Unit 2 journal accounts and Historical narratives

ELAALRL1.2.c The student analyzes, evaluates, and applies knowledge of the ways authors use language, style, syntax, and rhetorical strategies for specific purposes in nonfiction works.

ELAALRL1.2.a The student analyzes and explains the structures and elements of nonfiction works of American literature such as letters, journals and diaries, speeches, and essays


Essential Questions:
1. How does someone's point of view affect how they portray events in a story?
It all depends on how there oppinions were and how they felt, if they were a primary source or a secondary source. More biased people could portray the events in a story different then how it really happened.



2. What are the advantages of primary sources?  The disadvantages?
An advantage of a primary source is they were actually there to write the history, a dissadvantage is since they are the primary source they can alter in their writings what really happened to make them look better or include there biased oppinions.




Key Terms
1. Primary Source
2. Objective vs. Subjective
3. Writer's Purpose


I believe in this unit i will be learning alot about writing. I think i will learn many different techniques and also learn past american litterature techniques as well. I will learn an authors point of view as well as the sources obtained to write a speech, essay or maybe a poem.



"The General Historie of Virginia"
Valuable to History:
"From May to September, those that escaped lived upon sturgeon and sea crabs. Fifty in this time we burried; the rest seeing the President's projects to escape these misseries in our pinnance by flight (who all this time had neither felt want or sickness) so moved our dead spirits as we deposed him and established Ratcliffe in his place..."

"Six or seven weeks those barbarians kept him prisoner, many strange triumphs and conjurations they made of him, yet he so demeaned himself amongst them, as he not only diverted them from surprising the fort, but procured his own liberty, and he got himself and his company such estimation amongst them, those savages admired him. (refering to John smith)"

Stretching the Truth:

"Then Powatan more like a devil than a man, with some two hundred more as black as himself, came unto him and told him now they were friends and presently he should go to Jamestown and send him to great guns and a grindstone for which he would give him the country of Capahowasic and forever esteem him as his son Nantaquond."

"Journal of the First Voyage to America"
Valuable to History:
Afterwards I shall set sail for another very large island which I believe to be Cipango, according to the indications I receive from the Indians on board. They call the Island Colba, and say there are many large ships, and sailors there. This other island they name Bosio, and inform me that it is very large; the others which lie in our course, I shall examine on the passage, and according as I find gold or spices in abundance, I shall determine what to do; at all events I am determined to proceed on to the continent, and visit the city of Guisay, where I shall deliver the letters of your Highnesses to the Great Can, and demand an answer, with which I shall return.


Stretching the Truth:
"I suffered nothing to be touched, and went with my captains and some of the crew to view the country."

"The melody of the birds was so exquisite that one was never willing to part from the spot, and the flocks of parrots obscured the heavens"

I feel the Historical Importance outweighs the way they were written. It seemed from the two stories i read that they were mostly made up of facts. The founding of this country is significantly important, the biased oppinions, however, are not as important. I think they gave a good clear vision of the real history that happened, and you can easilly tell their oppinions from the facts.

I feel the biased oppinions outweighed the historical events in this story because most of it was describing the land and the tribe, and any of what was said could have been altered by deffirent points of views.



I applied knoledge in the way authors used language, style, syntax, and rhetorical strategies for specific purposes in nonfiction works by copying quotes from stories. I analyzed them by writing a short paragraph about these quotes. I also analyzed the structure of non fiction work by explaining the journals or diaries that i read.