WWI: Creative Historians
My final draft is in the document below.
My Project Reflection
For this project we began by learning the acronym MANIA, which stands for the five major elements that caused WWI. M- Militarism, A- Alliances, N- Nationalism, I- Imperialism, A- Assassination. We also began to read the book "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque. While reading the novel I really understood how affected the soldiers were, on either side of the war, they both had people dying, and they both had people being scarred, even amputated, and how many left the war with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or other sever depressions. This book really made me open up to the idea of giving my short story's main character PTSD, to really make more dramatic.
The literary element that I really need to improve on is probably Historical Integration. I say this because, even though my story was surrounded by WWI I think that I could have portrayed the battle scene better through explaining more.
Here's an excerpt of my story showing the literary element-
A few hours later, we had been walking along a narrow and windy road, and my feet were already polished off to stumps, no doubt. I had watched the lush green scenery fade into one of dull gloom and despair. When we took breaks in the beginning I would sit down under a tree and relax, but now, there was only dirt, and small bushes, and in the distance you could hear the faint sounds of bombs going off screaming at their enemy. I shivered thinking about what was going on not even twenty miles away from me, and how close we were getting to it. As a small group we had all agreed on going around the front of the battle, and trying to avoid it was really taking a toll on all of us.
Here's an excerpt of my story showing the literary element-
A few hours later, we had been walking along a narrow and windy road, and my feet were already polished off to stumps, no doubt. I had watched the lush green scenery fade into one of dull gloom and despair. When we took breaks in the beginning I would sit down under a tree and relax, but now, there was only dirt, and small bushes, and in the distance you could hear the faint sounds of bombs going off screaming at their enemy. I shivered thinking about what was going on not even twenty miles away from me, and how close we were getting to it. As a small group we had all agreed on going around the front of the battle, and trying to avoid it was really taking a toll on all of us.
I made quite a few major edits and cuts in my story, I used to have my main character marry her friend, but then I realized how that wasn't relevant to the story and how it made my story seem like all of the people who got caught ended up being happy, and I got rid of it and I made her friend die in the middle of the story. This improved the story because it really made the reader realize by the end how impacted my character was and how she coped with it. I also added in the part were I describe how it felt for her to have her own parents' bodies land on her and how she couldn't handle it. That revision really helped my story because it showed a tragic truth in the war, people you know die and will land on you if you are in range.
My presentation is in the video below.