England in 1066

          In 1066, King Edward the Confessor died, leaving three men, who all had a different claim to the throne, to feud. Even though each man had a decent explanation of why they should be king, I thought that Harold Godwinson had the best claim to the throne. Before King Edward died, he had announced that Harold Godwinson would be his successor. Harold was a strong leader, an English noble, the Earl of Wessex and leader of the army. His experience woud help in his ruling. King Edward had also married Harold Godwinson's sister. If King Edward chose him to be king, he must be a viable choice. When King Edward had died, a council of nobles, known as the "Witan" agreed that Harold should be king.
          The other two men battling for the throne were Harald Hardrada and Duke William of Normandy. Harald Hadrada was a ancestor of Englands former King, King Cnut. Hadrada thought that this meant he had a right to the throne. Duke William claimed that King Edward had once promised that he would have the throne when he died. He also claimed that Harold Godwinson had been once captured by his men and taken an oath that he would support Duke William in becoming king. This decision may of been a hoax, but there was no way to prove it.
           Each of the men had a valid case, some, better than others. Since there was no way to really decide who deserved to be king, the contenders had no other choice but to fight for the throne.

Values and Choices

Think about a time you witnessed bullying/ostracism/peer pressure/exclusion/discrimination/violence. How did you respond? How do you wish you had responded? What stopped you from responding that way?

Exclusion is a common thing in most schools. There are severe cases of exclusion and minor cases. Sometimes exclusion is unintentional. A time I noticed exclusion was when a group of my friends and I all sat down at a table in the canteen. A girl had followed us and sat down next to us. We ignored her the whole time. We didn't try to include her in the conversation. We hadn't ment to ignore her or exclude her, it was just an accident. We had been so caught up in our own conversation we hadn't been bothered to make notice of her. I wish I had of talked to her or tried to include her in our conversation. I think I didn't do this as I was worried my friends may of criticized me later for ruining the conversation by including her.

An incident where I was bullied was in fourth grade. A group of three girls made their mission in life to bully me. They would constantly make comments about me, talk about me behind my back and tell lies and secrets. They would leave me out of everything and make sure everyone else left me alone. Luckily I had my own group of friends who didn't believe this but others we intimidated by the main leader of the group. They didn't want to go against her for their own want for popularity and acceptance. They ended up stopping and becoming my friends. What I didn't know was that they had an ulterior motive. A year later, they started again, way worse than the year before. They used our "friendship" as a way to bully me and so that I would not suspect them. I was the victim in this case and I responded by trying to do the same thing back. I eventually stopped retaliating  to them as I knew I was the bigger person.

1.Where have we seen examples of bullying/ostracism/exclusion occurring in texts studied so far this year- factual as well as fictional?

An example of exclusion in the Hunger Games is when Katniss feels excluded when Haymich announces that Peeta and her will no longer train together. She feels as if they are not telling her anything and excluding her from information. When Peeta declares his love for Katniss feels betrayed and excluded as they never warned her or told her about their plan.

The In-Group

Eve S: The In Group


1.What’s familiar about the incident Eve describes?2.What surprised you? 
The act of bullying is familiar to me as it occurs sometimes during school. It surprised me that after being bullied herself she laughed at another girl being bullied. If I had been in her position I would probably not of said anything and remained silent.

3. How does Eve’s story relate to bullying? Was she bullied? Did she bully? How would you explain her behavior?( perpetrator/bystander/victim?). make sure you justify( back up your answer.
Eve's story demonstrates the common act of several groups being formed within the school and the groups picking on one another. Eve was both bullied and had demonstrated acts of bully encouragement. She was a victim towards the start of her story. She had been picked on by her peers quite alot. Eventually they left her alone, yet she was still cautious around them. She then became a bystander and laughed along with a group of bullies teasing a girl. Eve may of done this as she may of been scared that if she stayed quiet or stood uo for her, she would be bullied again.

Psychologists Michael Thompson and Lawrence Cohen point to the powerful influence of peer groups in guiding our behavior: ‘We all know that groups can go terribly astray in terms of their moral reasoning. Everyone not in the group can be considered an outsider, a legitimate target…It affects every group because we are all prone to that feeling of us versus them and the idea that if you’re not with us you’re against us. Speaking out against a risky, immoral or illegal decision is hard to do because that makes you an outsider yourself’.

4.How did Eve’s need to belong affect the way she responded when another girl was being mocked? Why does her response still trouble her? How do you like to think you would have responded to the incident?
Eve let her want to feel included take over her own moral values. She had gone to school for a long time feeling mistreated and excluded. She feels bad about what she did as she knows how the girl must of felt from her own experience. She still regrets her actions and wishes she could of done something else. I would like to think that I would not react to what they were doing and remain neutral to the whole incident. After the incident, I would go up to the girl that was bullied and offer my support.

5. Eve concludes “Often being accepted by others is more satisfying than being accepted by oneself, even though the satisfaction does not last.’ What does she mean?

She means that people try so hard to impress others that they forget whats right. This impression may not last long but it gives the person who made the impression feel a part of a group and included. Being accepted by oneself is referring to you being a decent person and being proud of your choices. People tend to forget about what is moral when it comes to wanted to feel included and accepted.