LC Reader Response #3

a. Theme: In horrible times of unprecedented proportions, the act of trying to survive through inhumane conditions can leave many devastated in striving to continue on; but for some, faith and hope can be the means in which deliverance is found.

b. Character: During the horrifying events of the Holocaust, faith- along with the lives of millions- took a sharp decline as it was stripped from the many affected by the cruel acts of the Nazis. Ellie Wiesel, a boy during his time in Auschwitz, struggled greatly with not only the circumstances he'd gone through- but also his testament in faith.

Group Reader Response LC #2

Critical Stance: 
     a. Dehumanization: To take away all the positive qualities of a human being. 

     b. As the process of captivity progresses, you can see the ways of the Jewish people being affected.        Those that were strong willed in their faith were now going through things that broke them as                people and as participants of their faith. For example, Eliezer's father is said to have lost the certain        life he once had in his eyes and as time passed, his actions of faith (praying, worship, etc..) came to a      halt as well. Not all were hopeless, however. Other prisoners believed there was soon to be                    deliverance, and continuously practiced their religious customs (prayers, days of significance, etc..).
     c. Throughout this whole ordeal, a lot of confusion and doubt troubled Eliezer's mind. Not only did        he notice the difference in the people's stances in faith, but he also observed the sad, reoccurring            relationship between the fathers and sons that were in the camp together. He saw several instances in      which sons would put themselves above their fathers, taking their food and leaving them for dead.          He was appalled by what he saw, though all he could do was ignore it and act differently towards          his own father. He also was very doubtful in the justice of his God. The experiences he had gone          through had been enough to have him believe there was no reason to praise the God that allowed all      this misery.
Dialectical Journal Entry:
     a. ".. he dealt my father such a clout that he fell to the ground, crawling back to his place in all fours.      I did not move. What had happened to me? My fatherhad just been, before my very eyes, and I had        not flickered an eyelid... Had I changed so much, then?... Now remorse began to gnaw at me."
     b.  "Not far away, I noticed an old man dragging himself along on all fours... A shadow had just            loomed up near him. The shadow threw itself upon him. Felled to the ground, stunned with blows,        the old man cried: 'Meir. meir, my boy! Don't you recognize me? I'm your father... you're hurting          me... you're killing your father! I've got some bread... for you too... for you too...' The old man again      whispered something, let out a rattle, and died amid the general indifference. his son searched him,        took the bread, and began to devour it."
     c. "Some talked of God, of his mysterious way, of the sins of the Jewish people, and of their future          deliverance. But I ceased to pray. How I sympathized with Job! I did not deny God's existence, but        I doubted his absolute justice. " 

Group Reader Response LC#1

1. Critical Stance:
a. Throughout the beginning of the book, where the process of captivity begins, the manner in which the Jews confront the situation is rather alarming. As the invaders slowly come into their areas of living, they welcome them with beliefs that they are just being protected from the forefront of the war. Later, as they are being sent to the camps, and all of value is being stripped from them, they continue to act in faith. In a somewhat naive sense, they believe that whatever would have them happen to them would be in justice acts of God, and that they would be safe throughout all circumstances.

2. Dialectical Journal Entries

•     "I did not believe him myself. I would often sit with him in the evening after the service, listening to his stories and trying my hardest to understand his grief. I felt only pity for him." When Moshe the Beadle came to share his tale of great despair, no one believed him- they didn't think they were in danger of such atrocities. 
• "Was he going to wipe out a whole people? Could he exterminate a population scattered throughout so many countries? So many millions! What methods could he use? And in the middle of the twentieth century!" Another quote from the book that displays the naive perspective they had on the power and capability of the Nazis.
• "There were no longer any synagogues open. We gathered in private houses: the Germans were not to be provoked. Practically every rabbi's flat became a house of prayer." In this excerpt, you can begin to see the process in which their lives are being taken. Forced to have their religious establishments closed down, they had to rely on one another on their strength of faith. And that's just what they did. 
• "'If you ask me, the whole business of deportation is just a farce..' These optimistic speeches, which no one believed, helped to pass the time. The few days we lived here went by pleasantly enough, in peace. People were better disposed toward one another. There were no longer any questions of wealth, of socially distinction, and importance, only people all condemned to the same fate-still unknown." The people would outwardly express their proclamations of faith and optimism to get through the fears of the situation. 
• "Around us, everyone was weeping. Some began to recite the Kaddish, the prayer for the dead... 'Yitgadal veyitkadach shmé rabe . . May His Name be blessed and magnified' whispered my father." While people were finally coming to terms with what was happening, they desperately turned to their God for reassurance and comfort. 

Double Chunky Paragraph: The Nazis

     The Nazis, or the National Socialist German Workers’ Party was an organization that promoted the custom of an Aryan “master race” and blamed Jews and Marxists for Germany’s problems. They opposed the Treaty of Versailles; a rule that stated Germany couldn’t have an army and has to pay the people they attacked in WWI. The Nazis wanted to restore Germany to a greater power and nation. As they grew in popularity, the Nazis started winning elections. When the Nazis started taking over the government, they shut down other political parties and became very apparent in daily German life. With their power, they started opening concentration camps to eradicate every person who seemed unfit for the new Germany, such as artists, Gypsies, homosexuals, and Jews. The Nazis started to rebuild their army, and prepared to take over land and start wars with other nations. They plotted to take over Europe while having mass genocide of Jews. Nazis had a good motive, but evil and inhumane policies for others that aren’t in the German master race. 

     As for the reasoning and motivation behind the Nazis’ actions, it’s hard for us to even begin to justify the means for their actions. Though it may be unclear as to why they targeted certain ethnic groups, one thing is clear- they were ruthless. Its estimated that 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust, six million of these exterminated were Jews. With a number of death this large, it was a committed plan of evil that brought the success in the extermination of Jews. Beyond the whys and hows, the horrible incident of mass murder would last an eternity on history. And almost just as shocking as the event itself, was the effort behind this ordeal. For over 10 years, the Nazis had established concentration and death camps that had the sole purpose of eradicating those of “lower life value”. These camps were factories of death and pain, built to destroy a whole people. It took an unimaginable hate that ran threw their veins for the Nazis to go through so much work in trying to rid of the Jews, and we see this through the acts they committed. 

Allusion Poster Final

Allusion Poem Final

kept away, guarded

the impressions that linger in my mind ever hidden in fear of being bombarded

new faces, places

ignite foundational sparks of thought

   for what Oh Captain My Captain fought

words collected, crafted

they'd go on for what's longer than what we'd ever lasted

   but still we'd have the favorable time to tell of our encountered sensations

reservation, own sanctum 

my last resort to which i can report, these words written down- my salvation at last found 

summer wind, whim

how the fragments of our minds carry on, and i'd pray that the days be far less grim

   the day'd be ours with our declared Carpe Diem!

to live, thrive

does the language of passion allow us to pursue, allow us to everlastingly woo

   and so we'd use this as we'd suck all of we could out of great life

clarity, sincerity 

in my present time of flaw and confusion, these rhymes serve to repair my contusions

individual notion, thought

shouldn't be so easily bought, isn't just a mere smear of old tattered brain gear

   this was all shared as well as found in our cave underground

only ours, exclusively

in no other's could you find what's going through my own mind

   like Todd we'd all have our thoughts odd

opened doors, so much more

does the art of words provide

   this kind of freedom Neil would try to strive

"O me, O life of the questions of these recurring. Of the endless trains of the faithless. Of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer: that you are here. That life exists and identity. That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse."