Bernard+Montague+Block+A+2012

=**Bernard Montague**=

**Age:** 15 **Gender:** Male **Occupation:** Street musician & works at a bakery **Social Class:** Peasant **Financial situation:** He is very poor. He works for hours and hours on the street, but only makes enough to provide daily meals for the family. Even his 11 years old brothers are working in order to lessen the burden of Bernard. **Appearance:** He is very tall and skinny. He is dressed in a messing clothing and an old hat. His messed up light brown hair is stick out of his hat. His fingertips are covered with callus from playing and working everyday. Neuilly-sur-Seine, France **Habitual locations:** Home, bakery and city center **Daily routine:** (typical day for you) -Wake up early in the morning to feed and milk the cow -Help mother to get ready for the breakfast -After a quick breakfast head out the city before his sisters and brothers wake up -Work at the bakery until 1:00 PM  -Go up to the plaza or the center of the city to play violin -Buy something to eat with the money earned -Head back home -Eat dinner with his family -Play with his brothers and sisters -Go to bed His personality changed greatly after his father passed away. He use to be very bright and cheerful. He was never a rule breaker, he always followed what his parents or teacher said. However after the incident, he became much more gloomy. His only concern is how to support the family. He was much more matured most of the boy at his age. Even though he likes, to read and learn, he can’t. Even under such condition, he tries his best to show his siblings the bright side of him. He is totally unaware and indifferent about the politic because of he is already stressed up by the daily living. His father was a wealthy peasant farmer. Therefore their family lived happily with no worries. Bernard went to a small school in the town and learned how to read and write. Both of his parents were well educated and they were one of the most hard working and optimistic people around the town. His 2 brothers also went to school with him everyday while his sister stay home with his mother. However, the delightful life didn’t last forever. The government started to raise tax every week or so. At first, Bernard’s family didn’t really mind because of their plentiful wealth. However as the time passed on the taxation reached it’s highest point. Montague family was covered with enormous amount of debts, Mr. Montague even had to sell his plantation that he worked on for his whole life. Under a great stress, Mr. Montague passed away in few month. The family had to move to a small and impoverished cottage. After few month of great poverty, Bernard decides to work to support the family. He quitted the school and went out to the streets. He did everything he can you to keep the family alive such as cleaning, begging and even some stealing. Now that his 2 brothers are old enough, they are working as well as a newspaper seller to sustain the family **Family:** Mother (Mrs. Montague), 2 younger sisters (Jacqueline, and Charlotte) and 2 younger brothers (Louis and Michel) His friend named Albert: He is also a poor street musician. Bernard met him when he was performing on the streets. Their first impression wasn’t good however now their are the best buddies to each other. He was a street performer for long time so he knows and hears many stories and informations about political issue and monarchs. He is the only person that Bernard comfortably expresses his feelings and hard ships.
 * Location ( [|Map of France], [|Map of Paris] Must be in the Paris region. **
 * Personality/Quirks/Unique Personality Traits: **
 * Past/individual-family history: **
 * Social relations with your own and other classes (people you deal with or know about in the class, AND your opinions and feelings about them): **

An old bum on the street: He is just a random hobo that Bernard got know after sharing a bread together. Bernard teach him how to read and write while the old man advises him and share his wisdom.

Baker in the Bakery: Baker is basically Bernard’s boss. The met each other when Bernard was stealing a bread from the bakery. Unlike other bakers, instead of reporting to the police, he let him work at the bakery every morning, with a good amount of payment.

Nobles who come to bakery every morning: Very selfish and ungenerous family. Bernard just can’t stand seeing how they treat peasants. **Religion:** Christian, but cannot afford to go to a church **Education:** Educated very well. Likes to learn and read. Can read and write fluently **Languages you speak:** French **Main privileges and/or hardships:** He has to serve as the father of the family. He works everyday because of the family's great poverty. Even though he is desperate for a proper education, the financial problem prevented from getting any kind of education. Instead of reading books, he entertains himself by listening to the wise old man on the street.
 * Portrait: (find one online and paste it in) **

=**July 13, 1789**= It’s 2:00AM and I just woke up because of my growling stomach. I took some left over of the dinner and started to eat with a warm cup of milk. Since I don’t want to go back to bed, I will just write about my day before the sun rises.

Today I woke up earlier than usual, but as usual I fed and milked the cow. My mother had hard time waking up because of all the laboring and cleaning from yesterday. Therefore I decided to just prepare the breakfast on my own. I picked up my violin and hat and headed out to the city center, at 5:30 AM. It took me about an hour to arrive at the bakery. Like always, the bakery was filled with warm and cozy smell and temperature. The bakery always has a busy morning, we have to bake, clean and prepare the shop. My job here is to assist the baker and carry flours and other ingredients for baking. When the shop opened, many people from aristocrats to poor peasant visited to buy some fresh warm breads. When the morning business was over, the baker offered me some left over bread with the daily payment, enough for my family and myself. My labor at bakery ended with some more flour carrying for the afternoon business. At 1:00PM I came out of the bakery with a bag of bread. While I was having a relaxed lunch break on the street, someone slapped my head and started to strangle me. Well, I’ve been through many situations were I had to fight off many street bums and gangsters, so I immediately defensed myself from the sudden attack. As soon as I tried to twist the man’s wrist, I saw the freckled face of Albert. God, he always try these stupid jokes that I will never fall for. He sat next to me and started to munch off one my bread from my bag.

“Hey, you know Marie Antoinette?” He said with his mouth full. “Who?” I replied. “ Madame Déficit.” “Ah, that Austrian whore.” “Yes, her. She made another 100s of those hilarious costumes” “Again? Wonder why everyone in the country abhors her.” “Exactly, but the funny thing is that the powerless king is just standing there like a muppet.” “What kind of world are we living in.”

I stood up and picked up my violin and started to play. U nlike the other days, one offered me even a penny. I tried to play much more louder with a better tone. Few distance away from me, I saw a young farmer boy. He seemed little older than me, just by about 2 or 3 years. His brown eye looked right at me, then he started to walk towards me. Hoping that he would throw me some coins, I played a much more dramatic song with my eyes closed. As soon as I hit the last note of the song, the young farmer gave me a chunk of grain from his back. I was kind of disappointed at first because I prefer cash more than anything. However since he was the first one to pay off my hard effort today, I decided not to show him my disappointment. He started to compliment my music and asked me my name. With a smile on my face, I kindly answered him. He told me his name, which was Simeon Thayer. He introduced him as a farmer in the region of Passy, Paris, who walked all the way here to meet a blacksmith. However he said he had been looking for the blacksmith shop but could find it. Well, the only blacksmith shop around this area is Durand’s. Everyone in this area knows Durand because he is known for his accurate and fascinating skills. For the return to his offer, I told him that I will walk him to Durand’s shop. It took us about an hour to get to the shop. We finally arrived at Durand’s shop at 5:00 PM, time to head back home. Today all the side tracks distracted me from earning enough money for my family’s dinner. However, since I got enough leftover bread and a chunk of grain, I decided to just head back home. When I arrived at my house I handed my mother breads and grains and threw myself on the bed.

= October 16, 1793 =

Today, Marie Antoinette was finally killed.

Three days ago, Albert convinced me to go to Place de la Concorde. He said that we need some break from daily routine. Well, I wanted to travel around and just chill for few days, however I had to take care of my family. At night, I told Albert’s suggestion to my mother. Unlike what I expected, my mother actually encouraged me to accompany Albert. She said that she can take care of the family without my help. Even though I was worried about my family’s welfare, I still wanted to get away with this life for at least few days. Therefore, I decided to follow Albert to Place de la Concorde.

After 2 days of traveling, today we finally arrived at Place de la Concorde, a major public plaza in Paris. There were so many people in that huge open area. I imagined myself playing violin in the middle of this huge crowd, it was a perfect place for my performance. While I was soaked in my own imagination, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Albert pointing at a large wooden structure. It was the guillotine. I’ve only heard of it but never saw it before because most of the executions were happening in the central part of the Paris. Looking at the shining blade of the guillotine gave me a sudden chill over my body. Then we saw the poster of Marie Antoinette’s execution at noon. I just couldn’t believe that they are finally killing her for all those financial wastes that she has made. We both agreed that we are definitely watching it for our afternoon entertainment.

We ate a poor lunch before today’s big show, because we thought that we couldn’t eat anything after watching the bloodshed of today's show. Then at noon, the show finally began. There was a huge crowd around the guillotine, which made us impossible to see anything. Then suddenly, Albert disappeared in to the crowd. With a big sigh, I started to search for him. The loud voice of a man introducing Marie Antoinette to the guillotine startled me. Everyone’s eye pointed to the same direction. There was a long silence, then the blade dropped. Marie Antoinette was finally dead. The silence broke as soon as Antoinette’s head was held up into the air. Everyone cheered. I felt relieved seeing her beheaded head. Then I heard a man, Alexandre Montague, complaining about the execution. He was against the radical change of Robespierre. Taking opposition to his opinion, I strongly suggested the execution of the whole royal family, because they are the reasons why everyone lives in such a poor condition. However Alexandre disagreed and said that it’s just a waste of lives. When we were getting more emotional about the topic, Albert called me. Leaving the man behind, I walked out of the crowd.

Right now, Albert and I are staying in a empty barn on our way back to our houses. The argument with the man made me think for a while. Now, I don’t care about all this radicalism and revolution. I just want these horrible days to end as soon as possible.

= November 2, 1796 =

Another boring day. I was just working at the bakery like usual, carrying flours, helping the baker and selling breads. Then I realized that less people were coming to the bakery these days. Perhaps because of the increase of the bread price. Only few middle class peasants visited the shop everyday. Then I heard a door opening. A poor man came through the door. He looked at the price tags of different breads on the display and frowned. He came up to me and yelled, “what’s wrong with the price of the bread?” I told him that it’s because of the bad weather condition and the high taxation. Still frustrated, he complained about today’s economy. Every single words that he said were so true. Engaged in his conversation, I called him in for a tea since there were no customers and the baker was out at his friend's shop. We baiscally swept through all the thing that happend in few years, the rise in tax, financial wastes from battles, and the mindless act of Committee of Public Safety. Then we came all the way up to the topic of the new general, Napoleon Bonaparte. In my opinion, I thought Napoleon was a good man because he granted us with so many victories. However Maximilian, the man, thought differently. He believed that Napoleon was just a greedy dictator and that all those victories were from his greeds. Even though we had a slight argument on the topic of the new military general, we both agreed that if this revolution continues, it will get harder and harder for us to live in this country, because of the high tax, unbelievable price of breads and the never-ending battles. After few more cups of teas, Maximilian stood up and headed out to the door. On his way out, I handed him a warm bread from a basket. With a smile on his face, he left the bakery.

France had been going through many radical changes. However my life is still the same. I still work hard everyday to sustain my family. Well, through the revolution, the tax and the bread price was kind of a issue, but I just worked extra hard to afford them. The revolution didn't really changed my life, however I felt that the abolishment of the monarchy was magnificent. It almost felt as if it was a revenge for my father's death. I had been complaining that our family's continuous poverty was caused by the nobles and the royal family, but now, even though the royal family is gone and the nobles lost their authorities, we are still poor. I think no matter what happens to the country, my life won't change, so I should better be just happy and satisfied with my life.