Hello my name is Laura DeGraw and I am an Early Childhood Education major with a concentration in English. I am in my junior year at New Paltz. I chose this course as I find it interesting to study London’s history and am glad it is not a run of the mill English course.
Through our reading I learned that the history of London is similar to the history of the United States. Some of the similarities being the north and south divide, segregation as well as the divide between the rich and the poor. I also was not aware of the significance of the train especially to the working class. The train gave them the opportunity to live in safer areas not plagued by crime. However this seemed to make a bigger gap between the rich and poor. The upper class were given opportunities to live a better life. Their money fueled a rapid growing economy. The poor were just being pushed farther and farther into poverty. I am looking forward to exploring London through this class. This made me see that the world has not changed much in some ways. Some of the problems that were present in the 1800’s are very much still an issue today. One in particular was the fact that banks dominated back then and look at them today, not much has changed in that aspect.
Robinson, Bruce. “London: ‘A Modern Babylon’” BBC News. BBC, 11 Feb. 2011. Web. 25 Aug. 2015.
Hey Laura,
I’m really glad you pointed that out in your opening statement! This isn’t your ordinary english course and I have high hopes that it will be fun and insightful on the topic of Victorian England. Creating maps and traveling from place to place while learning about it’s history will be fascinating, kind of like traveling back in time.
Hi Laura!
I’m glad you mentioned the big (and growing) gap between the rich and the poor in Victorian London. From past classes and the readings today I feel as though that gap is so important and influential on the history of London. And you are so right, the dynamics of the world have not changed much.
I’m also very excited for this class and what it has in store for us!
Elizabeth
Welcome to the class, Laura! Glad you’re enjoying it!
Good work on observing similarities between the Victorian period and our own time, and on thinking about the importance of class, technology, and transportation to the creation of London!