Thursday, December 11, 2014

Detail everything you know about them (physical description, personality, etc.):

Dr. Josef Mengele:

Elie: he is young and is continuing to be dulled by the events unfolding before him.

Stein of Antwerp: wore glasses, old and short. he was very humane, giving the circumstances. 

Akiba Drummer: 

SETTING:
Detail the time and place the story is presently at: 
Auschwitz, in 1944  

Detail the routine the prisoners were forced to endure after they first entered Auschwitz.
all of the women and children were sent straight to the crematory to be burned alive because nazis are total dicks 
How long did the deportees stay at Auschwitz?
a week, i think
What’s the name of the second camp they attended?
baku
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS:
Infer the answer from the text (Minimum 1-2 sentences):

Why did Elie lie to Stein about his knowledge of the man’s family?
to give stein some sort of hope to keep him moving. if he knew of his families fate, he wouldn't have anything to live for.
LITERARY ELEMENTS:

IRONY: explain why the statements are ironic and what type of irony it is.

“The good days were over.” (Pg. 41):
the "good days" still consisted of torture and death.
“Work is liberty!” (Pg. 38):
they were being forced to work, theres no liberty there. 
SIMILIES AND METAPHORS: GIVE THREE EXAMPLES

SHORT ANSWER QUESTION
Minimum 4-5 Sentences

What change occurs in Elie’s faith?
his father  is beginning to be stripped of whats built him up over his life. being beaten nearly to death for things like marching incorrectly or not working hard enough is starting to break him. he had to watch his son be whipped until he fainted, and he seeing so much pointless death around him.
CHARACTERS:
Detail everything you know about them (physical description, personality, etc.):

Madam Schachter: a much older women. pleasant, but not the best at getting messages acrossed

Elie: begins getting very hungry and dirt. hasn't showered in some time. begining to lose his faith.

SETTING:
Detail the time and place the story is presently at:
i think its still 1944. the jewish community was brought to a ghetto, and then moved into a train on their way to the camps.
Where were the prisoners brought?
aushwitz
How were they transported?
train
IN-TEXT QUESTIONS:
Infer the answer from the text (Minimum 1-2 sentences):

Describe the treatment of Madam Shachter. Why is she treated this way? the jewish poeple were being treated and spoken to as dogs. they began acting this way when none of them were able to withstand the Madams shrieks of flame. they could have been losing it, themselves, and were utting the anger and blame into shachter, because of her racket.

LITERARY ELEMENTS:

SIMILIES AND METAPHORS: THREE EXAMPLES INCLUDING THE FIRE MADAM SCHACHTER SEES AND WHAT IT MIGHT REPRESENT.
the fire madam shachter sees is the furnace that the jews are being cremated in.

SHORT ANSWER QUESTION
Minimum 4-5 Sentences

Why is Madame Shachter screaming? What is she screaming about? What could she be predicting?

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Detail everything you know about them (physical description, personality, etc.):

Moishe the Beadle: he has a very religious jew who is poor and lives in sighet

Elie: a young jew boy who is very into his faith, lives with family in sighet

Elie’s Father: older man, has high hopes for his son.


SETTING:
Detail the time and place the story begins:

When does the story begin? 1941

What year is it at the end of Chapter One? 1944

Where does Elie live? sighet, transylvania 


IN-TEXT QUESTIONS:
Infer the answer from the text (Minimum 1-2 sentences):

Describe where Moishe the Beadle is taken and what happens to him. hes taken to a concentration camp and whitenesses the death and torture of jews

Describe the treatment Moishe the Beadle is given when he returns. people think hes insane and no one believes him

Describe the condition of the synagogue when the Hungarian police brings the Jewish Community there.  dirty and desecrated


LITERARY ELEMENTS:

ALLUSIONS:

The Destruction of the Temple (pg. 1):  a synagogue 

The Cabbala (pg. 4): jewish literature

The Week of Passover (pg. 8): a jewish tradition of fasting  

SIMILIES AND METAPHORS: GIVE FOUR EXAMPLES
a wind of calmness and reassurance blew through their houses (4)
the students liveed burried in their books (4)
there was no longer any joy in his eyes (4)
tears, like drops of wax, flowed from his eyes (5)
IRONY:
"was he going to wipe out a whole people?..." (6)
The celebrating of Passover in their current situation (pg. 8): 
it was nice and sunny, but german troops quickly came in and arrested jews. 

SHORT ANSWER QUESTION
Minimum 4-5 Sentences

Why don’t the Jews listen to the warnings of the danger to come? What explains their ignorant optimism?
the jewish people, like any other spiritual religion, are a people of faith. they believe that the chances of them being harmed in this war is very slim and let that get the best of them. when moshe returns from the camps with a warning of whats to come, no one believes him partly because of the festivities that are abroad, but also that they couldn't imagine that such inhumane people could possibly exist at that time and age.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

in Ray Bradbury's dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, he warns us of whats to come if we let our attention become consumed by meaningless distractions. plotless 5 minute TV programs are all that can hold the attention of this non-contributing society. The government is giving the people exactly what they want, an escape from reality to keep them happy, but what happens when that goes too far?

Mildred, the protagonist, Montag's, nugatory shell of a wife is the perfect example. she's always absorbed in her TV walls, that she thinks the lively figures on the screen are her actual family. she seems unable to feel the slightest bit of passion, as she'd much rather be either passed out in bed with earbuds silencing the outside world or consuming a plethora of the sleeping pills she somehow obtains.
sounds like a great way to live, does it not?

"I just want to be happy", seems to be the goal of most american citizens and the government does what it can to create a healthy environment, but taking everything out of life is not the answer. Mildred and most of this society have mistaken happiness for the lack of knowledge, and by doing this she is unable to really live. How can you experience happiness without the experience of pain? There is one scene where Montag, enraged by Mildred and her friends ignorance, that he pulls out a book of poems in hopes of shedding the light of what they are missing. Instead of awing at the thoughts of others, they break down in tears and feel that Montag is some sort of satanist condemning them to hell, but they couldn't even put it into words since their vocabulary is so filtered.

"Millie? does the White Clown love you? does- ... does your 'family' love you, love you very much, love you with all their heart and soul?"
"now, why would you ask a silly question like that?"
page 77, Montag begins asking Mildred the questions that count. the ones that should really make you think, but she's so hallow that they don't even faze her; and her moment of confusion passes. she's content with how her life is, simply because its all she's ever experienced. she's nothing more than a zombie, just going through the motions.
"He felt he wanted to cry, but nothing would happen to his eyes or mouth".

Our lives on this planet may be the longest thing any of us will ever experience, but they're so short and insignificant that its completely useless to waste your time by letting your inner being, your soul, the one thing that differentiated Hitler from Gandhi, Saddam Hussain from Socrates, become engulfed by even more insignificance. Our society is reading less and less, our society is losing culture, our society is fading away and losing what made it as great as it was once deemed. we're sacrificing our freedom for cheap kicks and false inner peace and Ray Bradbury saw this back in the 1953 and its just becoming more and more apparent. The book was even banned at one point, not too long after its release, which further show how closely related our society is to theirs. i mean, how can you ban knowledge? I'm going to end this with another warning, written by some bodacious dudes in 1973, a few years before the media was taken over by Twerking and heartless jingles.

                                                   long you life; and high you fly
                                              smiles you'll give; and tears you'll cry
                                                   all you touch and all you see
                                                     is all your life; will ever be 






 


Monday, December 1, 2014


In Ray Bradbury’s dystopian Novel, Fahrenheit 451, we are given a warning of what’s to come if we trade thought engaging books and teachings for five minute TV shows without the slightest plot and other meaningless distractions. The character, Mildred, is the lead character, Montag’s, nugatory shell of a wife who lets technology completely control her life and doesn’t take the time to think about anything at all. She’s unable to feel passion due to the plethora of sleeping pills the government supplies everyone and love is a lost concept to her and she isn’t even aware of it. Looking at today, technology is controlling our lives and we are all beginning to read less and less in scientific studies. We are already losing culture, and actual meaning in leisure like music and TV is becoming more and more vacant. We’re walking on a slippery slope, and if we aren’t careful we could all slip and fall into that absent-mindedness Ray Bradbury portrays in Mildred.