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Many of Stephen King’s writings explore the theme of evil, and Apt Pupil is no exception. He has incorporated his ideas of malevolence into the characters of Todd Bowden and Kurt Dussander. The beginning of the novella delves into the dark thoughts of a young boy whose encounter with Dussander encourages the growth of his dark side. From stories of Patin to killing animals, the potential for evil can be seen in the eyes of the two and leads them to the ultimate evil: murder.
It all began when Todd found his ‘GREAT INTEREST. Staring at those old war magazines utterly lost. Like a key turning in a lock, it opened his inner thoughts and thus set in motion, the creation of a monster. His fascination with the horror stories from the magazines led him to Kurt Dussander, a former Nazi general stationed in Patin. Through the process of blackmail, Dussander was forced to tell stories about the Nazi concentration camps, the poison gas that came out of the showers, all the horrors that went on there. Todd ‘got off’ on the ‘gooshy’ stories, which propelled his thoughts. Millions of flickering signals in his brain like a euphoric feeling satisfying every evil brain cell. Dussander acted like a catalyst that encouraged Todd’s dark side growth.
Although to Todd it seemed like the relationship between him and Dussander was one-sided, the old war criminal was benefiting from it as well. He was reborn. Never in so long did the old man feel so alive, just like the good old days at Patin. The two of them were like parasites to each other. Todd, feeding his inner evil with stories of war, and Dussander, reliving his younger years by telling them. But both began to realize that stories could not keep them happy. There urge for a greater evil built up like a snowball rolling down a hill. Bigger and bigger it got. The forgotten tales of the thousands of Jews herded into gas chambers must have rekindled some evil spirit living in Kurt Dussander, and was trying to escape. Almost like a trance, he lured a cat by enticing it with a bowl of milk, grabbed it, and threw it into a gas stove. An evil grin came upon his face as he listened to the cat scream.
Most of the story Night takes place in a concentration camp, so cruelty is going to be normal for the prisoners at the camp. The point of this essay is to give examples of how cruelty is a theme in the story Night.
The Devil stealing Goodman Brown’s innocence eventually leads him to a life of despair. All throughout his life, Brown had let the Church dictate his life, and when he finds that it is all a ruse, the foundation that his...
The horrors of Hitler and the Holocaust are well known events during World War II, but many people don’t know that Stalin killed over 20 million people in the same time frame, either by murder or starving them to death in Siberian work camps. Between Shades of Gray uncovers the lost story of the millions of Lithuanian, Estonian, Latvian, and Finnish lives lost. The Baltic states annexation, the harsh conditions of Siberia, and the fearful lives they had to lead after being freed are wonderfully depicted in the novel.
Elli talks about daily life in her neighborhood. Her mother does not show any compassion for her. When Elli complains of this, her mother brings up excuses that are unconvincing. Elli believes her mother does not care for her and that her brother is the favorite. Hilter’s reoccurring radio broadcast give nightmares to Elli, whos family is Jewish. The nights when the Hungarian military police would come and stir trouble did not provide anymore comfort for Elli. One night, her brother, Bubi, comes home with news that Germany invaded Budapest, the town where he goes to school. But the next morning, there is no news in the headlines. The father sends him back to school. He learns the next day that a neighbor’s son who goes to school with Bubi has said the same. The day after, the newspapers scream the news of the invasion. Bubi arrives home, and the terror begins.
The novel: A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (written by Alexander Solzhenitzyn), tells the story of a Russian soldier’s life in a Siberian labor camp around the time of World War II. The protagonist in the story, Ivan, better known as “Shukhov”, is wrongly accused of committing treason and is sentenced to full 10 years of imprisonment in the camp. Throughout the story, the author makes vivid references to help the reader identify with the setting, climate, and overall feeling of what Ivan must deal with on a day-to-day basis. This helps the reader to better understand the points and the reality of what it was like living in one of these camps.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a very famous historical fiction book in this decade. This 550 paged book has encouraged many teens to know more about the Holocaust, a genocide that took place during World War II. Markus Zusak wrote this book based on information from his parents’ memory, not based on a modern day conflict. His parents’ experience during the war greatly influenced him. Even though many of the characters in this book are fictional, the origins, the towns, the events and the actions are historically accurate. Although The Book Thief was not written during World War II, Zusak was still around people who had been there to witness it.
Mrs. Sputz, the cleaning lady, says that everybody is different and we should be happy in it. Furthermore, being different is who we are. One more important event was when Spoonface’s doctor tells her the story of his mother who was in the concentration camp and she was very brave. Moreover, the poor people there never gave up hope and some of the little children were skinner than her because they didn’t eat enough. He said all this to help Spoonface, little children were braver than anyone else. The human spirit was in the middle. No matter how bad it is that we’re dying, it matters more that we are still alive. Things were drawn in the concentration camps like the butterflies flying to heaven. Another important event was when there was a reference made to a Bible character Job who suffered many difficulties in life similar to Spoonface.
“He was so terrible that he was no longer terrible , only dehumanized.” The book “ Night” by Ellie Wiesel was published on 1956 , it is about his dad and him getting taken to concentration camps by Nazis. “ The process of dehumanization is an aspect of our society that destroyed lives during the holocaust and continues to do so.”
The world’s worst genocide, the Holocaust, claimed the lives of nearly 6 million Jewish citizens across Western Europe. In Daniel’s Story, written by Carol Matas, Daniel, a boy thrown into the Holocaust at the age of 14, with nothing but his family, experiences hurt, death, and the cruelness of the Nazis firsthand. Daniel tells his story as he experiences the atrocities of the Holocaust. Daniel’s story is a prime example that no matter the consequence, fight for what is right.
The Nazis dehumanize the Jews in horrifying and inhuman ways. Throughout Night, author Elie Wiesel demonstrates how the Jews and other prisoners are mistreated mentally, emotionally, and physically by depicting 15 year old Eliezer’s experiences during the Holocaust.
Mama, though she may be rough, makes us a pea soup each week and has me deliver our washings to our customers, though we are losing them quite quickly. I believe Mama fears we won’t have enough for when winter comes. Papa, a quiet, mannered man, is the best father I could ask for. When I have my terrible nightmares about Werner, he plays on the accordion for me. Lately, he has been teaching me to read and write better, so that I may be able to get to my rightful position in school instead of with the small children. He has even taught me to roll his cigarettes, which he sold to get me two new books for Christmas. Oh, Max! He recently came to live with us, but I have to keep him a secret. At first, I was completely terrified of him; however, once I got to know him better, I now consider him a friend, much like Rudy. We have much in common – fists, nightmares, and trains. Oh, just thinking of those nightmares makes me miss you even more. I wish you were here; my birthday is coming up, and my only wish is to see you once more, though it will never happen because the Führer took you away.. I must not let my hatred engulf me; I
Rolf Carlé is a man who went through many struggles in his childhood. He was alive during the Holocaust and Russian soldiers had led him and his family to the concentration camps to bury the prisoners that were dead of starvation. He had the image of the naked bodies piled like a mountain of firewood, which he saw as resembling fragile China, still fresh in his mind. As a child he was also beaten by his father and had an armoire that his father locked him up in for imagined misbehavior. His father was also disgraced by his own daughter because she was mentally retarded. This young girl, Katharina, spent her life hiding and since Rolf was extremely close with her he hid beneath the kitchen table with her. Rolf’s mother boarded him upon a ship heading to South America, and as Rolf looked back on his past he felt as though he had abandoned his sweet sister Katharina. When Rolf encounters Azucen...
Many people think that reading more can help them to think and develop before writing something. Others might think that they don’t need to read and or write that it can really help them to brainstorm things a lot quicker and to develop their own ideas immediately (right away). The author’s purpose of Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, is to understand the concepts, strategies and understandings of how to always read first and then start something. The importance of this essay is to understand and comprehend our reading and writing skills by brainstorming our ideas and thoughts a lot quicker. In other words, we must always try to read first before we can brainstorm some ideas and to think before we write something. There are many reasons why I chose Stephen King’s essay, Reading to Write, by many ways that reading can help you to comprehend, writing, can help you to evaluate and summarize things after reading a passage, if you read, it can help you to write things better and as you read, it can help you to think and evaluate of what to write about.
This memoir, which sits on the library shelf, dusty and unread, gives readers a view of the reality of this brutal war. So many times World War II books give detail about the war or what went on inside the Concentration Camps, yet this book gives insight to a different side. A side where a child not only had to hide from Nazi’s in threat of being taken as a Jew, but a child who hid from the Nazi’s in plain sight, threatened every day by his identity. Yeahuda captures the image of what life was like from the inside looking out. “Many times throughout the war we felt alone and trapped. We felt abandoned by all outside help. Like we were fighting a war on our own” (Nir 186). Different from many non-fiction books, Nir uses detail to give his story a bit of mystery and adventure. Readers are faced with his true battles and are left on the edge of their
The story, “Young Goodman Brown,” is about a man named Goodman Brown who must leave his wife Faith to go on a fateful journey – a journey whose reason is left to speculation. He must go into the local forest, refuse the temptations of the devil, and return to the village before sunrise. He embarks on this journey and returns a changed man for the evils he encountered made him lose his faith in the community around him. The decision or struggle that Brown is faced with in the story is between the evil temptations that lurk in the fore...