English Final Exam Review (Decemer 2018)

The World on the Turtle's Back

1. It is a creation myth by the Iroquois.
2. The Sky-Man and his pregnant wife often fought because of her demands. Because of these fights, some say she might not have fallen through the hole of Sky-World, but might've actually been pushed by her husband (it's not for sure).
3. The birds are the first to help the woman, taking her on their wings as she falls. Afterwards, a turtle received her on its back. Diving animals of the sea also tried to help her get soil from the bottom of the ocean, but the muskrat is the only one that actually could.
4. The woman put the soil the muskrat got on the turtle's back and began walking around it (in a circle) in the direction of the Sun, and this made the earth grow.
5. The Sky-Woman had her daughter, and she helped her walk around and expand the earth. However, soon enough, the daughter got pregnant too (a man came from above and placed two arrows across her body, one sharp and one blunt = she'd have twins but they'd be very different). The daughter died giving birth because the left-handed twin wanted to go out from a light he saw above, even thought he right-handed twin told him this would kill his mother. When he did so, he had to come out of the armpit and killed their mother. When she died, corn, beans, and squash (the 3 sisters) grew out of her head, and the sacred tobacco out of her heart.
6. The twins were very different
• Right-handed twin said what he meant and meant what he said, always told the truth, always tried to accomplish what seemed right and reasonable, was called "Sapling" because he was smooth, young, green, fresh, innocent, straightforward, soft, pliable, and teachable. He was also called "straight mind," "upright man," "He Holds Up the Skies," "Master of Life," and "Great Creator."
• Left-handed twin never said what he meant or meant what he said, always lied, did things backwards, was dark in color and was covered with boils ("Old Warty"). He was also called "crooked mind," "devious man," "Flint," "the one covered with boils," and "the devious one."
7. The right-handed twin made herbivores (deer, ground squirrel, porcupine) while the left-handed twin made animals that ate these (mountain lion, weasel, bear). They also made plants: right-handed twin made berries and fruits, while left-handed twin made poison ivy, briars, and poisonous plants like dogberry, baneberry, and suicide root. This created a necessary balance in nature,

La Relación

1. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca is the author.
2. While on the ship, the Spaniards ate a handful of raw corn a day, fish (not a lot), and horse-meat (Cabeza de Vaca couldn't eat this). After crashing on the coast of Galveston Island in Texas on November 6, they can cook some of their corn and Lope de Oviedo (strongest man) gets a pot, a little dog, and a few mullets (fish). After this, the Karankawa Indians bring them mullets and roots that tasted like nuts regularly.
3. To heal, the Spaniards:
• Blessed the sick.
• Breathed upon the sick.
• Recited the Pater noster and the Ave María.
• Prayed to God earnestly for their recovery.
• Concluded with sign of the cross.
4. To heal, the Karankawas:
• Blew on the sick.
• Laid their hands on the sick to cast out the infirmity.
• Swallowed a pebble (passed through stomach).
• Other objects "of the field" also worked.
• Made an incision over the pain, sucked it, and cauterized it (Spaniards approved).
5. When the Karankawas help the Spaniards:
• Gave them mullets and roots that tasted like nuts
• Mourned with them over the deaths of their men
• Carried them all the way to their village
• Built fires along the way so they could rest and stay warm
• Built a hut so they could rest and have their own space

The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano

1. When Equiano didn't eat, he was flogged. He was given alcohol by the other africans who sold him after he fainted, and had to see them walk off, abandoning him. Before all this, he also had to endure family separation, as he and his sister were kidnapped when he was 11 years old. He was separated from his sister and sold in various African countries. He wished for death.
2. He saw others get flogged after they tried to jump off board and got caught in the netting; some jumped to the sea though (suicide). Another time, he saw a white sailor get flogged, which showed him just how cruel the men could be. Other slaves, though sick and pregnant, were kept below deck and died (Equiano was allowed to go up sometimes).
3. The slaves were separated from their families. They were also held below deck, chained, in a pestilential cramped area. The slaves were poorly fed, even when they had a surplus of fish, the white men rather throw them away than give them to the slaves. Once in the island, they were grouped into 'parcels' and sold. Families and friends were separated again as different people bought them. On Equiano's ship, there were several brothers who were sold on different lots and would never see each other again
4. Equiano thinks the sailors are evil spirits based on their white skin, long hair, red face, and different language. He had never seen a ship move, so he didn't know how it worked and thought it was their magic.
5. The slaves were sold at Barbados. The usual way of selling was at a slave merchant's yard. Slaves were sold as groups called 'parcels.' Upon a signal (like a drum), the buyers would rush to the merchant's yard and pick a parcel they liked best. There was a lot of noise and clamor, which made the slaves more apprehensive. Families and friends were separated as different people bought them. On Equiano's ship, there were several brothers who were sold on different lots and would never see each other again.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

1. Jonathan Edwards wrote this sermon.
2. The reason for the sermon is to get people to convert to the Puritan religion. It inspires fear in the people that are there, and it is meant for those who are unconverted.
3. Some images of hell are:
• Line 17-18: "The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them."
• A sharpened sword is held over them, and the pit opens up below them.
• Lines 19-21: "Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are 20 innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noonday; the sharpest sight cannot discern them."
• Unconverted people walk over the pit of hell with a rotten covering, with spots that cannot support them and through which they would fall; however, these cannot be seen. There are also arrows of death flying above, which can't be seen either.
• Lines 27-31: "Natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell; and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger"
• God holds us in his hand, a metaphor for God's power and anger. All he has to do is tilt his hand, and one would fall to the pits of hell.
• Line 31-37: "God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of."
• The Devil awaits in the pit full of fire. Unconverted men cannot access Jesus, the Mediator.
• Line 38-42: "The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood."
• God's wrath is like a bow and arrow. The bow is bent, and the arrow can kill you at any time.
• Line 69-74: "You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment. . . ."
• We hang by a thin thread that can be singed by the fire.

Speech in the Virginia Convention

1. The author is Patrick Henry, also known as "the Orator of Liberty."
2. The tone of the speech is respectful. This is important because by being respectful to the delegates he’s addressing, he gains their respect at the same time, making sure his points and arguments are heard.
3. Some people say they're too weak to go to war, but he says they're 3 million strong, they fight for the holy cause of liberty, they know their land better, and God is on their side. Some say they should keep waiting, but he says they won't get any stronger with time and peaceful solutions won't ever work (only judges future by past, lamp of experience). Some say they can't fight alone, but he says that the just God who presides over all nations will help them get allies on Earth.
4. They should wage war because it's a choice of freedom or slavery. He says the war has already begun. They've tried peaceful options (argument, entreaty, petition, remonstrate, supplicate, prostrated themselves at the throne) without results. God fights alongside them. 
5. He believes that, as for him, "give me liberty or give me death." If they don't go to war, they're submitting to slavery, and he'd rather be dead than a slave. He also says the war has already begun.
6. He says it's necessary to speak frankly about their relationship with Great Britain because he felt that if he didn't:
• He was disloyal to God.
• He was guilty of treason against his country.
7. They can go to war because they're 3 million strong, armed in the holy cause of liberty, with a just God on their side who will raise allies, and a better knowledge of the geography.

The Declaration of Independence

1. Thomas Jefferson was the one who actually wrote the Declaration, but Benjamin Franklin and John Adams also helped. Congress also made changes.
2. Some complaints they had towards the king was that he:
• Has established an absolute tyranny.
• Has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good (didn't approve laws that would help the colonies).
• Has forbidden Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation until his assent is obtained (when so suspended, he has neglected to attend them).
• Has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless these people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature (shows he's a tyrant because he takes inestimable rights)
• Has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measure
• Has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people 
• Has refused for others to be elected after he dissolves representative houses, leaving the State exposed to all dangers of invasion from outside and uprisings within.
• Has tried to stop population growth, for that purpose obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
• Has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
• Has made judges dependent on him for tenure (job security) and payment of salary (if judges wouldn't agree with him, they'd get fired or not paid).
• Has erected offices and sent swarms of officers to harass people and "eat out their substance" (use their resources).
• Has kept standing armies among us in times of peace, without consent of their legislature (army complaint).
• Has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. 
• Has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to their constitutions, and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent (approval) to what they say (Parliament and the King would make laws for the colonies, but they wouldn't have a say)
• Has abdicated government here (given up responsibility), by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us
• Has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people (army complaint)
• Has constrained our fellow citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren (British brothers of the same nation), or to fall themselves by their hands
• Has excited domestic insurrection amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
3. Some complaints about the British army's treatment of colonists:
• There are standing armies, even though they're in times of peace.
• Troops are in the colonies without their legislature's permission.
• The King has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.
• Parliament has allowed the quartering of armies with them.
• The soldiers are protected by a mock trial from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States.
• King is moving large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy (treachery) scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
• Armies have plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people
4. The three unalienable rights endowed on all men by the Creator are:
• life
• liberty
• pursuit of happiness.
5. The self-evident truths are:
• All men are created equal.
• Men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights: life, liberty, pursuit of happiness.
• Just governments are instituted to secure these rights and derive their power from the people
• Whenever any government becomes destructive, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute a new government, laying its foundations on these principles and organizing its power so that they'll have the best effect on safety and happiness.
• Prudence will dictate that governments should not change for light and transient causes, and people are more disposed to suffer than to abolish what makes them suffer.

The Devil and Tom Walker

1. Washington Irving is the author.
2. Kidd the pirate buried his treasure in the inlet because the trees and high ridge allowed it to be guarded. However, one day, the devil took the money and Kidd was sent to England to be hanged. The treasure now belonged to the devil.
3. Tom and his wife were two miserly fellows who lived in a house with an air of starvation. They fought a lot, mostly because Tom's wife was a tall termagant who was strong of arm, loud of tongue, and fierce of temper.
4. Tom believes his wife took the silver teapot and spoons inside her apron to make a deal with the devil.
5. There's an inlet that has, on one side, a beautiful dark grove, and on the other, a high ridge with a few scattered old and huge oaks. There was a peninsula of land that had been one of the Indians's strongholds during the war with the first colonists. Here, there was a fort the Indians had used to refuge their squaws and children. Nothing remained of the fort but a few embankments. Here, Tom found a skull with a tomahawk (axe) in its head and met the devil.
6. Tom called the devil "Old Scratch," but he was also called the wild huntsman and the black miner. According to Tom, he was neither Negro nor Indian, dressed in a rude half-Indian gar with a red sash around his body, his face was begrimed with soot, had a shock of coarse black hair that stood out from his head in every direction, bore an ax on his shoulder and had great red eyes.
7. To reach an agreement with the devil, Tom had to use the money for the devil's work and it is implied he had to sell his soul. The first profession the devil suggests is to be a slave trader, but Tom says no. After this, he tells Tom he can be a usurer and charge 2% interest, but Tom insists on charging 4%.
8. Tom is worse because he raises the interest from the devil's initial offer of 2% to 4%.
9. When Tom turns old, he becomes thoughtful, and regrets his deal, so he becomes a violent churchgoer and starts carrying a small Bible in his coat pocket and a great folio Bible at his countinghouse desk.
10. Tom is whisked like a child into a saddle by the devil while wearing his India silk morning gown and a white linen cap, "never was a sinner taken more unaware." Hiss possessions all changed:
• His bonds and mortgages were reduced to cinders (ashes).
• Instead of gold and silver, his iron chest was filled with chips and shavings (of wood).
• In his stable, there were 2 skeletons instead of his starving horses.
• The next day, his house took fire and burnt to the ground.
11. People saw Tom being taken by the devil, but there were so many witch and devil stories in Boston that they weren't as scared as it might've been expected.
12. Tom's wife is more frightening because Tom wasn't scared of the devil thanks to her. Even when the devil killed here, there were handfuls of his hair around the tree, showing she must've fought viciously with him.