The Martian Chronicals

In the book, The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury, the colonization of Mars seems very similar to the colonization of America. On both Mars and in America, the new land had to be looked over and made sure it was capable of supporting life. Once colonized, both Mars and America took some getting used to. It took people time to understand their surroundings and how to survive off them. Also, in both colonizations, the colonizers had to deal with the natives who were sometimes not receptive to their efforts to colonize the land. The people colonizing America were trying to get a new start and leave their old lives behind, as well as the people colonizing Mars, who were trying to get a fresh start. In both of these situations, the colonization and the lives of the people were similar because they both had to learn how to adapt to their new surroundings and prosper there.

All Quiet on The Western Front

All Quiet on The Western Front, by Erich Remarque changes from scene to scene explaining how war isn't steady but an ever changing experience. At one point there may be a calm chatter amongst the men and at another time they are in the front lines watching their brothers die. Paul Baumer gets to experience many things during the war. Bloodshed, hunger, disease, and the toll that war takes on a human being. But also shares company with his fellow friends whether it be playing cards, talking, or acquiring sustenance. Within the chapters it jumps from calm to hectic and uncertain fighting. The jumping of scenes doesn't detract from the story but makes you wonder and want to continue reading. During a few chapters the scenery is described in fine detail. As Paul returns home he explains his home and during his time in the front he explains the destroyed area around him. An interesting note is that through out the book you find that the second company becomes more and more emotionally deadened. At one time they explained why the have naked men were hanging in the trees and had thought nothing much of it.

Nickel and Dimed

In the novel Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich faces many struggles as a low-wage worker. The two struggles she faced most was finding a job to support her new lifestyle and also finding a place to live that she could afford. While living in Minneapolis, she had a very hard time finding a place to live. Most of the places were $200 to $300 a week, something she couldnt afford on her $7 an hour wage at Wal-Mart. Finding a job also proved to be difficult especially when she had to consider how far away it was from her current home, how much it paid, and even if she could handle the work environment. For example, while in Maine Ehrenreich got a job at a maid's service but found it very difficult to work while ignoring the fargile state of her workers; many never had money to eat lunch and worked through health conditions because they couldn't afford to miss one day of work. Working in three different cities Ehrenreich realized that the workers at these low-wage jobs are being paid way less than they deserve for the work they do. She feels that workers should come together to get better wages or threaten to find better paying jobs, but realizes that it is very hard for a person living on a low income to just leave a job and start fresh with a new one as there are many factors to take into consideration; transportation, the hours, learning something new all over again, and having to wait for that first paycheck that might be with held from you anyways.

Question #9: Why do you think low-wage workers are reluctant to form labor organizations as Ehrenreich discovered at Wal-Mart? How do you think employees should lobby to improve working conditions. I think that people would be afraid to form labor organizations because they think that it might not work and then they could be fired and without a job, which they desperately need to live. I think that if workers want to lobby to improve working conditions than they should make sure that they all ban together and not back down until they get what they want; if they all stick together than it would work bettter than if all the employees weren't for the same cause.

From Emma Welp

In All Quiet On The Western Front  we discover and learn about the German soldiers who fought,lived,and suffered in the trenches. In these heart wrenching moments of their lives of war and literally fighting for their lives we learn that most of these men are hardly men at all. They are hardly over nineteen years of age and don't know what they have gotten themselves into. But the men that have been there for awhile identify themselves as the older wiser men to help the young men that have been recruited and to teach them the skills that they will need to save their lives. The main character Paul Baumer is one of these wiser men on the trenches with his six other fellow group members. One thing that was followed throughout the book is that you stick together. As when Paul was lost out in the trenches Kat and Albert went looking for him and brought a stretcher. Also when Paul and Albert where hit during a shelling  and went to the dressing station together they decided to stick together and go to the Catholic hospital together. The author presented the plot in an orderly way starting from beginning to end. Giving detail to the reader and making it easy to imagine and draw a picture to the things the soldiers went through. I think one arguement that the author Erich Maria Remarque presents is what is the point of sending these young men whose eyes do not deserve to see things such as they do in war. Who they cry for their mothers and to go home to be in no harm. Also Paul didn't like going on leave because it would remind him of what he was missing and returning to the camps he would feel at home. For now home was the trenches where he knew what was around him and going on beside him. I also think it would be extremely hard to be in the trenches and see horrified things then go home on leave for a couple of weeks. I feel my mind would be like Paul's and be thinking of how my fellow group members are doing and what is going on out their. I also think it was be very hard to not know exactly what is going to happen. Are the French going to attack? Will I be alive tomorrow? Will I eat today?There is hundreds of questions that run through their mind everyday. These simple things of food and water today we forget of all the things that the soldiers of trench warfare went through for their loved ones.

The Martian Chronicles

In The Martian Chronicles, by Bradbury, the colonization that occurs on Mars relates to the colonization of America and many other countries. At the beginning, a first expedition is sent out to Mars just to discover what is on it. This is like America, where the first expeditions went out to discover new land and new possibilities. The originating countries needed to see if life was possible on these foreign lands. Once the mystery and unknown of it all was gone, the expeditions continued. People were sent out to claim the land and set up their own "communities", apart from the natives. In both situations, on Mars and America, the natives proved to be a problem. They were unwilling to surrender their land and lose everything. But on both lands, foreign disease wiped out the natives and opened the land to the invaders. On Mars, the people began to colonize, but eventually went back to Earth due to war, unlike America, where people moved to escape war and stayed where they were. Many people moved to both places to escape government and rules. Mars proved to be impossible to colonize. America was a success.

All Quiet on the Western Front

In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque jumps from one scene to another to make the war more realistic. This jumping from one idea to another illustrates how speratic war really is and that no one knows what's going to happen next. Remarque does this often when he has Paul and the other soldiers relaxing one minute and the next they are being attacked and are forced to put their life on the line. For instance, in Chapter 10 the men experience a few weeks of luxury but when they are assigned to another place Paul and Albert are both wounded while trying to evacuate the village. This book does a good job of showing how war affects the soldiers and how much it wears them down. In Chapter 11 for example, Detering finds a cherry tree and loses it because it reminds him of home. The war makes those fighting it lose themselves and fighting comes natural to them.

Nicklel and Dimed

In the book, "Nickel and Dimed", Barbara Ehrenreich explores an idea of leaving her middle class writing and trys to live the life of a, "low wage worker." Ms. Ehrenreich toils in each of the jobs that she works and feels the stress, anxiety, and fear that low wage employes experience from a day to day basis. Barbara makes an effort in this experiment to survive working jobs by herself. But as she became familiar with her co-workers she understood that multiple low wage workers living together struggled sometimes more so than herself. During her time working at the places she did, she found that the authoritative figure i.e. managers or owners were attempting to beat down the moral of the employes. To make obedient drones that didn't think and just worked. After going through all of this she better understood the matter of poverty. Ehrenreich believes that the government doesn't look at the issue of poor workers to well.
Question for discussion: number 15- I do believe that Americans have put somewhat excessive demands on the family unit. But, they put such demands on the family because the government programs designed to help are of little to no help. The government should step in and help but rarely it helps the situation in anyway to get better.