<p>hi!!
i wrote my essay exactly within 25 minutes and typed it as such without any modifications.so don`t pay too much attention to puctuation marks
thanks in advance!!</p>
<p>ESSAY PROMPT:</p>
<p>A sense of the past is an essential part of our identity. The past is in many respects a foreign country, but on the premise that travel broadens mind, this is all the more reason to go there
Adapted from Rosamond McKitterick, "history and its audiences"</p>
<p>Assignment: do we need knowledge of the past to fully understand the present? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experiences or observations </p>
<p>My essay:</p>
<pre><code> It is indeed necessary that we have extensive knowledge about the past so as to completely understand the present. There goes a maxim: "past is history, future is mystery, present is a present (i.e. a gift)" The past is like a scissors that is necessary to unravel the present (i.e. the gift) which in turn contains the key to the futures mystery. We have to completely understand our past because that is where our ancestors and we have made mistakes and we have to learn from these mistakes and abstain from committing them again in the present and the future. Paragons that substantiate my argument are the history of Indian freedom struggle and the pig "major" in the George Orwells "animal farm"
Indian freedom struggle is indeed a classic example that supports my argument. Detailed study of Pre-independent India and post-independent India reveals that India owes its prosperity to the lessons it learnt from pre-independent India. One of the primary reasons because of which the British were able to conquer India was that of lack of unity and constant fighting between Hindus and Muslims. However the citizens of post-independent India learnt from this costly mistake and are now a model for "unity in diversity" concept. Clearly the people learnt their lesson from the past. If they hadnt they would have been fighting among themselves continually and would again have come under the yoke of imperialism
Moving on from history to literature, we find that the old pig called "major" in the story "animal farm" by George Orwell is another example that supports my stand. Major edified and warned all the other animals about the depravities of mankind and led them to rebellion. However it soon died but the other animals won the rebellion, took over the farm and chased away the humans. Even generations later the animals took pride in this rebellion, constantly remembered about Majors advice and constantly sung the "beasts of England " song. Clearly the past lessons prevented them from committing mistakes and eventually led to their prosperity.
As these examples show us it is indeed true that understanding of the past is required to live successfully in the present. We shouldnt know the past just for the practical utilitarian purposes but also because it is the place where our culture, tradition and ancestors lie. We need to simultaneously take pride in our past and also learn from the mistakes.
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