(Intro)
After I read the book Night, I told my mom about it, and she recommended a different book to me about WWII, but this time the situation was a little different. She told me the book was called Unbroken, and gave me a quick summary of the story. My mom said it was about Louis Zamperini, who was an American Olympic track runner, who was drafted into the army. Then she went on the describe that one day Louis's team went out on a mission and never returned, and she finished there, not wanting to give to much information away. Immediately I began to read the book because I was hooked from what I had just heard. The book was so similar to Night that I had to read it because Night was such a great story. I hope the book really lives up to my expectations.
(Middle)
So far, so good. Unbroken is a great book, full of so much tension and action, it's a perfect combination. However, the book does its job in getting the point across about the brutality of the Japanese Army. To fill you guys in on what has happened, Louie has joined the army, and when on a mission, their plane crashes in the ocean. Louie and three others survive, and are stranded out at sea for 47 days! He and the others learned how to survive on such little supplies for a long period of time. Eventually, Louie and his friend floated to an island, an island that was under the control of the Japanese. They were discovered by a Japanese ship and brought to shore. There they were thrown into a Prisoner of War camp, with at least 100 other Americans. It was there where Louie met his demise, "The Bird". The Bird was the Japanese general who led the camp, and right from the start, Louie was on The Bird's bad side.
"We’d line up while each noncom was forced to walk down the line striking
an officer with his fist. After each punch, the Bird shouted, “Next!”
It became a maniacal chant: “Next-next-next...” When our men hit easy
he’d club them on the head. We’d whisper, “Look, hit us once. Hard.”
Then we’d go down and the Bird was satisfied. So were we, preferring to
be hit by our own men than by anyone Japanese" (Hillenbrand 139). This is just the beginning of the cruel actions that the Bird did on the American troops. Sometimes, Louie would get beaten for over 10 minutes. This really shows how there really is no limit on what we believe is morally correct. To the Bird, he was doing the right thing and teaching Louie a lesson. However, Louie wouldn't be taught. No matter how hard he was beaten, he wouldn't go down until he would black out. That;s how brutal the Bird was in the POW camp. I can't wait to keep reading.
(End)
What a great story! No doubt that Unbroken is one of my favorite books, and Louis Zamperini is one of my favorite people. So many time in the story Louie could've given up. He could've given up on track when he wasn't good enough. He could've given up on the raft and realized he wasn't going to make it. He could've given up when the Bird would beat him time and time again. He could've given up when he would wake up screaming after the war, dreaming of the Bird still beating him. However, that wasn't the type of person Louie really was. He was determined and resilient. I think that resilience is one of the most evident and strongest themes in the book. Louie showed unbelievable strength in every aspect he could.
In my opinion, the part of the book where he is the most resilient is in the end of the story, after he is liberated from the POW camp. Back home, he deals with a serious case of post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD for short. He became depressed, and each day sank deeper and deeper into a whole that already was extremely deep. Many times he though about killing himself, but he never got around to it because of how resilient he was. Instead, he took up prayer, and going to church, and preaching to the Lord. This was probably the best thing he could've done because later, the dreams of the Bird went away, and he began to patch up the whole of depression that he once had. In the end, Unbroken is a phenomenal book for anyone in the class because of the lessons it teaches about history and resilience.
Below is a video of Louis Zamperini discussing his story. Enjoy!
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Night
(Intro)
For my first free choice book, I began to read Night by Elie Wiesel. I did a report on Elie Wiesel's Nobel Prize Speech, and this book came up when we were researching facts about Elie. That's when I felt the urge to read this book. I have never read a book about WWII, and I only had true knowledge on some aspects of the Holocaust. However, I wanted to learn more. I wanted to learn what it was like in the concentration camps, and even the death camps that were set up all over Europe. I believe I chose the right book with Night. I am very interested to go inside the Holocaust to see what a life was like in the camps and throughout the entire war.
(Middle)
Wow. That is all I can say after reading a good majority of the book. I can't explain the emotions that I have towards this book and towards the Jews who had to go through what Elie and others had to. So far, I have read about the Jews getting rounded up by the Germans, put on a train, and transported to the concentration camps. The concentration camp that Elie went to wasn't a terrible camp. The were treated very fairly, given a good portion of food, and didn't have to work as much as some of the other concentration camps. At that point in the book, I thought Elie was one of the lucky ones who had been taken to a decent camp, when others were forced to struggle. Then, selections came, and Elie and his family, along with many others, were transferred to Auschwitz. Right when they got their, the description of the Holocaust that I more commonly heard came about.
When they got off of the train, the immediately passed the crematory, where they burned bodies to ashes. Then, Elie sees a child get thrown in, who seemed to be still living. The next day, a little boy was hanged, and something terrible happened to that boy. "Where is God? Where is He?” someone behind me asked. ..For more than half an hour [the child in the noose] stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: “Where is God now?” And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows. . . .” (Wiesel 87). The death of the children symbolizes the death of Elie’s own childhood and innocence. The suffering Elie sees and experiences during the Holocaust transforms his view of the world. Before the war, he cannot imagine questioning his God. Before being taken to this camp and seeing the brutal harm done to children, men, and women, he would never question his core beliefs and values. However after, his innocence has been ripped away, and he has completely changed.
(End)
I am not going to lie, I rooted for Elie and his father the entire time to make it out of the camp alive. The brutal occurrences that took place in Auschwitz made you connect with Elie and all of the others because of the emotional effects that overwhelmed their fading spirits. They had to endure beatings, starvation, freezing cold nights, long, hard, laborious work, and all while watching people die everyday. The pain in unheard of, and no one was ever the same after seeing all of the torture that when on in these death camps. Elie was one of them.
One day, the day after he lost one of his family members, he looked at himself in the mirror for the first time since being taken to the ghettos in his hometown. "One day I was able to get up, after gathering all my strength. I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me" (Wiesel 143). This is a very clear statement in itself, and quite obvious to analyze what Elie was trying to say. Even though the physical war is over, his body is in essence, dead. His soul was killed while experiencing the brutality of the Nazi's. Even though this quote has a very negative tone to it, it symbolizes a metaphoric liberation for Elie. It symbolizes him separating himself from his empty shell that he had gained throughout WWII. Although the image of the corpse will always stay with him, but he has found a sense of identity that will endure beyond the Holocaust.Great book, i recommend it to everyone if you want to learn a little something more about the Holocaust that gives you a first hand account.
For my first free choice book, I began to read Night by Elie Wiesel. I did a report on Elie Wiesel's Nobel Prize Speech, and this book came up when we were researching facts about Elie. That's when I felt the urge to read this book. I have never read a book about WWII, and I only had true knowledge on some aspects of the Holocaust. However, I wanted to learn more. I wanted to learn what it was like in the concentration camps, and even the death camps that were set up all over Europe. I believe I chose the right book with Night. I am very interested to go inside the Holocaust to see what a life was like in the camps and throughout the entire war.
(Middle)
Wow. That is all I can say after reading a good majority of the book. I can't explain the emotions that I have towards this book and towards the Jews who had to go through what Elie and others had to. So far, I have read about the Jews getting rounded up by the Germans, put on a train, and transported to the concentration camps. The concentration camp that Elie went to wasn't a terrible camp. The were treated very fairly, given a good portion of food, and didn't have to work as much as some of the other concentration camps. At that point in the book, I thought Elie was one of the lucky ones who had been taken to a decent camp, when others were forced to struggle. Then, selections came, and Elie and his family, along with many others, were transferred to Auschwitz. Right when they got their, the description of the Holocaust that I more commonly heard came about.
When they got off of the train, the immediately passed the crematory, where they burned bodies to ashes. Then, Elie sees a child get thrown in, who seemed to be still living. The next day, a little boy was hanged, and something terrible happened to that boy. "Where is God? Where is He?” someone behind me asked. ..For more than half an hour [the child in the noose] stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man asking: “Where is God now?” And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows. . . .” (Wiesel 87). The death of the children symbolizes the death of Elie’s own childhood and innocence. The suffering Elie sees and experiences during the Holocaust transforms his view of the world. Before the war, he cannot imagine questioning his God. Before being taken to this camp and seeing the brutal harm done to children, men, and women, he would never question his core beliefs and values. However after, his innocence has been ripped away, and he has completely changed.
 |
| Auschwitz: Extermination Camp for the Jews |
(End)
I am not going to lie, I rooted for Elie and his father the entire time to make it out of the camp alive. The brutal occurrences that took place in Auschwitz made you connect with Elie and all of the others because of the emotional effects that overwhelmed their fading spirits. They had to endure beatings, starvation, freezing cold nights, long, hard, laborious work, and all while watching people die everyday. The pain in unheard of, and no one was ever the same after seeing all of the torture that when on in these death camps. Elie was one of them.
One day, the day after he lost one of his family members, he looked at himself in the mirror for the first time since being taken to the ghettos in his hometown. "One day I was able to get up, after gathering all my strength. I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me" (Wiesel 143). This is a very clear statement in itself, and quite obvious to analyze what Elie was trying to say. Even though the physical war is over, his body is in essence, dead. His soul was killed while experiencing the brutality of the Nazi's. Even though this quote has a very negative tone to it, it symbolizes a metaphoric liberation for Elie. It symbolizes him separating himself from his empty shell that he had gained throughout WWII. Although the image of the corpse will always stay with him, but he has found a sense of identity that will endure beyond the Holocaust.Great book, i recommend it to everyone if you want to learn a little something more about the Holocaust that gives you a first hand account.
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