Zombies, Real or Fake?

Cristian Cruz

12/7/10

Period-4 English

Have you ever wondered if zombies can exist? or if a zombie apocalypse can ever happen? The definition for apocalypse is, a prophesy or revelation, especially about the end of the world.The purpose of this paper is to explain how zombies have evolved in movies over the years, and if zombies are real or fake.The questions i will be answering in this paper are, Has a zombie ever been spotted?, Where did the idea of zombie movies come from?, How have zombies evolved in movies?

The first question I will be answering is Has a zombie ever been spotted? Zombies were first talked about in 1937. This is the story that I found in wikipedia,” Felicia Felix-Mentor reportedly died in 1907, after a sudden illness of the type that Haitian belief finds to be characteristic of a person marked to be made into a zombie. In 1936 a woman (either nude or in ragged clothing depending on the source) was found wandering the streets, and made her way to a farm which she claimed belonged to her father. The owners identified the woman as Felicia Felix-Mentor, long thought dead, and Felix-Mentor's husband also confirmed this. Due to her poor health, she was sent to a government hospital. A doctor who interviewed her described her behavior: Her occasional outbursts of laughter were devoid of emotion, and very frequently she spoke of herself in either the first or the third person without any sense of discrimination. She had lost all sense of time and was quite indifferent to the world of things around her.” Zombies were first described as slow moving creatures, and were also portrayed as that in movies. Now they are seen in movies as fast creatures that are also part human and have been infected with a disease. In my opinion I think that zombies where changed to scare people.

The second question i will be answering is where did the idea of zombies come from? The idea of zombies came from Haiti, the idea of zombies came from a religion called “voodoo”. Many voodoo people believed that if they died and woke up they were officialy a zombie. So since many voodoo people belived that shamans would go around and give them poison and the people not knowing it was poison would drink it. A shaman is, “A person who acts as intermediary between the natural and supernatural worlds, using magic to cure illness, foretell the future, control spiritual forces,”Shamans would make the poison from puffer fish , it would make the people really cold and paralyzed and made them look dead. A few days later the poisoned person would wake up and believe he or she was a zombie. In conclusion, The person would  do what the shaman told them to.

The third question i will be answering is how have zombies evolved in movies? After hearing about the sightings in Haiti a movie director George A. Romero decided to make a movie. That movie was the one that exagerated the zombies into being evil creatures that eat human beings. The original idea of a zombie was that they walked very slow, ate brains only, and it was very easy to escape from them in movies. Nowadays the zombies are portrayed as very fast running infected people that rip humans into peaces and don’t really eat anything. zombies may indeed one time exist.  In conclusion zombies have been very exagerated from the original idea.

Through this research i have learned the meaning of zombies.The purpose of this paper was to explain if zombies are real or fake .Hope this helped understand thank you for reading.

The Horrors Of Slavery

The Horrors of Slavery

    “The Horrors Of Slavery” i think was “Kindred”s theme. The main important theme of the book kindred is “The horrors of slavery”. Dana , the main character, is forced into the past where she sees people bought and sold, sees families torn apart, and experiences agonizing pain and torture at the hands of her “owner” Tom Weylin. It is important to note that the idea of acceptance of this idea of slavery affects the white and the black population alike. Whites grow up to believe that slavery is part of the reason they are put in earth as the higher race, while blacks accept it, because the white race has conditioned them to believe that it is their only option in life. They become too afraid of the whip or being sold to a state further south to be kept from escaping. They are claimed as  being property.

    The second important theme involves the idea of “obsessive love.” Rufus, another one of the main characters, comes to count on Dana to help him every time he is in trouble that when she returns to the future, he falls apart. He can’t allow her or Alice to leave him and as a result, he causes them pain in the most destructive ways. The whole system of slavery is also an example of obsessive love. The entitled white owners cannot let go of the power they achieve as slave owners, while the slaves themselves are conditioned to believe their white owners to survive. So it leads to white male slave owners raping black slave women.

    The last theme is “the human need to be free.” Even though they are conditioned to believe they cannot escape, every slave wants freedom. Some are more willing to risk the fates and run for Pennsylvania, but they all dream of a life where they are in control of their own lifes. It is especially true for Dana and Alice, both who dream of lives away from Rufus. It is even true for Rufus who wants a life where both Dana and Alice like him and love him. He wants freed from being just a plantation owner and wants to live accepted by the women he loves.

    The last theme is “The mood” of the book.The mood is mostly dark, because of the people who are held in slavery and the effect of both Tom and Rufus Weylin on them. There is always the fear of torture and being sold to a state more south that stops the slaves from running. For Dana, there is the fear of never finding Kevin again and going home. However, in the end, there is a chance of hope that at least Dana made sure that Hagar would be born, and she and Kevin are sane and well, now that Rufus had been killed by Dana and was now dead.

    In conclusion, the theme of the book “Kindred” was “The Horrors Of Slavery.” Some people might not agree with me but many things lead to showing that the theme was “The Horror Of Slavery.” Like when the white people cut off Isaac's ears for trying to escape. Thank you for reading this essay showing what the theme of the book ”Kindred” is.

Im Free!!!

Feb. 16, 2011

If I was an African American slave with no rights,
all I want is freedom, to forget everything in my past,
to forget all the fear ,and torture,
to be free for ever,
all I want is freedom, to say I have it,
all I want is freedom, to hear you say it too,
to say I have freedom, That I can do.
To tell you you have it ill enjoy that too,
lets go together to place where were free
and meet all new people to let them see.
I will go to my family and tell them the stories
i will stand in honor and say it, I AM FREE!!!

The Evil Mask

I wear a mask
That hides my true self,
That hides all the lies,
That hides all the kills.
I wear a mask
That makes me look nice,
That hides the evil monster that lives inside me,
The mask stops the demons
That want to escape,
That want to go kill,
That want to oppress.
I am the villain and
What are you gonna do?
You won't do nothing because I scare you!

I am a kid!!!

Just because I'm a kid,
Doesn't mean I break everything
Doesn't mean I cry for everything
Doesn't mean I take things that aren't mine
Just because I'm a kid,
Doesn't mean I touch everything
Doesn't mean I'm a snitch
And doesn't mean I play with toys!
Just because I'm a kid
Whats wrong with playing with toys?
So what if I'm a snitch?
I'm curious why cant I touch stuff?
I'm a kid so what!!??

Im Waiting

Hello Daffodil
Will you ever come back?
If you would I would tickle you
Just how I would always do
How I unbuttoned your jacket all little and pink
To give you a bath
And clean your brown fur
If you'd ever come back
I would play fetch with you
I would also play ball with you
The love I have for you would never be replaced
Although I do like the dog that I've played with recently
Whenever I see him I see you right next to him
Goodbye for now ill be waiting for your visit.

Meet Cristian

People describe me as funny.Some hobbies i have are playing lots of games.When i graduate from high school i would like to go to college.Some people may not know this but i have had more than 5 pets that have died.I go to Urban Promise Academy a middle school in Oakland California.My name is Cristian Cruz and i think I'm cool!