The Feudal System - Extension task!

Father Francois, you are my honored guest. Please allow me to explain the Feudal system to you before you ask any questions of me. I am but a simple farmer. The Feudal system is a system of give and take. The lord would give off his land to a vassal for his support in return. If the vassals keep his oath, he could keep the land, if not, it would be returned back to the Lord. Vassals could follow the same system and become the Lord to his Vassals. The king still owned all the land.

1066: Who had the best claim?

Harold Godwinson, along with Duke William of Normandy and Harald Hardrada, all wanted to be the next king of England, after King Edward fell sick. They all had a huge claim to the throne, but for me, the one who deserved it the most, or had the strongest claim, was Harold Godwinson. King Edward had chosen him to be the next ruler. Reasons of why he did this, were that Harold was a noble, with a powerful army, and also that he was the only English man running up for the throne; Duke Will and Harald were foreigners, and had nothing to do with England. Also, Harold and Edward, both had a strong bond or connection, since King Edward had married Harold's sister. But even with all this, it wasn't enough to make him the King of England.

Values & Choices

1) Think about a time you witnessed bullying, ostracism, peer pressure, exclusion, discrimination or violence. How did you respond? How do you wish you had responded? What stopped you from responding that way? Three years ago, when I was in my old school, I witnessed something I will never forget. It was during lunch time, and we all went outside to play. My friends and I decided to wonder around school, and so we did until we saw a group of girls gathered together. It seemed like they were laughing at something. We all got closer and saw a girl from our class crying on the ground.. She had apparently just fell and got her drink all over herself. I was really shocked to see this, because no one wanted to help her stand up. Everyone just stared at her laughing. I felt really bad for her, but I couldn't drag myself to help her. In the end, I just convinced myself that the best thing to do was to walk away from that "bullying scene". I really regret not doing anything for that girl because if it had happened to me, I would have felt really bad. If I could go back in time, I would have stood up for her. I guess the fact of being bullied if I helped her out, scared me too much to take action. :(


2) Where have we seen examples of bullying/ostracism/exclusion occurring in texts studied so far this year- factual as well as fictional? Through out this year, we've seen many different examples of bullying/ostracism/exclusion. One of them was in the book 'Shadow of the Minotaur'. It had shown how Phoenix was harassed by one of his classmates to get Laura's love. That was a clear example of bullying. Also, there is an example of ostracism that we saw when we learned about the lesson of the Holocaust. The Nazis would isolate the Jews all the time, and tried to get rid of them.


3) Select one line/phrase/group of sentences from Eve's video that are significant to yuo. Explain why. "Usually, people are made outcasts because they are in some way different from the larger group." (Eve S.) This particular sentence is somewhat significant to me, as I think it is very true. Regularly in most schools, new student don't fit in exactly well. And even if they try hard to adapt to their new environment, other students may NOT accept them so easily. It may be for many reasons, but the biggest one is differences between them. Not only 'physical' differences, but also how they think. Maybe they have different opinions in some things, and that can lead to big problems.


4) What's familiar about the incident Eve describes? What surprised you? How does Eve's story relate to bullying? Was she bullied? Did she bully? How would you explain her behavior? (perpetrator/bystander/victim) Make sure you justify (back up your answer).She describes how she is not able to stand up for that girl, which relates to my story of how I was a bystander. I don't think anything from her story surprised me. The story she talks about is related to bullying as it shows how people mocked her and another student. She is or was a victim of bullying as she was annoyed by other classmates, but she is also a bystander when it comes to the way she witnessed the girl being mocked and did nothing about it.


5) How did Eve’s need to belong affect the way she responded when another girl was being mocked? Why does her response still trouble her? How do you like to think you would have responded to the incident? Well, as Eve felt like she didn't belong in that school, she thought that if she joined the bullies in a way, they would stop annoying her. But after time, you realize it was not the right choice because it is not fair being treated like that. I personally think that if I was put into that situation, I would have probably done the same thing. But in the end, I would have regretted it.


6) Eve concludes “Often being accepted by others is more satisfying than being accepted by oneself, even though the satisfaction does not last.’ What does she mean? By this sentence she means that being accepted by other people feels really nice, when in the inside you know that's not what you are suposed to to, and in the end you will regret it.