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Essay on Reflection on Lessons Learned During Course

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"The angel of history must look just so. His face is turned towards the past. Where we see the appearance of a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe, which unceasingly piles rubble on top of rubble and hurls it before his feet. He would like to pause for a moment so fair, to awaken the dead and to piece together what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise, it has caught itself up in his wings and is so strong that the Angel can no longer close them. The storm drives him irresistibly into the future, to which his back is turned, while the rubble-heap before him grows sky high. That which we call progress is this storm" - quote by Walter Benjamin. This is certainly a very interesting and thought provoking quote – …show more content…

After thorough analyses of the works of various historians as well as philosophers, I can strongly say that I agree that Benjamin's quote is an accurate representation of present day occurrences. Is what we are referring to as progress really progress at all, or is it just a continuation of the past into the modern day? We are so caught up in believing that we are 'progressing' that we do not realize what little progress is indeed occurring - all in regards to class, race, gender, and sexuality.

Issues of class and race will undoubtedly always be present, but how much of an effect do they actually have on history? How much have we learned from the past to progress ourselves regarding these issues? In the present day, one would be quick to say that race alongside class are perhaps the most important contributing factors to the events of history. As well, many would be quick to say that race is also the area in which society has made its greatest progress. However, upon further examination, this can be proven otherwise. According to the tenets presented by Karl Marx, history is directional and advances due to the changes in class circumstances, or, in other words, history happens as a result of the continuous power struggles between the bourgeoisie (the upper class) and the proletariat (the laborers). This is

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