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English and History Personal Statement
Both English and History have the ability to provide us with first-hand knowledge of society, in particular how history has influenced our language, and how language reflects our history. This interest has led me to want to study both English and history at University. With history, one can learn in depth about a person, place or event, which in turns helps with the explanation and contextual issues of the history of the English language, as well as in literary texts.Ever since I was young I have been fascinated with how a book can take you to another place or time. Books such as To Kill A Mockingbird, where, despite the completely different lifestyles between us and the characters, I felt I could completely understand and empathise with the Finch family, and recognise characters such as Boo and Mrs Dubose from my own memories. Whilst in GCSE history, we studied black civil rights in America, and I loved the parallels I could draw between the fictional world of Maycomb, and the lives I’d studied in places such as Little Rock. Also interesting in TKAM was the use of language, words such as “Nome” and “Yeb’m” have since worked their way into myself and my friends productive vocabulary, much to the confusion of those who haven’t read the book. This ‘different world’ that both books and history offer have led me to want to study History and English together at degree level.
I am taking both English Language and Modern History at A Level, alongside Criminal Law. Studying English has helped me to understand where our language comes from in a number of ways, including the initial acquisition of language by children, a personal interest of mine, and also how England’s history has led to our modern day understanding of the English language. In History we are studying Nazi Germany, which, after studying this in both school and AS level, I’m beginning to have a fairly extensive knowledge of. Recently I read ‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zuzak, which was written from the point of view of a young girl in Nazi Germany, whose foster father helps to hide a Jewish man. This flipside of Ann Frank was interesting, and I feel it has helped me in understanding how the Germans felt. This year I am travelling to Berlin with the history department of my college, and being in the actual setting and seeing places such as the Sachenhausen Concentration Camp, I think will completely change my perspective and feeling of involvement in history. Whilst most of my historical knowledge stems from the twentieth century, I would like to extend this further back into the past. I think choosing Law as my 3rd A Level Subject complements both English and history, my main interests, by giving me a founding in understanding recent changes in England, and with the study of history I can compare this to other places and other times, thus aiding my understanding of democracy and a ‘fair society’. One of my favourite books is George Orwell’s 1984, and the comparison between this world and that in which I’ve studied in law I find fascinating, and what’s even more interesting is how this totalitarianism could have been achieved if our history was different.
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