muzhihao1
Jan 17, 2011
Writing Feedback / The study of history places too much emphasis on individual - SAT [2]
I have to take the GRE writing. Waiting for someone to give me advice.
"The study of history places too much emphasis on individuals. The most significant events and trends in history were made possible not by the famous few, but by groups of people whose identities have long been forgotten.
When we talk about a special history, such as the second world war, we will so naturally focus our mind on some significant figures of this period of history, like Hitler, Churchill, and events promoted by them. But many people think it's groups of common people who have been forgotten that created our history. For my part, we should recognize the fundamental importance of the common while continuing to insist on the study of the celebrities.
History, as a record of the past in definition, could not be interpreted as the working of the famous few. Any event or evolution of crucial significance is directly made by the common people. It's blind to owe the triumph of the second world war to the efforts of Churchill or Stalin, Ignoring uncountable and ordinary soldiers who risk his life in the frontlines. Without their strength and unselfish sacrifice, Churchill can not defend the attack of the Nazis. Likewise, we could not regard the achievement of the renaissance, the most far-reaching event and revolutionary transformation in our opinions about human, as the amazing paintings of da Vinci, the exquisite statue of Michelangelo, but the awakening of many artists, thinkers and architects who are enlightened and struggle for the release of human nature, even at the price of their lives. Accordingly, we couldn't lay more emphasis on the fundamental effects of those masses who made our history by their hands.
However, the celebrities indeed play an irreplaceable role in accelerating, or even changing the process of the history. If we study the abolition of slavery, we may marvel at the prejudice and ignorance of people at that time, at the same time, we can easily find a man distinguished from his generation called William Wilberforce, an English politician and leader of the campaign against the slave trade. He devoted half his life to winning the slave's right, against almost the whole Parliament and people who are benefiting from the slave trade. Without his continual strive and steady belief, maybe the slavery will exist in England for another several decades. More than the effects of pushing the development of history, the celebrities can even change it. It's the effects of Mao Zedong, leader of the Communist Party in the 20th century, that changed the former policies of compromising which will eventually bring the party into perish in the turning point, thence lay the foundation of the final battle with the Nationalist party. Therefore, we can not study an event without discovering how the celebrities are involved in it.
Having recognized the importance of both in history, we should strike a balance of the two parts in studying the history. The existence of the celebrities act as a key to opening the door through which we can touch the society they live, the event they participate. Their struggle, their enemy and their achievement can reflect what value we human beings ever treasured and how did it change. Studying the common people can provide us a comprehensive picture about the background upon which some special significant events and trends happened. The living condition of them is a projection of the economy, the social status, and the culture. The relationship of the celebrities and the common people is just like the flower and the soil. The beauty of flowers cannot leave the nutrition of the soil, and the effect of the soil is represented in the beauty of flowers. In similar manner, losing the sight of the common people, the history only created by the celebrities must be occasional and chaotic. Ignoring the celebrities, the history can be intangible and mechanical.
In sum, the history is neither only created by the celebrities nor by the common people. Each of both owns an indispensable and complementary position in our study about events happened past. Only holding fast to them and attaching adequate attention to their effects can we better understand the history.
I have to take the GRE writing. Waiting for someone to give me advice.
"The study of history places too much emphasis on individuals. The most significant events and trends in history were made possible not by the famous few, but by groups of people whose identities have long been forgotten.
When we talk about a special history, such as the second world war, we will so naturally focus our mind on some significant figures of this period of history, like Hitler, Churchill, and events promoted by them. But many people think it's groups of common people who have been forgotten that created our history. For my part, we should recognize the fundamental importance of the common while continuing to insist on the study of the celebrities.
History, as a record of the past in definition, could not be interpreted as the working of the famous few. Any event or evolution of crucial significance is directly made by the common people. It's blind to owe the triumph of the second world war to the efforts of Churchill or Stalin, Ignoring uncountable and ordinary soldiers who risk his life in the frontlines. Without their strength and unselfish sacrifice, Churchill can not defend the attack of the Nazis. Likewise, we could not regard the achievement of the renaissance, the most far-reaching event and revolutionary transformation in our opinions about human, as the amazing paintings of da Vinci, the exquisite statue of Michelangelo, but the awakening of many artists, thinkers and architects who are enlightened and struggle for the release of human nature, even at the price of their lives. Accordingly, we couldn't lay more emphasis on the fundamental effects of those masses who made our history by their hands.
However, the celebrities indeed play an irreplaceable role in accelerating, or even changing the process of the history. If we study the abolition of slavery, we may marvel at the prejudice and ignorance of people at that time, at the same time, we can easily find a man distinguished from his generation called William Wilberforce, an English politician and leader of the campaign against the slave trade. He devoted half his life to winning the slave's right, against almost the whole Parliament and people who are benefiting from the slave trade. Without his continual strive and steady belief, maybe the slavery will exist in England for another several decades. More than the effects of pushing the development of history, the celebrities can even change it. It's the effects of Mao Zedong, leader of the Communist Party in the 20th century, that changed the former policies of compromising which will eventually bring the party into perish in the turning point, thence lay the foundation of the final battle with the Nationalist party. Therefore, we can not study an event without discovering how the celebrities are involved in it.
Having recognized the importance of both in history, we should strike a balance of the two parts in studying the history. The existence of the celebrities act as a key to opening the door through which we can touch the society they live, the event they participate. Their struggle, their enemy and their achievement can reflect what value we human beings ever treasured and how did it change. Studying the common people can provide us a comprehensive picture about the background upon which some special significant events and trends happened. The living condition of them is a projection of the economy, the social status, and the culture. The relationship of the celebrities and the common people is just like the flower and the soil. The beauty of flowers cannot leave the nutrition of the soil, and the effect of the soil is represented in the beauty of flowers. In similar manner, losing the sight of the common people, the history only created by the celebrities must be occasional and chaotic. Ignoring the celebrities, the history can be intangible and mechanical.
In sum, the history is neither only created by the celebrities nor by the common people. Each of both owns an indispensable and complementary position in our study about events happened past. Only holding fast to them and attaching adequate attention to their effects can we better understand the history.
