Boy On The Wooden Box Adversity

The title of my book is the boy on the wooden box by Leon Leyson. Adversity means an unfortunate event and resilience means overcoming that unfortunate event. The examples that I’m going to show you is about Leon Leyson a young person who is struggling to keep his family safe and struggle to survive from the nazis who have taken him and his family to concentration camps where they are tortured for pleasure. The author is the character himself who has witnessed many traumatizing things through the struggle of survival. This is very significant since there were very few people who were unable to struggle to survive through the event known as the Holocaust and he was one of them. Leon overcame the adversity and demonstrated resilience

in the novel by helping his family survive and sometimes even going against nazi orders that would have even be punishable with death if they were violated but he still continued to struggle hiding and helping his family in any way possible.

Even through the struggles and his near death he was saved by a generous nazi known as Oskar Schindler who was very kind and even went against his own group to prevent the death of many Jews he could gather during the Holocaust.

Leon Leyson has experienced many adversities in the novel from the death of many Jews in his own eyes to him finding out that some of his family members didn’t survive. The first example was when Leon discovered the news that almost all of his relatives didn’t make it out of the Holocaust. In the novel it states, “In one blow, all of our extended family in Narewka, some one hundred relative-had been murdered.” (Leyson, 174) This is an adversity for Leon because he had very precious memories with all his family members and he loved all of them but suddenly out of nowhere he receives news that almost all of his dear

relatives were tortured, gassed, shot, or worse during the Holocaust. Everybody would think that a big death in a family like that would be a very sudden out of the blue atrocity that can shake everybody in the family and lead them to insanity over a big hit. Another adversity Leon experienced was when he found out that Hershel (his brother) was possibly dead due to him chasing his girlfriend rather than his family which were going with Schindler to safety while his girlfriend wasn’t lucky enough to go which caused him to chase after her causing the split in the family. In the novel it states, “Hershel had indeed made it back to Narewka, only to be taken prisoner and murdered by the SS assassins on that terrible day in August.” (Leyson, 174) This is an adversity because Leon looked up to his brother for help and now that he was gone he didn’t have anyone to look up to since he trusted his brother with everything and now he has noone to go in case he wants to share something or go for advice. Also, another adversity Leon experienced was when he was naked in the cold with not even underwear running in front of guards to show how fit Leon is for any other jobs that he may be doing in the future if he succeeds the test. In the novel it states, “I am naked. My head is shaved. I am surrounded by total darkness. Gradually night turns to day. I am still naked, now sprinting past stone-faced guards, trying to prove to them how fit I am.” (Leyson, 152) This is an example of adversity because Leon was facing a misfortune in running in the cold while he was on the verge of being killed or not. Finally, Leon experienced adversity when he found out that him and his father would be taken to Plaszow again in which would mean their deaths. In the novel it states, “ A list circulated with the names of those who were to be sent back plaszow. My name was on it. So were my father’s and david’s. That’s it, I thought. The end. I knew I couldn’t survive Plaszow again even if I was there with my father and brother.” (Leyson, 144) This is an atrocity because Leon finds it terrible that all his efforts in keeping his family safe and continuing to live on are all gone to waste since he was just named in the list to go to Plaszow where he will eventually die with his father and David but without going with his mother who would most likely survive.

Leon demonstrated resilience in many different ways in the novel the boy in the wooden box.

The first example of Leon demonstrating resilience was when he still continued on the way to visit his mother even though it was punishable with death if you were caught running around. In the novel it states, “ One afternoon I took advantage of the pandemonium to sneak into the women’s section to find my mother. I was so small and thin, and my hair was so shaggy, I could pass for a girl; I knew I would be severely punished if I were discovered.” (Leyson, 117) This is resilience because he overcomes the challenge of finding his mother and not be caught knowing that he had the option to continue and ignore his mother so he wouldn’t even be risking anything. He knew the consequences and still overcame his fear of getting caught by guards and getting the whip. Another example of Schindler demonstrating resilience was when he hid food for Leon’s father even risking his life if he was caught helping a jew. In the novel it states, “ He even hid a few provisions in the storage cabinet of his lathe so we would have something to eat if and when we arrived” (Leyson, 148) Also, Leon demonstrated resilience when he still continued to count the number of whips he was getting without skipping a number or miscounting even if it hurt him he still counted so he wouldn’t be given anymore whips. In the novel it states, “ The whips had little ball bearings at the end, intensifying the

pain and damage. We were ordered to count the lashes as we were whipped. If we were overcome by the pain and missed a number, the guards started over at number one.” (Leyson, 121) This is showing resilience because instead of Leon being overcoming with pain and having the atrocity increase he doesn’t let the pain get to him and he uses his will power to focus in reaching to his number and finishing the whips instead of quitting. Finally, Leon shows resilience when he finally has the willpower to share to everyone his traumatizing story since his story was really traumatizing for Leon since he saw many people he has cared about gone in front of his eyes, he was tortured with a whip, he was getting starved by guards, and he and his family were beaten to a pulp by guards, and he was scared. In the novel it states,” The following sunday, January 23, 1994, my story and my photo ran on the front page of the Orange County edition of the Los Angeles Times.” (Leyson, 199) This is