AP Summer Assignment Part 2- The Last Half of the First Book

       For this weeks assignment, I am supposed to summarize the ssecond half of the book, discuss the purpose, or what the book is trying to persuade me to believe, and either support or refute the purpose.
       The summary will begin where I left off last blog, at section three, "Freedom." Like the other sections, it begins with a story. The story in this part is about a slave becoming a free person after being brought from a sugar island to France, affecting the world's thinking and ideals with the idea that all men are created equally. Then the book goes on to discuss the sugar taxes which were imposed upon the North American colonists by their mother country, England. Then the scenery changes and we find ourselves in England, at Cambridge University. There, a student named Thomas Clarkson realizes that, for all of England's sugar, people are suffering and dying unwillingly to create it. He starts to spread this idea to others and it spread like wildfire to France, our next destination on this journey through history. In France, a revolution occurs, and by 1791, a law supposedly freeing all slaves on the sugar islands is passed. In that same year in Haiti, then called Saint Domingue, the slaves and commanders of the plantation rose against their oppressors and burnt down the sugar cane plantations. This revolt ended in 1973, when "the ideal of brotherhood announced by the revolutionaries of Paris finally included the sugar workers of Saint Domingue." Their leader, Toussaint, eventually gained control of the entire island. Back in England, antislavery forces began to act and, eventually, a law banning involvement in the slave trade was passed by England. Then a glimpse at sugar plantations in the United States and Hawaii is seen.

       Now we are at part four of the book, the short 20-page end of our journey. We find ourselves in India, an impoverished country prone to natural disaster, like famine and floods. We learn that Indians, mostly Hindus, would be "recruited" by other Indians, told they would make money to send back home in a distant land. If they followed, they would lose their position in the caste, the role you were born into. They worked on a plantation for 5-years, bound by contract, before they were released to go back home. Around 75% of those who came to foreign lands decided to stay. With ten pages left we are brought to France, this time for, not sugar, but beets. Beets were easier to grow, could be grown in most of Europe, and tasted just like sugar! Then we go to Russia. There are no sugar plantations, only old-fashioned farms. It was as if they were still living in the Age of Honey. Then we go back to India to meet, perhaps, the most famous Indian of all time, Mohandas K. Ghandi. Recognize the name? Yes, the same Ghandi we see in all of our history textbooks. He went to England to study law, then returned to India, performing a special ceremony to retain his caste position. The Indians overseas, even the ones who chose to stay after their contract ended, were treated harshly and were unwelcoming in those lands. Ghandi stood up for them and helped them stand up for themselves. However, as he is known for, he did not use violence, instead using passive resistance. In the end, we close this journey with knowledge and on the final words, "Sugar changed the world."
       If you haven't figured it out yet, the purpose of this book is to persuade you to believe that sugar really has changed the world. If you hadn't figured it out? Well, let me help you out a little. I think the bright neon sign showing the purpose is the title and last words, "Sugar Changed the World." If you say it out loud, or even in your head, it's a statement, spoken with conviction. That means the author thinks it's true. Since the title describes the book, the book is about how sugar changed the world. Now, if a persuasive non-fiction book is about a topic and the author has an opinion that could go two ways, the purpose is to convince the reader of his opinion. In this case, that menas that the purpose is that sugar really changed the world. If thhat was a little too hard to follow, just think of it this way. At the end of the book, did you find yourself thing Wow! Sugar really did change the world! like I did? That is exactly what the author was trying to persuade you to think.
       For the last part of this blog, I'm going to share my reaction to the book. I ended up agreeing with it. I already like sugar, because I use it all the time, but this book made me look at it in a different light. I found myself looking for videos of modern sugar-making and searching the web for interesting facts about sugar. On the Domino Sugar website there is a list of interesting facts I'd like to share.

In 327 BC, Alexander the Great discovered the sugar cane; it then spread through Persia and introduced it in the Mediterranean.

Sugar’s name originated from the Sanskrit word “Sharkara,” which means “material in a granule form.”

Christopher Columbus introduced sugar to the New World in 1493 on his second voyage.

Sugar was called “White Gold”: Until the late 1700's, sugar was a luxury that European nobility used to validate their rank and social power.

Sugar does help the medicine go down! It’s an important component of many modern medicines.

Some people say that one teaspoon of sugar swallowed “dry” can cure the hiccups!

Sugar has no fat and is 100% natural.

Sweet is the only taste humans are born desiring.

Some plants can make their own sugar— when a banana ripens, it changes starch into sugar, making it sweeter.

In 2001, scientists found sugar in outer space!

Sugar helps bread or doughnuts rise when they’re baked.

Sugar cane stalks can reach 30 feet high!

Sugar prolongs the life of fresh cut flowers.

Sugar is an important source of carbohydrate—the body’s main energy supply.

-The Blog Monster

Citations:
 "Sugar Facts." Sugar Products, Baking Tips, Sweet Recipes, & More. Domino Sugar, n.d. Web. 01 Aug. 2013
Aronson, Marc, and Marina Tamar. Budhos. Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science. Boston [Mass.: Clarion, 2010. Print
"How Its Made 01 Sugar." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Feb. 2010. Web. 01 Aug. 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIgavNuBRRA.
"Kauai Sugar Plantations." KauaiPlantationRailway.com. Kauai Plantation Railway, n.d. Web. 1 Aug. 2013. http://www.kauaiplantationrailway.com/agplantations.htm.