How has the US Community Changed over Time?
1630
A single man stands before a group of black-clad Puritans, their eyes fixed upon his face as he delivers a sonorous sermon. Not a rustle disturbs the wall of silence that surrounds John Winthrop as he speaks to his assembled brethren.
Blue waves toss bits of frothy spray as the ship sways in its journey towards the New World. “For we must consider that we shall be a city on a hill. Winthrop pauses for a moment, gazing into the enthralled faces of his audience.” He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations,’ the Lord make it like that of New England.’"
The Puritans are absolutely still as his last few words die away. Slowly, like a spattering of rain drops, hands begin to clap as the Puritans determine the immense task set before them.
A child, confused by the sermon quietly asks,” What did that man say?” Someone answers solemnly,” Child, we, as a single community, shall make America shine brighter than any before! The light of Christianity shall guide America onto its path of glory!"
1600s-1800s
A Native American medicine man stares curiously at the strange missionary who stands before him. Something close to fear flits across his face as the man pulls out a worn book gilded with golden letters: Bible. The missionary smiles benignly at the Native American in his buck-skin clothing and squints at the "primitive" wooden idol he grasps in his hand.
“I'm a reverend from America." the missionary says politely.
The medicine man smiles and gestures for the missionary to sit down and then, he attempts to pass the missionary the intricately carved idol.
"No no no, Satan hides there!" the missionary shouts. He takes the idol away and holds up his Bible instead." You must realize that your only salvation lies in the one Lord. You sav- I mean you must realize that to save your soul, you must follow my community's path. The path of the illustrious America."
The missionary lays his hand over his heart in a fit of passion towards his home country while the medicine man stares at the Bible, his face creased in a frown.
1789
George Washington turns to face the people who have amassed themselves into every available space. Flags of red, white and blue snap and furl in the wind that loudly blows through the white-stoned courtyard.
The first president of the United States quietly repeats the oaths of honor and liberty of his inauguration until the last four words. “May God help me.” The citizens of the United States erupt into screams and cheers as flags and caps are thrown into the air like sprays of confetti.
Washington begins to speak about the lost lives of the brave men who fought to make the dream of freedom come true. He speaks about the liberty and democracy that only America has received. Below, the people whisper of the specialness of Uncle Sam, smug in the assurance that only their country's community has the unique power of free speech and the power of the general people.
Present Day
A mother is setting the table while two children watch a brightly colored mouse moving across a television screen. She calls to the children and to her husband who has just finished taking an hour long hot shower. He comes to the table, flushed and happy from the hot spray of water.
The mother sets fish sticks and a hamburger as well as a glass of milk before each member of her family before serving herself.
Her son accidently knocks over his glass while reaching to pinch his sister across the table. The mother grabs a handful of paper napkins, blots out the spill with six sheets of paper before tossing the used napkins into the trash bin.
“Mom! Why are you wasting so many napkins?And I thought I told you I was going vegetarian! I hate how people clear land for them." says her daughter, an aspiring environmentalist.
“Honey, don’t worry!” The mother scoffs good-naturedly.” It’s fine; there are more trees that we can use for napkins. And for the cows, America’s doing the poor countries a favor by giving them jobs like clearing the land and cutting down trees. Trust me, America already does a lot of favors to the poor countries by creating more jobs. We deserve this.” The mother smiles condescendingly at her young daughter and shakes her head at the foolishness of youngsters while gesturing to the meal and appliances around her. Honestly, we Americans deserve to live comfortable and healthy lives because America is so special. The mother thinks to herself.
“But…” the girl trails off, her arguments scattered and her brain confused. She reminisces about the forests that have been cut down for the sake of a cheap hamburger patty. She also thinks about the oceans filled with poison and hungry dolphins and whales as boats ravage the ocean for fish. “Whatever Mom.” The young girl sighs, digging into her hamburger. I guess since I'm part of the American community, I get to have special treatment since America is better than everyone else.
Stories and essays inspired by Benjamin Franklin's "The Way To Wealth"
Having a timeline of events was a creative approach to a short story. It works well, because it lets the viewer see the U.S starting out as an earnest country determined to be free, to the present where us Americans may be arrogant with our pride of our country time to time. I liked how you addressed both the positive and negative results of the U.S changing overtime.
ReplyDeleteTo make this piece even better, I would suggest changing the title of your post. As I read your story, I understood along the way that the main idea was that the U.S changed overtime. However, I didn't feel that there was a ton of context at the start of the story, so changing the title might help. Good start!
I really liked the format you made. It worked really nicely. I feel like the title is less of an important matter. Rather, I wish you had maybe taken more care with the dialogue. It sounds out of place in the story. It is also very obvious sounding, so that rather than hinting at the feeling of the speaker, the person just said something outright. For example, when the missionary is talking to the Native America, he just says that he will civilize the savage society they have, rather than hinting at it. I just feel like hinting at it would make it less awkward in the context of the paragraphs. I really liked the way it was put together and presented, however. GOOD JOB!
ReplyDeleteI thought that this was a creative approach to the narrative style and the timeline format worked well in illustrating different stages of Americans in their developing history. The imagery and use of similes were also nice touches. As others have said before me, the only issue I had while reading this was that it was a bit unclear as to how your piece was relevant to the question/title you stated at the top of the story. Each individual event of the timeline was very well illustrated, but to improve I think you could have shown more connection between them to create a unified picture of how the relation of these separate events shows the changes the US has undergone over time. Otherwise, well done.
ReplyDelete