I felt very tense while reading this book. I felt like there were a lot of stupid people saying a lot of stupid things. Especially the person on page 21 who said:
“As far as I’m concerned, this whole business of deportation is nothing but a big farce. Don’t laugh. They just want to steal our valuables and jewelry. They know it has all been buried and that they will have to dig to find it; so much easier to do when the owners are on vacation…”
...are you kidding me? What a luxurious vacation... Another part that stood out to me was when they all had to wait on the sidewalk with their families on page 16:
The Hungarian police used their rifle butts, their clubs to indiscriminately strike old men and women, children and cripples. One by one, the houses emptied and the streets filled with people carrying bundles. By ten o’clock, everyone was outside. The police were take roll calls, once, twice, twenty times. The heat was oppressive. Sweat streamed from peoples faces and bodies. Children were crying for water. Water! There was water close by inside the houses, the backyards, but it was forbidden to break rank. "Water, Mother, I am thirsty!" Some of the Jewish police surreptitiously went to fill a few jugs. My sisters and I were still allowed to move about, as we were destined for the last convoy, and so we helped as best we could.
When the Police were hitting those people, was there any reason at all? Were the people not allowed to bring any food or drinks from their houses?
I noticed this writing style is in perfect English (possibly because its been translated), which annoyed me a lot. For example: “I have been summoned to a special meeting of the Council.”(Wiesel 12) and “On everyone’s back, there was a sack.”(Wiesel 17). If this was written in English originally, it would probably be worded like this: “The Council asked me to come to a meeting” and “Everyone carried a bag on their back” or something along the lines of it.
Jasmine, I like how you started out with this writing! Something that confused me was why you have one block quote but not another where it is needed in the beginning? I like the idea of the quotes but I think you could describe it a bit more after the quote? I also would suggest using more formal language throughout your writing!
ReplyDeleteJasmine, I love your enthusiasm about the choice of word they use they use in the book but I wish you would give more then one idea on his style, add a little more info about what you feel, and try not to repeat a word twice in a sentence.
ReplyDeleteJasmine, I love your enthusiasm about the choice of word they use in the book. I appreciate his word choice when he wrote, "The ghetto ruled by neither German nor Jew. It was it was ruled by delusion" (p. 12). Could you give more feedback on his style and add a little more info about what you feel?
ReplyDeleteI don't have anything written about the quote you mentioned in this comment. Also I think we only had to write our opinion about his writing style and the paragraph i wrote was the opinion I chose to focus on.
DeleteJasmine, I liked how enthusiastic you were about everyone's "stupidity". You did a good job at expressing your feelings. However, I would suggest using more formal writing (what you called "perfect English"), rather than typing as if you are speaking.
ReplyDeleteWhat I mean by perfect English is what a foreign person who learned English on Rosetta Stone would speak like.
DeleteI mean not really, It's just a more formal way of writing. If anything it's your examples of casual English that a foreigner would use, as it's much simpler.
Deletebut that's not what people are taught. Foreigners are taught perfect English ( kinda how we speak french but English) and we speak English using slang and short cuts and stuff.
DeleteJasmine your paragraph over all was great and I understood the events of the book. Except your post was more quote than your actual thoughts.
ReplyDelete