Story

Once upon a time there was an unhappy prince. People came over with problems for him to solve: war problems, social problems, money problems, etc. He was always  facing other people's problems, but he never had time for himself. One night he had to make a choice. He could continue running the kingdom and eventually kill himself out of sadness, or he could run away, live a free life, away from people problems, so he decided to escape. He didn't know what to do, so a magical fairy appeared and helped him. He disappeared one night taking only his most valuable possessions. The people in the kingdom were clueless about the destiny of his prince, but with the naming of a new one they soon forgot about him. The prince escaped without knowing if it was the best idea, but he carried on, and after that night he arrived a to a new place, a new kingdom. He didn't had a place to live, but he dind' cared, he was happy, he tasted freedom for the first time in his life, he didn't had any obligations at all. He soon became interested in street music, and so he learned to play an instrument.

fateless trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgHF19VD5qw&feature=youtu.be

Fateless c.1

1.- Which perspective (positive or negative) does the author of the review have towards FATELESSNESS? Provide evidence.

Positive. The author tells us  that this novel helps us empathize with other perspectivas, and we have the perspective of Georg, a 14 year old jewish boy in the time of the holocaust. I think this vision of the war will be interesting and as he is almost our age we will empathize with him

2.- According to the review, in which ways does FATELESSNESS make readers empathize with the main character of the story?

It makes s empathize because we are shown a different World, in a different time, se we have to try to understand it as much as possible, and try to think why the caracters do what they do and think how they think

3.-In the second paragraph of this review, we are presented the plot of the story. Is this enough information to engage you as a reader? Does it provide an effective invitation to read "FATELESSNESS"? Justify

Yes, because I am introduced to something that I had not encountered before, the perspective of a jewish adolescent in the second world war. There is always talks of the second world war, but few are about the feelings an emotions an adolescent (being this already a complicated stage of life) may have encountered during this time.

Written task: LETTER

I miss you

15 September 1944

1245 Striker Street.

Dear Georg:

Hello son, it is been somtime since I am far from home, and I can not put into words how much I miss being home with you and your stepmother.Tell her that I love her, you now I love you too.  Being far from home has been a torture in my mind. I never though I would be separated from you for so long, and I never though it would be so hard for me to be away from you. I feel so sad since I am here, first, thre was all this place here, it is a gloomy and sad place, it has a dark atmosphere. Then, it was the way the nazis treated us. Since we arrived we have been treated like animals. They took a lot ofour posessions and beat us like if we owed them something. They put us all in small rooms, sharing them with more people, too much people, making our rest time uncomfortable and annoying . Then, on the daytime we are forced to work, like if we were going back to the times were the black community was used as slaves, wit the difference that this time is not the black community the most affected but the jewish community. I don`t know why there is so much hate towards the jewish. Did we behaved incorrectly or acted incorrectly towards someone?
The works we have been forced to do are hard and very demanding. We have to save our energy and during the night try to have a good sleep so we can recover our energy. Also, we have to rationate the few food that we receive everyday, in order to stay focused and concentrate in our labor.  The ones that don`t work correctly during the day are beaten up and sent away. I don`t know were are they sent, but I haven`t see anyone of the ones that were sent away again, and that scares me very much.Maybe they are just sent to other camps, but something in the way the nazis act makes me think that they send people to die, probably in an horrible way and slow way.
 My tired and fatiged body works only fueled by my fear of being taken away just like the others were. So, as you may think, everyday there are less of us being obligated to work, and we have to harder everyday in order to try to equalize the work done by the ones taken away. These days we have been forced to dig a giant hole in one of the courtyards of the labor camp, and I don`t know what is the purpose of that hole, but I don`t have a good feeling about it. We have digged a lot, but the nazis want us to dig more and more, and the purpose of it has me puzzled. You may wonder what do we do besides working everyday, and the answer is very simple, we are not allowed to do anything that is not scheduled by them.  We have to go to our rooms after working and stay there until the next day and do the same thing. It`s the same process over and over again. I am lucky that they did not took away my notebook and my pencil, if not I would not be able to write this letter to you. To tell you the truth this letter is a kind of alleviation, a relief. I feel like all this routine is destroying my mind, if I do not find a way out or something to do. I am afraid I will loose my mind ang go insane. But I don`t want you to worry about my mind. I know that sooner or later I will be set free from here. I did not told you about the food we have to eat It makes me really miss the way your stepmother cooked. The food here is grose, it is a kind of gray pasta, but it is the only thing that we can eat, and I prefer to eat than to die of hunger.
The only good things I can say about is this situation haves are that I have met some very very good and interesting people, maybe I can say that they and you two there at home are the things that keep my spirit and soul alive. The other good thing I can think about is that this situation made me realize how important and how much I love you and your stepmother.
I just want you to know that I will keep on working until I find a way to get out of here, I won`t stop until I am back home with you and your stepmother. I miss you a lot and I promise you I will go back home.

Love,

Your father

Rationale

I chose to write a letter from Ggeorg`s father to him while Georg`s father is in a labor camp forced to work. I though that doing this was the best approach to express the feelings and emotions you develop by being a prisioner forced to work and full of fear about your life.

The audience of this novel and this work I did are all the people interested in the people from the Jewish community during the second world war, the persons that want to know more about the emotions, feelings and thoughs, not only the facts. If we go straight to the letter probably the only one that will read it will be Georg and maybe his stepmother.

My language isn`t  particular one, I just used words and a structure in wich I could express and write what I wanted as clear as I could, as I needed to express feelings and emotions from Georg`s father to Georg, one thing that is not that easy.I founded it ti be hard, in a way that I wasn`t sure what emotions and when to put them. About the title is simple, just "I miss you", because it`s been some time since they were together. As the letter goes by Georg`s father describes him how they were treated, how did they lived and what were the routines, explining all the context, including his feelings and fears.

image analysis

The image shows us a man trying to reach the fence that takes away his freedom. It makes me feel sad, because he wants to go out, he wants to go home but he can`t, he is forced to be there without deserving it. I think it evokes sadness and desperation, seeing freedom so close but knowing you can`t reach it, and knowing that you are probably going to die horribly.

clip analysis question of pride and prejudice

1. Why do you think "Pride and Prejudice" continues to be a referent for modern tales? 

2. What do you think is the effect that these different authors (film directors, producers, modern writers) want to achieve in today's audiences?

3. If you had to choose one of the previous versions to analyse, which would be the one and why?

1.- Because I think it`s a kind of story that keeps happening now a days and with wich we can relate.

2.- Give the films a fresh and new air, not being all the time the same thing but putting in them some different elements

3.-Bridget Jones diary, because I think it will be the funniest one.

Women emncipation p. 287-288

1.-What degrees of emancipation and/or conservative reinforcement of 18th century family values does Elizabeth Bennett`s marriage to Mr. Darcy?

In the emancipation I think it reflects a little bit in the way that Elizabeth didn`t liked Mr. Darcy in the beggining and so she woulkd refuse to marry him if he asked. In the conservative 18th century ways it could be the marriage still being the main goal of women.

2.- What attitudes to marriage does Pride and Prejudice convey? What other opinions did Elizabeth had?

The main attitude I think would be that you don`t have to marry someone if you don`t want to, and so does Elizabeth, refusing to marry Mr. Collins because she doesn`t like him.

3.-How does this introduction affect your reading and approach to the novel?

This gives me an idea on what was the social and cultural context of the novel, so now it will help me understand some decisions of the characters and also some attitudes.

4.-How coul the social circumstances and contexts of Pride and Prejudice apply to different cultures and context today?

Now a days we can say that women do the same amount of things than men, so they did emancipated almost completely, but still there are some cultures where men is more powerful than women and were marriages are still arranged, for example in South Korea.

Three quotes analysis

3 quotes from chapter 3 of fatelessness:

1.- "I was beggining to think that maybe he didn`t understand the ID, and was just on the point of explaining to him that, as he could see, I am assigned to war work and most certainly could not afford to have my time wasted, when all at once the road around me was thronged with voices and boys, my companions from Shell".

Here is shown that know almost all jewish people are forced to do something. Georg is only 14 and he is assigned to war work. Another thing that can be noticed in this quote is that it seems that all the jewish boys are being stoped and have to wait for something, a sign of the different treatment that they received.

2.-" All the same I once asked him what he found so great about smoking so much, to wich he gave me the curt reply: "It`s cheaper than food" "

It`s evident in this quote that the man that was talking to Georg doesn`t have much money, so he smokes to replace eating, in that way he spends less money. Probably the war times were very poor times, as the money was destined to go for weapons and war and not for the people.

3.- (P.57) "he turned toward the gendarmes, ordering them , in a bellow that filled the entire square, to take ”the whole Jewish rabble” off the place that, in his view, they actually belonged-the, stables, that is to say-and lock them in for the night.”

Here we have an example of the discrimination against the jews. Nazis believed jews were rabble, garbage and it says in the quote that they are being sent were he thinks they belonged, to a lock stable. The discrimination didn`t have an age, it affected children and older people the same and without any reason.

Dunkirk evacation

Dunkirk evacuation, (1940) in World War II, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and other Allied troops from the French seaport of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) to England. Naval vessels and hundreds of civilian boats were used in the evacuation, which began on May 26. When it ended on June 4, about 198,000 British and 140,000 French and Belgian troops had been saved.

The immediate context of the Dunkirk evacuation was Germany’s invasion of the Low Countries and northern France in May 1940. On May 10 the German attack on the Netherlands began with the capture by parachutists of key bridges deep within the country, with the aim of opening the way for mobile ground forces. The Dutch defenders fell back westward, and by noon on May 12 German tanks were on the outskirts of Rotterdam. Queen Wilhelmina and her government left the country for England on May 13, and the next day the Dutch army surrendered to the Germans.

The invasion of Belgium also began on May 10, when German airborne troops landed on the fortress of Eben Emael, immediately opposite Maastricht, and on bridges over the Albert Canal. On May 11 the Belgian front was broken, and German tanks ran on westward while Belgian, French, and British divisions fell back to a line between Antwerp and Namur.

The German invasion of France hinged on a surprise advance through the hilly and dense Ardennes Forest. On May 10 German tanks crossed Luxembourg to the southeastern border of Belgium, and by the evening of May 12 the Germans were across the Franco-Belgian frontier and overlooking the Meuse River. The next day they crossed the Meuse, and on May 15 they broke through the French defenses into open country, turning westward in the direction of the English Channel. German tanks were at Abbeville, near the mouth of the Somme River, on May 20, and on May 22 they turned northward to sweep past Boulogne and Calais. On May 24 German units were just crossing the canal defense line close to Dunkirk, the only remaining port by which the BEF could be evacuated, when an inexplicable order from German leader Adolf Hitler not only stopped their advance but actually called them back to the canal line. The Allies’ retreat to the coast now became a race to embark before the Germans closed their pincers. Evacuation began on May 26 and became still more urgent the next day, when Belgian King Leopold—his army everywhere in retreat and millions of civilian refugees caught in the “Flanders pocket”—surrendered his army.

Even before the Belgian capitulation, the British government had decided to evacuate the BEF by sea from Dunkirk, and the admiralty had been collecting every kind of small craft to help in bringing away the troops. As the troops had to be taken off directly from the beaches, it was a slow and difficult process.

The success of the near-miraculous evacuation from Dunkirk was due in part to fighter cover provided by the Royal Air Force from the English coast, but it was also due to Hitler’s fatal order of May 24 to halt the German advance. That order had been made for several reasons, chiefly: Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe, had mistakenly assured Hitler that his aircraft alone could destroy the Allied troops trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk; and Hitler himself seems to have believed that Great Britain might accept peace terms more readily if its pride were not wounded by seeing its army surrender. After three days Hitler withdrew his order and allowed the German armoured forces to advance on Dunkirk. But they now met stronger opposition from the British, who had had time to solidify their defenses, and Hitler almost immediately stopped the German advance again, this time ordering his armoured force to move south and prepare to complete the conquest of France.

With Dunkirk, the disastrous defense of the Low Countries ended in a brief flash of glory for the Allies. Yet the brilliance of the evacuation could not hide the fact that the British had suffered a terrible defeat and that Britain itself was in dire peril. The BEF had been saved, but almost all of its heavy equipment, tanks, artillery, and motorized transport had been left behind. Britain was helpless in the face of a seemingly all-conquering foe that stood just a few miles away, across the open water of the English Channel.

Fatelessness chapter 2

Title: Fatelessness
Author: Imre Kértesz
Genre: Aautobiographical novel
Setting: Hungary, Budapest. His stepmother`s house and mother`s house
Historical context: WWII, the holocaust.

Author`s purpose: Here the author gives us an idea of Georg`s routines and also how he feels when his father leaves. He now has much more responsabilities without his father nearby. Also he gets closer with Annemarie.

Main idea: The important decisions and changes that Georg faces after his father leaves.

Theme:

Characters:
Protagonist: Georg
Antagonist: Nazi regime
Static character: Mr Sutto
Dynamic character: Georg

Literary devices: We have flashbacks during the story.

Tone: He is being straight foward.

Point of view: Georg`s point of view, as he is always speaking aboyt his feelings and emotions.

Conflicts:
External: The conflict between his mother that says that his place is with her and what his father said, that he had to stay with his stepmother. Also that his father is gone.

Internal: He is having a lot of thoughs and doubts that generates the internal conflict.

Literary terms and tone vs mood

Literary terms
Literary terms are words such as personification, simile, hyperbole, metaphor, and so on. They are used to describe various forms of writing by an author. (http://www.enotes.com/literary-terms/q-and-a/what-literary-terms-105199)

-Alussion: When characters or events stand for other events or characters of history.
-Alliteration: Repetition of the same sounds.
-Allusion: Reference to a person or event, literary or historically.
-Climax: The part of the story with greater intensity or suspense.
-Connotation: A mening that goes beyond the word, kind of using the word as a symbol.
-Denotation: Dictionary definition of the word
-Flashback: An abrupt and quick jump to the past.
-Foreshadowing: Clues of what will happen in the future.
-Gothic: Usiong of mysterious elements, also a kind of horifying places and supernatural events.
-Hero: A noble character.
-Hyperbole: An exaggeration
-Lyric poem: A melodic poem that describes an object or emotion
-Metaphor: A direct comparisson if two different things.
-Narrative poem: Aa story told in verse.
-Onomatopoeia: Using word that are similar to sounds.
-Personification: Giving human attributes to something not human.
-Plot: Sequence of events in the story, includes characters and a conflict.
-Point of view: The perspective in wich the story is told
-Setting: Where and ehn the story takes place.
-Simile: A direct comparisson without the use of "as" or "like"
-Soliloquy: A kind of monologue,  chracter speaks alone, reveals his thoughs
-Stanza: A group of lines in a poem.
-Symbol: Something that means more than what it is.
-Theme: An in sight about human life.
-Thesis: Tthe subject or opinion in an essay.
-Tone: The authors attitude towards the writing.
-Litote: When something says less than it was intended.

Tone vs Mood

The mood is the general atmosphere the author gives to the writing while the tone is the attitude the author haves towards the writing.

PEE and using quotation

PEE stands for point, evidece and explanation, it`s an effective way of explaining and validating your ideas of something. The point will be my idea, the idea I want to prove, the evidence will be a quotation or an extract from the text I`m using to prove my point and the explanation will be how I explain the extract of the text in order to prove and demonstrate my point.

Using quotations is a great way to prove our point, because we are using the resources we have to prove it. Wwhen using quotations we must put quotations marks. Also, if the quotation is short it can be included in your own sentence, but if the quotation is too long it will have to be put in a different sentence.

We saw these very interesting and useful tools in class, these strategies can be very helpful whenever we want to prove something, a point, an idea.

Narrative techniques

We learned about the narrative techniques, wich are the ways the story is written.
Basically we have 4 techniques wich are:

1) Point of view: Who tells us the story. Example: Georg Koves in Fateless.


2) Narration: Who is the narrator speaking to.

- Direct narration: To the reader

-Frame narration: Talks about someone else`s story

-Indirect narration: Not talking to the reader.

3)Speech: How do the narrator and the characters of a story speak.
-Direct speech: The characters speak for themselves.
-Reported speech: a narrator tells us what the characters said
-Free indirect speech: The narrator doesn`t tell us the characters thoughs, but he puts them as they are.

4)Tense: When did the events of the story happened. .
-Past: events occured in the past, the use of flashback and racconto.
-Present: What is happening now
-Future: What wil happen after



Other techniques:

-Flashback: Basically it`s a sudden and quick jump to the past, telling us about an event
-Foreshadowing Is a technique used ti give us clues about what will come next
-Third person omniscient: It uses first, second or third person. It communicates directly with the reader
-Dual narrative: It gives us two different perspectives



All these techniques are used in the writing of stories and novels, they are the key of it, they will define the wat the story will be told and it will be these techniques the main reason of us liking a novel.

7 jewish pillars

1. The Sabbath:
 Known as "Shabbat" in Hebrew and "Shabbos" in Yiddish, the Jewish Sabbath is observed every Friday evening from one hour before sundown until Saturday evening one hour after sundown. It is a day filled with prayer, Torah study, family, and peace that remembers the Seventh Day of Creation, on which Jews are bidden to imitate the Lord's own rest. It is an occasion for songs of freedom and social justice praising the Holy One for removing the Hebrew slaves from oppression in the Land of Egypt, and for abstaining from the 39 categories of "m'lacha", labor, which He describes in His Torah."Seven Keys to Jewish Life" invites you to spend a Sabbath with a Jewish family and to participate in the most important rituals this People has observed every week since the Exodus from Egypt.

 2.- Kosher
 is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food that may be consumed according to halakha(Jewish law) is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér (כָּשֵׁר), meaning "fit" (in this context, fit for consumption). Food that is not in accordance with Jewish law is called treif (Yiddish: טרײף or treyf, derived from Hebrewטְרֵפָה trēfáh). Kosher can also refer to anything that is fit for use or correct according to halakha, such as a hanukiyah (candelabra forHannukah), or a sukkah (a Sukkot booth). The word kosher has become English vernacular, a colloquialism meaning proper,legitimate, genuine, fair, or acceptable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher

3.- Mezuzah 
On the doorposts of every Observant-Jewish home, you will find a little rectangular case. Inside that case is a Mezuzah. It's there because the Torah commands us to affix a Mezuzah on each doorpost in our homes.
What is a Mezuzah? In brief, a Mezuzah is two chapters from the Torah written (in Hebrew, of course) on a piece of parchment. The parchment is then rolled into a scroll, wrapped in paper or plastic, usually inserted into a hard-plastic or metal case, and affixed to the doorpost. We will, with Hashem's help, discuss this more at length below. First let us discuss the meaning of this Mitzvah.
The essence of the mitzvah of Mezuzah is the concept of the Oneness of G-d. The very first verse written on the Mezuzah is the Shema: "Hear oh Israel, the L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd is One." When we pass a doorpost, we touch the Mezuzah and remember that G-d is One: a Oneness that is perfect and unique, a Oneness that is not one of many, nor one of a species. G-d is One without parts, partners, copies, or any divisions whatsoever.
Moreover, Hashem is our G-d, Whom we must love and obey, and Who protects us.
Every moment that the Mezuzah is on your doorpost is another merit in your favor, even though you are not actively doing anything!
http://www.beingjewish.com/mitzvos/mezuzah.html

4.-Ttefillin
are a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers. Although "tefillin" is technically the plural form (the singular being "tefillah"), it is loosely used as a singular as well. The hand-tefillin, or shel yad, is placed on the upper arm, and the strap wrapped around the arm, hand and fingers; while the head-tefillin, or shel rosh, is placed above the forehead. The Torah commands that they should be worn to serve as a "sign" and "remembrance" that God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin

5.-Shofar 
The shofar (שופר‎) is a Jewish instrument most often made from a ram’s horn, though it can also be made from the horn of a sheep or goat. It makes a trumpet-like sound and is traditionally blown on Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year.
http://judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/whatisashofar.htm

6.-Hanuka

Hanukkah (sometimes transliterated Chanukkah) is a Jewish holiday celebrated for eight days and nights. It starts on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev, which coincides with late November-late December on the secular calendar.

In Hebrew, the word "hanukkah" means "dedication." The name reminds us that this holiday commemorates the re-dedication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in 165 B.C.E.

http://judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/hanukkah.htm

7.-Tzedakah

 Tzedakah is fundamental to Judaism; it is at the very heart of who we are as Jews. Tzedakah is not a choice. It is one of the 613 mitzvot, or obligations, we live by. Many of our sages considered it the most important commandment.

The root of the Hebrew word is tzedek—justice, or righteousness. In the Bible, tzedakah means “righteous behavior.” We do not give to charity out of kindness alone. We perform acts of tzedakah as we seek to create a just world.

The commandment of tzedakah is so important that the recipient of our charity is considered to be granting us a favor by allowing us to fulfill our obligation. The poor must also give what they can, so that they, too, are able to perform mitzvot.

Acts of tzedakah are equal in weight to all the commandments. (Talmud)

http://www.hadassah.org/site/c.7gLFKYMJLnI2F/b.6036381/k.C1EE/Why_We_Give_What_is_Tzedakah.htm

Anne Frank

Anne Frank was a Jewish victim of the Holocaust most well-known for the diary she kept while in hiding which has since become one of the world's most widely read books.

Anne Frank was born in 1929 in Frankfurt am Main in Germany. In 1933, the anti-Jewish National Socialist Party led by Hitler comes to power. Anne Frank's Jewish parents Edith and Otto Frank perceive that there is no future in Germany for themselves and their children. They flee to the Netherlands in 1933. Anne is then four years old. Until she is eleven she grows up without a care in a relatively safer Holland. In 1940, the Netherlands is occupied by Germany and the protection that Holland provides comes to an end.

Anne's life is increasingly restricted by the anti-Jewish Decrees. Beginning in 1942, the first Jews receive call-up notices to report for the so-called “work” camp Westerbork. Refusal can result in being sent to a prison camp. The majority of Jews obey the call-up to report for the “work” camps. Fleeing the Netherlands is almost impossible because neighboring countries are also occupied.

To avoid deportation, Jews must arrange a hiding place with non-Jews. Such hiding places are difficult to find, but Anne's parents see the possibility of going into hiding in the annex of the building that houses Otto's business.

Otto and Edith Frank protect Anne from the danger that threatens them for as long as possible. Only a few days before going into hiding, Anne's father tells her that they are not going to a camp but are going to hide from the Germans.

On July 6, 1942, the family goes into hiding. Even though Anne sees hiding as an exciting adventure in the beginning, soon enough the hiding place becomes too small for her restless character. For more than two years Anne Frank describes her daily life in hiding in writing.

On August 4, 1944, the Secret Annex is raided by the Grüne Polizei (Security Police). Anne Frank and the seven others in hiding are arrested. What follows are long journeys to concentration camps in Holland,Poland, and Germany. Of all those in hiding, only Otto Frank survives the camps.

The eight residents of the Secret Annex are transported to Auschwitz on the last train leaving the transit campWesterbork. After a month at Auschwitz, Anne Frank and her sister Margot are transported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where thousands of people are dying of hunger and sickness everyday. Margot and Anne both contract typhus and die within a short time of each other in March 1945, only a few weeks before the liberation

info from: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/frank.html.

Imre Kèrtesz interview

1. Before the interview, the presenter visits a monument to the Holocaust created by the American artist Peter Eiserman. Considering the shapes, architecture and general design, in what ways do you think he represents the reality in the concentration camps?

2. Which is the paradox the presenter mentions regarding Imre Kertész and the place where he lives?

3. Refer to antisemitism before and after Auschwitz according to Kertész.

4. In what way do reminders of the past in historical books make us "much richer"?

5. Which metaphor does Imre use to exemplify the effect of FATELESSNESS on its readers?

1.- I think it represents the camps because it gives you the feeling of being trapped, lost and uncomfortable.


2.- That the same place that wanted him dead before now is the place he feels more free in Europe


3.- The ones that are antisemitism after Auschwitz want a new Auschwitz.


4.- They give us perspectives, different ones, that makes us much more informed about events. 

5.-It will be like a box in your soul, wich eventually will open and come free to start committing those atrocities again, if we forget the past we will commit the same mistakes in the future

WW2 timeline

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/second-world-war--5

Role writing

There are lots of examples of people writing as their opposite sex, doing various types of novels and stories with different results.

 For example we have J.K Rowling with her very famous saga Harry Potter, or The Professor by Charlotte Brontë in women writing as men and The Bleak House by Charles Dickens, or Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

Atonement questions

1. What sort of social and cultural setting does the Tallis House create? What emotions and impulses are being acted upon or repressed by its inhabitants?

2. A passion for order, a lively imagination, and a desire for attention seem to be Briony's strongest traits. In what ways is she still a child? Is her narcissism - her inability to see things from any point of view but her own - unusual in a thirteen-year-old? 

3. Why does Briony stick to her "version of the story" with such unwavering commitment? Does she act entirely in error in a situation she is not old enough to understand, or does she act, in part, on an impulse of malice, revenge, or self-importance? 

4. As she grows older, Briony develops the empathy to realise what she has done to Cecilia and Robbie. How and why do you think she does this? 

1.- It is a house of a rich family. Robie is repressing his love for Cecilia, because he doesn`t know how she will react.

2.- She is still a child because of her incapacity of understanding love. It`s normal for some teenagers and boys to believe they are the center of everything, but even with that I think that the narcissim that Briony has is unusal.

3.- I think she acts with malice in part, because she isn`t sure if Robie did anything, but she was jelaous that Robie loved Cecilia

4.- I think that when you grow up and experience more things you start to understand some situations you couldn`t understand before.

Activity page 289-290

1.- Summarize Charlotte`s approach to Mr.Collins. What does she hope to get out of a marriage with Mr. Collins? Would you describe Charlotte as a strong or a weak character? Explain.

2.-How does Austen present Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy as acting upon their natural emotions and instincts? Do you think Elizabeth`s response is extreme? What is conflicted in Mr. Darcy`s representation of his feelings for her, that she so strongly objects to?

3.- How do Elizabeth`s perceptions of Pemberley suggest her changed feelings for the owner of the house and grounds? How does nature here reflect a view of cultural attitudes and human attributes?


1.- Charlotte engaged herself to Mr. Collins so that he stops proposing to Elizabeth. She expects to achieve the objective of every educated and low wealth lady by being married. I think that you have to be strng above all to just ignore what you want and do what you are supossed to do, even if it`s not one of your dreams.

2.- Their are presented in an interesting way as we can see that Mr. Darcy has problems expressing his feelings, because it isn`t something he masters, and we can also see the way that Elizabeth manages to reject his proposal in a kind way. I don`t think her response is extreme, she just expresses what she feels. She says that he has bestbowed his feelings in an unwilling way.

3.- The beautifulness of the house makes her feel that being the mistress of there would be something very significant, makes her think that it`s worth something marrying Mr. Darcy. She found the house very beautiful and special, and so this makes her feel Mr. Darcy is important

Aactivity

Part one Essay

We had to do an essay of the first part of TKM. This was a formative test. We had to do an essay with 3 arguments to defend our tesis statment and we had to do at least 800 hundred words. I developed an essay about the contexts and enviorements of the novel, and compared it with our actual time. I`ve got a 7, helped by good quotes and my arguments.

It`s inoccent, as it comes from Scout, it`s inmature and childish

1. What do you learn in this chapter about Maycomb, Atticus Finch and his family?
We are introduce to this enviorement and this people, we learn that Maycomb is an tired old town.

2. Describe Calpurnia as Scout depicts her in Chapter 1.
More severe to her than to Jem. African American, big handed and slim.

3. What does Dill dare Jem to do?
To go and touch the Radley place.

4. The townspeople of Maycomb have some fears and superstitions about the Radley place. Describe these fears and superstitions.
They think Boo is a ghost and that he is responsible of the dead of some pets

5. How important is bravery to Jem?
Very important to protect her sister.

6. What do you notice about the narrative voice and viewpoint of the story?

1. What is the reason for the author's choice of a young narrator?

Because it gives the book a different point of view, the point of view of an inoccent, young girl

2. How does Jem and Scout's views of Boo Radley change during  part 1 of the book?

They start fearing him, but after the dare of Dill, they start being more curious about him.

3. Atticus tells the children several times that they need to walk in someone else's shoes 

before judging the person. Describe times when Atticus, Scout or Jem walk in someone else's shoes. How does this change how they view the situations? What role does this advice play in sympathy and compassion? 

They do it with Boo Radley as they start growing and realising things, they also do it with people of their street and they can understand them better.

4. How do you think Atticus managed his role as a single parent?

I think he did wuite a great job, he was able to educate them in a good way and provide them with what they needed 

5. Discuss race issues in part 1 of the book.

6. From your reading of part 1, What does To Kill a Mockingbird teach us about how people cope with issues of race and class? Do you classify people in your world as different "folks?" Do you see those sort of distinctions today? 

We still can see distinction, homophobia for example. I think the book teach us that people have a hard time learning to live along with different people.

7. Who is your favorite character from part 1 and why? 

Atticus, because of his serenity and intelligence.

Social context: production and reception

This are the variables affecting our relations with others, like religion, gender, age, group, race, nationality, etc.

Now, in literature we have two types of contexts: The context of production and the context of reception.

The context of production is the context (year, events, etc) when the novel was produced by the author.
The context of reception is the context (year, events, etc) when the novel is read by someone.

Both are important things to consider. For example we couldn`t understand TKM being refered as a text of 2012, but we can as a text refering to the authors events in 1930

1. Comment on Jem's and Scout's visit to First Purchase Church. What does Scout learn about how black people live?

Calpurnia decides to take them to the first purchase church because Atticus ain`t home to take them to the church. They see another reality different from theirs. They hear another type of english and they see they had different ways of doin things, like when they sang the hymns.

2. Explain why Calpurnia speaks differently in the Finch household, and among her neighbours at church.

Because it is a context thing. It`s like a student talking to a friend and to a teacher.

3. Aunt Alexandra thinks Scout is "dull" (not clever). Why does she think this, and is she right?

Because she isn`t like a normal girls of her age, she doesn`t use dresses or do girl things and I think she is wrong.

4. How does Aunt Alexandra involve herself in Macomb's social life?

She was part of an amanuensis club. She also had invitation for drinking tea and those kind of things, she was known by the people in Maycomb.

5. Comment on Aunt Alexandra's ideas about breeding and family, in contrast to Atticus' visions. Who's right, do you think? Why?

They disagree in this. Aunt Alexandra thinks kids should always be behaving well and being an honour to the family. Atticus gives them more of a choice and he lets them learn by their own.

6. Comment on Atticus' definition of rape. How suitable is this definition as an answer to Scout?

Is a very direct definition, is a good definition and I think it was a good answer to Scout`s question.

Chapters 15 to 17

1. What is the Ku Klux Klan? What do you think of Atticus' comment about it?

The KKK is a racist group that is principally against homosexuality, afro-american people and comunism. It was founded in the year 1865. Atticus is probably right saying that the KKK is gone from maycomb and will not return

2. How does Jem react when Atticus tells him to go home, and why?

Jem thought Atticus was in danger and denied to go because of that.

3. What persuades the lynching-party to give up their attempt on Tom's life?

Probably after Scout`s words Mr. Cunningham put himself in the shoes of Atticus and left. 

 4. What sort of person is Dolphus Raymond and what is your opinion of him

He pretends to be drunk all the time so that his preferences are not questioned by people, because he prefers african-american people. I think he is a good person, one of the few who actually isn`t racist

5. How does Reverend Sykes help the children see and hear the trial? Is he correct in doing so?

He put`s them in other part of the courtroom so they can continue watching the trial. Maybe he is correct in the way that the kids inosense will not discriminate between black people and white people and they will understand that the racism is stupid and unfair.

6. Choose three quotes from chapter 17. Explain the context of each, the characters involved, and their relevance for the story, themes and overall message of the novel.

Gender Ads

I teamed up with Pablo Romeu to do this activity. The idea was simple, to create two products, one for men and on for women and use 100 words on each product to promote it.We created the poducts, we created a new ad for coke 0 (for men) and a new anti-age cream for women. The classes after we creeated the ads we had to present them, and so each group did. I foun this activity to b a little bit ard, in the creation, but interesting.

Diary: Entry 3

Entry 3:
I saw the Finches boys going towards their school, and the girl was carring a ham costume. I guess they had a play or an activity. I followed them, and stayed in the woods for them not to spot me. I saw a lot of people leave, but the boy was still waiting on the ladder. After some minutes the girl came out dressed with her ham costume. They were walking home and the boy stopped. He seemed to hear something, I heard it too, there was someone more near.When they were close to their home a man attacked them. It was Bob Ewell. I rushed up to stop him, but he had already hit the boy. He was about to attack the girl but I stuck my knife on hi stomach. I carried the boy to his home quickly and I stayed in the room. He had a broken arm. The sheriff had no nterest in arresting me for killing Ewell, and the little girl seemed to like me. I pet the boy for a while and then left.

The Help

1.- I think that the phrase "separated but equeal" is refered in how the african american were treated. It means they had buses, bathrooms, etc, but separated from the white people, so they had the same things (in a way, african americans were in fact treated very poorly), but they didn`t used mixed, one for white people and one for africa american people.

2.- After the civl war most states in the South passed anti-African American legislation. These became known as Jim Crow laws. This included laws that discriminated against African Americans with concern to attendance in public schools and the use of facilities such as restaurants, theaters, hotels, cinemas and public baths. Trains and buses were also segregated and in many states marriage between whites and African American people.

Jim Crow laws were tested in 1896 by Homer Plessey when convicted in Louisiana for riding in a white only railway car. Plessey took his case to the supreme court but the justices voted in favour of the Louisiana Court. William B. Brow established the legality of segregation as long as facilities were kept "separate but equal". Only one of the justices, John Harlan, disagreed with this decision. It was reflected in The Help between the cnditions of african american workers. The were forced to use different bathrooms and buses, they were treated in a bad way, they were easily to believe they were stealing, etc.

3.-"The maids in The Help took a risk by telling their stories. Even though they knew they could be shot to death in their front yards, they went ahead with the project. If people are not willing to take risks...they can`t hope to win and change the ways the live or the ways how things happen."

Diary: Entry 2

Entry 2:

Yesterday was a rough night. The boys, including Dill, tried to see me inside the house. Suddenly my brother shot to the air and the kids, very scared, runned away quickly. They went so quickly tha one of them, the boy, left his pants stuck on the fence. I saw them and I took them to fix them. While I was going to start fixing them, a large crowd of curious people were coming towards our home. My brother went out to talk with them, while I fixed the pants of tht boy. After a while the people went home. I finished fixing the pants and I folded them nd put them in the same spot I found them. Late at night the boy came to pick them up. He seemed quite confused of the fact that they were fixed and folded.

Diary: Entry 1

 Entry 1:
Today I saw the Finches going around, pretty much like every day, only that today they found a dog, not any dog though, this one had rabia. I saw them go back in the house to tell their maid about it. I saw her going with the boys, and when she returned she dialed quickly in the phone. After a while a police car arrived to the house, with Mr. Finch and the sheriff on it. When the dog appeared in the street I saw the sheriff handing the gun to mister Finch, but he didn`t looked like he liked having the gun. He aimed for a while and he shot. He killed the dog with a quit surprinsing aim. Good thing that he came, I wouldn`t like the boys being hurt by a dog wih rabia.

To kill a mockingbird

1.-It`s a small town, in wich lives Atticus Finch, a lawyer and his brother Jack, a doctor. Also he haves a sister, Alexandra. It`s a tired, poor, old town.


2.-He was all angles and bones, near sighted, guilted, her hands were white.


3.-Dill Dares Jem to go and touch Radley`s, he wanted to prove bravery.


4.-People believed Radly was a ghost because he didn`t leaved his house in 13 years, they also though that he was responsible for the killing of some pets.


5.-Is one of the most important qualities, he needs it to protect his sister.


6.-Inmature, curious and intrepid


Context of the novel

Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926, in Monroeville, Alabama, a sleepy small town similar in many ways to Maycomb, the setting of To Kill a Mockingbird. Like Atticus Finch, the father of Scout, the narrator and protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee’s father was a lawyer. Among Lee’s childhood friends was the future novelist and essayist Truman Capote, from whom she drew inspiration for the character Dill. These personal details notwithstanding, Lee maintains that To Kill a Mockingbird was intended to portray not her own childhood home but rather a nonspecific Southern town. “People are people anywhere you put them,” she declared in a 1961 interview.

Yet the book’s setting and characters are not the only aspects of the story shaped by events that occurred during Lee’s childhood. In 1931, when Lee was five, nine young black men were accused of raping two white women near Scottsboro, Alabama. After a series of lengthy, highly publicized, and often bitter trials, five of the nine men were sentenced to long prison terms. Many prominent lawyers and other American citizens saw the sentences as spurious and motivated only by racial prejudice. It was also suspected that the women who had accused the men were lying, and in appeal after appeal, their claims became more dubious. There can be little doubt that the Scottsboro Case, as the trials of the nine men came to be called, served as a seed for the trial that stands at the heart of Lee’s novel.

Lee began To Kill a Mockingbird in the mid-1950s, after moving to New York to become a writer. She completed the novel in 1957 and published it, with revisions, in 1960, just before the peak of the American civil rights movement.

Critical response to To Kill a Mockingbird was mixed: a number of critics found the narrative voice of a nine-year-old girl unconvincing and called the novel overly moralistic. Nevertheless, in the racially charged atmosphere of the early 1960s, the book became an enormous popular success, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and selling over fifteen million copies. Two years after the book’s publication, an Academy Award–winning film version of the novel, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, was produced. Meanwhile, the author herself had retreated from the public eye: she avoided interviews, declined to write the screenplay for the film version, and published only a few short pieces after 1961. To Kill a Mockingbird remains her sole published novel. Lee eventually returned to Monroeville and continues to live there.

In 1993, Lee penned a brief foreword to her book. In it she asks that future editions of To Kill a Mockingbird be spared critical introductions. “Mockingbird,” she writes, “still says what it has to say; it has managed to survive the years without preamble.” The book remains a staple of high school and college reading lists, beloved by millions of readers worldwide for its appealing depiction of childhood innocence, its scathing moral condemnation of racial prejudice, and its affirmation that human goodness can withstand the assault of evil.