Holocaust AOW Impressions

        This weeks AOWs were all somewhat current vents related to the Holocaust. Several articles were about survivors sharing their stories and experiences with schools and students. Those survivors teach about how hatred guided the whole war. Other articles were about survivors getting revenge from the war. A group of fourteen Holocaust survivors sued the Hungarian government for working with Hitler and the Nazis in WWII.

        Throughout most of the articles a lot of them had the same theme; history repeats itself. My article also had this theme. These articles were survivors speaking about how similar current events are to WWII events. Most of them talked about the Syrian refugees. They were saying if countries don't let in the refugees because of fear of terrorism and other issues, it is disturbingly similar to countries during WWII refusing to let Jewish refugees in. They are noticing some events like these are repeating themselves/ The survivors are trying to remind the public about the horrifying events during WWII, so they hopefully won't repeat themselves in current situations.

"Lights Out" Butterfly Project

I commented on Giovanna's blog, Jared's blog, Evie's blog, and Justin's blog.

Berlin Memorial Activity

During this WWII memorial activity I learned that Hitler and his government created laws that slowly but surly took away Jews's human and civil rights. In the beginning they took away their ability to seek entertainment. They made laws such as: Jews expelled from all sports, choir, and automobile clubs, Jewish actors prohibited from performing, and Jews banned from swimming pools. These were slightly minor compared to everything else. At the same time Hitler took away their jobs. They made laws that prohibited Jews with certain careers from working and basically got them fired. Hitler took away their ability to make a living. Then Hitler took more personal things. Things such as their pets, names, identity, valuables, homes, family, basically the government took away their way of life.

I think this monument was built to remind the generations of what Hitler did to innocent people and how the population followed his way of thinking. This monument shows things that no one realizes could easily be taken away, especially because it has been done before. It really helps people these days to respect what they now and not take advantage of their freedom. It show freedom is very valuable yet very fragile. The monument really puts things in perspective.

I noticed that in some years there were more laws passed and in others there were only a few. I think this happened because it was Hitlers plan to slowly take away freedom and conquer the world. In the beginning he made quite a few laws regarding Jews and their freedom (or lack of). In 1938 he really started to pound down on the Jews with labeling them, changing names, segregation, etc. Then he made a few more each year, but in 1942 he really took Jews lives away; literally and figuratively. He took their possessions, family, and their actual lives. 

I think the restrictions I would have the most trouble dealing with would be taking pets away. I love animals, and pets are literally family to me. Taking away a dog or cat would feel like someone taking my heart out. I wouldn't be able to handle it. I live for my animals, it's would terribly hard to live without them. Obviously it isn't as bad as the ghettos or concentration camps, but in my eyes it's a close second.  

       

2nd Quarter Reflections

I think the biggest improvement I've made in English/Language Arts is my understanding of information in books. For example, in To Kill a Mockingbird there was a lot of symbolism and themes to catch throughout the novel. In the beginning seeing the more in depth details was challenging. However, as we got deeper into the novel, I realized everything, all of the symbolism, themes, lessons, and other small things like that. I also improved on backing up the information I found with quotes. Usually I would just pick a quote that somewhat conveys the point I'm making. Now I can closely read a book and catch all the good details and back them up in a quote.

Something that I have proudly accomplished since the new year is joining Battle of the Books. I'm not really sure what changed my mind to join this year. I think it has to do with it being my last year here. As I was listening to the information being announced I thought I should just go for it. I am proud that I changed my outlook on this event and have became a part of it. I'm excited to see how it goes.

The most challenging part of the 2nd quarter was keeping up with my work. I was absent a lot and procrastinated. After a while of struggling to ignore my work, I finally started to catch up. I really worked hard on catching up and managed my time better. I finally caught up after about two weeks. That was a really difficult time however. I was very stressed about the work I was blatantly ignoring. After I was on top of things I felt way better. All in all I learned to stay motivated and not to be lazy.              

    

     

      

To Kill A Mockingbird Final Thoughts

After reading To Kill A Mockingbird, I felt like a different person. The themes in this book made me realize things that I've never noticed before. I look at everything differently now. I am completely obsessed with Scout and Atticus, Scout reminds me of me when I was her age and Atticus reminds me of my dad surprisingly. This book was just amazing.

I especially love the way it was written. After our class discussions, I realized writing this book must have taken so much though and time. It was worth it however, Harper Lee created a masterpiece. There was so much symbolism and foreshadowing, it must have been so complicated to write. I wonder how she thought of this story. Her writing style makes me want to read the second book.

I think my most favorite thing in the book is when Scout sees things from Boo's pint of view. The whole "standing in someone else's shoes" theme is a great life lesson. It literally puts things into perspective. However, I just how that part was written. I could picture all of the events happening from his porch. It made me sad, when I knew I was about to finish this book, it felt like I was losing a friend. Like I said I am in love with this book.

  

       

  

To Kill A Mockingbird Character Relationships

Aunt Alexandra and Atticus are polar opposites. Atticus is understanding, caring, thoughtful, brave, and so much more. Aunt Alexandra is proper, traditional, slightly stuck up, and hard headed. They both affect Scout in positive and negative ways. 

Atticus and Aunt Alexandra are very different. The only similarity between them is that they are both part of the Finch family. Aunt Alexandra is obsessed with tradition and the family name. She pushes everyone to make the family look good, she cares very deeply about it. Atticus is very different from the family. He got an education, he thought for himself, he looked at things differently from others. He is very intelligent. Aunt Alexandra is very stubborn and blends in with the family. Their differences could go on and on. 

Atticus is Scout's father, even though she calls him Atticus instead of dad. I think they do this to show respect towards their father. Aunt Alexandra is obviously Scout's aunt. She calls,her Aunty which could be showing some disrespect towards her. Atticus is very devoted to Scout, he loves and cares for her more than anyone (except Jem). He treats her with respect as well as Scout does. Atticus has an extremely positive effect on Scout. Aunt Alexandra on the other hand, pushes Scout to be feminine and be like every other lady in Maycomb. She doesn't like her ways of thinking towards colored people, she thinks it looks bad. Scout and Aunt Alexandra have an interesting relationship, they love and hate each other at the same time. Over all I think Aunt Alexandra has a negative effect on Scout.

                         

                         

To Kill A Mockingbird Theme

I think there are two main themes in To Kill A Mockingbird. The first theme is definitely racism. The second theme is destroying of innocence. These themes are demonstrated through characters, the plot, conflicts and symbolism. These themes could be the reason the book is a classic, they all still happen today. 

Racism plays a huge roll in To Kill A Mockingbird. Racism isn't only shown throughout Tom Robinson's trial, it is show throughout the entire book. There is constant use of racial slurs and prejudice. Maycomb's disease is racism, all or most of the adults are complete racists and hypocrites. An example of racism in the book is when the people of Maycomb don't really react to Tom's death because it was, "Typical of a nigger to cut and run. Typical of a nigger's mentality to have no plan, no thought for the future, just run blind first chance he saw." This shows how people stereotyped African Americans. People still do this today. That's why this theme is so important, it is still currently happening.

Destroying of innocence is the one of the main themes in this book. It is shown through characters such as Boo Radley, Tom Robinson, Jem, Dill, Mr. Raymond, etc. They have all been hurt or destroyed by immoral behavior. This theme is everywhere in the book. Even in the title, to kill a mockingbird literally symbolizes destroying innocence. I know this because a phrase that is used in different ways throughout the book is, "It is a sin to kill a mockingbird." The book is full of foreshadowing events that relate to this theme, even the title is foreshadowing something. This is a major theme in the book.