In the Book Thief, Liesel, probably due to the fact that she is the main character, seems to be the most interesting. She starts as a little girl, with primitive thoughts and feelings. She seems innocent and naive. As the book progresses her innocence is quickly shattered, probably quicker than any child's innocence in this day of age. Upon realizing that Hitler had probably done something to take her biological mother away from her, Liesel's view on the was and the world go from being mostly apathetic to quite interested. she hates hitler and because of the relationship she builds with max, she sympathizes with the jews of germany. she sees past all the supposed good hitler is doing and just sees the hunger of her family and friends.
i think liesel is a very strong character. in the face of adversity she pushes herself to learn to read, she doesn't take crap from the neighborhood kids when she first moves in, she stands up to the mayor's wife, and, i think, she would be completely capable of taking care of herself if she ever needed to. she is a loyal friend, a good daughter, and a great scholar. her thirst for reading and the will to keep practicing her words until she memorizes them proves her intelligence. Personally, i think because of the hard times she faces such as the loss of her brother, biological mother, and eventually her foster mother's loss of business has cause this girl to grow to a level of maturity beyond that of an 11 year old. I thoroughly enjoy her character simply because she seems like a really tough cookie.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
My Thoughts On Maus
To begin I want to comment on the way the author illustrated the characters. I thought creating the jewish characters as mice was a great idea because it properly demonstrated the way the nazi propaganda portrayed the jewish people to the rest of the populace. It was a great way to show their status in the society of the time.
Something else I thought was a great idea was that he didn't just illustrate his father's story from the past, he also illustrated his story with his father. He showed the other side of the story. He showed how his father's expriences affected his present day life and his relationships with the people around him especially his son. Through this window he created from the present to the past you could see how getting his father's story slowly brought him closer to his father and possibly patched up old hurts that Artie had held in secret within himself for years. This method of illustrating the story was also a great way to show the repercussions the war had on everyone, not just the people immediately involved.
Another thing I noticed that Artie did was to write the story with his father's accent included. He could have re-worded the story so that it was grammatically correct but instead he left the story intact. This style of narrating the story made it seem more real. The accent paired with the illustrations made it feel as if the reader were there with Artie while Vladek was cycling and telling his story.
Creating the story as a graphic novel is an idea I never would have thought of, but it was a fantastic one. At first i was taken aback by the nature of the story because the idea of such a serious topic being portrayed in cartoons almost seemed offensive but as I read I realized it was brilliant. When reading a boring black and white novel about the same old same old holocaust it's difficult to fully grasp the atrocities that took place. With the way I have grown up hearing about the holocaust it's almost as if most people have become indifferent to it. It's mentioned casually here and there, you read Anne Frank's diary and think, "Oh, how horrible, what a great story," but then something like this is thrown at you and you can't turn away from the horrible things that happened. You can't misread a line and underestimate the horrible things that happened. You have, shoved in your face, pictures, images, that even in cartoon form will be stuck in your mind for ages.
As for the comic within the comic I think Artie put that in there to help illustrate part of why his relationship with his father was so strained. It helped to clarify the feelings that he had buried deep within himself until they had gone from smoldering coals to a large hot fire of hatred and blame all directed at his father.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am seriously considering going out and buying part two.
Something else I thought was a great idea was that he didn't just illustrate his father's story from the past, he also illustrated his story with his father. He showed the other side of the story. He showed how his father's expriences affected his present day life and his relationships with the people around him especially his son. Through this window he created from the present to the past you could see how getting his father's story slowly brought him closer to his father and possibly patched up old hurts that Artie had held in secret within himself for years. This method of illustrating the story was also a great way to show the repercussions the war had on everyone, not just the people immediately involved.
Another thing I noticed that Artie did was to write the story with his father's accent included. He could have re-worded the story so that it was grammatically correct but instead he left the story intact. This style of narrating the story made it seem more real. The accent paired with the illustrations made it feel as if the reader were there with Artie while Vladek was cycling and telling his story.
Creating the story as a graphic novel is an idea I never would have thought of, but it was a fantastic one. At first i was taken aback by the nature of the story because the idea of such a serious topic being portrayed in cartoons almost seemed offensive but as I read I realized it was brilliant. When reading a boring black and white novel about the same old same old holocaust it's difficult to fully grasp the atrocities that took place. With the way I have grown up hearing about the holocaust it's almost as if most people have become indifferent to it. It's mentioned casually here and there, you read Anne Frank's diary and think, "Oh, how horrible, what a great story," but then something like this is thrown at you and you can't turn away from the horrible things that happened. You can't misread a line and underestimate the horrible things that happened. You have, shoved in your face, pictures, images, that even in cartoon form will be stuck in your mind for ages.
As for the comic within the comic I think Artie put that in there to help illustrate part of why his relationship with his father was so strained. It helped to clarify the feelings that he had buried deep within himself until they had gone from smoldering coals to a large hot fire of hatred and blame all directed at his father.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and am seriously considering going out and buying part two.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
About Me
I guess for starters I should introduce myself. My birth name is Catherine but because probably a third of the female population of the United States shares that name with me I have a ridiculous amount of nicknames such as: Rin, Kitty, Kate, Cathy, Cat, Thrin; etc. Feel free to call me by any of the names on the list and maybe even add a few of your own.
I guess my hobbies/interests would include reading and writing. I like to make hemp necklaces and work on the collage I'm making. I enjoy camping and hiking and swimming in lakes rather than the ocean. I use running as a way to calm myself(so if you ever see me with my running shoes on you can assume I'm stressed). I also enjoy dancing and spending time with my friends.
I'm an English major with a creative writing focus and since I'm a freshman I had no choice when it came to my schedule but I am genuinely looking forward to this class. If I could have had a choice I probably would have picked this class anyway. I enjoy discussing books and reading things that I may not have picked on my own. Classes such as these are always a good way to introduce yourself to new types of literature.
I think the last book I read was called Burned. Its a book in the House of Night series, so yes, it is a vampire focused book. However, it is a totally different concept than twilight or even the more known vampire tales. It takes place in the present day world with actresses and actors whom we all know and love/hate, but with a twist. It's about our world as if vampires existed and had always lived amongst humans being known for what they are. It is quite interesting and an easy read.
Cultural diversity... I had an interviewer at Hollister ask me this one time... I guess I would define it as the differences in all people of the human race based upon where they live and who they have grown up around. Different things such as the environment around them and other variables affects how different cultures have developed. I find cultural diversity to be very interesting because everyone is different, and it's always good to understand why people are different from each other. Knowledge helps to create peace in a lot of cases. Without the knowledge of why certain cultures are the way they are it is easy for cultural hatred to pop up.
I expect to learn from this class things about different cultures and times through writings by people of different cultures. I am sincerely looking forward to it.
I guess my hobbies/interests would include reading and writing. I like to make hemp necklaces and work on the collage I'm making. I enjoy camping and hiking and swimming in lakes rather than the ocean. I use running as a way to calm myself(so if you ever see me with my running shoes on you can assume I'm stressed). I also enjoy dancing and spending time with my friends.
I'm an English major with a creative writing focus and since I'm a freshman I had no choice when it came to my schedule but I am genuinely looking forward to this class. If I could have had a choice I probably would have picked this class anyway. I enjoy discussing books and reading things that I may not have picked on my own. Classes such as these are always a good way to introduce yourself to new types of literature.
I think the last book I read was called Burned. Its a book in the House of Night series, so yes, it is a vampire focused book. However, it is a totally different concept than twilight or even the more known vampire tales. It takes place in the present day world with actresses and actors whom we all know and love/hate, but with a twist. It's about our world as if vampires existed and had always lived amongst humans being known for what they are. It is quite interesting and an easy read.
Cultural diversity... I had an interviewer at Hollister ask me this one time... I guess I would define it as the differences in all people of the human race based upon where they live and who they have grown up around. Different things such as the environment around them and other variables affects how different cultures have developed. I find cultural diversity to be very interesting because everyone is different, and it's always good to understand why people are different from each other. Knowledge helps to create peace in a lot of cases. Without the knowledge of why certain cultures are the way they are it is easy for cultural hatred to pop up.
I expect to learn from this class things about different cultures and times through writings by people of different cultures. I am sincerely looking forward to it.
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