Ok guys, so I have read this entire book and I have some mixed emotions, especially about the last scene of this book. So far the book has been about a kid growing up during the Hitler regime and taking part in his army. When the narrator starts to train for the war arising, that's when the book goes towards the end. In this last section, Heinz who is the narrators friend, is promoted to one of the generals so he has to move away to the front of the war. This is huge for the narrator because Heinz is his biggest helper in dangerous situations so now you can see a coming of age within the narrator because now he has to grow up and care for himself. Due to Heinz departure, the narrators squad has to find a new leader. Gunther who is one of Heinz's and the narrator's friend is promoted to the new general spot because of his rifle skills. For the narrator this is fine but when he visits his parents he finds out they are very disappointed. The reason why is because he is not promoted even though he has been with this Hitler youth group for the longest. In Germany, for your child to be the head of any platoon was a great honor so the narrator's parents are very infuriated when they learn their son is still a minor soldier. The very end is when they are being attacked in their bunker and chaos and fire surrounds them and the narrator cries out for Heinz to help him.
This ending is where my emotions start to mix up a little bit. I thought the whole time that this book was going to end with the narrator escaping and getting away from Germany but I was very wrong about that one. This ending is definitely a cliffhanger which is what I didn't want because I just wanted to end the book right here. The author made me feel like I was actually in the bunker with the characters and was going through the warfare and the chaos. The author does this with first person feeling and the description about every character around the narrator and what they feel. This makes the book more interesting to read and follow because of all of the emotions swirled with the characters that I can connect with. For example, the conditions got so bad for the kid soldiers they would either run away or just kill themselves. The reason why I can relate is because if I were in those conditions, then I would try to run away as well! What the reader has to understand is that they are just kids, not men so they are not used to being away from parents and they are definitely not used to being in harsh weather for hours at a time. This last section was for sure the most interesting because thats when the war takes action in Germany and minorities in Germany were treated by slaves.
So in the end, I thought this was a very informative book but lacked on character development. It was more factual about the holocaust then actually telling the story with characters. It felt like a text book rather then a novel, know what I mean? I wish he could of talked more about his inner feelings like what he felt about this whole Hitler take over and if he ever had thoughts of running away. If he did that then this book would be 10 X better. But anyway I thought this book was good especially to blog about. So this is Dylan D getting off with my final blog so I do recommend this book and hopefully you will have a more unique view then I had!
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Entry four- Violence Arises
Whats up! I just read my third section so you know we are getting down to the end. I have to point out that my prediction was right about what was going to happen next in this book. My prediction was that this book was going to take on a violent setting because we are now going deeper into Hitler's regime and boy was I right. This section explains about the violence the Jewish population of this time and what the Hitler Youth did to engage it. Since the narrator is part of the Hitler Youth, the action in this book is through the eyes of a Hitler Youth soldier. The Hitler Youth was a group of boys ages 12-17, that were part of Hitler's army and could fight in the wars. They always carried daggers with Hitler's name on it throughout Germany and were trained to fight hand to hand combat. The narrator of this book was one of them and he describes what the rest of the Youth did to those innocent Jews. The book then goes on about minor details about how the youth trained and how much hiking they did to know the geographical layout of Germany.
So the first part of the section was about the outlawing of all things Jewish. This included stores, traditions, and even the people. I created a glogster about this subject just so you get a broad overview of what was being done throughout Germany at this time period. As describe through the narrator, Jewish stores were raided of their goods and usually the owner was beaten up. Although this sounds bad, there was an interesting point the Narrator made when he stated that no owners or Jews were to be killed because that would be inhuman. I thought this was weird because beating them up, taking their things, and burning their property is pretty inhuman. Anyway then the store would get marked by the Hitler Youth to show it was a Jewish store and then it would get burned. I looked up why they would mark the store if they were going to burn it anyway and that was because they wanted to show the rest of Germany that Jewish traditions will stop and be no more.
The second part of this section is about the beginning of the Hitler Youth dominance. The narrator was in a sub group of the Hitler Youth but now all of those groups become one that is called the Hitler Youth. The narrator then takes us on journeys into training for the Hitler Youth. The training so far is hiking and running, to make sure the boys are in shape in case they have to walk long distances. The other part of the training was sleeping in the woods. The narrator states that this helps for war in case they have to ambush the enemy. Here is where you see some characters fight each other. The narrator witnesses group mates fighting each other mostly because they are scared and they miss their families. You get a sense that the kids don't really want to do this because they don't understand the complexity of whats going on. Remember some of these Hitler Youth are just 13 or 14 years old so they really don't understand whats going on. Here is another glogster to understand a brief overview of the Hitler Youth.
So this so far was a very educational section but not a lot with the characters, I'm pretty sure for the ending of the book, the characters are going to go through a serious change and probably the Narrator is going to escape. Hopefully this will happen but only time will tell. See ya next section!
So the first part of the section was about the outlawing of all things Jewish. This included stores, traditions, and even the people. I created a glogster about this subject just so you get a broad overview of what was being done throughout Germany at this time period. As describe through the narrator, Jewish stores were raided of their goods and usually the owner was beaten up. Although this sounds bad, there was an interesting point the Narrator made when he stated that no owners or Jews were to be killed because that would be inhuman. I thought this was weird because beating them up, taking their things, and burning their property is pretty inhuman. Anyway then the store would get marked by the Hitler Youth to show it was a Jewish store and then it would get burned. I looked up why they would mark the store if they were going to burn it anyway and that was because they wanted to show the rest of Germany that Jewish traditions will stop and be no more.
The second part of this section is about the beginning of the Hitler Youth dominance. The narrator was in a sub group of the Hitler Youth but now all of those groups become one that is called the Hitler Youth. The narrator then takes us on journeys into training for the Hitler Youth. The training so far is hiking and running, to make sure the boys are in shape in case they have to walk long distances. The other part of the training was sleeping in the woods. The narrator states that this helps for war in case they have to ambush the enemy. Here is where you see some characters fight each other. The narrator witnesses group mates fighting each other mostly because they are scared and they miss their families. You get a sense that the kids don't really want to do this because they don't understand the complexity of whats going on. Remember some of these Hitler Youth are just 13 or 14 years old so they really don't understand whats going on. Here is another glogster to understand a brief overview of the Hitler Youth.
So this so far was a very educational section but not a lot with the characters, I'm pretty sure for the ending of the book, the characters are going to go through a serious change and probably the Narrator is going to escape. Hopefully this will happen but only time will tell. See ya next section!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Entry Three- The Nazi Rise
Salutations everybody, this is becoming a very interesting book because it is now talking about all of the historical events that went on during this time period. Also, since this book is about the people during this time period, it is interesting to see how the people reacted during these events like the beginning of the annexation of Jews, and the Berlin Olympics. If you want to know a little about what this was or what I am talking about, her is a link you can follow: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005680. This link is from the United States National Holocaust Museum and it describes the Olympics during tht time. In I Was There, the author describes the setting from the Nazi Germany time period when the Olmpics start to roll around. The scene is that people become more patriotic with flags all around and workers setting up tents and festivities for when the Olympics begin. This link shows the same but describes what this meant for Nazi Germany and how Hitler's regime progressed after this event.
This was big because Germany was in the middle of Hitler's regime and this was the first time the olympics were in Germany. The narrator of my book who is still unnamed at this point, talks about how gloriouse this event was to the society of Nazi Germany. He describes that in his school they were testing for kids who were suppose to enter into the Olympics. He describes the training for Gymnastics and the other main charcter Heinz is supposily the best Gymnast in the area. A telling event in the story was when a unpopular kid name Gutton saved his life when he fell of the bars during his gymnastic routine. Heinz went on to be in the olympics and represented Germany. Here is a link for the opening events of the Berlin Olympics. This video shows what the Olypics looked like and how the crowd reacted. As stated before this was a big event to Nazi Gemany because it gave them much pride as a country and much honor to host the olympics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dyns367ExE T
So another thing that suprised me was the first conflict between the Hitler youth, which was the narrators boy group that followed Hitler's teachings, and a jewish boy. The scene described by the narrator was a group if kids kicking a Jewish boy while on the ground chanting "Stinking Jew" across the town. Then the narrator explains that people are just watching this, letting this happen. In school I learned that people naturally are bystanders and let violence happen and this is demonstrated in this book. As the boy was covering his face, shielding the kicks, no body was willing to help. When the narrator walked into the situation, he looked and said they shouldn't do that but then quietly walked a few feet back. Then a local citizen finally broke up the group and saved the little Jewish boy. Although this is very horrible, this is what happend all acros Gemany during the Hitler Regime. The one thing I don't like about this book is the length of the scenes. The scene with the Jewish boy seemed to be summerized and it left me wanting to more know about the situation. Hopefully the author goes into deeper detail of the events as we get to the more violent years of Nazi Germany.
So this is Dylan D getting off for at least a couple days and I will get back with details from the next section!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was big because Germany was in the middle of Hitler's regime and this was the first time the olympics were in Germany. The narrator of my book who is still unnamed at this point, talks about how gloriouse this event was to the society of Nazi Germany. He describes that in his school they were testing for kids who were suppose to enter into the Olympics. He describes the training for Gymnastics and the other main charcter Heinz is supposily the best Gymnast in the area. A telling event in the story was when a unpopular kid name Gutton saved his life when he fell of the bars during his gymnastic routine. Heinz went on to be in the olympics and represented Germany. Here is a link for the opening events of the Berlin Olympics. This video shows what the Olypics looked like and how the crowd reacted. As stated before this was a big event to Nazi Gemany because it gave them much pride as a country and much honor to host the olympics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dyns367ExE T
So another thing that suprised me was the first conflict between the Hitler youth, which was the narrators boy group that followed Hitler's teachings, and a jewish boy. The scene described by the narrator was a group if kids kicking a Jewish boy while on the ground chanting "Stinking Jew" across the town. Then the narrator explains that people are just watching this, letting this happen. In school I learned that people naturally are bystanders and let violence happen and this is demonstrated in this book. As the boy was covering his face, shielding the kicks, no body was willing to help. When the narrator walked into the situation, he looked and said they shouldn't do that but then quietly walked a few feet back. Then a local citizen finally broke up the group and saved the little Jewish boy. Although this is very horrible, this is what happend all acros Gemany during the Hitler Regime. The one thing I don't like about this book is the length of the scenes. The scene with the Jewish boy seemed to be summerized and it left me wanting to more know about the situation. Hopefully the author goes into deeper detail of the events as we get to the more violent years of Nazi Germany.
So this is Dylan D getting off for at least a couple days and I will get back with details from the next section!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Entry Two- My First Read
Whats up again, this is Dylan D and I just read my first section of I Was There by Hans Peter Richter. So far I have met the main characters and what their life is like on a daily basis. Two boys named Heinz and the narrator who has not introduced his name so far are the lead roles of this epic story. The narrator is a young boy who starts at age 9 and progresses to age 10 just in the first section. I think the author does this to show how fast this Hitler Regime took power and how fast the citizens adjusted to it. Heinz on the other hand it a couple years older which is implied throughout this section when the narrator says he is more mature and more of a leader among the local boys his age. Heinz throughout the first section has taken the narrator "under his wing" meaning every time the narrator has a problem Heinz is there to help him. So far you learn the two boys are raised as young people who are suppose to help Hitler and spread his teachings. They both have a commander that is the main teacher of Hitler's views and the boys have to fulfill certain tasks to please their commander. Everything in the book has been going fine but throughout this story there are problems with pleasing the commander and fulfilling the tasks they are presented with like selling stuff or marching throughout the town.
Well this book so far has pleased me with what I thought is was going to be which would be about the Hitler regime and the view point of the citizens who actually experienced this first hand. This gives me a really good picture of the life they had and what they had to go through. You can't get this with any other text book or a secondary source because it doesn't feel like your there. With this book, the words and imagery of what the characters go through, show and not just tell what this area and time period looked like. Also what really interested me was that the main character Heinz, was one of the sons of Hitler himself. Apparently he doesn't live with him for a reason that wasn't explained yet but either way that is still really cool. Hopefully I can find the answer but anyway, another thing that was cool was a summery of the months leading up to the elections in Germany in 1934. The author describes the scene as awkward especially when a protestor comes in and is removed by the authorities. There is no explanation of what happened to him but we can only guess that he was "removed for good".
So for the first 45 pages it is pretty simple of how the book will progress. The next chapter is The Jew and this can only mean that this is going to be the first time the author describes of what the new Germany does with the outlawed Jews. I am guessing there is going to be violence here since this is the year the violence was at one of its highest. But besides the next chapter, what I can tell by the characters is the narrator is going to stumble because Heinz cannot always pick him up when he messes up. This is probably going to cause an escalating issue and can be a real story changer. But really we have to wait and see. So this is Dylan signing off, I will keep everyone posted for the next few weeks on how this book is and how much I have learned just by going along with the experience of the story.
Well this book so far has pleased me with what I thought is was going to be which would be about the Hitler regime and the view point of the citizens who actually experienced this first hand. This gives me a really good picture of the life they had and what they had to go through. You can't get this with any other text book or a secondary source because it doesn't feel like your there. With this book, the words and imagery of what the characters go through, show and not just tell what this area and time period looked like. Also what really interested me was that the main character Heinz, was one of the sons of Hitler himself. Apparently he doesn't live with him for a reason that wasn't explained yet but either way that is still really cool. Hopefully I can find the answer but anyway, another thing that was cool was a summery of the months leading up to the elections in Germany in 1934. The author describes the scene as awkward especially when a protestor comes in and is removed by the authorities. There is no explanation of what happened to him but we can only guess that he was "removed for good".
So for the first 45 pages it is pretty simple of how the book will progress. The next chapter is The Jew and this can only mean that this is going to be the first time the author describes of what the new Germany does with the outlawed Jews. I am guessing there is going to be violence here since this is the year the violence was at one of its highest. But besides the next chapter, what I can tell by the characters is the narrator is going to stumble because Heinz cannot always pick him up when he messes up. This is probably going to cause an escalating issue and can be a real story changer. But really we have to wait and see. So this is Dylan signing off, I will keep everyone posted for the next few weeks on how this book is and how much I have learned just by going along with the experience of the story.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Entry One- The Start of the Beginning
Hey guys, so I wanted to read a book for the next couple of weeks and I found this really interesting one called I Was There. What I can tell about this book before actually reading it is it is about the times during the Holocaust. Also I can tell that it is based in Germany because of the army on front and the two German boys. You can also tell it takes place in Germany because the title I Was There kind of leads to the idea that the main character is in the middle of the Hitler regime. My prediction for this book has to be that the main character is going to try to rebel or go against the Hitler teachings of that time period. The reason why I think this is because this author wrote books on the same subject before and he has previously wrote about when he was growing up with this surrounding and how he tried to secretly rebel. I am very excited to read this book because I have always wanted to know a first person view of the holocaust and since I already have read Night by Elie Wiesel, I wanted to read more and more about it. So for the next couple of weeks I'm going to keep you updated on my progress reading this book with all my opinions, predictions, and reactions. The schedule for my reading, looks like this:
Entry 2: pgs 1-45 (Stop at The Jew)
Entry 3: pgs 45-92 (Stop at Crystal Night)
Entry 4: pgs 92-136 (Stop at Premilitary Training)
Entry 5: pgs 136-179
Alrighty then, I hope you guys keep following me as I read this interesting book for then next couple of weeks. Hopefully, with my analysis, I can spark interest to you about this book so maybe one day you will go to the nearest store and get this too. But if the book seems bad then let me show you why not to get it and save you the read. So this is Dylan D with his first blog about I Was There. See ya in a week!
Entry 2: pgs 1-45 (Stop at The Jew)
Entry 3: pgs 45-92 (Stop at Crystal Night)
Entry 4: pgs 92-136 (Stop at Premilitary Training)
Entry 5: pgs 136-179
Alrighty then, I hope you guys keep following me as I read this interesting book for then next couple of weeks. Hopefully, with my analysis, I can spark interest to you about this book so maybe one day you will go to the nearest store and get this too. But if the book seems bad then let me show you why not to get it and save you the read. So this is Dylan D with his first blog about I Was There. See ya in a week!
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