Maus and Night Comparison
Zach Gardner
The books Maus by Art Spiegelman and Night by Elie Wiesel both observe the tragic events of the Holocaust. They are very different stories in the way each story tells its line of events. Though they have the same main idea (the Holocaust), they differ in the way the characters explain the atrocity of the death of millions of innocent people. Maus doesn't even start with anything to do with the Holocaust, but more of a short prequel. It is all about how the main character's normal life is completely ordinary and it slowly eases in to the mishap. In contrast, Night starts off pretty much right to the point, and that being the beginning of it all when Jewish people start to disappear and more and more mouths continue to exchange frightful rumors. At first Night and Maus seem different, but they have a much more important similarity and that is both tell the story of events of what the Jews did just to stay alive and fight for each other.
The first important similarity I noticed was that of the sorting of the uninformed Jews. In Night, Elie first gets to Auchwitz with his whole family and Elie and his father go left and and Elie's mother and sister go right, straight to the crematorium and death, completely uninformed of their fate. This also happens in Maus at the gates of Auchwitz beneath the sign 'Arbeit Macht Frei,' which means 'work makes freedom.' I think both authors did this as a form of foreshadowing to show that only the people able to WORK will be FREE from death, for some time at least. I think that the main relevancy this example has is that both stories talk about how people who were selected to go to the right ran back to the left to try to be reunited with their family members. The terrible thing is that they had no idea they would be condemned to die immediately.
Secondly, I think another important similarity is that in both stories, the Jews had places that they could hide to stay safe from the Nazis. In Maus, they have special places in attics and cellars before they were taken to Auchwitz, and also they have the tunnel of shoes while in Auchwitz. In Night however, it is a little different. In Maus, all of the hiding places were either built by them or planned ahead, while in Night it was a spur of the moment and after Elie and the other prisoners ran forty-two miles, Elie and his father found a shed and they slept in it for the night. I think that the authors wrote these stories with this specific theme of hiding as an example of fighting for freedom and showing how harsh and corrupt the Nazis were to the Jews. In my opinion, any human would go to such extreme standards and risk so much just to survive, as the Jews tried, even though the Nazis did everything to stop them.
Finally, besides the Jews helping themselves to stay alive and find their own family members, they also helped people they had never met before, because they were all in the same situation. In Maus, they are hiding in the attic before they are taken to Auchwitz and they open the chandelier and see another Jew. He says that he is just looking for his family, so Vladek and his family help him. But the problem is that he is working for the Nazis. In Night, it is the other way around, where a complete stranger helps Elie and his father. When in the sorting line, a man asks them their age, and tells them to lie about it so they will both be able to survive. Elie and his father have never met this man before, but the man knew it was the right thing to do, to help more people survive the sorting. I think that both authors depict the story this way to show that instead of each Jew being one individual person, they are all together as one body of people, to fight together. During the Holocaust, Jews didn't only help themselves, but they helped each other too.
I think that the main similarity between the books Maus and Night is that of all the fighting to stay alive and fighting for each other. I think that this similarity is really important because it shows how during the Holocaust, all of the Jews, family, friends or strangers, all fought to stay alive and stay together. In my opinion, this similarity between the stories exists because even though Elie Wiesel and Vladek Spiegelman never knew each other, they both wanted to keep their families together for as long as possible. The similarity plays into the point the authors are making by showing that no matter what happens, your family needs to stick together and they need to do that by fighting to stay alive and fighting for each other. Overall, I think that both stories have the same effect on the authors in shoing the way families fight to stay together.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Zach Gardner
Fallen Angels
War is very serious and emotional. The quote "The real question was what was I doing, what were any of us doing, in Nam" shows that once you are actually a part of the war, theres no going back and that so many emotions mix together at once and makes war serious and emotional. In my paper, I am going to talk about how emotional war is and how it affects multiple aspects of life.
"Kenny, I love you." This quote shows how some of the more serious emotions come out at unexpected times. Perry is just on patrol with the squad in the dark. It is around midnight and Perry realizes that he can't see anything or hear anyone else so he becomes scared and feels emotions such as missing his family longing to be with them. He starts to even feel angry with himself when he realizes that if he were to die in Nam, there would be no one to really look after Kenny. Perry always did most of the work in Kenny's childhood and no one would be able too if he was gone. I think Walter Dean Meyers tells the story this way because it makes the reader feel sympathetic and share emotions through the story.
"...the thought that I was going to die. I was going to die." This quote shows that Perry not only feels loving and regret towards Kenny, but also against himself. Perry is hit in the leg and wrist and he feels excruciating pain when he realizes that he is scared of dying. He doesn't feel pain from the wounds, but from the thought of death overcoming life, and being gone forever. Even though he doesn't die he feels all the pain and fear of death. This causes new emotions to come out and Perry deals with it in the situation of combat. The reason Walter Dean Meyers does this is because it shows that even though you feel pain, it doesn't mean it is physical pain.
"I didn't feel any pain, but I couldn't move." Perry describes the situation as distant. He realizes that he is hurt and can't move, but he is slow to react that he is still in combat. Even though the hears the gunfire of automatic weapons and the screams of soldiers, he feels like they are not real. I think Walter Dean Meyers does this to make the readers feel death taking Perry, and it really connects to them but when he lives it all washes away. This shows how war can be emotional and death changes everything.
Fallen Angels
War is very serious and emotional. The quote "The real question was what was I doing, what were any of us doing, in Nam" shows that once you are actually a part of the war, theres no going back and that so many emotions mix together at once and makes war serious and emotional. In my paper, I am going to talk about how emotional war is and how it affects multiple aspects of life.
"Kenny, I love you." This quote shows how some of the more serious emotions come out at unexpected times. Perry is just on patrol with the squad in the dark. It is around midnight and Perry realizes that he can't see anything or hear anyone else so he becomes scared and feels emotions such as missing his family longing to be with them. He starts to even feel angry with himself when he realizes that if he were to die in Nam, there would be no one to really look after Kenny. Perry always did most of the work in Kenny's childhood and no one would be able too if he was gone. I think Walter Dean Meyers tells the story this way because it makes the reader feel sympathetic and share emotions through the story.
"...the thought that I was going to die. I was going to die." This quote shows that Perry not only feels loving and regret towards Kenny, but also against himself. Perry is hit in the leg and wrist and he feels excruciating pain when he realizes that he is scared of dying. He doesn't feel pain from the wounds, but from the thought of death overcoming life, and being gone forever. Even though he doesn't die he feels all the pain and fear of death. This causes new emotions to come out and Perry deals with it in the situation of combat. The reason Walter Dean Meyers does this is because it shows that even though you feel pain, it doesn't mean it is physical pain.
"I didn't feel any pain, but I couldn't move." Perry describes the situation as distant. He realizes that he is hurt and can't move, but he is slow to react that he is still in combat. Even though the hears the gunfire of automatic weapons and the screams of soldiers, he feels like they are not real. I think Walter Dean Meyers does this to make the readers feel death taking Perry, and it really connects to them but when he lives it all washes away. This shows how war can be emotional and death changes everything.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Slaughterhouse-5 Rewrite
"So it goes." This quote directly describes the view this book and its author have on life. It reiterates that no matter what, memory and time will continue to go on forever. I believe that Kurt Vonnegut looks beyond reality and displays his thoughts and ideas through a fiction story. I think that Kurt Vonnegut explains that Death isn't that important, because Vonnegut's view on time is that it is the fourth dimension and that people will live on forever even if physically they are gone because they will continue to be alive in memories and time.
One example of how Vonnegut sees time as the fourth dimension is that Billy dies not at the end of the book, but about two thirds of the way through. Since Billy is the main character, a regular story would have ended when he died, but Vonnegut did this specifically to explain how time is indeed the fourth dimension and that even though physically he is dead, he is still alive in memories and time. Vonnegut uses Billy to portray his thoughts and he does it perfectly showing that even though other characters die in the book, they are still a part of the story because time is used as the fourth dimension.
"One hour later she was dead. So it goes." This quote is referring to when Billy's wife pulls up to the hospital unconscious and then dies an hour later from carbon monoxide poisoning. This is significant to the story because it shows how it is different from a regular story. If this were normal, Billy would be extremely sad when his wife died, but this is not a regular story because Billy does not grieve because he knows that he will always be able to be with her in memories and time. Since Billy continually visits Tralfamadore, he starts to see that there is no point in missing someone so much because he can always be with them in memories and time, which he learns from his time on Tralfamadore. Vonnegut shows this by explaining that Billy's friends have died but he still relives memories with them that were significant to their lives, like being in the war. So at the end Billy realizes that physically, his wife's body is dead but Vonnegut shows that she continues to exist in the past, present, and future in time and memories.
"Because this moment simply is." This quote occurs on Billy's first encounter with the Tralfamadorians and Billy has just asked why HE was chosen and the Tralfamadorians retort why US, why ANYTHING, because this moment simply IS. Then they continue to explain how beings are stuck in time are just like bugs stuck in amber. That they simply exist there and there is nothing to change. This shows Kurt Vonnegut's point because it shows how there isn't necessarily meaning for everything or anything, just that everything simply IS. This is significant because it helps Vonnegut display Billy as not really a human, but a metaphor for time. And on Billy's first visit, he starts to look beyond reality and actuality, that there are physical dimensions, and also memory and time.
"So it goes." This quote directly describes the view this book and its author have on life. It reiterates that no matter what, memory and time will continue to go on forever. I believe that Kurt Vonnegut looks beyond reality and displays his thoughts and ideas through a fiction story. I think that Kurt Vonnegut explains that Death isn't that important, because Vonnegut's view on time is that it is the fourth dimension and that people will live on forever even if physically they are gone because they will continue to be alive in memories and time.
One example of how Vonnegut sees time as the fourth dimension is that Billy dies not at the end of the book, but about two thirds of the way through. Since Billy is the main character, a regular story would have ended when he died, but Vonnegut did this specifically to explain how time is indeed the fourth dimension and that even though physically he is dead, he is still alive in memories and time. Vonnegut uses Billy to portray his thoughts and he does it perfectly showing that even though other characters die in the book, they are still a part of the story because time is used as the fourth dimension.
"One hour later she was dead. So it goes." This quote is referring to when Billy's wife pulls up to the hospital unconscious and then dies an hour later from carbon monoxide poisoning. This is significant to the story because it shows how it is different from a regular story. If this were normal, Billy would be extremely sad when his wife died, but this is not a regular story because Billy does not grieve because he knows that he will always be able to be with her in memories and time. Since Billy continually visits Tralfamadore, he starts to see that there is no point in missing someone so much because he can always be with them in memories and time, which he learns from his time on Tralfamadore. Vonnegut shows this by explaining that Billy's friends have died but he still relives memories with them that were significant to their lives, like being in the war. So at the end Billy realizes that physically, his wife's body is dead but Vonnegut shows that she continues to exist in the past, present, and future in time and memories.
"Because this moment simply is." This quote occurs on Billy's first encounter with the Tralfamadorians and Billy has just asked why HE was chosen and the Tralfamadorians retort why US, why ANYTHING, because this moment simply IS. Then they continue to explain how beings are stuck in time are just like bugs stuck in amber. That they simply exist there and there is nothing to change. This shows Kurt Vonnegut's point because it shows how there isn't necessarily meaning for everything or anything, just that everything simply IS. This is significant because it helps Vonnegut display Billy as not really a human, but a metaphor for time. And on Billy's first visit, he starts to look beyond reality and actuality, that there are physical dimensions, and also memory and time.
Friday, March 18, 2011
art of film.
I think that Stagecoach and True Grit are two completely different movies but also very similar. Stage coach is all about people traveling on a stagecoach while true grit they ride on horses to capture someone. I think that they are very different because in stagecoach, they try to run away from the enemy, the Apache, but in True Grit, the try to run into the enemy, Tom Cheney, to capture him. i think that Stagecoach is no doubt a classic western. it has all the key elements. however, i think true grit is more revisionist because the main character isnt a middle aged gunslinger, its a 14-year old girl who is trying to avenge her father.
Second, True Grit and Unforgiven are very similar. They are very similar stories. They both are trying to capture an enemy who wronged someone they know. In true grit, it is just tom cheney, who is in a gang, while in unforgiven it is two men, and one of them has a slow, painful death and he didn't even deserve it because he stopped his friend from cutting up delilah and also, he tried to give delilah his best pony, shwing that he qwants to be forgiven and he didn't deserve to die. I think the title unforgiven comes in in many ways and that being one of them. I think that both of these movie have classical western aspects but are both more revisionist than classic.
Overall, i think True Grit is a revisionist western. It does have classical western aspects, like an enemy who is the main antagonist and the protagonist is after them. and also the whole setting and misc-en-scene is very 'westerny'. how they are in the open west, kind of like the dustbowl era, lots of dry plants, dust, and dirt. And they are riding horses which is classic. i think that it is revisionist though for one main reason. The main character is a teenage girl. in stagecoach and unforgiven its a man, first of all, and second, he is between the ages of 26-66, not 14. I think it all adds to the title though, how not only cogburne has true grit, but the little girl who is trying to avenge her fathers death also. so even though it is directly stated in the movie that cogburne has true grit, really it is the girl who has true grit.
Overall, unforgiven was my favorite of the three. i think that it had a lot of classical western theme aspects, but the story adds a lot of the revisionist part.
Second, True Grit and Unforgiven are very similar. They are very similar stories. They both are trying to capture an enemy who wronged someone they know. In true grit, it is just tom cheney, who is in a gang, while in unforgiven it is two men, and one of them has a slow, painful death and he didn't even deserve it because he stopped his friend from cutting up delilah and also, he tried to give delilah his best pony, shwing that he qwants to be forgiven and he didn't deserve to die. I think the title unforgiven comes in in many ways and that being one of them. I think that both of these movie have classical western aspects but are both more revisionist than classic.
Overall, i think True Grit is a revisionist western. It does have classical western aspects, like an enemy who is the main antagonist and the protagonist is after them. and also the whole setting and misc-en-scene is very 'westerny'. how they are in the open west, kind of like the dustbowl era, lots of dry plants, dust, and dirt. And they are riding horses which is classic. i think that it is revisionist though for one main reason. The main character is a teenage girl. in stagecoach and unforgiven its a man, first of all, and second, he is between the ages of 26-66, not 14. I think it all adds to the title though, how not only cogburne has true grit, but the little girl who is trying to avenge her fathers death also. so even though it is directly stated in the movie that cogburne has true grit, really it is the girl who has true grit.
Overall, unforgiven was my favorite of the three. i think that it had a lot of classical western theme aspects, but the story adds a lot of the revisionist part.
Monday, March 7, 2011
world history
Zach Gardner
World History
McKeever, 6
Rene Descartes
I, Rene Descartes, was born on March 31, 1596 in La Haye, which is in southern France Stockholm , Sweden University of Poitiers Netherlands Netherlands
I was really into math and especially geometry. I eventually came up with the Cartesian Coordinate Plane in 1635. You may ask yourself, what could such a complicated sounding thing be? The answer is simply that it is a grid where coordinate points can be graphed individually or in groups with other coordinates. The Cartesian part comes from my last name, Descartes(ian). It is a two-dimensional grid that is formed when two perpendicular lines intersect to form a cross in the middle, which is at the point (0,0), or the origin. Then you should have four quadrants around the lines. The quadrants go counter-clockwise from the upper-right starting at one, then two, then three, and finally four. But that’s only the beginning! If you have two specific numbers, one for each line, you can make an ordered pair which is this: (x,y). X being the horizontal line and Y being the vertical line. Back to the quadrants, I- (+,+), II- (-,+), III- (-,-), and IV- (+,-). So if the ordered pair was (4,-2), it would be in quadrant IV because it has a positive then negative number. So you would go four spaces to the right, then two spaces down and the ordered pair becomes a coordinate on the Cartesian Coordinate Plane. The very interesting thing is that since numbers are infinite, so are the values of coordinates on the Cartesian Coordinate Plane. The Cartesian Coordinate Plane is my greatest achievement.
Since the Cartesian Coordinate Plane is my most important achievement, it needs to have other contributions to the world. The main contribution that my coordinate plane has had on the world is that of it being the basis for the mapping coordinate grid of the Earth, Latitude and Longitude. Without this, we would not be able to do hundreds of different things we can do today. If you were on an airplane, and the pilots didn’t have latitude and longitude they might never find the right place to land. Latitude and Longitude is directly related to my Cartesian Coordinate Plane except that the axis’ are three-dimensional with a circular shape. The Equator would represent the X-axis while the Prime Meridian represents the Y-axis. Also, the Cartesian Coordinate Plane has made all aspects of math so much easier, especially geometry and also algebra. I think that my Cartesian Coordinate Plane has had a huge impact on modern day society.
One of the most important things I did in my whole life was creating the geometrical Cartesian Coordinate Plane. Overall, it is a two-dimensional grid with two perpendicular lines that allow specific points, or coordinates, to be graphed onto the plane. It allows positive and negative points to be plotted, which is a lot like plotting things below or above the Equator or right or left from the Prime Meridian. I think that being able to alter my Cartesian Coordinate Plane to be a map of the whole world is unbelievable and outstanding and has greatly helped humanity in multiple ways. I, Rene Descartes, invented the Cartesian Coordinate Plane and it is my greatest contribution to society and its greatest effect on the world has been its conversion to Latitude and Longitude, a three-dimensional map of the world.
Bibliography-
"The Server Side." theserverside.com. N.p., 2010. Web. 16 Mar 2011. <http://www.theserverside.com/discussions/thread.tss?thread_id=11742
"Cartesian Coordinate Plane." math.about.com. Web. 14 Mar 2011. <http://math.about.com/od/geometry/ss/cartesian.htm>.
"Descartes, Rene (1596-1650)." DISCovering Biography. Online ed. Detroit Edina High School
Friday, March 4, 2011
awesome
Prewriting-
One similarity was how it showed the cleaning of the guns because then you have a visual of what the different parts of a gun look like. Another similarity is how Restrepo died on the helicopter and someone (I can’t remember who) also dies on the helicopter in Fallen the book and movie. Also in the book, people get in “fights” but they’re not that big of a deal and this also happened in Restrepo which shows how in war, everyone gets along well. I think that one of the most significant similarities was how they played chess/checkers a lot which shows that even though it gets boring after awhile, they don’t have anything else to do. In the book it Angels. One thing that I noticed right away in both the movie and the book was how the new people are kind of in denial about how bad war really is, then when they see action they know what it’s really like. Another huge thing I noticed that I made a huge connection with was how there wasn’t only fighting but they also went on pacification missions to the locals. Another thing about the pacification missions is that the locals didn’t necessarily know how to use American things, like an Afghan didn’t know how to put the straw in a juice box. Besides just the war aspects though, there were other things like how the barracks were called “hooches” in both talks a lot about not only sending letters home, but sending some sort of gift home also; in the book Perry sends home his purple hearts and in the movie the guy with the hat send a letter with drawings of the mountains. Overall, the most important thing was how the soldiers dealt with their fallen soldiers. In the book the were respectful and covered them with blankets and they did the same thing in the movie which shows how serious it all is.
Writing-
I have learned a lot about war from both the book and movie. The book described certain things and then the movie showed examples of it. I was kind of like a P.I.E. paragraph but with different forms of examples. One of the main things I learned was that all the soldiers who have never met each other before but they are all in it together. Also, there wasn’t only shooting, but also lots of talking with the locals and time just sitting around. In Fallen Angels they went on pacification missions and in Restrepo the talked about a dead cow. All of these things show how serious war is and always will be.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Zach Gardner
First Draft
Fallen Angels
War is very serious and emotional. Even though it may seem like it is just a lot of fighting and laughing, its not. The quote “The real question was what I was doing, what any of us were doing, in Nam
“’You see a lot of movies?’” (pg. 73). This quote from Perry to Lobel shows that they are talking a lot about movies and how the only real things in life that are serious are movies. I think this makes a lot of sense because movies portray life through fiction stories that we watch and relate to. Its not complicated and I think it is the simplest way to look at life, seeing movies as the only real thing in the world that makes sense to humans the way we look at it seriously.
“Kenny, I love you.” (pg. 123). This quote shows the emotional side of war. Perry is out in the Jungle when he realizes he cant see anything at all. He only hears noises around him while he thinks to himself ‘what would happen to Kenny if I were to get hurt?’ and then he thinks to himself “Kenny, I love you.” This is really important because it shows how much of Perry has changed in Vietnam
“…the thought that I was going to die. I was going to die.” (pg. 204). This quote shows the serious and emotional sides of war mixed into one. Perry gets hit in his leg and wrist and he realizes that he feels excruciating pain. Then he also realizes that it is not from the wounds, but from the thought of death washing over his body and taking life away from him forever. He starts begging God and crying for life and also he realizes how extremely serious his situation is right then. War is both serious and emotional in the thought, cause, and effect, of death.
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