Personal Book Blog

Out of my Mind

Ch. 1-3

Prompt: Describe the main characters

        So far there are three main characters, Melody and her mother and father. Melody is the narrator of this book. She has a photographic memory, loves music, loves learning, and wishes she can express herself. Melody is disabled, she is strapped in a pink chair with buttons to move it and a tv remote. She can't talk, move, eat by herself or use the bathroom by herself, she can't pick things up, she just can't take care of herself. She is extremely frustrated she can't speak; because of this she notices more and remembers more. Unfortunately because of her memory she remembers everything, from advertising to books to an entire conversation, this annoys her because she wants to get rid of the useless and irrelevant memories like ads and annoying jingles. Sometimes she gets so frustrated with all of these things bottled up she has spasms. I feel really bad for her. It really shows you how much you take advantage of everyday things.

      

        Her mother is a nurse. She loves and defends Melody from others who judge. She loves classical music like Beethoven and Mozart. Melody likes classical because of her. Her mother, when Melody was a baby, insisted she was wrapped in blankets and given lots of love. Melody's mother sung to her and spoke to her in baby voices; which greatly annoyed Melody. 

         Melody's father is the opposite of her mother. The only thing they really have in common is that they both love and care for Melody. Her mother always had her wrapped in blankets and pillows, Melody's father took her out and let the sun touch her skin. He spoke to her like an adult. Melody's father loves jazz (her mother hates it). He always recorded Melody when she was a baby; expecting her to speak or crawl or grab or take her first steps. She never did. Even with all of this hurt they still love Melody.

Life is Beautiful Blog

       The movie Life is Beautiful and the book Night by Elie Wiesel are both about the same subject, the Holocaust. Though they may be similar in this category, they are very different from each other. One of the main differences between the two is the tone and mood. In Night everything is very serious, depressing, and disturbing. In Life is Beautiful there is a touch of humor even in the most unlikely events. They are similar because they both have characters with a strong father son relationship.

        In the book Night and in the film Life is Beautiful, the relationship between the two main characters (father and son) is very strong and important. However, the relationships are very different from each other. In Night Elie and his father have one purpose, they live for each other. Their care for each other is equal. When Elie is sick, his father cares for him. When his father is sick, Elie does everything he can for his father. In the book it says, "My father had huddled near me, draped in his blanket, shoulders laden with snow. And what if he were dead, as well? I called out to him. No response. I would have screamed if I could have. He was not moving. Suddenly, the evidence overwhelmed me: there was no longer any reason to live, any reason to fight." This shows Elie lived and fought for his father and his father did the same. This is different from Life is Beautiful because throughout the entire film the father mostly cares for the son because he is so young. He protected him from the truth, Guido made his son believe it was a game. Even though their relationship is as strong as Wiesel's,  it is certainly different. Joshua (the son) isn't scared for his father to die or anything because he doesn't know what's really going on. They both know they shouldn't separate, but only the father knows why. Guido is fighting to protect his son, but his son isn't fighting for his father. This may sound bad, however it was just the son's innocence that protected but stopped him from helping his father at the same time. 

        A very large difference between the book and film is the mood and tone. In the book Night the tone and mood is extremely serious. There are hardly any light moments throughout the story. An example of this seriousness is when they arrive at Birkenau, "In front of us, those flames. In the air, the smell of burning flesh. It must have been about midnight. We had arrived. In Birkenau." This is only one example of the level of seriousness in this memoir. There are many examples and circumstances that add to the depressing mood and tone. Examples such as all of the death and starvation and misery during this unfortunate time. This differentiates from the movie Life is Beautiful because throughout the whole film there are moments of humor. Humor is displayed mostly through Guido because he has such a goofy and weird personality. Even to his end he still displays this level of humor. Though the Holocaust is an extremely serious topic, the humor was still demonstrated very appropriately. 

         Life is Beautiful obviously shows how life can be absolutely beautiful. There are many examples and ways this is shown in the film. Guido's son's innocence plays a huge part in the movie. Without his innocence their lives could have gone even more down hill. Keeping his son believing it was a game let's Guido keep him safe and happy. I think this shows life is beautiful because he is hiding his true fear and emotions to protect his beloved son. It didn't matter what was happening, Guido kept his act together while around his son. This also represents sacrifice. Sacrifice saved his son. Dora's sacrifice of herself to get on the train to the camp even though she wasn't selected, and Guido's sacrifice of his true emotions protects their son from fatality. This is beautiful because they put their son's life in front of theirs. 

          Another example of beauty in life shown in the film is laughter. Moments of joy and laughter occur during the whole film. These light and funny moments add to how much they love living life. These moments show how happy the characters are. Happiness is beautiful, and these characters really showed that. They showed this through making jokes, being silly, and just plain weird. They also showed this happiness and laughter through Guido and Dora's love for one another. They were completely in love and loved every minute with each other. They laughed and had inside jokes, they were just completely happy with their lives together. I think that is just beautiful.

Night Blog

Night Blog

Prompt: How do Elie's experiences during the Holocaust change him as a person?

        These horrific events greatly change Elie and as well as many other survivors. Before the war Elie had a great life. He had friends, faith, and family. Before he knew it, all of that was taken away. He was separated from his mother and sister, he became distant from his religion, and only thought to stay with his father. As the war progresses he forgets about his other family and friends, revolts against his previous religious views, and almost start to think his father is a burden.

        The first sign of seeing him change is when he first arrives to Auschwitz. He saw the people and children being born. He thought of running to the electric fence to end the horror. He thought to himself, "For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank him for?" P.31. This shows Wiesel's thinking during this disturbing event. He can't believe that his all mighty God would let such a thing happen. As events like these go on for this part of his life, he doesn't follow his beloved faith anymore. When Rabbi loses his son, Elie still prays for him. However, he says, "And in spite of myself, a prayer formed inside me, a prayer to this God in whom I no longer believed. "Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu’s son has done." Wiesel specifically states he doesn't believe in his God anymore, he doesn't believe in his justice and his ways. However he still accepts his existence because he still prays to him.

        Throughout the entire war Elie is absolutely determined about one thing: staying with his father. Both at some point are weaker than the other. They cared for eachother. When Wiesel's father was sick he gave him his rations and would do anything for him. When Elie hurt his foot his father got help. They lived for eachother. Even with all of this love and care, Elie in the end basically saw him as a burden. After Elie wakes up and knows his father is gone he says, "I woke up at dawn on January 29. On my father’s cot there lay another sick person. They must have taken him away before daybreak and taken him to the crematorium. Perhaps he was still breathing … No prayers were said over his tomb. No candle lit in his memory. His last word had been my name. He had called out to me and I had not answered. I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!" This is showing when Elie and his father are separated for good, Elie feels that he has no more responsibilities. He feels as if a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. It shows how much he's changed because all he lived for was his father, now that he's gone he feels almost happy. 

        

Night by Elie Wiesel

Night Blog

Prompt: Write an editorial, an opinion essay, about an event/character from your reading.  

        Night by Elie Wiesel is a memoir about the holocaust. So, the author is also the main character. The reader and the author himself learn a lot about how people react to gruesome situations like being put in a concentration camp. We learn that author was becoming almost completely dehumanized. He was losing faith, hope, and care.

        Elie's world before this traumatic event was basically revolved around his religion; Judaism. When he was younger he became extremely interested in reading the Cabala. However, his father thought he was way too young to understand the wisdom it brings. He eventually continued to study it secretly with Moché the Beadle. Once he was forced from his home, family, and life, he would start to lose his faith.

          The first sign of Elie revolting against his religion was when he was entering Auschwitz. They were walking towards the flames and saw the burning children. He thought, ""For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank him for?" P.31. This is showing him seeing all these horrible things and thinking, what God would ever let this happen? Another example of him questioning God is when they are speaking of him Auschwitz, "Some talked of God, of his mysterious ways, of the sins of the Jewish people, and of their future deliverance. But I ceased to pray. How I sympathized do with Job! I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." P. 42 This is showing how people he is surrounded by are passionately talking their faith. If Elie hadn't changed so drastically he would probably be praying along with them. However, with all of the gruesome events he has witnessed, he questions whether God is good or bad, he questions his justice and whose side God is on.

 

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.