Genocide Presentations

     I think that the most important thing that I learned during this project was that these events happened. Most of the genocides that we learned about I had never heard of before. I think that students should learn about previous genocides because it is important to know what happened, in case another genocide was to happen again, people would be able to possibly recognize certain stages of the genocide. If people recognize the earlier stages of a genocide it can be easier to be able to prevent the next stages from happening. 

     One connection that I was able to make was that some people were placed in camps. During the stages of a genocide there is a stage where people get put into camps, it is during the middle stages of a genocide. During two my peer’s presentations it was brought up that during some genocides people were put into camps, these genocides were the Ugandan and the Bosnian genocide. People from these genocides were put into camps. I think that people were sent to camps because it was a way to show the people who were sent to these camps that they didn’t matter.

     A second connection that I made was that some countries, governments, and people denied that some genocides happened. While watching one of my peer’s presentations on the Ukrainian genocide, I noticed that they mentioned that the Soviet Union denied that the genocide happened. I made a connection with the genocide that my partner and I researched, the Armenian genocide. My partner and I were able to find out that the Turkish Government did not admit that the genocide happened. I don’t know why some countries, governments, and people choose not to admit that these events happened. I wonder why they choose not to admit to what previously happened?

My Book Club Book

     Elie Wiesel’s experiences during the Holocaust changed him because he gained maturity. When reading the book, Night by Elie Wiesel you are able to see that during the beginning of the story he was very dependent on his parents. He relied on his parents for food, water, shelter, etc. But, once the Holocaust began Elie and his father were separated from his mom and sisters. Elie and his father were not by each other’s side in the camps the entire time but, the were at the same camps.

     On page 107 you can see that this did allow Elie to be able to make some of his own decisions like, “I gave him what was left of my soup.” This shows that Elie has grown up because, if he was a little kid he would have possibly said that he was hungry and kept it for himself. But, since he is older he gave up the rest of his soup to give to his dad because he cared about him, and that shows maturity.

     Not only does that show maturity but, it also shows that he is caring. And being caring also ties in with being mature. After this point on he also went on to become independent because he was on his own for some of the time and did make a few decisions on his own.

     The Holocaust also changed Elie because he no longer cared about his survival. At the beginning of the book he was like any typical person, wanting to live a long and happy life. But, once he arrived in the concentration camps life got much harder. Elie struggle to live in life in the camps. They were not given much food or water. They also had to work for many long hours. Elie was able to survive because the one thing that motivated him to do this was his father, but unfortunately his father died.

     Found on page 113, Elie says that, “Since my father’s death, nothing mattered to me anymore.” This affected him a lot because up until his father’s death he felt a small bit of motivation, and that motivation was his father. But, when his father died he no longer cared if he survived. There was nothing that motivated him to keep on going.

     Elie ended up changing from these events because at the end of the book after his father died he no longer cared about anything, not even himself. He had been threw so much work and forced to walk for a long time. His father was his motivation and after his father died Elie didn’t care about anything anymore.

Berlin Memorial

     Today in class I learned about Nuremberg Laws. We saw how the laws took away many Jewish rights and freedoms. The Nuremberg laws were targeting Jews. For example, In 1933 many Jews were discharged from their jobs. Many of the jobs that let go Jewish employees in 1933 were jobs that involved other people. An example would be that teachers where released from their jobs. This affected many Jewish people because they didn’t have a job anymore and they needed money to be able to provide not only for themselves, but possibly for their family.

     I think that the monument was built because it was to honor and show a sign of respect to all the Jews that died and suffered during the Holocaust. The Holocaust lasted about 4 years. Millions of people died. I think that they made the monument because they want to honor them by building a monument to let the survivors them know that we respect them and feel deeply sorry for what they had gone threw.

     I noticed in the laws that some years had a lot more laws made than others. The laws were created and many of the laws targeted Jews. For example in the activity that we did we did not see every law created in every year, but, we did see that some years had more laws than others. An example of this would be in 1937 there were very few laws. Then the next year in 1938 there was a lot more laws compared to 1937. This may have affected Jews because as the years progresses they were losing more of their rights and freedoms.

     I think that the law I would have the biggest problem with would have to be that pets would be taken away. The law that took away the pets of Jewish people was created in 1942. I love my dog and I would be very sad if she was taken away. I think that the people who did get their pets taken away were probably very upset. This may have been a big challenge for them because after their pets were taken away they may have possibly felt, depressed, or lonely because they missed their pet.

Quarter Two Reflections

     My favorite book that I read this quarter was Of Mice and Men. This was my favorite book that I read this quarter because friendship was shown dramatically throughout the book. I liked seeing how dedicated George and Lennie were to each other. I also feel like it teaches people a good life lesson on friendship.

     Since the new year I have been reading more. I typically don’t really like to read, but I have found a interest in my book so I have been more motivated to read. I am reading Anne Frank the Diary of a Young Girl it is about what her and her family’s life was like during WWII. I haven’t finished reading yet, but I am excited to continue reading.

     My biggest improvement from quarter two was my essay, because I have previously written essays but with not as many body paragraphs. I really liked the way my essay came out, and I think it flowed really well.
   
     Some strategy that benefited me was having friends to help motivate me to finish. I have also been focusing and paying attention more. Another strategy that I have used is just being motivated by the work. Recently we read short articles about different topics and I really enjoyed reading those. It made me more motivated to keep reading them.

Comments: Leilanie’s Blog, Stephanie’s Blog, Delilah’s Blog

‘Anne Frank the Diary of a Young Girl’

     So far in the book Anne Frank the Diary of a Young Girl, Anne and her family have had to move from their house into a office building. In the office they currently live with a few other families, and are debating letting two more people stay. They had to move out of their house because Anne’s sister Margot was sent a letter,”...Margot told me that the call-up was not for Daddy, but for her” (Anne Frank 14). Anne’s parents decided that Margot should not go. Soon after they moved into the office building to hide. If there was ever a knock on the door they did not know whether to answer it or hide.

     So far throughout the story Anne Frank expresses much about herself. She shares he feelings, emotions, and thoughts. But, it makes me wonder did she ever feel afraid that someone might find her diary? In her diary she talks about what the office looks like and she mentions where their hiding spot is, “The right-hand door leads to our “Secret Annexe.” No one would ever guess that there would be so many rooms hidden behind that plain gray door. There’s a little step in front of the door and then you are inside” (Anne Frank 18). If someone was looking for Jews to take away this could have affected everyone in the building because they would know exactly where to find them.

     As I was reading I learned some interesting facts that made me wonder a bit. One fact that I learned about was his Anne, her family, and all the other families lived in a dark office building. While they were in the building they couldn’t be loud or make much noise because they didn’t want to be noticed. Anne and Margot were at the door when, “Each time the bell went, Margot or I had to creep softly down to see if it was Daddy, not opening the door to anyone else” (Anne Frank 14). I think this mainly affected Anne and her sister, Margot, because they are still at a young age where they want to have fun and be loud. But, they are unfortunately not able to do so. If they do get noticed  they would most likely be taken away to a concentration camp.

‘Of Mice and Men’ Conflicts

     One conflict in the book is Man vs. Man, Lennie is extremely dependent on George. After Lennie’s aunt died George took Lennie in, basically as his family. Since then George has felt as if Lennie was his responsibility. I think that Lennie is extremely dependent on George, for example, in the book Curley started a fight with Lennie. Lennie was waiting for George to give him instructions for what to do. He didn’t start defending himself until George told him to. This could possibly cause future consequences because if something ever happens to George, Lennie will be completely clueless on what to do. So, I think that George needs to start teaching Lennie on how to become more independent, it would be a benefit for both of them.

     Another conflict in the book is Man vs. Man, and it is between Carlson and Candy. During the third chapter Carlson convinced Candy to let him kill his dog. This is a big turning point in Candy’s life because he said that he had the dog with him since the dog was a puppy. I think that Candy might possibly go into a dark place because he misses his dog so much. I also think that he will have a bad relationship with Carlson because to Candy he will just be known as the guy who killed his dog. If Candy is to go into a dark place I think that it will effect how he acts at work, because typically when people are sad they don’t put much effort into things and they may just want to be left alone.

‘Of Mice and Men’

     The atmosphere of the ranch and bunkhouse was pretty average. What I mean by this is that everybody seems to be pretty calm, but there was a little bit of tension between Lennie and Curley. We were introduced to a lot of new characters. Some characters were informally introduced, those characters I think are, Slim, Carlson, Swamper. They are considered informally introduced because they either came into a conversation, or they were talked about during another conversation. We were formally introduced to a few characters. Those characters are George, Lennie, Curley’s wife, Curley, and the boss. These characters are considered formally introduced because we were given a little background knowledge of them, or they joined a conversation and introduced themself.

     I think that the message John Steinbeck is trying to send about Curley’s wife is that she is mysterious. None of the men who knew she was Curley’s wife actually knew what her name was. I also noticed that none of them asked what her name was. When Curley asked which way she had gone to George he didn’t mention her name either. I think that he is trying to make her mysterious because she might have something to do possibly with the conflict. When she came in to ask the men if they knew where Curley was she didn’t explain her reason to why she wanted to speak with him. Maybe she was there to do something bad, which could also impact the conflict possibly.

     My overall impression so far of the book is that it is pretty interesting. I say this because so far we don’t know much about any of the characters, except for George and Lennie. So since we don’t know much about the book it makes you a little more interested to keep turning the page and see what happens next. I think that we are going to start learning about what the conflict is because we have met a lot of the characters already. I also think that we are moving past the exposition and going into the inciting action.