Reflection # 6

Reflection  # 6 (Ch. 17, 18, 20)

Chapter 17 – this chapter was very interesting because I never actually knew that so many people rebelled in early history. As I read about all the revolutions I thought to myself how much harder it was for the people of hundreds of years ago to rebel as opposed to people nowadays. The Haitian Revolution was the most inspiring to me. It’s hard to believe that Haiti at one point in time was the richest colony in the world despite holding such a large number of slaves in the population. For some odd reason a smile came to my face as I read that the Haitian slaves rebelled and stood up for themselves. I got more satisfaction by reading that all they wanted was “equal treatment” and were not looking to overtake the colony. If only we all had that mentality. It seemed that the more money you had the bigger a person’s ego got. Of course, the color of your skin also mattered then. The slaves rebellion came with a great win for all slaves in that they gained equality, were set free, and became independent citizens, (pg. 509) The slave rebellion of the Haitian people inspired more slave rebellions around the world but none gained as much as the Haitians. Feminism in this chapter also captivated my attention. I get outraged at thinking of how unequal women’s rights were and unfortunately we still see a little bit of that today though nothing in comparison to ancient history.

Chapter 18 – THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION – wow moment. There can never be a good thing that doesn’t come with bad side effects. That’s how I think of the industrial revolution. Though it was one of the most significant things to happen in history it also brought with it a lot of bad side effects. Long working hours, harsh living conditions, and new social conflicts were among those bad side effects. The uproar of industrialization also, to me, further distant the classes of that time. The rich got richer and poor got poorer. Strayer really caught my attention when he spoke about why Europe in terms of being the innovator of the industrial revolution. He mentioned a lot of good points about other countries having the ability to have started industrialization. In my eyes Europeans were hungrier for wealth than other around the world and that motivated them even more to take the first steps into industrialization.

Chapter 20 -  Sad chapter. I got a lump in my throat when I read about the abuse the people of the Congo went through. How could someone be so cruel? After the lump in my throat went away I got really angry and wished all sorts of bad things on those people that tortured their workers. Moving on from this subject that really bothers onto something else that caught my attention in this chapter. Towards the end of the chapter there was a section that talked about how women were starting to show some color in terms of providing for themselves. At one point they even had more then their husbands. That was great to read. I believe that in the near future the gender roles are going to change significantly. Women will be the providers and the men will be the supports of the house. Just my thought.