Blog of 3/10/16

1924: The Year That Made Hitler

Prompt: List the personality characteristics of the main character (feelings, interests,

behaviors, etc.)

Pages read: 23-60

           From what I've read so far the book is now focusing more on Hitler gaining power. At first he started as a no one and then soon started gaining popularity and followers. Throughout that life changing journey the book describes what Hitler's personality was like. In the book they talked about how determined he was to become popular and he didn't care if people laughed at him all he cared about was if people mention him. It really goes to show that he was determined and didn't want to give up. I learned many things about him I didn't know.

            The book talks about how Hitler on his rise to gaining power. It really shows some of his personality because he seems to be very determined of gaining power. For example, in an event (Munich's Hofbräuhaus beer hall) Hitler and many other people were going to give speeches. Hitler wasn't even mentioned in the party flyers for that event but instead as an unannounced back up speaker. Turns out that the speech he gave captivated a couple hundreds of people in the crowds. In the book he said,"'It makes no difference whatever whether they laugh at us or revile us. The main thing is that they mention us.'" Hitler didn't care if people made fun of him all he wanted was for people to know about him. The speeches he gave made him became popular really quick.

           Throughout the book it shows Hitler's massive interest in politics. Hitler wanted everyone to know about his point of view on politics, he wanted to get his view across the germans. Hitler soon became popular and was the featured speaker everywhere he went. He was so popular that in one of his speeches two thousand listeners interrupted him more than fifty times with applauses. In the book it said,"...Hitler had no other life than politics." It really shows how Hitler's life soon changed and how now everything has to do with politics and his point of view on it. He had nothing else to do in his life besides politics.

Blog of 3/5/16

1924: The Year That Made Hitler by Peter Ross Range

Prompt: Select a quote from your reading that you liked. What made you pick it? How

does it make you pause and think?

Pages read: 0-23

           So far throughout the book there have been many quotes that I've found very interesting. Many of them pertaining to Hitler. The book focuses mostly on Hitler's beginning years and how he became the terrifying Hitler. It's very interesting to see how Hitler started off his life and how he ended it. It's unbelievable, but what I find most interesting are the quotes from his close friends describing him. One of them is where Hitler was considered too weak to join the army and the other quote is where one of Hitler's friends is describing him after a speech he gave.

           In the book they start off talking about Hitler's beginning years. In his beginning years, he tried to join the army but to his surprise he was too weak to join. In the book it said, "The pallid and puny Adolf Hitler, future war maker and mass murderer, was pronounced 'too weak' to be a medic and 'unfit to handle weapons.'(P.16)" I found this quote very interesting. It made me pause for a little because the army was calling Hitler weak. The person who in a couple of years murdered thousands of people was called weak and unfit to handle weapons. I found that very unbelievable because who knew that, boy was going to be the master of death in a few years and the one who caused destruction all around the world. The person who caused suffering and torture to many. I was just impacted.

          Since the book begins by talking about Hitler's beginning years, it also talks about  Hitler's famous speeches and how he was such a powerful speaker. In the book it said,"'Herr Hitler is, if I may so, a born popular speaker.'(P.20)" I found this quote pretty interesting because it comes from one of Hitler's friends. He was describing Hitler as a natural talented speaker. I found it interesting because one of his friends was saying it, not knowing that because of those powerful speaker talent he was going to become the ruler of not only the Germany but also the Nazis. It's pretty incredible to learn how Hitler became Hitler and see how be began.

Life is Beautiful Blog 3/1/16

Prompt: Based on the Holocaust literature and poetry we have read, what connections can be made between Life is Beautiful and our reading?  What events, scenes, or situations are similar or different? What is similar or different about the mood or tone of the pieces? Analyze how differences in points of view of characters create suspense or humor.

How is life shown as beautiful throughout the film. Pull out at least two examples from different parts of the film and explain your rationale. 

           Life is Beautiful and Night by Elie Wiesel have many similarities and differences. Some similarities is the hard labor Jews did, the gas chambers, the amount of food the Jews ate, etc. These two pieces have many things in common such as events, scenes, or situations, but they also have some parts that were different. For example, Life is Beautiful is shown from a different point of view than Night. Another difference is that the movie shows humor and the book doesn't. The movie talks about a really serious event that happened but it includes light humor in it, it's not a full blown comedy. The book on the other hand, it's dead serious about the Holocaust. The book talks about the Holocaust and its horrors seriously, not including any humor.

          Based on what we have read, a connection between Life is Beautiful and Night is the hard labor the Jews did. In the movie they demonstrated a lot of that hard labor. In the movie when Guido had just arrived at the camp he was put to work in some sort of factory carrying heavy objects around. He was barely on his first one when the person behind him said that he couldn't give up on his first one because they still had the whole day in front of them. The movie also demonstrated the hard labor when Guido arrived at the barrack at the end of the day and looked exhausted. It showed how hard they were on them. In the book it demonstrated how how harsh the officers were on them. In the book it said,"And Auschwitz is not a convalescent home. It is a concentration camp. Here, you must work. If you don't you will go straight to the chimney. To the crematorium." This demonstrates how they forced the Jews to work. They gave them no other option. If they didn't work they would die right on the spot. They showed no empathy towards them. Just how the entrance of Auschwitz said, "Work makes you free."

           A difference that Life is Beautiful and Night had was that they had completely mood and tone attached to them. The film Life is Beautiful focused on the less negative side of the Holocaust. It was more focused on love and humor.  Night had a very dark mood to it. It was more focused on the deaths, horrors, and starvations of the Holocaust. In the movie Life is Beautiful it had mostly a love kind of tone to it. In the beginning of the movie it was all about Guido and Dora falling in love and having a child named Joshua. Then as the movie progressed things became negative. Though, the mood didn't change because it demonstrated how Guido was doing everything to protect Joshua (love) and hiding the true meaning of the concentration camp from Joshua (humor). Guido had told Joshua that it was all a game and he protected Joshua from finding out the truth. The movie was told from the child's point of view. Which made the film have a little humor in it since the child was innocent and had no idea what was going on around him. Guido made it humorous because he made the concentration camp seem like a game to Joshua. 

          In the book Night the mood was very different from the movie. The mood of the book was much darker in the book. It talked more about the horrors of the Holocaust. In the book it said,"The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing..." This demonstrates the horrors of the camps. The prisoners were forced to see people hang and/or die right on the spot. There was no humor in the book, no humor at all. This story was told from first person point of view which was Elie. It really didn't create a humorous mood because the writer personally went through these struggles.

          There were many examples of how life is beautiful throughout the film. Most of it was shown before they entered the concentration camps. An example is in the beginning of the movie was when Guido showed up everywhere Dora was to surprise her. He wanted to make her fall in love with him so he did everything he could to make her happy. Another example, is when Guido and Joshua leave their work place and spoke into the microphone, and they everyone in the camp how much they loved Dora.