NHD Introduction

Uncle Sam is a famous symbol and icon throughout the world. He provided an identity to the Unites States, and to their government. Because of his existence, he has given the government an identity, which was desperately needed, and has given people something to refer to the government as. His legacy has been carried on for centuries, and will be carried on for many more legacies. The U.S. still refers to the government as Uncle Sam and there are many different versions of him, but the standard version is the one that tries to get people to join the army.

Napoleon's Lies Paragraph

Ms. Melville
English I

In the story "Animal Farm", Napoleon lies to the animals for a few reasons. Firstly, he lies to get Snowball out of the picture completely. He makes up numerous lies about Snowball, which made Snowball the enemy to the animals. At one of the meetings, Napoleon says, "Here and now, I pronounce the death sentence among Snowball." Secondly, Napoleon wants to get all of the animals on his side. Snowball and Napoleon would always argue about things. At a meeting, Napoleon said very quietly that the windmill was nonsense and advised nobody to vote for it. Lastly, Napoleon lies to get all of Snowball's ideas. When Snowball left the farm, Napoleon claimed his ideas. When Napoleon claimed Snowball's windmill idea, "the animals were surprised that Napoleon wanted the windmill". In conclusion, Napoleon lies to the animals just as Stalin lied to his people in Russia, and we compare the two and see just how unfair it was.

NHD Annotation #3

1. Evolving Symbols. October 2008.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/SAM/

2. Society is built upon symbols. They are needed to identify groups and individuals, which people create. Symbols can be used for two things. One is that it becomes a marker for the symbolized. They also stand for ideas and concepts. They tell the characteristics and clues about what it symbolizes.

A symbol for America had been thought about long before Uncle Sam was created. The first symbols for America were animalistic. As European civilization expanded, it influenced America into seeing male representatives. He was to be considered one of the “average” American men. This actual man turned into a cartoon character over time.

3. This article was helpful to my research because it gave me the history of American symbols and how they changed over time. This is a secondary source because someone wrote this about symbols. The intended audience was anyone who wanted to learn how our country's sumbols changed.

IRB Log

Ms. Melville
English I

Book: Blackbird by Jennifer Lauck
Pg. #: 112
Summary: Momma gives Jenny and B.J. a hair cut. Then, B.J. goes out to skateboard. Jenny is getting use to her new haircut. Momma tells Jenny to go out and play while she takes her pills. Jenny keeps coming back in the house to check on Momma, but she sleeps, snoring loudly. Jenny can't find her Dad or B.J. She goes into the house, and Momma isn't breathing, and she's cold. She tells B.J. to come in, and he feels that she's cold. He calls the operator. Then, their Dad call people and question them on what happened. He put Momma into a special hospital. In the meantime, their cousin Steve is going to take care of them so their Dad can figure things out.
Rating: The book keeps getting better and better. I want to know what happens next.

IRB Log

Ms. Melville

English I

Book: Blackbird by Jennifer Lauck 

Pg. #: 95 

Summary: After Momma went to the hospital, she stayed there awhile. Daddy brought her back with no warnings. She's still sick, so they have to take care of her at home. She can't get up to do anything. The family has to feed her, and get rid of her waste for her. The book explains how they have to take care of her in detail. Then, Momma and Daddy get in a fight, and Jenny and B.J. hear. Jenny gets up to see her Dad and check to see if everything is okay, but scares her Dad. Daddy tells the kids that everything is alright, but Jenny sees through him, and sees that he is troubled. Then, the kids go to bed. 

Rating: I like this book a lot and I can't wait to read more. It's so sad and cute and what makes it better is that this really happened.

NHD Annotation #2

1. National Icons. October 2008. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/SAM/

2. Uncle Sam has fulfilled many roles throughout his creation. People associate him with the nation as a whole and the federal government. Even though he was created in 1812, he was not officially adopted until 1950. It was in 1950 that the government decided that they needed a standardized image of him. People throughout the nation had a pretty good idea of what he looked like, but foreigners made up their own, mostly uncomplimentary, versions. Uncle Sam was not made up by the government or some propaganda office, but by the popular culture, and then adopted officially one hundred and thirty-seven years. The popularity of Uncle Sam after 1812 could be looked at as America’s first sense of identity. A previous symbol, such as Yankee Doodle, was looked at as more of a symbol for New Englanders. Uncle Sam wasn’t looked as an authority figure or monarch, like a parent, but as a brotherly symbol, such as an uncle. He is permanently intertwined within American history. 

3. This article is helpful to my research because it tells how the nation and world thought of him. This is a secondary source because it's his biography, someone wrote this about his image. The intended audience was for anyone who wanted to know about Uncle Sam's history.

IRB Log

Ms. Melville

English I

Book: Blackbird by Jennifer Lauck

Pg. #: 84

Summary: This is about a family - a mom, a dad, a son, and a daughter. The daughter, Jenny, is really close to her Momma. It explains how they would do things in a routine everyday. Then, Momma got sick. Jenny didn't know what to do, because she was only five. The doctors couldn't cure Momma. Momma had to go out and get something, so she took Jenny and went out, even though Momma was sick. They got into a car crash. Jenny was okay, but Momma had to go to the hospital.

I like this story because it's sad and because it's true, this really happened to the author.

The Most Dangerous Game Paragraph

English

Ms. Melville

The author, Richard Connell, believes more in equality than liberty. In the beginning of the story, Connell made it so that Rainsford was for liberty, to a certain extent. You could tell Rainsford valued liberty because he was a big-game hunter who said, "Who cares how a jaguar feels?". He also says, "Bah! They've no understanding." Towards the end of the story, Connell makes it so that Rainsford changes and wins everything. He killed General Zaroff, and then the text says, "Rainsford decided he had never slept in a better bed". This obviously means the good guy won. If Connell valued liberty more than equality, he would've made Zaroff win at the end. That's where the bad guy would've won in the end. In conclusion, this is why Connell values equality over liberty.