Weel 1

What I learned from history this week was how the policy for child labor improved, women fought for their rights, Theodore Roosevelt's goal about American business and how Woodrow Wilson deal with the World War I. First Jane Addams, she wanted to help her immigrant neighbor, and offer an opportunity for educated women find meaningful work. Jane Addams was the founder of the Hull House. She lived in a poor neighborhood to understand the social issue. The Hull House offers women and children in the neighborhood a place to relax and play. And then Addams went on political to fix the issue of rich and poor gap, child labor and the harsh working environment. Later the law states that children who are under 16 are not allow to work, the working environment was also improved to not affect human health.

Theodore Roosevelt was one of the former President of United States. Roosevelt believed that the most vital question facing the county was “whether or not the government has the power to control the trusts.” He was trying to break up the nation's largest corporations to let small businesses to have chance to make money. Roosevelt's goal was not to completely overhaul the structures of American business, but beak up bloated economic monopolies, to punish the “bad” trust (the ones broke laws), and leave the “good” ones alone. In relations with Europe, Roosevelt sought to establish the U.S. as a rising force in international politics. He was trying to show European the power of U.S.(strong government) is equal as Europe.

Woodrow Wilson was also one the the former President of United States. He fixed the Tariff, the trade tax, instead of paying trade tax, people are now paying the income tax. Later because of the World War I, Wilson was reelected as the President of United States in 1916. During the WWI 1914-1918, US was trying to be neutral between the Great Britain and Germany. First British block the dock with ships, so Germany won't get any supplies from others. Germany used submarine to attack the ships or boats (some were American's) that bring supplies for British. Wilson argued that Germany should give warning before they attack the ships. Later, Wilson convinced the US congress to join the war because of it. Later Wilson gave fourteen points to keep the peace between each county. The points were about to help each other, can't not attack or block the trading dock and remain peaceful. It was presented to the US and other countries that were involved in the war.

What I learned in literature class was the meaning of American Literature. American literature is literature by American (whether naturalized or born in U.S.). The material we covered were photography and story (article/journal). The photo we saw in class were about children labor. Children were so young as 5~10 years old working in a bad condition. There were children without shoes working with machines. Some children were like 3 or 4 years old sleeping on the street. Also there are adult labors squeezed in a small room with 10 or more people.
And the most unforgettable reading I read was “How It Feels to Be Forcibly Fed” by Djuna Barnes. She described how hopeless she was when she was tied up and fed with a rubber tube put in from her nose. She wrote that she was trying to be claim and imaged how many women had been through this experiences. The discussion we had in class, we talked about the tone she was using in this piece. She was trying to be humor but also disgusting by writing out the process of the feeding. It was also an evident to prove a point that readers should think it was disgusting.
We also covered some art works (advertisers) from history like Uncle Same saying “ We want you for the US army” with a figure pointing at you, or a lady with open armed asking you to join to army. And a poster saying that German kill women and children. The reason of those words “Germany Kill Woman and Children” was trying to make people mad. So people would get involved to stop them.