Great Works of Literature II

I just wanted to bring back that story because it was one of my most favorite readings we had this semester. It was something different from what we been reading because it actually had a happy ending with “true love.” Although, the process on how they ended up happily together was a messed up one. It started off with them both being married then committing adultery. They had to meet up secretly and keep their love “under wraps” because cheating on a spouse is immoral. However, in a way they story makes it seem like the affair was okay because it was based on them and not the view of their spouses.

Anyways, I was thinking how this story reminded me of Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. In Madame Bovary, the main character Madame Bovary commits adultery. Her reason for adultery is because she married at a young age then felt unloved by her husband as the marriage went on. The only reason this reminded me of The Lady with the Dog is because of the affair but there was a tragic ending.

The Lady with the Dog also reminded me of a movie I saw titled, Cheri. Its about a young man named Cheri, who falls in love with a much older woman. She returns the love but then Cheri is arranged to get married with a lady his own age by his mother. They are miserable without one another after Cheri goes on a long honeymoon with his young wife. When he returns, his much older woman went on a vacation of her own to avoid him. They were in denial of their true feelings by trying to stay away from each other. This part reminded me of when the lady with the dog went back to her husband. Just like the story, in the movie Cheri and the older woman reunite but unlike the story, they do not end up together.

I just really like romantic stories and was glad we got to read this but I wish we could have read more…

For some reason, when reading this, it reminded me of a show I once watched. I forgot the name of the show, but the theme was psychology and it was about giving situations where people are abusing their girlfriends in public, and the point was to see if people around them would notice and take duty into getting involved.

When we were talking about in class about the narrator and what his feelings were during the Holocaust, it reminded me of the limited power he was in. Many people did not get involved with a relationship where the man is abusing his girlfriend in public when he looked like a strong man and fearless. This makes me think about this reading that we did because the reason the narrator could not do anything to prevent what was happening was because he feared the leaders, and feared for his own life what would happen to him.

Of course, these experiments were done intentionally, and they had changed the boyfriend into a puny little whimp. When that happened, when people in public noticed the abuse the girlfriend was taking (smacking, cursing at her) they stepped up and got involved.

If the Nazi regime and the leaders were like the little puny whimp, the narrator would more than likely stand up for the actions being brought up upon the people.

However, you can never see a little person starting a genocide war anyway.

It is a massacre, the most horrible and ruthless, inhumane event in history. Borowski captures the very essence of this event, his time at the camps. It shows that morality is meaningless when your life is on the line. In order to save his own life, he follows the orders of the SS-man. Even if he was not a jew, he still suffered consequences that follows him even after the war was over. Mentally he was unable to handle all the things he participated in, because morality and humanity was still lingering inside him and was eating away at his conscience. This war, the holocaust effected everyone in a negative way and there’s no way around it. They were stuck there at the camps unable to have their freedom and the only way for Borowski to survive is to trample on those that are weaker.

The books that I’ve read so far regarding the Holocaust (including Night) basically told the experiences of Jews. So, I actually found it quite interesting to read the perspective of a Polish man who actually aided in the process of helping Jews face their deaths.. While he did not bear so much torture and extreme hostility during the Holocaust, I feel that his position within the concentration camp brought him just as much torture, and the more he witnessed people suffering, or the more he worked, the more he was burdened with guilt. Having to witness the horrible things that humans are capable of, having to see those Jews being treated as less than human beings and having to help them endure that torture made him break. Furthermore, the fact that he could do nothing to help prevent any of this, or even help some of those Jews, just made things worse for him. This shows that when it comes to trying to save your own life, you’re willing to do almost anything, regardless of how inhumane it may be. I think that the author was well aware of this fact all along, and as time progressed I think that the guilt was just eating away at him. He even becomes uncertain of how to view himself because morals no longer play a huge role, and this shows that Jews were not the only ones who underwent major change and lost all hope. For instance, just as Jews were dehumanized, people who were forced to help Jews endure their fate were slowly becoming less human as well, throwing away morality and ethics, becoming more detached from everyone else and growing less concerned about what it is they’re really doing..

The effects of the Holocaust expand beyond the execution of millions of Jews.. This story is proof that it also took a major toll on people who helped carry out this massacre.

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This story was very deep and saddening. Borowski’s tone is somewhat sarcastic and serious at the same time as he starts off. It is as if he doesn’t want to describe the molded bread that was available in too much horror and so he takes an alternate route, but still gets his point across. Most of the time though, he was describing the horrific conditions in the camps and the gas chamber which was the ultimate end of one’s life. Borowski talked about the tiny area they inhabited and the type of events the prisoners would endure only to know that at the end, they were only going to face death in the eye not too long after. Borowski takes somewhat of a very serious tone as he describes a young, beautiful lady who asks him where she is going before jumping on the cart that heads to the gas chamber. Borowski turns to a critical tone and goes into a lot of depth and thoughts about his life and the lives of others in the camp. This ties in strong with Borowski’s own suicide and the fact that he thought of his straw mattress as the best thing in the world as he was laying on cool iron with his dreams and hopes soon to be shattered within a matter of minutes. The story was brilliantly depicted in telling us the story of the prisoners of the Holocaust.

Hi all,

Just a reminder that class is canceled on Tuesday. We will see each other next on Thursday, December 9. Please make sure to read Borowski, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Gas Chamber (pages 2770-2786).

As for your final exam (which is on 12/16, 8AM to 10AM)–I think you probably want to bring at least the last 2 volumes of the text book (E,F)–it wouldn’t hurt to bring all three. I will be giving you a lot of freedom with regards to which texts you write about.

EJK

My first thought of this story was that it was a really boring reading. I discovered that because the economy was bad in Japan, they had to take jobs that payed better, like the teaching job in the American School.

This story takes place is right after World War II, when Japan was suffering a bad economy and there were a lot of American bases in Japan. The story begins with four people: Yamada, Isa and Michiko and Shibamoto. The four of them is planning to walk eight miles to an American School while dressed nicely. As the story went on, it was really satirical. This story is satirical because Japanese people are trying to teach English, in their Native country, Japan. Isa is trying to be an English teacher when he is scared of speaking English. Yamada is trying to get involved with American culture. Michiko also tries to be American by dressing like one. Throughout the story, the characters seem to lose identity of their culture. Even though the characters are in a Japanese Country, they try to be American.

Yes, if your are planning to read Girl with the dragon tattoo or any of the sequel books, there are spoilers in this blog post, so try to hide yourself from reading this!

When Grete blossoms into a young girl, it reminds me of Lisbeth Salander of Girl with the dragon tattoo – Girl who plays with fire.

Grete blossoms into an independent woman who used to rely on Gregor and her family. Lisbeth Salander reminds me of her. Although Lisbeth was under different circumstances being that her mother dies and she is deemed “psycho”, she always relied on people such as the little club she was in and her psychologists.

But the thing that reminds me of Grete when I read about Lisbeth is that Lisbeth has grown into a girl depending on her psychologists to help her financially, keep her intact in the world. Although her first psychologist is really a nice man who sees something in Lisbeth, he still controls her finances and such. However, Lisbeth starts to wonder why she needs to be deemed a “psycho” and she wants to become independent. She wants control of her finances and she wants to judge her life.

She does so by removing scars from her life, a tattoo that reminds her of her past, and the piercings on her skin. This removing is symbolic to removing the chains of dependency and opens herself to freedom, just like Grete.