Behind the Bedroom Wall |Blog #5|

Summary:
Now finished with Behind the Bedroom Wall Korinna still debating whether to trust Rita, report her parent's and trust any other Nazi member and is facing the Jew problem also.  She starts to switch from a Loyal German to a person who has sympathy for Rachel's conditions behind the wall of Korinna's bedroom.  She learns all about Ruth, Rachel's older sister and Rachel's old house.  Instead of ignoring the little girl she starts to open her eyes wide and see what Jews are going through.  Then one day the Gestapo barge in the Rehme's house and destroy everything trying to find any Jews but leave anything involved with Hitler, like for example his portrait.  Not finding anything, Hans (Rita's older brother) is angry and nearly kicks Korinna's kitten for Korinna's confession on why there was a missing page on her journal.  After the Gestapo leave the Rehme's make a choice.  With that it ends.

I had a question on the part where the Gestapo did NOT break the portrait of Hitler.  This would be smart if the upstander actually had a hidden room behind the portrait.  If the Gestapo really do appreciate Hitler then there is a really good chance that the Rehme's would be able to keep the Krugmann's in a 60% chance of safe.  Also I asked myself, Couldn't they just break the portrait just to make sure the Rehme's aren't hiding anything behind, because if they are then that is a smart plan.  Especially to the fact that Hans and the rest did not touch the picture?  Of course the Rehme's couldn't think of that since they never have been untrusted by the Gestapo and the Gestapo ruining their home.

Reading Strategy:
While I was reading the book  Behind the Bedroom Wall I was really interested in the conflict.  There are some books that only one conflict but this book had around 3 or more.  First conflict was that Korinna had to face her parent's helping Jews, since Korinna is more of a loyal German.  Another is self conflict, she couldn't decided whether to report her parent's or not, or trust her friends and other Nazi members.  Then there was the fact that people were getting suspicious of her.  Her Jungmadel leaders were watching her especially the one who slapped her.  Then there was the ending.  It left with a cliff hanger.  The conflict was still there but a new one was rising.  There was so many of them I had a hard time trying to keep up.  Throughout half of the book Korinna was looking at her parents as enemies.  She was more entranced with the Nazi and Adolf Hitler that she didn't see how Jews were actually feeling and being treated.  She wanted to report her parents before anyone else does report her and her parents.  This meant she wanted to still be a loyal German than be mistaken as a traitor.  Then she wrote something in her black notebook that could have given some one a clue to what is happening.  Rita her best friend found this and who knows maybe even turned her back away from Korinna.  There's so much conflict in this book that just leads to, too many questions.

Another thing is.  If I were to compare the Jews on a tense situation on being found to the "today world" I would compare them to immigrants hiding in cars while crossing the border with the help of american citizens.  I mean if you think about it, a jew hiding in a little room and an immigrant hiding under the car seat or wherever they can hide and next thing you know the Nazi and the Border police check.  They are so near the Jew and immigrant that they start to become tense and uneasy.  A jew's heart would start pounding as if it is about to jump out of it's chest and an immigrant would be the same.  Course the immigrants goal is to cross to the country they want to live in without being caught, illegally.  A Jew's goal is to hide somewhere safe from the Nazi without also being caught and trying to get to another place safe untill they finally survive.  I just think that when the predator is near it's prey, you know the prey would start panicking thinking if they are about to get caught and their whole world would tumble into pieces.  I just think that in that situation of being caught is the same as an immigrant and a jew when the authority and Nazi are near.  That's just my connection.

Behind the Bedroom Wall

So far in the book Behind the Bedroom Wall a girl named Korinna Rehme who is a member of the Hitler Youth or the Jungmadel is taught to hate Jews and report them. But she then learns her mother and father are sheltering Jews and acting as if they are "true Germans". This all takes place in 1942. As Korinna is slowly progressing that Jews are in her home, her friend Rita and her Jungmadel leaders are starting to get suspicious for her especially for not attending 2 meetings for being "sick". Korinna is also in a tight situation and having a man vs. self conflict whether to report her parent's as enemies of Germany and whether to trust her best friend Rita and anyone else who is involved in the Nazi.

Behind the Bedroom Wall has so many parts that what to make you shake and nearly scream from the suspense. One of the interesting parts is once Rita reads a statement Korinna wrote about her parent's. Rita ask Korinna why she was writing it. Korinna only responds that it was because she was angry. Rita only replies saying she won't tell no one and her secret is kept with her but looks at the wardrobe for a long time, where the Jews are hiding (behind the wardrobe and behind Korinna's bedroom wall). I had a twisting feeling that Rita was only saying that to escape and tell some one especially her brother Hans who is a Gestapo officer. Another is while Korinna was sleeping the Gestapo police started to barge in her house searching for the Jews and not finding any. Hans was also involved in it making me think that Rita must've told her brother about what she read. What surprised me a lot in the plot is how everything is building up and getting it more complicated for Korinna to handle with the Jew situation. I think we're almost there in the climax making the book more exciting to read.

Holocaust Blog 12/3/14

After reading about bystanders and upstanders I believe many people stood by and watched the holocaust take place was because of fear.  Not everyone was brainwashed for hating Jews but they knew if they betrayed the Nazi and Hitler there would be a consequence.  Of course there was others who did sheltered Jews and when they were caught they would be killed or put in camps.  That made others fear of their lives being taken away and facing a group that has military weapons.  Other Germans took the risk to actually save Jews and I think the reason why is because they knew they were being killed and mistreated.  Unlike others who were brainwashed to say hurtful names to Jews they took the risk to shelter Jews knowing their life could be taken away.  What I would think I would have done is maybe take the risk of helping the Jews.  Even though there is much fear like being placed in camps and killed also being called a Jew lover or something like that.  Also if I was an upstander then I would take the non violent route.  I would listen to forbidden allied broadcast radios, and read or produce clandestine anti-Nazi newspaper.  Though I will of course need to act normal like all Germans so no one knows that I am hiding something from everyone.  Staying away from killing high ranking informers and trying to assassinate Adolf Hitler would at least help me be disguised as an Nazi follower.

Bad Boy blog

Summary

So far in the book a boy named Walter Dean Myers who lives in Harlem.  Has a twist of family from biological parent's to adopted parents.  To his father marrying one woman then to another.  Also being a negro boy and going to a school with whites and other blacks he's more of a student who is feared and teachers despise of him.  He comes home with bad marks and in conduct "Needs Improvement".  Another thing Walter faces is the Wicked Witch.  Also he has trouble speaking fluently.  Walter who is the author of this book wrote this as a memoir of his childhood.

Note and Notice (signpost)

While reading Bad Boy I noticed something different from Walter.  In school he would beat up a boy if they offended Walter.  Walter would mostly read comic books and sometimes disobeyed his mother by asking for money and buys comics or icy pops, punch boys if they made fun of Walter.  He kept getting in trouble in school.  Until one day when they all had to write a poem he read his aloud.  Mrs.Conway complimented on his story she liked it very much until a kid named Sidney Aronofsky said he was pretty sure Walter didn't make it.  Walter was angry that he punched Sidney in the face and Mrs.Conway yelling Walter she was getting tired of his acts.  He was told to not participate in any class events like reading out loud until he brought his mother with him.  While being in the back he was reading a comic book and was caught and Mrs.Conway gave him a novel called East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon, he started to like it.  I asked myself why he would like such a book when he's more into comics?  I was more into the book, he said he kept a secret from everyone else that he loves reading books and writing poetry.  He said he loved how reading books was like entering a different language not like entering a different world.  This would be Contrast and Contradiction because he went from being tough and reading comics into books and writing poems when all the boys are tough and into fighting than writing poems and reading.

- X.S.

Sweatshop assessment

In the article "Fight for fair treatment of workers: Don't buy Nike" is that workers in the Nike sweatshops are being abused.  If a worker did a mistake they were either slapped, hit with shoes, kicked and being forced to stand under the hot sun.  They are also being payed $1.25 a day.  Nike can also have a profit from athletes.  For example Lebron James made a supportive deal to Nike worth $90 million.  Tiger woods also a deal worth $100 million.  What I think of this issue is unacceptable.  Abusing your employees and getting huge profits from famous athletes like Lebron and Woods is violating human rights.  Nike isn't giving a second thought on their workers but they're trying to make a big profit.  Of course there are other sweatshops like that, but disrespecting your workers is more like controlling their lives.  What I found most upsetting is that if they wanted to buy hygiene they had to give up paying for food because they're payed $1.25 a day  I didn't know it was that complicated for them to live like this.

In the poem "The Sweatshop poem" the argument is that workers in SweatShops workers sometimes considered themselves slaves.  One piece of evidence is "My self is destroyed I become a machine" this shows that this person thinks that they have become a machine from working in long hours.  Second piece of evidence is "I lose my mind, forget who I am" showing that they get so focus on work and they don't even remember who they really they are only having work in their minds.  Reading the sweatshop poem was different from reading the article is by the point of view.  In the article the only point of view is a report or journalist.  In The Sweatshop it has a worker's perspective of how they feel while working their point of view.  This form of reading affected my understanding of the poem by seeing how even though workers are living a complicated life they write poems to express themselves.  Or have some else write ir for them, or show the public how sweatshops take care of them.

Allegiant #4

Summary

So Far in the book Tris and Tobias are entering the lab with Matthew about to take a genetics test to see why they aren't showing much of a Divergence behavior.  While testing they all found out something very shocking leaving Tobias.  He finds out he's genetically damaged but is able to be aware during simulations and acts like a Divergent.  Also Tobias was also arrested because he joined a group that was involved in genes.

The Genre of the book is mostly action/romance.  What I like about this book is that it gives a lot of new turns sort of like a sharp turn.  For Example in the first two books I thought Tobias was genetically healed but they discovered he wasn't in the third book.  That was something I didn't expect.  Also the action.  Veronica gives a lot of details when they are either attacked or they are attacking, giving you was that person's feeling.  Like that time they were attacked by the factionless since the Dauntless and Caleb were going to go to the Allegiant but were attacked, she gave enough detail of what Tris was fearing her emotions and reactions.  What I like about the book is Veronica explains in this last book of how all the factions were made and the war, the genes and all that.  I was pretty surprised myself of this.  This is what I like about Allegiant.

- X.S.

Allegiant #3

So far in the book Allegiant Tris and the others have arrived at the Allegiant called the Bureau of Genetic Welfare.  The Bureau is placed in Chicago's national airport, O'Hare.  Tris agreed to follow Zoe and Amar to know about her mother who was in the picture with David the leader of Bureau.  Another thing is Tobias finds out something surprising about his old friend in the Dauntless.  While staying in Bureau David gives Tris files of her mother's secret life and why is so important and seen in the picture.

My thoughts about the book was "Why was her mother living a secret life?"  I was thinking at why would they try to heal the genes of humans and why in ONLY Chicago the genes work fine while other cities are mostly screwed up.

The conflicts of the book is Tris trying to accept and react about her ACTUAL mother.  She eventually her mother (Natalie) isn't the Natalie she was always living with.  She heard that her mother only went to Chicago to investigate if the experiment actually worked and had nothing to do with living a new place or born as Dauntless.  The conflicts haven't been telling me the theme just yet.  There are a number of conflicts but I might be close.

- X.S.