Category Archives: Grade 10

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              After reading the first couple chapters of Ruth Minsky Sender’s memoir, “The Cage” the Jewish ghettos described throughout the text are depicted as having unimaginably harsh living conditions, very little employment, and a very large concentration of Jewish people. Sender provides the reader with an excellent perception of truly how grueling life within the barbed wire fences was, as she too was subjected to life in a ghetto during World War II. Inhabitants of these ghettos were not only malnourished and living on rations, but the ghettos were also rampant with poverty. Often families and individuals would become sick due to a lack of vitamins and nutrients, as they would only receive small amounts of bread and water. However with next to no resources available to them, doctors would only be able to diagnose patients, not cure their ailments. As a result, diseases such as tuberculosis were common, and spread from person to person rapidly because of close quarters and weakened immune systems. Then, when the Nazis came to the ghettos every so often, those who were believed to be sick or unable to work were carted off on wagons such as Ruth’s mother, and most often killed. Families were separated often, and many children were left without parents.

After reading the short story, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr, one will have noticed the numerous additional amendments to the U.S Constitution imposed by the dystopian government. These amendments have been put in place by the government to promote and ensure equality in the futuristic society, but have since been altered to the point that the government has absolute power over their citizens. Although the story does not mention or say what the amendments are, the author certainly provides the reader with enough information that the reader can imagine what the amendments may resemble. The charter above represents what a portion of the altered constitution may look like, as well as stating fourteen of the now 213 amendments. The amendments on the charter are primarily focused on the government’s intentions in regards to equality, as well as demonstrating the government’s abuse of power. #202 and #206 represent these aspects well as the government is trying to keep everyone equal by hindering their citizens with handicaps, yet they themselves are not required by law to wear handicaps. The added amendments also demonstrate the means of punishment utilized by Diana Moon Glampers and her handicapper generals, as evidenced by #204 and #211. These two additions enable the government to issue punishments without trial, regardless if the punishment is considered unusual or cruel. In conclusion, these additional amendments to the constitution have guaranteed “equality” for the citizens of the dystopian civilization, but after reading the amendments, are the citizens really all equal?