Donner Party Tragedy
On a journey to a better life in California, the infamous Donner party, met sorrow at every turn. Before their journey began, they encountered a shortcut discovered by Hastings. Like any other normal person, they decided to take the easier route that unfortunately led to tragedy. There were many key elements leading to the misfortune of this group.
From the beginning of their journey, the Donner party made mistakes. First of all, at the time of the party’s departure there was an outbreak of cholera and malaria. Germs and disease are not good to carry along a journey half way across the country. Even the slightest germs were deadly to them. After they passed Independence, Missouri, they were in unfamiliar land.
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Then they ran into a man by the last name of Kleiman. He warned the group that the road ahead was very tough and that Hastings had trouble on the route himself. Kleiman told Mr. Donner NOT to take Hastings route, but the Donner party continued despite their warning. Mr. Hastings promised the party that he would wait for them at a fort along the way to California. When the party reached the fort, Hastings had already gone ahead a week earlier with another group. He left simple instructions for the Donner party to follow telling them it would not take long to get to Salt Lake. Then they turned off track into the wilderness. It took 6 days to chop through to Big Mountain and one month to reach Salt Lake rather than the week they had been promised. After 3 days they ran out of water and Reed’s oxen ran away and could not be found. Thirty-six oxen were lost and wagons had to be left behind in order to get over the mountain. Then Reed killed Schneider because he was whipping the oxen. Everyone was going mad. Indians killed 21 more oxen and then the Donner axle broke on the first wagon. To make things worse, they encountered blizzard like snow and sleet. If they had rested 4 days instead of 5 they would have made it through to California safely without having to deal with any of the conditions mentioned above. It turns out that Hastings “shortcut” was actually
The settlers had arrived late in the season which made it almost impossible to plant crops and supplies were depleting and to make things worse, Lane, a captain alienated the surrounding tribes and killed their chief over a stolen cup. After Ralph Lane and his men had had enough, they left the settlement and their fort not knowing that only a week later a supply ship from England had arrived. Finding the island deserted, the leader left fifteen men behind to hold the fort and went back to England for reinforcements.
Martin describes the travel and the toll it took on men. “I had now to travel the rest of the day, after marching all the day and night before and fighting all the morning. I had eaten nothing since the noon of the preceding day, nor did I eat a morsel til the forenoon of the next day, and I needed rest as much as victuals. After the army had collected again and recovered from their panic, we were kept marching and countermarching, starving and freezing” (Martin
My group and I chose to perform Act 3 scene 3 from Twelfth Night, a relatively short scene involving Antonio and Sebastian. We chose the scene because it would require us to “gender-bend” because we would be playing men. The scene provides insight into Antonio’s dark past. When they walk into town, Sebastian is excited and thrilled to simply be alive, but Antonio does not want to be seen in the town. Antonio used to be a pirate at one point in his life, and it seems that he is on many a hit-list, especially Orsino’s. Earlier, Sebastian had gotten in a shipwreck, and Antonio saved him from the raging depths of the sea. Ultimately, they wash up in Illyria. Finally, it shows a different side of both characters that may not necessarily be shown in the rest of the play.
Once the men had a conversation on what to do they came to a conclusion which was to turn back around. In which they did and several days later they seen some Indians that lead them through the mountains as quickly as possible. The men decided to split up to find different routes to take back home. The men divide into five small groups and went through some complicated investigations to find the best route.
The 19th century was a time where the idea of manifest destiny swept through the American nation. Filling the minds of men and women of the united states, fueling the ideas of moving west for land and prosperity. Americans sought to extend the United States territory from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast, seeing it as their god given right to obtain the land. Nearly seven million Americans embarked on that long and treacherous journey west. On this excursion, the travelers would face rugged terrain, harsh weather conditions, savage Indians, and robbers. Although millions of the travelers made it to their destinations unscathed, not all were so fortunate. One of the most tragic recorded incidences during this western expansion was that of the Donner Party. This group of pioneers, due to false information and bad judgment, became stranded on the Sierra Nevada mountain during the winter of 1846 and were forced to turn to cannibalism to survive.
A small family of four, living in the Tory town of Redding. Life was great Mr. and Mrs. Meeker owned a small tavern that supplies their town with food, rum, and supplies. Their son Timmy helped around the tavern and did chores, because his older brother Sam was off at college. Everyone in Redding was close and knew the Meeker family, they all admired how they had raised Sam and Timmy. Every year after college was over, Sam would come home and visit, except one.
We expected Whitman Mission to be a nice place to stock up on food, but this place was burned down to the ground. There was one wagon train about to leave but we stopped them and asked them what had happened. They said that the Indians burned it down because of a disease that killed off a lot of Indians. They didn't want anyone else catching the disease. The Indians were the only ones not immune to this disease. We didn't stay here for long because we were scared they would burn us too. We headed to Oregon City. It was going to be tough and we would probably start to run low on supplies. We reached Dalles where we stayed for one day. Then we headed out and followed the Barlow Road that goes around Mt.Hood. This trail is very narrow and rough.
A view from the Bridge was written by Arthur Miller in 1955 and set in
Throughout their journey, the Donner Party faced many challenges that they had to overcome in order to continue on to California, and also to keep them alive. One problem the donner party faced was crossing mountains and deserts to get to California. It was hard for wagons to get passed.They fixed this problem by some taking an alternative route to California, but Mr. Reed and other friends did not listen to this idea and decided to face the mountain and desert with the wagons. Another problem they faced was thunderstorms occurring during the spring season. The road became muddy and was very difficult for cattle and wagons to get through it. Resulting in this, people had to walk and crawl to allow cattle to pull quicker and get through the
The Donner Party was a catastrophic event that happened in the late 1840's. It was a famous misfortune that had occurred in the spring of 1846. As a matter of fact, it was led by two wealthy brothers, Jacob and George Donner. As well as, nearly 90 emigrants left Springfield, Illinois and headed west. They attempted to take a shorter route to California, but were unsuccessful and as a result, they got trapped by heavy snowfall in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The Donners made a lot of poor decisions each one affected their outcome. For example, some of the biggest mistakes made in their journey was choosing poor guides, delaying their trip to stop and rest,and they did not pack enough supplies for their long journey. The Donner Party was a wagon party traveling westward. The Donner Party was a on a journey heading west in the spring of 1846 from Springfield, Illinois. The Party was led by Jacob and George Donner. The brothers decided to take the so called shortcut Hastings passage. The Party was forced to resort to cannibalism while they were trapped in the mountains snow all around them. They were forced to eat the dead bodies of their friends and family. The poor decisions made throughout the journey westward substantially contributed problems that occurred and what eventually led to the failure of the journey to the
on April 16,1846 nine covered wagons left Springfield, Illinois on the journey to California.the originator of the donner party was a man named James Frasier reed,an Illinois businessman eager to build a fortune in the rich land of California.reed also hoped that his wife, Margaret,who suffered from headaches,might improve by the coastal climate.reed had read the book the emigrants guide to Oregon and California, by landsford w. Hastings found a new shortcut across the great bastin.the route enticed travelers by advertising that it would save them 350-450 miles.
In Liliana Heker’s story, "The Stolen Party," the young child Rosaura is hurt because she is a victim of a class structure which keeps the rich on the top and people like her and her mother at the bottom of society. By the end of the story Rosaura will have learned a very important lesson in class structure which, because it is so traumatic for her, she will carry with her for the rest of her life.
According to the classical view, tragedy should arouse feelings of pity and fear in the audience. Does Macbeth do this?
In many, a tragedy do the tragic heroes have flaws that lead themselves to their own demise. The main character always acts exactly on his or her own emotions; thus aiding their tragic flaw and leading to their own demise without giving them the time to stop the repercussions of their emotion driven actions. In the play “Antigone” by Sophocles many of the characters are simply too headstrong and passionate about their beliefs to realize that they would greatly regret the decisions they are making. All of the characters share this characteristic; it is alluded to in the play that this is caused by their blood relation to Oedipus and how they are too cursed.