Dialectical Journal Practice #2

1.  Critical Stance: Wiesel chronicles the gradual dehumanization of the prisoners. 

a. First, define 'Dehumanization'

Dehumanization is the psychological process of demonizing the enemy, making them seem less than human and hence not worthy of humane treatment. This can lead to increased violence, human rights violations, war crimes, and genocide.

b. Then, describe the behavior of the various prisoners that shows their gradual transformation from their normal behavior as human beings.

When they first came to the camp they still believed in god, that he was testing them. But the longer they were in the camp some of them lost faith in him, while others still believed in god. They started to lose faith and did inhumane things to survive.

c. Last, describe the behavior of Eliezer, the changes that he notices and his response to them. 

Eliezer 

Eliezer began to lose faith. He was upset and frustrated that God was letting innocent Jews norm in the fire. Eliezer didn’t do anything to stop the guards from beating his father and other prisoners, he just stood there and watched. 

2. Dialectical Journal Entries

Find quotations for each of the comments you have made in question #1

Pg. 52 I had watched the whole seen without moving. I kept quiet. In fact I was thinking of how to get father away so that I would not be hit myself. What is more, any anger I felt at that moment was directed, not against the Kapo, but against my father. I was angry with him, for not knowing how to avoid idea's outbreak. That is what concentration camp life had made of me.

Pg. 59 The thousands who had died daily at Auschwitz and at Birkenau in the crematory ovens no longer troubled me. But the one, leaning against his gallows---he overwhelmed me. "Do you think this ceremony'll be over son? I'm hungry . . . ." whispered Juliek." 

Pg. 61 The three victims mounted together onto the chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within the nooses. "Long live liberty!" cried the two adults. But the child was silent. "Where is God? Where is He?" someone behind me asked."

Pg. 66 "You're lucky to have been brought here so late. This camp is paradise today, compared with what it was like two years ago. Buna was a real hell then. There was no water, no blankets, less soup and bread. At night we slept almost naked, and it was below thirty degrees. The corpses were collected in hundreds every day. The work was hard. Today this is a little paradise. The Kapos had orders to kill a certain number of prisoners every day. And every week selection. A merciless selection....Yes, you're lucky."

Pg. 77 My neighbor, the faceless one, said: "Don't let yourself be fooled with illusions. Hitler has made it very clear that he will annihilate all the Jews before the clock strikes twelve, before they can hear the last stroke." I burst out: "What does it matter to you? So we have to regard Hitler as a prophet?" His glazed, faded eyes looked at me. At last he said in weary voice: "I've got more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He's the only one who's kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people."

Group Reader Response

1.  Discuss how Wiesel sets up the contrast between the panic of the Jews with each new decree or action of the government and their attempts to reassure themselves and to adjust to each new infringement on their freedom.

Wiesel set up the contrast of panic with the Jews differently from one another. He made some of them panic and so of them calm. He made one women in the bus that was taking them to the camp panic seeing fire. The rest of the people on the bus would beat her to make her stop, but what she saw was correct, she saw people getting burned at the camp they were going to. Others stayed calm and believed that god was testing their strengths seeing how far they could make it. There were many different reactions when the Jewish people were getting taken away from their families.

2.  Dialectical Journal Entries. Find five direct quotations from the book that you feel is important to the story and provide each with your own commentary.

Page 4 Paragraph 4: ”Without passion without haste they slaughtered their prisoners. Each one had to go up to the hole and present their neck. Babies were thrown up in the air and the machine gunners used them as targets."

Comment: This is important because its Moshe the Beadle telling the story of what happened to his people but no one believed him. 

Page 8 middle of page: The race towards death had begun. The first step: Jews would not be allowed to leave their house for three days-on pain of death.

Comment: I used this quote because we need to know the steps of how the Germans started to change how Jewish people lived, and how they are taking control over their neighbor hoods

Page 21 paragraph  1: Lying down was out of the question, and we were only able to sit by deciding to take turns. There was very little air. The lucky ones who happened to be near a window could see the blossoming countryside roll by. 

Comment: This quote is important because it showed how the Jewish people were treated with very harsh living conditions.

Page 22 Paragraph 2: "There are 80 of you on this wagon," added the German officer. "If anyone is missing, you'll all be shot, like dogs..."

Comment: The Germans had no mercy for the Jewish people. They didn’t care who they killed, they wanted the whole population of Jewish people to die. 

Page 23-24 Paragraph 13: "Look at the fire! Flames flames everywhere".... Once more the young men tied her up and gagged her. They even struck her. People encouraged them: "Make her be quiet! She's mad! She's not the only one. She can keep her mouth shut....."

Comment: This quote showed how the people on the van ride to the camp acted when the women was panicking when she say fire. They didn’t believe her so they beat her because they were afraid themselves and she was making it worse for them to stay calm.

Page 36 paragraph 3: "Remember this," he went on. "Remember it forever. Engrave it into your minds. You are at Auschwitz. And Auschwitz is not a convalescent home. It's a concentration camp. Here, you have got to work. If not, you will go straight to the furnace. To the crematory. Work or the crematory- the choice is in your hands."

Comment: This quote shows how the Jewish people had no freedom, the Germans didn’t care who you were, if you didn’t work you would be burned alive. The people at the camp were treated like prisoners of was when they did nothing wring but be Jewish. 

Holocaust

The word “Holocaust,” comes from the Greek words “holos” which means whole, and the word  “kaustos” which means burned, was historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar. Ever since 1945, the word holocaust has taken on a new meaning. The holocaust is now known as the mass murder of 6 million European Jews as well as members of some other persecuted groups, such as Gypsies and homosexuals, having killed 11 million people total. The Nazis thought Jews were racially superior and they were a threat towards the Germans. 

During the holocaust many innocent citizens died throughout this time.  Jewish people  were not the only ones targeted but many others were as well.  The Nazi army targeted people such as Gypsies, Homosexuals, Jehovah’s witnesses, and the disabled for persecution.  Whoever tried to resist the Nazi will also be forced to labor or even murder. “By 1945, the Germans and their collaborators  killed nearly two out of every three European Jews as part of the Final Solution.” Millions of Jewish people were killed because the Germans felt that they were a threat. During the holocaust about 11 million people died and six million of those people were jews. “Between two and three million Soviet prisoners of war were murdered or died of starvation, disease, neglect, or maltreatment.” These inhumane acts had scared so many people. So many family members were lost to the holocaust. The holocaust was such a bad time for Jewish people and many others, this deadly time period will never be forgotten.

inhumanity paragraph

Jessie and Kaye Anne

Boston Marathon Bombings 

http://www.history.com/topics/boston-marathon-bombings 

The Boston Marathon Bombing occurred April 15, 2013. The marathon is an annual marathon in Boston that has been celebrated for decades. But, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev changed the course of history by setting off a bomb during this event. During the afternoon of the marathon, there were still 5,000+ runners in the marathon when pressure-cooker bombs–packed with shrapnel and other materials and hidden in backpacks that were placed on the ground amidst crowds of marathon-watchers–exploded within seconds of each other near the finish line along Boylston Street. Unfortunately, three did not make it out alive while 260 people were severely injured. It took a couple days to unravel who was behind the terroristic attack; Tamerlan Tsarnaey died during the law enforcement shootout while Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being held for trial. Yes, the bombing was tragic but the suspects of the crime were not making sense. People that knew the perpetrator personally were claiming opposite characteristics that an average mindset a criminal would have. The two brothers seemed to live a good and stable life, there were first degree past criminal records, and seemed like any average human beings. It’s wary to know that there was no rational reasoning behind the bombing. Terrorist attacks are no joking matter and the lives taken away from this action can never be resurrected.  

Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting 

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/12/us/sandy-hook-timeline/   

Twenty-six people were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown Connecticut on December 14. 20 students ages 6 to 7 were killed and so were six adults. Investigators believe Adam Lanza, the shooter who is 20 years old, killed his mother, Nancy Lanza before he went to the school. When he arrived to school, classes were underway and around 700 students were present. The doors to the school were locked when the gunman arrived, but he shot his way into the school. School psychologist Mary Sherlach and vice principal Natalie Hammond went out to investigate when they heard a loud pop in the hallway. Only Hammond returned from the hallway alive and she was wounded. Lanza then moved to a classroom and shot all 14 students. He then moved to a classroom of 1st graders and killed the teacher and six of the students.  Adam Lanza took his own life, police said. He took out a handgun and shot himself in a classroom as law enforcement officers approached. 

Allusion Graphic Final

Allusion Poem Final

Distracted by her curiosity and fascination she leaves home and follows the clock

Not watching where her path takes her she falls

Falling for a while she doesn’t know where she is

Spinning and crashing to the ground

She gets up and turns around 

Dusting herself off she looks ahead and sees the door

Time’s ticking down

tick tock, tick tock the watch goes

This is her time to breakthrough 

Breaking down the doors

She runs 

Never looking back, she runs to this new strange world

Curiosity flowing through her, she keeps going only looking forward

In a hurry to get out she picks up the pace

Sticking to the shadows, she keeps to her own

Looking down at her surroundings she bumps into something

I must be losing my mind she thinks because she ran into a white rabbit and it’s talking

It gets up running away saying I'm late, I'm late I'm late!

She follows it as it runs back into the darkness

It leads her to a mad hatters tea party where she is now a guest 

She learns that they are stuck in time just like herself

Leaving the party to continue on her journey to get out

Stumbling upon a garden, not just any garden but the Queens garden

Gaining confidence she steps out of the shadows and meet the King and Queen

We play a game of croquet with live flamingos as mallets and hedgehogs as balls

Off with his head! the queen shouts at her guards being mad at a subject

Trying to get out of the chaos she turns and runs

She keeps running never looking back and thats when she falls, down a hole again

When she gets up and looks up, she sees something familiar

Something she has been trying to get back to, her house

Graphic card rough draft