WHEN IN THE FUTURE THEY LOOK BACK ON US
1. In this chapter I think I will read about things that had happened in the past and how they are similar to what we are living now.
2. Why this is a time when it is frightening to be alive, when it is hard to think of humans beings as rational creatures?
Why did the two camps began to quarrel quite violently?
3. Ancestors, Slogans, lambs,martyrs.
4. "How often and how much we are dominated by our savage past, as individuals and as groups".
A. I choose this sentence from the essay because it is the main point of Doris Lessing. Also it made think about my past and how it has afected me during my life. I think Doris Lessing is right by saying that we are dominated by our savage past because even if we continue with our lives, our past is always going to come back an affect our lives.
B. Doris Lessing. "Prisons We Choose to Live Inside". "When in the Future They Look Back on Us". July 16, 2009.
Jesus S
Lady R
Mariana G
Wardell
SUMMARY-FIRST DRAFT
The author is saying that although these people are educated about war and other event by their ancestors, and they seem to be falling into their same steps of primitivism, docile, slogans, expiate, and inexorable. “I often think about these incidents: they represent those happenings that seem to give up more meaning as time goes on. Whenever things seem to be going along quite smoothly-and I am talking about human affairs in general…” pg. 3. Doris gives us this example of primitivism to explain to her readers that the examples that she gives us of people omitting these cruel acts are doing the same as their ancestors, which means that they are not learning from the past. For example the Docile bull kills the keeper (the black boy) and later on is killed which was a cruel act at his time of the punishment act. Another example of the death of the bull was when he was expiated and although the owner knew that it was not legal anymore at his present time. The two people that the author us as an example of cruel acts that had been omitted by their ancestor and are now followed by them(the farmer and General Petain) were not inexorable by others to prevent this from happening. People laugh and make fun of slogans from the past but don’t think that it’s silly when it is in the present.
Jesus S
Lady R
Mariana G
Wardell
July 16, 2009
FINAL SUMMARY
When In The Future They Look Back On Us by Doris Lessings is a chapter where the author is saying that although people are educated about war and their ancestors; they seem to be fall into their ancestors steps of primitivism, docile, slogans, expiate, and inexorable. “I often think about these incidents: they represent those happenings that seem to give up more meaning as time goes on. Whenever things seem to be going along quite smoothly-and I am talking about human affairs in general…” pg. 3. Doris gives this example of primitivism to explain to her readers that the examples that she gives us of people omitting these cruel acts are doing the same as their ancestors, which means that they are not learning from the past. For example the Docile bull kills the keeper (the black boy) and later on is killed which was a cruel act. Another example of the death of the bull was when he was expiated and although the owner knew that it was not legal anymore. The two people that the author us as an example of cruel acts that had been omitted by their ancestor and are the farmer and General Petain; which were not inexorable by others to prevent this from happening. People laugh and make fun of slogans from the past but don’t think that it’s silly when it is happening in the present.
