Who's On Top?- Holocaust Group Blog

In all the books we read in the Holocaust Literature Book Club, the Nazis fight to be on top, and are struggling to gain more and more power. Everyone is so self absorbed that they believe that they are superior to all others, and that you can simply call everyone else animals and inhumane and that makes you better. To call a group of people scum and worthless does not have the power to make them scum or worthless. So many times in history races have decided that they are superior and have the right to power, and this means that they can simply kill other at will. This is so clearly not the case, and to call one group of people superior to another is so clearly wrong. People in the war, and now, are so self absorbed and in this state of mind where they or whatever group of people they fall into is better than that of others, whether or not they even realize it.

People will always wonder how one person could ever lose themselves so much that they have the ability to, as we read in "Maus", grab a child and smash him or her against a brick wall until they are dead, because they are crying? How could they not see the face of a brother, sister, son, daughter, or childhood friend? They are so caught up in saving their own lives, that it is not very hard to believe others are worthless and not as important, it becomes so easy to just say 'this child is an animal' and even if you don't believe in that, to many its much easier than risking their own lives. To so many young men, they could fight for the Nazi's, which seemed like the better choice for staying alive, or be at risk. They may not have realized it, but to go against what is right for your own individual strength or 'safety' is selfish. When the time comes, I realized while reading these books, almost every person, decided that they were quite simply, better, than everyone else and was able to put their own security before that of another one person, or even another group of people. In addition, when Jews needing protection came to the door of most families, they were shut out. This choice seemed logical and reasonable, yet to an entirely selfless person, one who was thinking of others needs in such an awful times, sending Jews away would have seemed like the wrong thing.

I also began to think of the idea of groups of beings as more superior than others. People, in general, regard themselves as the most important form of life. Maybe not scientifically, but in the worth of life, we regard ourselves as the highest. The things done at the holocaust are disgusting and sick, and almost ever person today knows that. But I realized such horrors are done to other species every day. We may consider ourselves the most important, simply because we are the most intelligent and the most advanced, but does that give us the right to go around killing other animals that feel physical pain as well as we do? Just because Germany's armies gained the most power they still had no right to kill of other humans. I know that it is not quite to the same horrific extent, but just because we are the most advanced species do we have the right to consider the head of another species, like a deer, a trophy we can put above our fireplace? Does it make it right to care so little about a fox, that humans will skin them alive and leave them dead, for the mere pleasure of wearing a fur jacket? It is not as extreme and sick as what Nazis did, especially because they committed the most disgusting crimes to their own species, but does it make it okay to do things like that to another living being because they are not as intelligent or the same as you?I began thinking about this, when in Maus 2, Vladek is talking about the poison used in gas chambers (which is also in bug spray), and then goes and kills a mosquito with he same poison used to kill his friends. Are humans selfish enough to regard themselves as so special that they get the right to do that to others not as strong or with as much power as them?

I think that through reading these books about The Holocaust I realized how much self centered people made all those things possible, and how the people needed to stand together for one another, yet very few had the courage to put something at risk for the good of everyone. In addition, the idea of who is the most important and who gets the most power obviously played a huge role with the Nazis considering the Jews animals and calling themselves more important, and I began thinking about what impact that idea of who's on top plays today. What should define who as more power, and therefore has the right to kill the less powerful at will?

Poetry Reading Response- “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”

Maddy Stutt 809 ELA Ms. Robbins

Poetry Reading Response- “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”

The poem “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas was originally written about the death of thomas’s father. The poem also seems to be more important and through his father’s death I think Thomas is sending a message to all people who ,ade the same mistake as his father. I think that the main theme of the song is the idea that no matter who you are your life must be something worth fighting for, and you cannot keep going in the face of wrong, you must stand up and fight for your life and what you believe in. many lines from the poem were supportive of the message. Also, Thomas seems to use repetition to help show the message of the poem.

First, Thomas includes repetition in two parts of the poem to help show the message that you have to fight for your life and live it to the fullest. He repeats two lines ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’ and ‘Rage, rage against the dying of the light.’ Because he repeats them, they seem to stand out as the most important lines, which draws the reader to them. Both lines have similar themes. They start with a feeling of distress and anger through ‘Rage, rage’ and ‘Do not go gentle.’ Then, they both end with a sense of darkness. When the two parts are put together they mean that you have to fight and shouldn’t go along with bad things, or just go into the dark without a fight. The way Thomas repeats those two lines so they stand out helps draw the reader of the poem to them, and analyze them more deeply to help support the message. In addition Thomas mentions a figure, repeating it over and over at the beginning of stanzas 2, 3, and 4. In each one he says ‘men’ paired with an adjective. He uses ‘good men,’ ‘wild men,’ and ‘grave men.’ Like the two lines from before, repetition is used to stress importance on the people mentioned. Thomas did this because the rest of each stanza metaphorically all shows the men all making the mistake of not letting themselves shine and simply fading away. The adjectives good, wild, and grave all show very different feelings, which makes me think that by repeating the idea of using a group of mean Thomas is showing that anyone, and everyone, should be fighting for life.

In addition, the theme of the poem stood out through a few key lines. The fist one was the second line of the third stanza ‘their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay.’ This line metaphorically says that all of ones good accomplishments, or ‘frail deeds’ could have shone and been recognized by people, and ‘danced in a green bay.’ This idea of  ‘dancing in a green bay,’ shows light and happiness that could have happened, yet never did, because the people never put in any effort, or fought to make their lives great. Also, in the fourth stanza the line ‘blind eyes could have blazed like meteors’ stands out and helps show the theme of the poem. The idea of being blind helps to symbolize the people that aren’t living or fighting for life and is not trying to see life for the opportunity that it is. The second half of the line shows that the hollow, empty eyes, could be blazing with emotion. Basically, it means that the people who weren’t living there lives, could have had fulfilling lives and yet they did not put in any effort and are left ‘blind.’

In conclusion, the idea portrayed in the poem ‘Do Not go Gentle into that good Night’ by Dylan Thomas is that you have to make your life worth living for and live it to the fullest. The poem has made me think deeper about humanity because of the way it refers to people living their lives as if they have no end. I realized how often people say “Oh, maybe next time,” to new experiences, yet very few people think about the fact that there might not be a next time.  It makes me stop and think that humans need to take more advantage of everything that is given to them, and think about how ‘well’ everyone is living their own life. Maybe people should start doing and trying new things, because as Thomas says, time runs out, and sometimes, there is no ‘next time.’

Book Club Post- Maus

'Maus' by Art Spiegelman-

In the book club we are currently reading the first of the two Maus books, this one is called "My Father Bleeds History" by Art Spiegelman. They are the true story of Spiegelmans father, Vladek, and his time through Auschwitz and the Ghetto's. The book is all done as a comic where the officers are pigs, Nazi's are cats, and the Jew's and civilians are mice. Although it is a comic, the book is still an intense, very real, true story of a Holocaust survivor. The pictures are done witout color and to me are never very happy or lighthearted. It is done through clips times of Vladek telling Art his story in the 1970's or so and clips from during the war. The book gives you a much more real retell of the war and makes you feel as though you are very close to Vladek and could have been with him the whole way. While reading I began noticing a connection between how Vladek becomes... almost like a hoarder and saves everything and is a little crazy and during the war the sense of desperation he and everyone else around him had.

During the book I realized the characters did so many impulsive, crazy things that were horrible an at first i was confused at why they would act like that. Towards the beginning- middle of the book I began to realize that it was because they were so desperate that sometimes, they really had no other choice. On page 109 Tosha kills three children that she loves and then takes her own life to avoid being gassed. She felt as though she had no other way out and had no control over anything, and her only option was to kill them all. People keep having to do crazy things, all because in a world turned so upside down there was just nothing else to do. Also, on page 114 Vladek has to pay his own cousin to save their lives. That war changed the way people though and how relationships worked. Today, saving a loved one is something you just do it's not something done as a job. I think that anyone going through and who lived in a world like this can never be left untouched. I know Spiegelman also encountered horrors, but I believe even if he hadn't just living around people in that state of mind would leave you with affects. For Spiegelman I began noticing that he was incredibly stingy and could never get rid of or buy anything. For example, Mala says that he put her on a $50 a month budget, and thats his own WIFE! Also, Mala says that in restaurants he would bring home toilet paper just so he didn't have to buy it. I think this comes from how life was in the war.

 In the war everyone was so desperate just to have essential things such as food or toilet paper. Because Vladek witnessed and went through all this, it has left him with the fear that maybe it could happen again or just the state of mind that he still must act the same way. I began to think that maybe he is  thinking about how desperate people were for anything and everything and how impulsively they acted and because he still hasn't and never really will be able to move on, he is still living in that mindset.