War Artifact: Propaganda Posters

 

These posters are both from World War 1. These, and many others, made me realize that people were not that smart before as they would be manipulated and convinced to join the army. These posters would make them think that it was their duty to join and often times if they didn't, they would be penalized for it, just like the Quebecois were for not agreeing to go to war. War propaganda posters made it seem like going to war was the right and honorable thing to do.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Retell: This deep and powerful movie starts off with the protagonist, a young boy named Bruno, hearing the news about his fathers promotion in the German Army. Bruno then finds out about having to move to the countryside. Upon moving into his new home he discovers a concentration camp with Jewish prisoners in the distance, or what he believe to be a farmers and playful children. Finding no other neighbors in sight he decides to sneak out and find the farm to play with the children, despite knowing his mother denied him permission to go as she said "they're strange, they're different". His curiosity leads him to find a young boy on the other side of the fence of the "farm" named Shmuel. Being clueless to who this is he continually keeps coming back to visit him. Even after learning more about Shmuel and getting a sense that they weren't supposed to be friends, his loyalty kept him coming back. He would bring him food, toys, and have long talks with him. One night he defied his Nazi identity for his close friend and tried to help him find his father by sneaking into the concentration camp and dressing up as one of the Jews. The innocent boys tried and tried but failed. By the end all the Jews get put into the gas chamber, and mistakenly even Bruno. Not knowing where they were going, both boys died.

Reflect: The message behind this movie is to show the innocence of children; to show that we are all the same and children are taught to hate. We are all born the same on the inside and this movie shows what people behaved like in the period of the holocaust. Despite knowing the superior role of his Nazi father, and being taught antisemitism and propaganda by their tutor, he could not get himself to hate Shmuel, his best and only friend, as well as the servant working in their home. The point of the story is that everyone is the same, no matter your religion, beliefs, eye colour, etc.

Both boys share the same tragic fate at the end of the movie.

Relate: This movie is based on, and relates to the real events that took place in the 1930's-1050's. The execution of nearly 6 million Jews occurred around this time. In this movie, the boys become friends despite what they were both taught to believe growing up, Although the tragic events that took place at the end of the movie, it shows what people were actually like in those days. It shows the horrific and traumatic things that would happen inside concentration camps, to Jews. Bruno had the same heartbreaking fate as his friend Shmuel.

The Sniper Theme and Summary

Summary of The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty

            This short story takes place during the civil war (between the Republicans and the Free Staters). The ‘sniper’ in this story is a Republican who seems emotionless as he has grown accustomed to being in this war.

            After having a quick meal the sniper risked lighting a smoke, and almost instantly there was a bullet shot at the parapet he was standing behind. After one more quick puff he put out the cigarette and peered over the parapet, as another bullet flashed above his head from across the street.

            He saw nothing but the outline of the opposite building in such darkness, but he did look down and discover an enemy car and realized that shooting at it would be pointless. Next a lady walked up to the car and informed the man inside of the enemy sniper laying on the rooftop as she pointed in his direction. As the man came out of the car the sniper shot him immediately, followed by the woman. Out of nowhere the enemy from the other rooftop shot the sniper in his forearm. At this instant he crawled back to the parapet, and sanitized and wrapped up his wound.

            His plan of escaping this rooftop was to trick the enemy opposite of him into thinking that he had shot him dead. After being shot at and faking his death the sniper changed his location on the rooftop and successfully shot down his enemy.

            Seeing him hit the ground and lying there made the sniper feel remorseful. He then tossed his revolver and as it accidentally went off, the shot zipped past his head and due to the shock woke him up, returning him to his original state of mind.

            He escaped the rooftop and walked over to the corpse of the man he had shot down, out of curiosity. As suddenly bullets broke the peaceful sound he threw himself down beside the dead body; only to realize that his had shot his own brother.

  

Themes of The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty

            The theme I found in this short story is division r in political terms, partition. The Sniper shows the irony of how brothers got pitted against each other in the civil war. “Brothers” in this case meaning those within the same country, fighting each other. This story delivers the message that violence in often self-consuming, and that in the civil war they killed their own people. Another strong message delivered through this piece is that war turns people into mere objects. In war, you have no identity, hence why none of the characters were identified with names. Also, the sniper ended up killing an old lady, and his own brother; war has no boundaries. 

Slam Poetry Pt. 2

"Power Corrupts"

To cause those beneath you suffering and pain
To act dishonestly for money and personal gain
They all want power
But can't handle the responsibility
They don't care about leadership
But just do it for the glory
Just remember 'power corrupts'
And 'absolute power corrupts absolutely'

Blog Post #3

Power and Corruption

A picture inspired by the classic novel Animal Farm by George Orwell
Shows how powerful leaders show inequality due to corruption.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/03/25/is-everybody-in-the-obama-administration-corrupt-sure-looks-that-way/

This article describes the corruption in the American government in current times. This relates to Lord of the Flies as the young boys face many problems due to frequent disputes regarding leadership between the protagonist, Ralph, and the antagonist, Jack. Jack gains power, over the littluns especially, and the more power he keeps attaining, the more corrupt he becomes. He takes advantage of being looked up to by these boys, who in my opinion don't know any better due to being only 5-12 years old, and starts causing damage and wasting valuable time. In the same way, this article talks about political leaders in the US being unethical or immoral. This message is implied using many astonishing facts. Similarly, William Golding shows the immorality of human nature through Jack. Jack showed several traits of savagery as he begins to forget how to be civil, for example, when killing the pig with very little hesitation. This article reminded me of how Power has the ability to cause corruption, and in Lord of the Flies, how corruption further causes savagery among the young, stranded boys on this empty island.