The Blue Door is an account of a Norwegian family's detention by the Japanese in Indonesia. Lisemor Kristensen, who was born in 1934 on the island of Java in Indonesia, is the eldest child of Norwegian parents. Lise remembers her childhood back dropped by the circumstances of the Dutch colonization of Indonesia, with many of her friends being of Dutch or European decent. Lise also recalls the carefree childhood that she and her siblings enjoyed in Java, including living in a spacious house with live-in maids, and a busy social life with frequent pool parties and sleepovers. Lise went to a school that was prominently made up of Europeans, and remembers her school life as happy and enjoyable. Adversely however, Lise recalls the difficult life …show more content…
of some young Indonesian children that she would encounter on a daily basis, children who were forced to work in the heat pulling ploughs and even making bricks. Then, in 1942, everything changed. Lise was looking forward to going back to school about this time but remembers that she started feeling uneasy when her would-be teachers began disappearing without explanation.
Lise also recalls vividly the day that she went next door to visit Elly, her neighbour and best friend, and found that Elly's house had been reoccupied by a Javanese family. Lise remembers that the father of the Javanese family was very rude and mean to her. Lise later learnt from her parents that Elly and her family had been taken away during the previous night by Japanese soldiers in a large truck. Lise did not realize that her family would meet the same …show more content…
fate. The Japanese came for Lise’s family in 1943 under the cover of darkness. Forced into the truck by gunpoint there was little that Lise and her family could do in protest. Any attempt to stand up to the soldiers resulted in beatings or shootings. The family was cramped for hours on the truck with countless others who were terrified, and, after hours on the truck, longing for water and a bathroom. Finally, when they disembarked from the truck, Lise's father was taken somewhere else and Lise, her mother, her 7 year old sister, Karin, and her baby brother, Lasse, were taken to the first of several internment camps, De Wijk. After experiencing hardship and brutality at the hands of the Japanese at De Wijk, Lise and her mother and siblings were moved on to Bangkong, a makeshift camp set up in a church. Lise witnessed hundreds of deaths, either by floggings, or diseases such as beri-beri, malaria, or yellow fever. The final camp that the family was moved to was the worst of all. Most of the prisoners were already near death because of malnutrition by the time they arrived. The camp was called Lampersarie. It is in this camp that Lise reveals the most details of her plight, and that of her siblings and mother.
Through her despair and desperation Lise explains of the hope that kept her going. Lise remembers stooping to the level of a common thief when she ‘raided’ nearby empty houses of families that had been forced out of their homes. The author also explains about the time in this camp that she, along with the other children in the camp, killed an abundance of blow flies and rats to earn an extra bowl of soup or a spoon of sugar, things that would have once horrified her. One of the most disturbing parts of the story for me however, was when Lise was reduced to eating the scabs off her unhealed wounds to fight the debilitating hunger that enveloped
her. I was quite amazed by the ability of the author to remember events that happened almost 70 years later. The book is both depressing and inspiring as the story is tragic yet hopeful. I think that the book was very well written and I also believe that it must have been immensely difficult for the author to write, considering her honest and sometimes emotional recount of events. Lise also recounts the time after her release, of how she, and especially her mother, found it so difficult to cope. The family traveled back to Norway without Lise’s father as he left the family to live with another woman in Britain. Lise explains that she remembers this time with bitterness, that after all they had been through that her father would leave them. Although I think the book was well written, I did not actually find it to be an enjoyable read. How can the reader find enjoyment in another’s pain and suffering? I understand that the book would be useful for those who are studying the terrible events that took place during the holocaust, but aside from the intent of gleaning that kind of historical information from the book, I would not recommend it for a pleasurable reading experience.
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 story is taking place in a prairie. The first line of pg. 47 declares that. The same page is talking about a storm might be coming. I guess, there is a ocean near the prairie. On pg. 48, I found that the prairie landscape is discomforting due to the fact that it seems alive. It also talks about the farmsteads are there to intensify the situation. That same page talking about putting fire. It is taking place during winter, and may be somewhere during December. I think, the time is during the Great Depression of 1930's. In pg. 51 we found that John's farm is under mortgage. The same page tells, He works hard too much to earn some dollars. From pg. 52, I also found, he does not appoint any helper. In pg. 52, Ann remembers about their good time as well. Now, they are not having that of a easy life. They are tired by the labour. These all quotations proves that, the setting of the story is in a hill during the great depression of 1930's.
"The Painted Door" by Sinclair Ross centers on a woman who finds herself unhappy living on the farm far away from any companionship. The story takes place in the early part of the 20th century in a rather desolate farming area in Canada during the most bitter part of the winter. In fact, during the story, a terrible blizzard breaks which becomes a major part of the story.
... of this story is the will to survive. The will to survive is strong in all the characters though there are some who seem to expect they will die at any time. Lina is furious with herself when she stooped low enough to accept food thrown at her by the guards, but she does it anyway. Even the youngest children realize the need to endure the torture and survive. Jonas finds a barrel and comprehends that it could be made into a stove. Janina finds a dead owl and realizes that it could be eaten. This will to survive sometimes results in anger and selfishness, as seen in Ulyushka when forced to share her shack with Lina’s family.
While obtaining food seemed to be the entire purpose of life for the people imprisoned in the camps, it often killed more people than it saved. Though focusing on food seemed like a logical thing to do when you are being starved, it was not always very effective in helping people survive. There are many situations in the book illustrating how living for the sole purpose of acquiring food—under any condition—could turn out to be lethal.
It is estimated that six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. A survivor from the Holocaust wrote about his time during the Holocaust. Elie wrote a book about his time in a concentration camp. Elie wrote a book called Night. In Night, Elie Wiesel uses soup as a motif to demonstrate that your food is more important than your life, as shown in the book when the man crawls to the soup and dies, when you’re sick, you’re entitled to thicker soup, and the soup was Elie’s entire life.
Jeannette Walls has lived a life that many of us probably never will, the life of a migrant. The majority of her developmental years were spent moving to new places, sometimes just picking up and skipping town overnight. Frugality was simply a way of life for the Walls. Their homes were not always in perfect condition but they continued with their lives. With a brazen alcoholic and chain-smoker of a father and a mother who is narcissistic and wishes her children were not born so that she could have been a successful artist, Jeannette did a better job of raising herself semi-autonomously than her parents did if they had tried. One thing that did not change through all that time was the love she had for her mother, father, brother and sisters. The message that I received from reading this memoir is that family has a strong bond that will stay strong in the face of adversity.
After Sarah escapes the unsanitary camp with Rachel, the two run until they find a place of beauty. “In the late afternoon, they came to a forest, a long, cool stretch of green leafiness. It smelled sweet and humid….a mysterious emerald world dappled with golden sunlight….The water felt wonderful to her skin, a soothing, velvety caress. She wet her shaved head, where the hair had started to grow back, a golden fuzz” (Rosnay 99). This description places images in the mind of the reader that allow for the reader to experience this moment in the forest with Sarah. Vivid descriptions of places and events are more common within Sarah’s story, as she is experiencing the horrors of the war, allowing the reader to visualize the tragedy through the descriptions in a book. Soon after the arrest, Sarah and her family are thrown into the Velodrome d’hiver with other Jews, where a woman jumps from “the highest railing” with her child in hand: “From where the girl sat, she could see the dislocated body of the woman, the bloody skull of the child, sliced open like a ripe tomato” (Rosnay 33). This description captures the horrifying sight Sarah has just witnessed, darkening the mood and tone of the book alike to the depressing events that occurred within the
Food is essential to basic life. It provides people with the energy to think, speak, walk, talk, and breathe. In preparation for the Jews deportation from the ghettos of Transylvania, “the (Jewish) women were busy cooking eggs, roasting meat, and baking cakes”(Wiesel, 13). The Jewish families realized how crucial food was to their lives even before they were faced with the daily condition of famine and death in the concentration camps. The need for food was increased dramatically with the introduction of the famine-like conditions of the camps. Wiesel admitted that, although he was incredibly hungry, he had refused to eat the plate of thick soup they served to the prisoners on the first day of camp because of his nature of being a “spoiled child”. But his attitude changed rapidly as he began to realize that his life span was going to be cut short if he continued to refuse to eat the food they served him. “By the third day, I (Elie Wiesel) was eating any kind of soup hungrily” (Wiesel, 40). His desire to live superseded his social characteristic of being “pampered”. Remarque also uses his characters to show to how a balanced diet promotes a person’s good health. Paul Bäumer uses food to encourage Franz Kemmerich, his sick friend, “eat decently and you’ll soon be well again…Eating is the main thing” (Remarque, 30). Paul Bäumer feels that good food can heal all afflictions. The bread supply of the soldiers in All Quiet on the Western Front was severely threatened when the rats became more and more numerous.
People show either fight or flight reaction when they meet obstacles. Which means people will either approach or avoid the issues which are given to them. The two main characters in Sonny’s Blues, by James Baldwin, represent those two reactions. Obstacles, such as conflicts between brothers and social structure which is not supportive to them, equally disturb the brothers. But the brothers’ way managing and reacting to obstacles illustrates a huge contrast between them. Sonny represents a group of people who approaches and fights against his obstacles. Sonny’s older brother, the narrator of the text, represents a group of people who avoids or runs away from his obstacles. Sonny is able to persuade his brother, who had an opposite tendency, in the end of the story. Based on the result of the story, it appears that Sonny is “more right” than his older brother.
Sarah and her mother are sought out by the French Police after an order goes out to arrest all French Jews. When Sarah’s little brother starts to feel the pressures of social injustice, he turns to his sister for guidance. Michel did not want to go with the French Police, so he asks Sarah to help him hide in their secret cupboard. Sarah does this because she loves Michel and does not want him to be discriminated against. Sarah, her mother, and her father get arrested for being Jewish and are taken to a concentration camp just outside their hometown. Sarah thinks Michel, her beloved brother, will be safe. She says, “Yes, he’d be safe there. She was sure of it. The girl murmured his name and laid her palm flat on the wooden panel. I’ll come back for you later. I promise” (Rosnay 9). During this time of inequality, where the French were removing Sarah and her mother just because they were Jewish, Sarah’s brother asked her for help. Sarah promised her brother she would be back for him and helped him escape his impending arrest. Sarah’s brother believed her because he looks up to her and loves her. As the story continues, when Sarah falls ill and is in pain, she also turns to her father for comfort, “at one point she had been sick, bringing up bile, moaning in pain. She had felt her father’s hand upon her, comforting her” (Rosnay 55).
James Baldwin’s Sonny’s Blues tells the story of the narrator and his brother and the hardships that they must endure. As Kahlil Gibran States “Out of suffering have emerged the strangest souls, the most massive characters are seared with scars.” (Gibran). In that very quote the real light is shown as it informs the reader that with suffering comes growth and once the person whomever it may be emerges out of the darkness they may have scars but it has made them stronger. The theme of light and darkness as well as suffering play a vital part in this story. For both men there are times in which they have the blues and suffer in the darkness of their lives but music takes the suffering from them.
Ann and John, two characters from he short story "The Painted Door", do not have a very healthy relationship. John is a simple farmer who thinks the only way he can please his wife, Ann, is by working all day to earn money for her. However Ann would prefer him to spend more time with her. Their relationship is stressed even further when Ann is left at home alone with nothing to think about but their relationship because John has to go to his father’s house. The terrible snowstorm accentuates Ann’s feelings of loneliness and despair. John does not pay enough attention to Ann, and therefore creates a weak relationship.
The short story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin is an emotionally compelling story in which the narrator describes his relationship with his brother and the struggles they have been through together. Sonny, the narrator’s brother, was sent to prison for selling and using heroine. Time passes and the narrator writes to Sonny in prison when his daughter, Grace, dies. In a flashback, the readers learn that before Sonny’s improsinment the narrarator was in the army and their parents both died. The readers also learn that Sonny dreamed of becoming a jazz musician. After Sonny realizes he’s being a burden to his sister in law’s family he decides to leave and join the navy. When he gets back he and his brother fight, ending with Sonny saying that
During a break, a worker threw some bread on the wagon. There, “[d]ozens of starving men fought desperately over a few crumbs” (100). Elie saw that when the bread had landed, there were people “trampling, tearing at, and mauling each other” (101). One piece landed in Elie’s wagon and a man named Mier killed his own father to get the piece. This shows the barbaric behavior elicited by the suffering the Jews had to endure. It painted the picture of the people in the cabin who were acting like animals to get a small piece of food. Their hardships made them forget their morals and ethics and try not to