ATTENTION GRABBER!!! In the Pulitzer Prize winning, historical fiction drama All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr motivates characters through fear and greed, and the outcome of these actions cause characters to develop or change. One of the main characters, Werner Pfenning, experiences some pretty scaring events in his life; however, the one event that changed him dramatically in his future decisions was watching the abuse that ensued at the school he attended. Not only did Werner have to participate in freezing/torturing a prisoner to death, but he also watched as his friend Frederick as beaten and bullied, and later pummeled into a vegetable state. Werner’s fear of disapproval drew him to participate in some acts of cruelty, while fear of losing his only friend stopped him from following along and beating Frederick, but the fear for his own life and future stopped him from helping his friend. Later in the story, his guilt from being so fearful, and allowing his friend to come as close to death as possible but still have a heart beat drew Werner to save Marie-Laure (the other main character), even though he could be killed if he were caught helping her. That fear and guilt drove Werner to kill a man he is supposed to follow orders from, and save a person that he is supposed to kill. In Werner’s last few days of live, …show more content…
After Marie went blind at the age of 6, she became depended on her father and obeyed everything he told her without question, and even after he was gone and she was alone in the attic, she still obeyed her father’s voice in her head; however, in that moment, her fear drove her to take control of her own fate and fight for herself, even if her father’s voice was going against that idea. In the long run, this time of crippling fear made her less disabled than she was before. Sure, she is still blind, but she is no longer letting that hold her back from what she is willing to fight
Grace is a very sweet and sensitive girl. She made some mistakes herself, but because of her foster parents she got through the tough parts. In Far From the Tree written by Robin Benway, she created a character that had a child in highschool and Her little girl was adopted and has a better life than what Grace could have offered her. Once Grace got told she had a sister named Maya she bursted into joy. Her heart was beating out of her chest when she was emailing Maya to meet up. When Maya replied with an answer Grace was ecstatic, but at the same time she did not know what to think. The moment when she saw the answer was ¨yes¨ she ran downstairs to tell her parents. Her whole life was now different because she had a relief that she had someone
“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy of each other’s life” -Richard Bach. Far from the Tree by Robin Benway explores the meaning of family, and the impact that loved ones have on identity. The novel tells the story of three siblings who have three very different lives reunite after spending all of their lives separately. Grace, Maya and Joaquin grow dependant on one another, and unknowingly give and take values from each other that help them solve their own issues slowing being brought to light. With the help of his parents and siblings, Joaquin reveals a critical capacity for change as he leaves his old self behind and moves on to a better future with a loving family.
Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worse attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point were they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous example used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were. After being forced into concentration camps, Elie was rudely awakened into reality. Traumatizing incidents such as Nazi persecution or even the mistreatment among fellow prisoners pushed Elie to realize the cruelty around him; Or even the wickedness Elie himself is capable of doing. This resulted in the loss of faith, innocence, and the close bonds with others.
Blood chilling screams, families torn apart, horrifying murders are all parts of the Holocaust. David Faber, a courageous, young man tortured in a Nazi concentration camp shares the horrors he was exposed to, including his brother Romek’s murder, in the book Because of Romek, by himself David Faber. When Nazis invaded his hometown in Poland during World War II, David remained brave throughout his father’s arrest and his struggle to stay alive in the concentration camp. David’s mother inspired him with courage.
When Marie tries to ask the protagonist to take a walk, this action shows that she is trying to achieve Pauline’s dream by getting her outside of the house. Therefore, she could finally feel the true meaning of freedom. Nevertheless, Pauline’s mother’s response demonstrates that she wants her daughter’s safety more than anything. The mother tries to keep Pauline away from the danger, so the protagonist can at last have a healthier life. However, Agathe’s reply shows that her mother is willing to sacrifice Pauline’s dream to keep her secure.
He was very skilled around working a radio. He had the challenge of having to go to the National Institute even though his beloved sister Jutta disapproved of his decision to go. While he was at the National Institute he had to use his radio skills to help the Nazi leaders and soldiers kill hundreds of people. This was something Werner had to deal with and he suffered greatly with the idea that he was hurting and killing so many people with his “talent” for radios. This was one of the hardest parts of the war for Werner. The thing that kept his true character was that he continued no matter what to communicate and stay in contact with his sister, Jutta. He made most of his decisions based on his sister. One of his biggest struggles was he was at the National Institute and he was apart from Jutta. As it is said in the following quotes below Werner was torn with his decision because deep down his true character is being a loving brother and to protect Jutta. “Mostly he misses Jutta: her loyalty, her obstinacy, the way she always seems to recognize what is right.” (263) “Perhaps she’s the impurity in him, the static in his signal that the bullies can sense. Perhaps she’s the only thing keeping him from surrendering totally.” (263). Also in this quote Werner's love and consideration for Jutta is displayed. He even gave Jutta the opportunity to not show Frau Elena who was essentially the mother figure to the both of them. “I’ll
In Frank Beddors, “The Looking Glass Wars” a lot of things happen that are bad. There are lots of good things too. The story is about the “Myth” of Alice Liddell stepping through a looking glass into Wonderland. The topic of this essay is the Truth of the story. The purpose of this paper is how Loyal or devoted some people are to white imagination
How can inhumanity be used to make one suffer? The book Night by Elie Wiesel is about a young Jewish boy named Elie who struggles to survive in Auschwitz, a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Throughout the memoir, there are many instances where inhumanity is portrayed. The theme seen in this novel is inhumanity through discrimination, fear, and survival.
In The Big Field, author Mike Lupica explores the theme, "Success uses motivation as fuel." Lupica portrays this theme through the main character, Hutch. Throughout the entire book, Hutch, a young boy that has just recently joined a highly talented baseball team, displays moments that exemplify this main theme. Hutch and his team have a chance to play in the stadium of the Miami Marlins, a Major League Baseball team, as long as they can keep winning games and advancing through a challenging tournament; however, Hutch's favorite position on the field, shortstop, the position located between 2nd and 3rd base, has already been filled on the team. Unfortunately, Hutch gets a demotion from shortstop, to second base, the position located between 1st base and 2nd base. Although Hutch was disappointed and melancholy about the switch in position, he was even more upset about the downgrading of leadership, since the
Instead of having one side and only one experience be told, the audience is given two points of view to realize that neither side is wholly good or bad. Green sees Werner’s point of view as something problematic due to the fact that Werner is portrayed as innocent. While this is true, Green fails to understand Doerr’s goal to portray the characters as neither wholly good or evil. Werner is a child of war, and sometimes he did not have any choice or had a chance to own his life for example, when Werner suggests that Frederick should leave ‘Your problem, Werner,’ says Frederick, ‘is that you still believe you own your life.’ ” (Doerr 223).Green sees this as forgetting the immorality of the Germans since the story “diminish [es] the moralistic aura that comes with
Marie had just traveled from her hometown of Ville Rose, where discarding your child made you wicked, to the city of Port-Au-Prince, where children are commonly left on the street. Marie finds a child that she thinks could not be more beautiful, “I thought she was a gift from Heaven when I saw her on the dusty curb, wrapped in a small pink blanket, a few inches away from a sewer as open as a hungry child’s yawn” (79). Marie has suffered many miscarriages, so she takes this child as if it were her own, “I swayed her in my arms like she was and had always been mine” (82). Marie’s hope for a child has paid off, or so it seems. Later, it is revealed that the child is, in fact, dead, and Marie fabricated a story to sanction her hopes and distract her from the harsh reality of her life, “I knew I had to act with her because she was attracting flies and I was keeping her spirit from moving on… She smelled so bad that I couldn’t even bring myself to kiss her without choking on my breath” (85). Her life is thrown back into despair as her cheating husband accuses her of killing children for evil purposes and sends her to
Wait until Dark was written by Frederick Knott, and contains two acts and three scenes in each act. This title gives an overview of what the story is about, Wait until Dark gives away that something is going to happen in the dark or at night. What is significant about this title is that a character by the name of Susy, makes Roat (a con man) suffer by turning off all the lights in the house and chasing him around. Susy is already blind, so she mastered using her other senses, but Roat has not. Therefore, he has to maneuver through the house quickly and carefully, without being caught by Susy. If I ever did get a chance to rename this play, I would name it THE DARK CHASE, because there are people chasing each other in the dark.
Director Mark Herman presents a narrative film that attests to the brutal, thought-provoking Nazi regime, in war-torn Europe. It is obvious that with Herman’s relatively clean representation of this era, he felt it was most important to resonate with the audience in a profound and philosophical manner rather than in a ruthlessness infuriating way. Despite scenes that are more graphic than others, the films objective was not to recap on the awful brutality that took place in camps such as the one in the movie. The audience’s focus was meant to be on the experience and life of a fun-loving German boy named Bruno. Surrounding this eight-year-old boy was conspicuous Nazi influences. Bruno is just an example of a young child among many others oblivious of buildings draped in flags, and Jewis...
This fact is evident in The Light We Cannot See, and shown during a physical training exercise at the academy where the cadets are able to choose the weakest boy and then chase him down: “ . . . the pack draws closer and Werner feels annoyed. Why couldn’t Ernest be faster?” (170). When Werner pities the weak runner, he experiences inner turmoil because he realizes that whom he truly is, is not whom the Nazis expect him to be. He then realizes that if he is to succeed in the academy, he must give up the right to think for himself completely and become someone who is not only accustomed to the brutal environment, but encourages it. Also, when Fredrick develops a brain injury from an attack planned by upperclassmen, Werner is unable to bear seeing his friend in that condition and begins to search for his old bird collection book: “Werner lifts the flaps of boxes, peering in. ‘Surely it’s around here.’” (296). Werner becomes desperate to find the book because he believes that if he shows Fredrick a part of his past, he will be able to recover and therefore Werner will be able to avoid the fact that his lack of involvement is one of the reasons for his friend’s injury. However Fredrick remains the same, and he becomes a permanent reminder of the Hitler Youth’s brutality, as well as helps Werner realize that in the
It was more than a road trip; it was a long journey of healing, exploration, and learning about history, racial divide, and friendship. Gather at the Table presents cultural differences and similarities between the main characters, Tom and Sharon, throughout the story through conflict and meaningful dialogue. These differences and similarities are revealed all over the map as the two traveled across twenty-seven states. Noteworthy moments when they were revealed include: when they meet while Coming to the Table, learning about their genealogy and visiting the segregated city of Chicago.