"Life Is Beautiful" 4.16.15

Prompt: Based on the Holocaust literature and poetry we have read, what connections can be made between Life is Beautiful and our reading?  What events, scenes, or situations are similar or different? What is similar or different about the mood or tone of the pieces?

     Life is Beautiful is sort of different from other Holocaust films and stories we have seen/read. This is because Life is Beautiful has an overall more uplifting and happy mood and tone. There are many parts where we are laughing at the way Guido is behaving. Guido is one of the main characters and he views the whole situation differently than everyone else. Guido is trying to make sure that his son, Joshua is safe and doesn't know what is happening. By doing so, he keeps a smile on his face and turns this into a "game". No one else thought of being in a concentration camp as a game. Thats one reason why the mood/tone is different from other films and books. For example, in the book Night by Elie Weisel, there was a depressing mood and tone. It was depressing because the Jews were being sent to concentration camps and Elie's father was sick. There was really no way to make that seem better than it was. Guido had an interesting way of viewing things and making them seem better than they were.

     The mood and tone isn't the only difference in Life is Beautiful and other movie/books. Another difference that I noticed was the relationship between Guido and his family. He was so connected with his son and wife and tried to see her in the concentration camp. Guido had the courage and bravery to let his wife know if and his son were ok. This was sort of shocking though because I would think he would have gotten caught. Was this even possible? The fact that they had the chance to sneak into headquarters and speak on the intercom surprised me a bit. 

     Some of the similarities that Life is Beautiful has to other books/movies is the events. In a lot of movies/books about the holocaust, the father usually passes away before liberation due to putting their child's needs first. In the memoir Night, by Elie Weisel, Elie is only fifteen and his father wants to make sure he is stays alive and safe. Elie's father ends up getting weak and ill. He can no longer go on and eventually passes away. Something similar happens in the movie. Guido tried to protect his son and make sure he wasn't taken to the showers or found. Guido was killed when he went to go look for his wife. Although they weren't killed the same way, it is very similar because they died out of trying to protect the ones they loved.

     Another similarity is the bond between father and son. In Life is Beautiful, Guido and his son Joshua were very close and Guido did everything he could to protect him. He made sure that he stayed safe and that he was healthy. This is just like Elie Weisel and his father in Night. In Night, Elie's gave his father his food when he was sick. He wanted his father to stay alive and stay healthy. Elie would give his father bread and his soup. In Life is Beautiful, Guido gave Joshua his bread to make sure he wasn't too hungry. In these two Holocaust books/films, we can see that family bonds is a common theme.

Night Blog Week of 3.30.15

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

   In the beginning, Elie had a lot of faith in God and in himself. He didn't lose faith until he arrived at the concentration camp and realized how hard this was going to be for everyone. He starts to question everything. Some things he questions are why his God would allow him to do this and why this was happening to him. He never understood why and was losing this faith in God. Elie also put his family before himself. As the memoir goes on and we go with Elie through his journey, we can see him changing. Instead of putting his father before himself, Elie cares more about his well being than his fathers. Towards the end, his faith is restored.

     Ellie loses his faith in god due to the fact  he is in this concentration camp. Elie asks why god is doing this to them and why they are here. He says "why god, why are you doing this to us?" Elie wants to know why this happening. By him asking these questions, it's the first sign of him losing his faith. Wiesel was very religious and always had so much faith in god. That was all the way up until now when he is in the camp. Elie is questioning god and his choices. As he does this, Wiesel is slowly losing his faith in God and God's decisions. 

     Elie Wiesel loses faith but gains it back in the end. One of the reason I think Rlie starts to gain faith, is because he probably remembered what Moishe the Beadle told him. He said "Man raises himself toward God by the questions he asks him." This quote was from the beginning of Night. I think that although he never explicitly said that he thought of this, I think it stuck with him. Wiesel is begging to gain hope again when asking questions to his God. He soon finds "answers" and rejoices with God in a way. At the end of Night Wiesel gained all of his faith back and didn't question God anymore.

     Faith wasn't the only thing Wiesel lost through his journey in the concentration camp. Wiesel's morals were shaken. In the beginning Elie wanted to make sure he wouldn't be split up from his father. He said "“I first wanted to see where they send my father. Were he to have gone to the right, I would run after him." This was showing the strength in their relationship and showing how he cared for his father. As time at the concentration camp goes on, Elie begins to blame his father for doing things that cause him to get beat up. He stands and watches his father get beaten without helping or asking if he is ok. Elie starts putting himself first before his father. This shows that the bond between the two is becoming weaker. Eventually it is repaired when his father is dying and becoming I'll.

     Overall, Elie Wiesel changed a lot during his time through the concentration camp. He started off with so much faith in God and was very religious. He cared for his family and wanted to make sure his dater was with him during this journey. As Elie stays there, he begins questioning everything and asking God why they were here and why this was happening. He starts to become focused on himself instead of his father first. Elie becomes selfish in a way. Once things at the camp are coming to an end, Wiesel changes again. He starts to gain his faith back and fix his relationship with his father. When his father becomes ill, Elie makes it his job to make sure his father stays alive and safe. He begins to put his father befor himself and cares more for him than himself. Elie's relationship with his fathers is now fixed. In the end, he was changing back to himself. With all the ups and downs along the way, Elie was able to leave the concentration camp with faith and a stronger bond with his father. 

"Lights Out" Butterfly Project

I commented on: Gustavo, Sarai, Nik, and Bela's butterfly's.

Night Blog Post 3.26.15

Pages Read: 0-46

Prompt: What do you think of the book so far?

    This week in class we started reading Night by Elie Wiesel. Night is about a young boy who is almost thirteen and he gets taken from his home. The little boy gets taken from his home and goes to a concentration camps. Before this happens though, the German soldiers invade the Jewish community which they live in, Sighet. The Germans were acting nice at first which is what Moishe the Beadle didn't think would happen at first. After they were nice and the Jews became comfortable with them, the soldiers started to order around all of the Jews. After that, they took the Jews and put them in Ghettos. From there they were deported on their way to the concentration camps.

     On their way to the concentration camps, their was a lady who kept screaming "Flames! Look at the flames!" They were on a train and they couldn't see the fire she was talking about. The Jews were on the train for days and every night the lady would scream "Flames!". No one knew why she was saying this, but they were about to find out. The train stopped and the lady once more screams "Flames!". The Jews looked out the window and they saw the flames. The flames were coming from a concentration camp, the Jews just arrived at Birkenau, the reception center for Auschwitz.

     When the Jews arrive at Birkenau, they are split into two lines. One line is for men and the other is for women. This meant that the main character and his family was split up. His mom and sister went in the women line and him and his father went to the men line. From there they were going to be split again. One line was for people who were too young, too old, or too weak. The main character and his dad were confronted by one of the inmates there and he asked their ages. The inmate told the main character to tell the guards his age was fifteen and his dad's age is forty. This was so they could stay alive.

     I think this book is really good so far. The storyline seems very interesting and from what I have read, it is. The characters seem interesting as well. I'm excited to continue to read the rest of the book because the story and journey throughout the book seems good. I think that this book is going to be great. The story is true which makes it ten times more interesting to me. I can't wait to finish it! But from what I have read, I really like this book and I think others will enjoy it too.

AOW Holocaust Impressions 3.23.15

 

 There were many varying topics for the AOW last week. However, we all had to choose an article on the Holocaust and they were all different. Some articles talked about survivors and their stories while others talked about the camps they were held at. Others included Holocaust Remembrance Day, experimenting on people held at these camps, and accounts of people being charged for killing the people in these camps. Even though there were many varying topics, they all come back to talking about the Holocaust.

     One of the articles that really captured by attention was Bela's and Citlalli's. Their articles talked about how a doctor was experimenting on people while in the concentration camps. He mainly experimented on twins when they were first born. He once did an experiment on a new born baby who had no twin. He decided to see how long t could survive with no food and that was two weeks. After two weeks he decided to kill the baby because it would be a lot less effort than trying to nourish it back to a healthy state.

     Another article that captured my attention way Sarai's. Her article talked about how Isreal doesn't have a set date to remember the Holocaust. This is because they believe that if they celebrate this depressing time then the people will become depressed. Isreal thinks that instead of holding a celebration for all the people who were freed, they should just remember the tragedy and those who perished.

Berlin Memorial Activity 3.19.15

While doing the Berlin Memorial Activity in class today, I learned that Jews were not allowed to do many things. Of course I already knew that they were restricted from a lot of things but what I didn't know was that there are over 400 Jewish decrees! Some of them were outrageous! There were decrees stating that Jews couldn't attend school, couldn't own pets, or even go to bakeries. Those are just three of the 400 laws that were given to Jews. Other laws were extremely irrelevant like "Every Jew must change their middle name to 'Sarah' or 'Isreal'." Why is this important? Does their middle name really matter?

I think that this monument was built to remember all the people that passed away. By having a memorial it reminds people of the hard times that the Jews had to go through. By creating this monument it represents a tragic time in history, the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a very gruesome event that happened. By having a monument to show the public, I think they are hoping to not have a repeat. This memorial shows respect for those who lost their lives and represents the Holocaust and how serious it was.

As we did the activity and had people come up by the year these Jewish decrees were passed, there was a lot of variation. Some years there seemed to be many laws passed and others there were very few. I wonder why this is. One year (I believe it was 1939) almost the whole class went up to put at least one decree on the wall. This however was not the case in every situation. There were a few years when only one decree was posted on the wall and another were there were none. Most of the time there was more than one law posted on the wall they all had to do with similar topics. Some of the laws were about transportation, education, where you can and can't go, as well as what you can or can't own.

I think that one of the most challenging restriction I would have would be not being able to have a pet. I love animals! I personally have four dogs and if they were taken away from me I would be devastated.  Animals are truly a man's best friend and I personally can't live without them. I think it is pointless to take away someone's animals if they aren't harming others. Let them own pets if they want to, what is the big deal?!? 

Reflection Blog 3.12.15



- Of the books you have read this quarter, which was your favorite? Why? Out of the books I have read this quarter my favorite would have to be Twilight. I wanted to read twilight for the longest time and when I did, I enjoyed it. Twilight has always interested me and I really liked the plot. Once I read it, I knew it was going to be my favorite book. It was my favorite because of the way it was written. Twilight was written from Bella Swan’s perspective and is easy to read. The word choice also helps to form the setting and plot very well.

-       *In what area do you think you made your biggest improvements in English Language Arts? I think I improved the most on my writing. I still make errors in my writing, especially in my AOWs and Blogs. When it comes to essays however, I feel like I improved. My body paragraphs have increased in content and the way they are/ should be written.


- *What is something you have accomplished since the new year that you are proud of?
 I have accomplished being able to use time management. Before I used to procrastinate until the very last second but I don’t really do that anymore. Whenever I am given an assignment I like to start as soon as I have time. If it is due by the end of the week I will try to start when I am given the assignment.

-       Where are you in your 40 Book Challenge? I am about 12 books into the 40 book challenge. I don’t have much time to read most of the week but I try to squeeze in some time over the weekends and at night. Some of the book I have read are “To Kill A Mockingbird”, “NightJohn”, “Along for the Ride”, “If I stay”, “Twilight”, and “Go Ask Alice”. The other books I have read are not listed on my blog because I read them over winter break.

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- *What has been the most challenging part of 3rd Quarter for you?
 The most challenging part of third quarter for me was balancing the homework. There were sometimes days where I had 2 hours worth of homework and other nights I had very little.

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