so then I don't have to pull the books each time I want to look something up. This brought up an interesting idea/conversation between the librarian and I: Why doesn't the library hold books for students like the do for teachers? (especially those students in senior seminar!?) The librarian told me that she was going to talk to her superior in order to see what they could do for me. I was very relieved that, finally, someone was willing to help me with my paper! The historical society has not been that helpful, or friendly, with me, but I am just going to start going there whenever I know they are open because I really need to put a dent in my paper/research! I know what kinds of sources that I want to use and I have a good list started, but I want to actually start acquiring information this week. I have a meeting with Lizzie tomorrow and I hope that I can get more sources! I just hope that she doesn't tell me to go to the Aurora Library or the historical society because I already know that I need to do that. Our bibliographies are due Wednesday, so I hope I can get more primary sources (I only have about three, but I don't even know if I am going to use them in my paper). I don't know what else we are supposed to blog about for today's class, so I am going to end here....
Today was a library day. I finally got some time to work on my paper! I went to the Aurora Historical Society earlier today and I was looking up some information from my paper and I discovered that I am not really interested in the business/economic side of how the Great Depression effected Aurora. Instead, I think I am going to focus on the cultural aspects of the Great Depression, such as music, education, family status, population, suicides/deaths, civilian programs, and programs that the state or federal government started (like the CCC of WPA). I think, for me anyway, that it would be more interesting and that I could look at diaries and newspapers articles to kind of get the "feel" of how the depression personally effected people. Since we had time in class today, I found a nice list of books about Illinois and the Great Depression on the Aurora University Library website, then I went and hunted a lot of them down. I wanted to see if the librarians could hold the books for me so then I don't have to pull the books each time I want to look something up. This brought up an interesting idea/conversation between the librarian and I: Why doesn't the library hold books for students like the do for teachers? (especially those students in senior seminar!?) The librarian told me that she was going to talk to her superior in order to see what they could do for me. I was very relieved that, finally, someone was willing to help me with my paper! The historical society has not been that helpful, or friendly, with me, but I am just going to start going there whenever I know they are open because I really need to put a dent in my paper/research! I know what kinds of sources that I want to use and I have a good list started, but I want to actually start acquiring information this week. I have a meeting with Lizzie tomorrow and I hope that I can get more sources! I just hope that she doesn't tell me to go to the Aurora Library or the historical society because I already know that I need to do that. Our bibliographies are due Wednesday, so I hope I can get more primary sources (I only have about three, but I don't even know if I am going to use them in my paper). I don't know what else we are supposed to blog about for today's class, so I am going to end here....
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Bibliographies
Wednesday September 12, 2012
Today was a pretty easy-going class. We discussed how to do our bibliographies. For this paper we will be putting secondary sources first in alphabetical order, then primary sources. I think this will not only make it easier on the reader, but it will also make it easier on me while I write my paper and refer back to my notes. After talking about our senior seminar paper, we discussed our reading for the day, pages 3-63ish in "What Should I Do With My Life?" At first I thought this book was pretty uninteresting, it was just a bunch of people who were unsatisfied with their life, so they set out to change it for the better. To be honest, I don't really see how this book fits into our class. If I end up not liking my job I will change it to something that I do like, I am always prepared and I shall always have a back up plan! Then we were given the assignment to write one solid page about what our dream job entails, I wrote about working as a high school history teacher. In this job I can plan things out how I want them, educate kids, and show them that learning and history are fun. After writing this, we were told again to write another page about what our second dream job would be. On this page I wrote how I would like to work for something like the History Channel where I could conduct research on certain events, places, or people and then host an episode of the show. Not only could I choose the topics that are of interest to me, I would be able to travel, meet awesome people, and teach people about what I know. I still think if neither of these two options work out, I think I would either go back to school to study literature, or I would try to get a job at an aquarium. I really think marine biology is awesome, but I am horrible in science.
After talking about our dream jobs, the class walked to the library. We were told to go to some website that asks us questions and then based on our answers, it was going to tell us what kind of job would be right for us. Well, sad to say, the website didn't work as it was supposed to because after we were done answering the questions, the website wanted us to fill in our personal information in order to get our test results (a typical research-wanting website). So that activity was kind of a bust! With that activity not working, we were released early because the teacher had some meeting to attend. We were told to meet back in the library on Monday and bring ALL of our senior seminar paper stuff with us because we would be having a library day! I definitely need this time because I have been having a very difficult time finding information for my paper. The Aurora Historical Society will not answer my calls and then when I did get to talk to someone, she was very rude and said no one could help me. Great.....like 97% of my paper will be coming from there and no one is willing to help me! This paper just got a lot more frustrating and hard. So tomorrow I am just going to show up at the Historical Society! I know from a secret source that people will be there at 9:00 am ;) (hopefully I will be able to get some work done!)
Today was a pretty easy-going class. We discussed how to do our bibliographies. For this paper we will be putting secondary sources first in alphabetical order, then primary sources. I think this will not only make it easier on the reader, but it will also make it easier on me while I write my paper and refer back to my notes. After talking about our senior seminar paper, we discussed our reading for the day, pages 3-63ish in "What Should I Do With My Life?" At first I thought this book was pretty uninteresting, it was just a bunch of people who were unsatisfied with their life, so they set out to change it for the better. To be honest, I don't really see how this book fits into our class. If I end up not liking my job I will change it to something that I do like, I am always prepared and I shall always have a back up plan! Then we were given the assignment to write one solid page about what our dream job entails, I wrote about working as a high school history teacher. In this job I can plan things out how I want them, educate kids, and show them that learning and history are fun. After writing this, we were told again to write another page about what our second dream job would be. On this page I wrote how I would like to work for something like the History Channel where I could conduct research on certain events, places, or people and then host an episode of the show. Not only could I choose the topics that are of interest to me, I would be able to travel, meet awesome people, and teach people about what I know. I still think if neither of these two options work out, I think I would either go back to school to study literature, or I would try to get a job at an aquarium. I really think marine biology is awesome, but I am horrible in science.
After talking about our dream jobs, the class walked to the library. We were told to go to some website that asks us questions and then based on our answers, it was going to tell us what kind of job would be right for us. Well, sad to say, the website didn't work as it was supposed to because after we were done answering the questions, the website wanted us to fill in our personal information in order to get our test results (a typical research-wanting website). So that activity was kind of a bust! With that activity not working, we were released early because the teacher had some meeting to attend. We were told to meet back in the library on Monday and bring ALL of our senior seminar paper stuff with us because we would be having a library day! I definitely need this time because I have been having a very difficult time finding information for my paper. The Aurora Historical Society will not answer my calls and then when I did get to talk to someone, she was very rude and said no one could help me. Great.....like 97% of my paper will be coming from there and no one is willing to help me! This paper just got a lot more frustrating and hard. So tomorrow I am just going to show up at the Historical Society! I know from a secret source that people will be there at 9:00 am ;) (hopefully I will be able to get some work done!)
Monday, September 10, 2012
Film Day: Rashomon
Monday September 10, 2012
So today we spent the class time watching "Rashomon," a film from 1950. The film is in black and white and all in Japanese, but thankfully there are subtitles. At first, I was completely lost as to what was going on in the movie and how this movie pertained to my senior seminar paper, but I soon discovered the film's significance.
The film tells the story of a murder of a man, but all witnesses have a different story as to what actually happened at the time of the murder. The story starts with a darkened sky and two men are huddled in a ruined gate and are soon joined by another man. They woodcutter keeps saying, "I don't understand" which is a reference to what happened to Japan in World War II and the many problems that the country was facing. The men start talking about a court case that was going on at the time. A man was found dead in the forest by a woodcutter and the authorities were trying to find the killer by conducting trials of the people that were at the scene. The woodcutter begins to tell the others of the story he saw at the court. He remembered listening to a bandit tell his story, then the man's wife, then the man through a medium (speaking from the grave), then the woodcutter told his own story to the murder at the courthouse.
According to the bandit, he was sleeping in the woods and saw the samurai walking past with his wife on a horse. The wife was so beautiful he thought she was a goddess and wanted to make her his. He followed the couple and tricked the samurai to get him into the forest, where the bandit tied him up. Then the bandit raped the samurai's wife in front of him. The bandit also said that the wife "fell in love" with him then asked him to kill her husband/duel with him because she was disgraced.
Then the wife tells her story. She tells of the rape, but after the bandit ran away. She ran over to her husband and was weeping. She begged forgiveness, but the man only stared at her. She started crying because he wouldn't stop looking at her in this weird way. The wife cut his ropes but he just stayed where he was. The wife fainted because she couldn't handle what happened to her. When she woke up her husband was dead, so she tried to kill herself (by throwing herself in the pond), but she couldn't handle it.
Then at the court, the wife is used as a medium so her husband could recall his tale. The men talking at the ruins had a debate that a dead man could not tell a lie, but the samurai's story was different than the others, so no one knows if he was telling the truth or not. Again, the same rape was portrayed as before, but the bandit wanted the wife to leave her husband and marry him instead. The bandit said that she could either marry him or dye. The wife said that she would go with the bandit, but then the bandit was mad because the woman so easily cast aside her husband, so he asked the samurai if he wanted his wife to live or dye. The samurai said that when he was asked this, he actually forgave the bandit for raping his wife!!!!!! Later, the woman ran away from both men, the bandit left, and the samurai killed himself with his wife's dagger that she left on the forest floor.
The last account was the woodcutter. He said that he had been walking through the woods and heard the woman scream, then stayed behind a bush and watched the entire thing. This was different from his earlier story where he said he was walking in the woods and just found the body. The woodcutter explained that every explanation was a lie because he saw the real thing, but lied during the court case because he didn't want to get involved in a murder. The woodcutter said that the bandit asked the samurai's wife to marry him. The husband was left go and both the husband and bandit fought til the death (bandit killed the samurai), while the wife just watched. The wife had actually fooled them both into fighting each other for her own sick, twisted pleasure (her life must have been quite boring). The fight was actually quite lame because it seemed like neither man wanted to die, nor kill the other, so they just swung their swords around and were jumping around (it actually looked like a VERY poorly choreographed fight). In the end, the wife ran away, the bandit went after her, and the samurai was left dead on the ground.
It was actually interesting to watch this movie once I got the "jist" of it. Everyone told a different story of the same event; everyone had their own perspective. Many of the things that were told differently were told so that the teller would look better. All stories were mutually contradictory and this gives into the idea of multiple realities. Each story was told of the same account, but all were different!
After the movie we had a discussion of not only the movie itself, we talked about the time period in which the movie was created. The movie came out in 1950, after World War II ended, the Japanese economy and government was having problems, and the US dropped an atomic bomb on the country. The director wanted to portray the idea of multiple realities in this movie and how it relates to everything we do, especially history. In the beginning, the man kept saying, "I don't understand" because many Japanese did not know what happened to their country during and after the war. At the end of the movie the three men in the ruins find a baby, which is supposed to show a new beginning and hope for a brighter future for Japan. This whole movie is an allegory for Japan: things went wrong, people died, there are different perspectives/interpretations of it, but in the end there is a new beginning on the horizon.
This movie created a movement throughout the world, showing that there is no one "true" story of an event. I can see why this movie is important to keep in mind when doing research on my paper because there will always be many different interpretations, but a good historian will take all of them and come to a solid conclusion. No matter what a person writes, someone will always disagree with it and offer their own insight, so it is important to keep in mind that history is always changing based on how you look at it.
So today we spent the class time watching "Rashomon," a film from 1950. The film is in black and white and all in Japanese, but thankfully there are subtitles. At first, I was completely lost as to what was going on in the movie and how this movie pertained to my senior seminar paper, but I soon discovered the film's significance.
The film tells the story of a murder of a man, but all witnesses have a different story as to what actually happened at the time of the murder. The story starts with a darkened sky and two men are huddled in a ruined gate and are soon joined by another man. They woodcutter keeps saying, "I don't understand" which is a reference to what happened to Japan in World War II and the many problems that the country was facing. The men start talking about a court case that was going on at the time. A man was found dead in the forest by a woodcutter and the authorities were trying to find the killer by conducting trials of the people that were at the scene. The woodcutter begins to tell the others of the story he saw at the court. He remembered listening to a bandit tell his story, then the man's wife, then the man through a medium (speaking from the grave), then the woodcutter told his own story to the murder at the courthouse.
According to the bandit, he was sleeping in the woods and saw the samurai walking past with his wife on a horse. The wife was so beautiful he thought she was a goddess and wanted to make her his. He followed the couple and tricked the samurai to get him into the forest, where the bandit tied him up. Then the bandit raped the samurai's wife in front of him. The bandit also said that the wife "fell in love" with him then asked him to kill her husband/duel with him because she was disgraced.
Then the wife tells her story. She tells of the rape, but after the bandit ran away. She ran over to her husband and was weeping. She begged forgiveness, but the man only stared at her. She started crying because he wouldn't stop looking at her in this weird way. The wife cut his ropes but he just stayed where he was. The wife fainted because she couldn't handle what happened to her. When she woke up her husband was dead, so she tried to kill herself (by throwing herself in the pond), but she couldn't handle it.
Then at the court, the wife is used as a medium so her husband could recall his tale. The men talking at the ruins had a debate that a dead man could not tell a lie, but the samurai's story was different than the others, so no one knows if he was telling the truth or not. Again, the same rape was portrayed as before, but the bandit wanted the wife to leave her husband and marry him instead. The bandit said that she could either marry him or dye. The wife said that she would go with the bandit, but then the bandit was mad because the woman so easily cast aside her husband, so he asked the samurai if he wanted his wife to live or dye. The samurai said that when he was asked this, he actually forgave the bandit for raping his wife!!!!!! Later, the woman ran away from both men, the bandit left, and the samurai killed himself with his wife's dagger that she left on the forest floor.
The last account was the woodcutter. He said that he had been walking through the woods and heard the woman scream, then stayed behind a bush and watched the entire thing. This was different from his earlier story where he said he was walking in the woods and just found the body. The woodcutter explained that every explanation was a lie because he saw the real thing, but lied during the court case because he didn't want to get involved in a murder. The woodcutter said that the bandit asked the samurai's wife to marry him. The husband was left go and both the husband and bandit fought til the death (bandit killed the samurai), while the wife just watched. The wife had actually fooled them both into fighting each other for her own sick, twisted pleasure (her life must have been quite boring). The fight was actually quite lame because it seemed like neither man wanted to die, nor kill the other, so they just swung their swords around and were jumping around (it actually looked like a VERY poorly choreographed fight). In the end, the wife ran away, the bandit went after her, and the samurai was left dead on the ground.
It was actually interesting to watch this movie once I got the "jist" of it. Everyone told a different story of the same event; everyone had their own perspective. Many of the things that were told differently were told so that the teller would look better. All stories were mutually contradictory and this gives into the idea of multiple realities. Each story was told of the same account, but all were different!
After the movie we had a discussion of not only the movie itself, we talked about the time period in which the movie was created. The movie came out in 1950, after World War II ended, the Japanese economy and government was having problems, and the US dropped an atomic bomb on the country. The director wanted to portray the idea of multiple realities in this movie and how it relates to everything we do, especially history. In the beginning, the man kept saying, "I don't understand" because many Japanese did not know what happened to their country during and after the war. At the end of the movie the three men in the ruins find a baby, which is supposed to show a new beginning and hope for a brighter future for Japan. This whole movie is an allegory for Japan: things went wrong, people died, there are different perspectives/interpretations of it, but in the end there is a new beginning on the horizon.
This movie created a movement throughout the world, showing that there is no one "true" story of an event. I can see why this movie is important to keep in mind when doing research on my paper because there will always be many different interpretations, but a good historian will take all of them and come to a solid conclusion. No matter what a person writes, someone will always disagree with it and offer their own insight, so it is important to keep in mind that history is always changing based on how you look at it.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Presentation from Lizzie
Wednesday September 5, 2012
Today was a light, but interesting day. During the first half of class Professor Butters talked about the New Left. This was created in the 1960s and 70s and was inspired by the Annales. It was also inspired by events such as Vietnam, Women's Rights Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and other events. This group believed that truth is relative (there are different views: "history is written by the winner"). People must understand that there is no "truth" in history because everything is a type of interpretation. There are, however, accepted truths, such as the date of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Things that historians must always keep in mind are that some concepts/truths can change over time. For example, the idea of liberty had drastically different meanings in the 1700s than it does today. Historians also must keep in mind that books, articles, newspapers, etc. are written for an audience, and, therefore, can have some biases or points that the writer is trying to make. Historians must always make sure to take nothing at face value because there could always be some sort of bias or angle at which authors try to make. Even people change their stories during interviews to make themselves seem more interesting.....historians are always on the watch!
The second half of class was a presentation/demonstration from Lizzie M. from the library. She showed the class how to look up information for their topics on the library's online databases. This includes books, articles, newspapers, and anything else that can help us write our papers! These databases are HUGE! I was happy to see some things on the Great Depression online. I signed up to meet with Lizzie on September 13th at 6:00p.m. to talk with her about my topic. Meanwhile, I am going to spend some time in the library online finding and printing some of the articles that I find. I think these data bases will be very helpful for my research. I also plan to call the Aurora Historical Society tomorrow and schedule an appointment with someone who can walk me through what I need to do and what information I can use in my research. I, hopefully, will be able to spend Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Aurora Historical Society (they are only open 9-12 those days) finding information and then on the weekends I can gather the information and start typing my paper out, or at least making an outline. I am quite excited to start, but I am sure that once I do I will get stressed out with all the information that I find! I must make sure to narrow down my topics because I am sure that I will find enough information to write my 25 page paper. The only problem that I foresee myself having is how to cite these sources, such as pictures and other artifacts, but I bet there is something in our very large Chicago Style Manual book that will help!
Today was a light, but interesting day. During the first half of class Professor Butters talked about the New Left. This was created in the 1960s and 70s and was inspired by the Annales. It was also inspired by events such as Vietnam, Women's Rights Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and other events. This group believed that truth is relative (there are different views: "history is written by the winner"). People must understand that there is no "truth" in history because everything is a type of interpretation. There are, however, accepted truths, such as the date of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Things that historians must always keep in mind are that some concepts/truths can change over time. For example, the idea of liberty had drastically different meanings in the 1700s than it does today. Historians also must keep in mind that books, articles, newspapers, etc. are written for an audience, and, therefore, can have some biases or points that the writer is trying to make. Historians must always make sure to take nothing at face value because there could always be some sort of bias or angle at which authors try to make. Even people change their stories during interviews to make themselves seem more interesting.....historians are always on the watch!
The second half of class was a presentation/demonstration from Lizzie M. from the library. She showed the class how to look up information for their topics on the library's online databases. This includes books, articles, newspapers, and anything else that can help us write our papers! These databases are HUGE! I was happy to see some things on the Great Depression online. I signed up to meet with Lizzie on September 13th at 6:00p.m. to talk with her about my topic. Meanwhile, I am going to spend some time in the library online finding and printing some of the articles that I find. I think these data bases will be very helpful for my research. I also plan to call the Aurora Historical Society tomorrow and schedule an appointment with someone who can walk me through what I need to do and what information I can use in my research. I, hopefully, will be able to spend Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the Aurora Historical Society (they are only open 9-12 those days) finding information and then on the weekends I can gather the information and start typing my paper out, or at least making an outline. I am quite excited to start, but I am sure that once I do I will get stressed out with all the information that I find! I must make sure to narrow down my topics because I am sure that I will find enough information to write my 25 page paper. The only problem that I foresee myself having is how to cite these sources, such as pictures and other artifacts, but I bet there is something in our very large Chicago Style Manual book that will help!
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