chapter 17

usually i really enjoy the beginning of the chapters but i was not too crazy about this one. it started off fine talking about the parade but i got a little bit lost in they focused on the fact that the chinese people were leading the parade with bikes.i understand their reasoning and what their message was but i did not understand why the author used this example to kick off this chapter. i feel like it was a bit of a stretch to use this type of an example as nationalism and the other ideas portrayed in this chapter.
i would have never thought that the french revolution really kicked off the other revolutions around the world. i always knew that the revolutions were close in dates and that they all happened around the same time, but i never really thought that they were all like a chain reaction. its almost like one country saw france and what they did and thought "hey that looks cool, lets to that too" i guess that is what really happened, just in better lingo haha
i was looking at the grapg on page 501 and i think its weird that the british had to recognize american independence. it makes sense after i think about it, but at first i thought of britain as america's mother and like they were asking permission to be their own country like a kid asks permission from their mother to go out. americans did leave britain and they did act as a "mini britain" for a little while but the whole reasoning why we fought with the british was so we could be on our own and do what we wanted, but then we have to be recognized by britain? i dont understand that. it should be that big of a deal.
i have always found it really crazy that we started out with 13 colonies all on the east coast. i can see why the settlers were so worried about traveling and finding the rest of america, that is a lot of land to explore!!!!! its crazy to think that they got all the way across america!
i found it intersting that i didnt know much about that haitain revolution. i was always taught about the french revolution and the american revolution but not muchwas said about the haitian war. im not sure why because it seemed like it was just as important as the other ones. but reading about it in here, it was very violent. it seemed similar to any other fights, bloody and gruesome, but the picture on page 509 just really added to the pictures alre3ady in my head about war. this picture with the haitians hanging their enemies, was very terrifying. i think the part that made it especially gruesome was the fact that in the background there were about 20 more hangings, it wasnt just a picture of one or two, it was a lot of images of people being hanged.
i still cant get over the chain reactions that went on between the revolutions. knowing the things that people fought for and the ideals behind everything, it makes sense why people feel so strongly about their independence.
i also feel very strong about womens rights. i feel that a woman is just as strong as a man and should be able to take on the same things if she wanted. i mean c'mon a man would never be able to give birth! haha