Set in Nazi German, with the occasional interruption from the 1980’s Reagan Era, A Bright Room Called Day by Tony Kushner has more in common with 2016 America than one may first imagine. Political upheaval in the wake of a devastating economic crisis and the rise of an influential and charismatic leader certainly may resonate with many in America today, even as this may not have been what the play write had imagined having written this play in the 1980’s. The story follows the events of the 1930’s as Hitler gains ground in Germany, and a small, odd group of friends who work to do their part politically. While some succeed more than others at finding a voice among the chaos, others are left behind in the wake of the war. The play begins with a grand celebration, in which the characters toast to the New Year. Agnes admits that she feels relatively safe living at Berlin at this time, and the group decides to make up a story together. They story is of a cold night and a watchman who tries to beat nature by fighting back and arming himself with a warm coat and scarf. At first he succeeds, but later finds that even his coat and scarf are It reminds the audience that while no one could likely ever be as evil as Hitler, history has a way of repeating itself. We are urged to pick our leaders carefully, to take interest in politics and choose are affiliations well. Most importantly, Tony Kushner is trying to call us to action in this play. He urges each and every audience member to avoid the pit falls of complacency as Agnes succumbs to in the play. To take no stance at all is not to be untouched, as Agnes had seen many of her friends leave as a result, but to remain stagnant, to be haunted by your fears and regrets, and to die with no one to remember you. Tony Kushner’s warning serves equally well, whether you are from 1930’s Berlin or 1980’s New York, or even if you are from 2016 Elizabethtown
The theme of this play is centered around time; the value of the little time we have been given and how that time should be used to live for what is right and what truly matters.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in East Berlin at the time when the Berlin Wall was up and Germany was still split between West and East? Jennifer A. Nielsen’s standalone book, A Night Divided, explains life through twelve year old Gerta’s point of view. Her family’s escape story can teach us many things even if they are not a real life family. The many struggles and victories that they experienced can teach the reader life lessons as well as educate them on life in East Berlin during the time the Berlin Wall was in place.
This is a lesson that is still relevant today. Though the acting and dialogue seem to appeal to an older audience, young viewers can still enjoy and learn from this play. Prejudice, suspicion, and thoughtlessness are as prevalent as ever. For any problem, humans will look for a scapegoat. The War on Terror seems to bring similar feelings as those around during the Cold War.
up an overall idea of the theme of the scene. The scene is quite long,
They are already in a compromising situation in celebrating her eighteenth birthday at a gas station having coffee which was already established as being not the norm earlier with Marie recounting her own large party where her “mother made a large party” (154). There reality is broken when the teenagers arrive and “One of the girls went to the juke box and put money in” and they are forced to leave because of Carol condition which causes her to have a breakdown from the noise (157). The arrival of the kids forced them to come into contact with their own reality which can never coincide with the one they have fabricated. This small reminder of what the norm is supposed to be is often brought to their attention through others such as when they “could see, in the light shaft of light, a boy, two girls and a dog” (155). In this instance, they are walking on the way to their weekly picnic, which is in itself repetitive, when they are shown the norm of other having fun “the boy splashing in the water with the dog” while they are forced to go through the motions without much emotion. This depiction of the norm unsettles their reality and, even though they don’t stop trying to alter reality to shelter Carol, shows how dysfunctional their own situation is as it can be seen as a potential version of themselves without Carol’s
Hence, upon analyzing the story, one can conclude the certain themes that parallel through the pages. Firstly, a theme of unity and trust is present at the end of the play. This is supported by the image of the cathedral, which is a place of unity. Most importantly, the notion of equality among people is the main theme within this story. The narrator starts as a biased, idiot, who dislikes all people that are not like himself. He even at times is rude to his wife. Ironically, it takes a blind man to change the man that can literally see, to rule out the prejudices and to teach him that all men are created equal.
Some of the most fabled stories of our time come from individuals overcoming impossible odds and surviving horrific situations. This is prevalent throughout the Holocaust. People are fascinated with this event in history because the survivors had to overcome immense odds. One, of many, of the more famous stories about the Holocaust is Night by Elie Wiesel. Through this medium, Wiesel still manages to capture the horrors of the camps, despite the reader already knowing the story.
the main theme of the play. With out this scene in the play I don’t
]Haffner, is a book which is hard to define. Only 165 pages long, Haffner has crammed more relevant information into this book than many twice its length. He observes Hitler's roller coaster ride through life and the country that he eventually took along. From Hitler's private life to the complete betrayal of Germany, Haffner evaluates the conditions and impetus for Hitler's accomplishments and failures. These include not only Hitler's psyche, but also the political arena of post World War I Europe.
...is day. Their lack of resolve, lack of humanity, has become synonymous with the German people of that era, and a black mark on the history of not only these people but of a world. The decisions made by the politicians, the officers, and the soldiers beneath them destroyed families, lives and civilizations. This lack of empathy for another group of people is one of the most disturbing aspects of the Imperialist Era. The German ideals would also lead to the most horrific fighting on a grand scale the world had ever seen or would ever see. An anonymous poem sums up the questions of many in just a few lines:
Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 film Inglourious Bastards entails a Jewish revenge fantasy that is told through a counterfactual history of events in World War II. However, this story follows a completely different plot than what we are currently familiar with. Within these circumstances, audiences now question the very ideas and arguments that are often associated with World War II. We believe that Inglourious Basterds is a Jewish revenge fantasy that forces us to rethink our previous understandings by disrupting the viewers sense of content and nature in the history of World War II. Within this thesis, this paper will cover the Jewish lens vs. American lens, counter-plots with-in the film, ignored social undercurrents, and the idea that nobody wins in war. These ideas all correlate with how we view World War II history and how Inglourious Basterds muddles our previous thoughts on how these events occurred.
In Elie Wiesel’s Night, he recounts his horrifying experiences as a Jewish boy under Nazi control. His words are strong and his message clear. Wiesel uses themes such as hunger and death to vividly display his days during World War II. Wiesel’s main purpose is to describe to the reader the horrifying scenes and feelings he suffered through as a repressed Jew. His tone and diction are powerful for this subject and envelope the reader. Young readers today find the actions of Nazis almost unimaginable. This book more than sufficiently portrays the era in the words of a victim himself.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth [growing up in Hitler's Shadow]. New York: Random House/Listening Library, 2006. Print.
According to Jonathan Murray’s article titled “Two Days, One Night”, in one recent promotional interview, for example, Jean-Pierre Dardenne argues that he wanted to show how this woman, without realizing it, manages to inspire a solidarity that was completely lost in the workplace. Sandra's fear of losing her job inspired within her a newfound faith in herself and in the force of solidarity. The ability of people to stand together and support each other instead of favoring monetary gain enables her to feel happy because together she and her husband “put up a good fight”.
In her report of Nazi SS member Adolph Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem, first published as a series of articles in The New Yorker, Hannah Arendt managed to spark great controversy, both in the academy and among the general public. The primary attack on Arendt was that she seemed to “blame the victim”, in this case the Jews, for their role in their own extermination during the Holocaust. While by no means the focus of her book, this perceived accusation in combination with her portrayal of Eichmann as an apparently sane, ordinary man made readers uncomfortable at best and at worst vindictive and unforgiving in their critique. In assuming the objective, detached role she did, she risked ostracizing herself from both friends and colleagues as well as the Jewish community as a whole. That Arendt could insist Eichmann lacked the evil qualities he was accused of possessing, and was not the sadistic, inhuman monster the prosecution and everyone else wanted him to be was inconceivable. On the contrary, Arendt was disturbed by Eichmann, but instead by his obvious mediocrity. Were he the monster that he was expected to be, one could have easily judged and separated oneself from him, taking pride in the striking contrast between one and the accused. Instead, people were faced with a supposedly “evil” man who was, for the most part, not significantly different from the average man. It would go against the common sense of most to consider a man who facilitated such a great number of deaths “normal.” While commonplace in some ways, he represents a failed product of humanity; more specifically, he is an existential failure. The appearance of normalcy merely comes from how smoothly and effortlessly one can slip into that role. Eichmann proves himse...