Humanities

Humanities ultimately focuses on the key question of “what does it mean to be human?”. The class ties together topics in history, literature, art, and more. We investigate the aspects of humanity, and how its characteristics have developed and altered over time. The class is very discussion based, and throughout the year, we develop effective writing and articulation.

Ray Bradbury Essay

The first essay we wrote in Humanities was based on two of Ray Bradbury’s fictional stories. He wrote the two stories before creating his well-known novel Fahrenheit 451. That being said, the two stories are very similar in comparison. The first story, “August 2026: There will come soft rains,” and the “Pedestrian” create stories that reflect the drastic effect that technology can have in our lives. An effect, which can be dangerous and lead to our physical or mental nonexistence. They essay explains how Bradbury uses literary techniques to convey the different negative effects that technology can have on our lives, and the importance of being aware of these influences in society.

Walden Skit

Before this essay, we also covered Henry David Thoreau’s novel Walden. Over the summer students read the book and wrote entries regarding their thoughts on each chapter. It was a nice experience being able to discuss the novel, though it was also enjoyable to create a Walden-based play that incorporated themes and topics from the novel to convey a message relating to the book. My group chose to do a play that was Thoreau based spinoff of Back to the Future. In it Thoreau accidently travels with Marty and Doc to future. His distaste for that generation’s technology leads him to changing the course of time. The script for the play is shown to the side.