Journal January 6, 2008

The group began today's discussion by deciding on the theme of Yertle the Turtle. In this way, they will be able to link the plotline of Yertle theTurtle with the events in Nepal. The theme was eventually summed up with Yertle as a dictoator who causes a severe drop in the quality of life of his people. he is eventually overthrown by the "lowest" of his own subjects.

During their research on the end of the Nepal monarchy, which was suggested by Kirsten as being a similar situation, Kirsten, Brittany and Katrya discovered a variety of news websites relating to the topic. In the situation, it was obvious who was "Yertle". King Gyunendra, and the monarchy he represented, was implicated in a number of similar situation. When discussing Gyunendra, Kirsten pointed out that he fell in some "soft" mud, meaning that his fall from power was not as drastic as that of Yertle. There were "nets" in place.

It quickly became clear that the Maouists, lead by Prachanda, were the main source of opposition to the monarchy. It was their actions that eventually led to the overthrow of King Gyunendra, therefore, they are very similar to Mak. The group discovered discrepancies of course. The moauists were much more violent in their opposition that Mak.

Katrya suggested searching the UN website. This proved to be valuable proof of the poor quality of life in Nepal. The country ranked 145th of 179 countries on the Human Development Index.

All in all, the group found a variety of different websites, all leading them to believe that the similarities between the situation in Nepal and that in Yertle the Turtle would make a credible essay.