A prominent them in the literature of the Holocaust we have read in this class is the role of family and heritage. Many of the works we have read have dealt with familial relationships, cultural heritage, and the passing down of culture from one generation to the next. In her two short stories, “The Key Game” and “A Spring Morning,” Ida Fink explores the role of family and the importance of heritage to each of her characters. In both stories, the families are loving, and their members care for one another. This is, in some ways, a juxtaposition of the unkind and terrible circumstances that the families are living in. The focus of both stories is on the children, even though the parents play significant roles. The children are aware of their …show more content…
In “The Key Game,” it can be assumed that the child is only half-Jewish, otherwise the whole family would need protection, not just the father. If the father were to be killed, the son would lose his connection to Jewish heritage. If the son were to be killed, along with his father, this would represent the disappearance of that generation as well as a sense of confusion and fear for the future of Jewish people. In “A Spring Morning,” the death of the daughter is certainly indicative of the death of the future and hope of Europe’s …show more content…
The imagery of an aspen tree that Celan employs in this poem makes it clear to the reader that his mother was killed and that she was killed before she was able to grow old. This ties into the theme of loss of generation. Paul Celan’s mother did not ever get the chance to become an elder, and she was unable to see younger generations of Jewish people develop as many of them were also killed with her. “Psalm” employs the literary form it was named after. The psalm is a form of prayer that originated from Judaism. In the poem, Celan addresses God as “no one” and references the creation story with disdain. The fact that Celan pulls from Jewish tradition but presents it in such a cynical light is reflective of the fact that he was raised Jewish but did not practice the religion in his adult life. There is an obvious knowledge of the Jewish tradition, but there is also a clear distance and even disdain for it because of the suffering that it has brought to him and others. The poem “Tenebrae” is important, because it references old anti-Semitic myths like the blood libel and that the Jews killed Christ. Celan conveys disdain for his heritage in this poem as well by playing off of the anti-Semitic myths and by using a very repetitive but impersonal form of
The Holocaust is a topic that is still not forgotten and is used by many people, as a motivation, to try not to repeat history. Many lessons can be taught from learning about the Holocaust, but to Eve Bunting and Fred Gross there is one lesson that could have changed the result of this horrible event. The Terrible Things, by Eve Bunting, and The Child of the Holocaust, by Fred Gross, both portray the same moral meaning in their presentations but use different evidence and word choice to create an overall
Intergenerational conflicts are an undeniable facet of life. With every generation of society comes new experiences, new ideas, and many times new morals. It is the parent’s job go work around these differences to reach their children and ensure they receive the necessary lessons for life. Flannery O’Connor makes generous use of this idea in several of her works. Within each of the three short stories, we see a very strained relationship between a mother figure and their child. We quickly find that O’Conner sets up the first to be receive the brunt of our attention and to some extent loathing, but as we grow nearer to the work’s characteristic sudden and violent ending, we grow to see the finer details and what really makes these relations
When looking into works of literature, some stories seem to be similar to others. They can have a similar setting, point of view, theme, or sense of language and style. However, all of these points could be very different as well and could cover different theme or style. Flannery O’Conner’s “Good Country People” and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” have some contrasting elements, such as their points of view and use of symbolism, but their similarities in the underlying theme, language, and the setting of these stories reveal how these two stories are impacted by education on both the individual and their family.
George and Ophelia grow up in significantly different environments with exposure to vastly dissimilar experiences; their diverse backgrounds have a profound impact on the way they interpret and react to situations as adults. George and Ophelia both grow up without their parents, but for different reasons. George grows up at the Wallace P. Andrews Shelter for Boys in New York. The Shelter’s strict surroundings did not provide the warm and inviting atmosphere that a mother strives for in a home. The employees at the Shelter are not “loving people,” (p. 23) but they are devoted to their job, and the boys. At a young age, Ophelia loses her mother. We learn very little about her apparently absent father. Mama Day and Abigail raise Ophelia. Abigail provides a source of comfort and love for Ophelia as she fulfills the role of mother figure. Mama day, Ophelia’s great aunt, acts more as a father figure. “If Grandma had been there, she would have held me when I broke down and cry. Mama Day only said that for a long time there would be something to bring on tears aplenty.” (p. 304). Ophelia grows up on the small island of Willow Springs. Everyone knows each other and their business, in the laid-back island community. The border between Georgia and South Carolina splits down the middle of the island. Instead of seeing any advantage to belonging to either state, the townspeople would prefer to operate independently. For George and Ophelia, the differences in their backgrounds will have a tremendous impact on many facets of their adult lives.
Rosenbaum, Alan S. Is The Holocaust Unique?. 3rd ed. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2008. 387. Print.
Here Gretel has realised she has lost her innocence and her childhood has been robbed, like so many children of today’s world. In the poem, symbolism is used as a powerful technique to reinforce the darkness Gretel feels but also relates this common human experience, fear, to our own life.
... things up to the worst of it all. The readers can take away that just because you believe something different then somebody else, doesn’t make them or you a bad person or different in any way. This topic shows that long before the concentration camps, Jews were being singled out and treated terribly. The study of the Holocaust matters to show people what happened so that others can learn from it and learn to accept people no matter what their religion. It must not be forgotten because the people who suffered in it should be remembered. It was a terrible time that should never happen again. All of the laws passed leading up to the Night of the Broken kept increasing Hitler's power and ability to persecute the Jews because there was little reaction to his actions; the violence and persecution increased leading to the final solution because of this indifference.
Bergen, Doris L. The Holocaust: A Concise History. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. Print.
The holocaust is known for the great number of deaths; including the six million Jews. Ida fink is a writer that captures this time period in her works. In “The Key Game” she appeals to pathos because of imagery used, connections to your own family, and dialog used by both the father and mother. Through her fiction stories, she tells tales that relate to what could have been and probably what was. Ida Fink is known for telling her stories in a journalist like tone with very little color. In her stories, she does not like to tell you how to feel she instead leaves that up to the reader. Fink does place some hints of emotion just by writing the story alone. The interpretation of her works is left up to the reader. As you read through her stories some will find more emotion, some will find more logic, and some may see more ethics. At the moment, we will be looking more on the side of emotions within this story.
The delineation of human life is perceiving existence through resolute contrasts. The difference between day and night is defined by an absolute line of division. For the Jewish culture in the twentieth century, the dissimilarity between life and death is bisected by a definitive line - the Holocaust. Accounts of life during the genocide of the Jewish culture emerged from within the considerable array of Holocaust survivors, among of which are Elie Wiesel’s Night and Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower. Both accounts of the Holocaust diverge in the main concepts in each work; Wiesel and Wiesenthal focus on different aspects of their survivals. Aside from the themes, various aspects, including perception, structure, organization, and flow of arguments in each work, also contrast from one another. Although both Night and The Sunflower are recollections of the persistence of life during the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel and Simon Wiesenthal focus on different aspects of their existence during the atrocity in their corresponding works.
The poem contains the central idea that many of these children never understood what home really means. In Native American culture the people venerate earth and it is referred to as mother nature which we see in the poem. The rails cut right through their home but they don’t view them like the average person. They view the tracks as if they are scars across mother earths face and her face is the Native American’s homeland. She is scarred for eternity but she is perfect in their dreams. This symbolism is ironic because the children try to reach home using the railroad that ruined natural life for them and many other Native Americans. In the second stanza the speaker says “The worn-down welts of ancient punishments lead back and fourth” (15-16). Which can be talking about the marks on the children’s bodies after getting caught while running away. But the “word-down welts” can also symbolize the welts that were put on mother nature throughout history. The last five lines of the poem sums up the symbol of hope through their memories and dreams. The last line of the poem says, “the spines of names and leaves.” (20-24). The “spines” symbolize the physical strength of the children and their ability to maintain hope individually “names”, and for their tribe
Bard, Mitchell G., ed. "Introduction." Introduction. The Holocaust. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2001.
Regretfully, though readers can see how Mama has had a difficult time in being a single mother and raising two daughters, Dee, the oldest daughter, refuses to acknowledge this. For she instead hold the misconception that heritage is simply material or rather artificial and does not lie in ones heart. However, from Mama’s narrations, readers are aware that this cultural tradition does lie within ones heart, especially those of Mama’s and Maggie’s, and that it is the pure foundation over any external definition.
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader, whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike’s “A&P,” the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls’ innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.
Introduction: The Holocaust was an event that took place in Germany which means ‘sacrifice by fire’ in Greek; many murdered Jews were the consequences of this terrible action caused by Adolf Hitler. According to the website United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) it states that “The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.” This terrific slaughter was a racial and discriminatory oppression for the Nazis to the minorities. The Holocaust is an important and historical event taught in schools and known by many people. The word ‘holocaust’ is associated with massive deaths based on the background of Hitler’s actions during 1939-1945.