Choose a short passage from your novel that made an impact on you as you read it, that made you stop and think maybe even say "Oh wow" to yourself. It may have made you stop and think because you made a personal connection. It may have made you wonder and ask a question. It may have made you react in some emotional way to the words on the paper. In your response, quote the passage and list the page number that it can be found on. Explain, in detail, why you chose this passage, what reason did you have that made you stop and think or had you reacting in some way. Include your feelings and emotions as well as state any connections you made (text to self, text to text, text to world). An example from another novel of how to start is this:
"Big signs were posted at the pool saying"No Jews or Dogs Allowed". pg 14
As I read this passage I couldn't believe that this could happen. How could the Jewish even be compared to dogs?"
As I read this passage I couldn't believe that this could happen. How could the Jewish even be compared to dogs?"
Blog post #1.
ReplyDelete04/06/16
*IF YOU HAVE NOT READ UP TO CHAPTER 20 DO NOT READ THIS POST*
For my blog post I want to talk about the character Ona.
As far as I have read Ona isn't a very important character to the story but, all the parts she is in up to chapter 20 are quite depressing.
Ona is a young girl that had been giving birth when the Soviet officers came to capture all the jews.
The line in which Lina states "As soon as the umbilical cord was cut, they would both be thrown into the truck" was very good evidence that the Soviet guards are cold hearted disgusting people. Ona was just a young woman who wanted to have a happy family with her husband Vitas, the sad part is she never got the chance to. Ona's baby girl (Who was not given a name) died after a fews days in the truck. Ona was too dehydrated to produce milk for her baby, so the baby eventually died of starvation. Since Ona didn't want her baby to be tossed away like the rest of the people who had died on the train ride she decided to throw her out of the one window they had in the train cart. She claimed she could not do it and one of the ladies got annoyed and chucked Ona's baby out the window.
This is just the begining but it is a cruel one.
Till next time.
I do agree with you when you said the Soviet guards are cold hearted, disgusting people, because in real life and in the book, they definitely were. It definitely disgusted me when I found out what the lady did to the baby as well. I mean, seriously!? Chucking the baby out the window!? It is honestly terrible and cruel!!
DeleteYou think it is cruel now? Just you wait! You will definitely cry!
SIncerely,
Amelia Pond l>o<l
Pg.27: "Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother was worth a pocket watch."
ReplyDelete(This part of the book took place when an NKVD officer was trying to take Jonas away, and Lina and her mother gave the commander a pocket watch to get him back.)
Wow! I can't even fathom what Jonas, Lina's brother, must have been thinking in that moment! How careless can you be to give your brother back for an old pocket watch?! This honestly made me feel disgusted at what people who worked for Stalin were like. I feel this way because no one should be treated the same way Jonas was treated, as if they have the same amount of worth as a pocket watch. Those people in captivity are innocent and they deserve better than spending a life in the horrid place they are traveling to. They all deserve a life full of wonders and great memories, but instead, they are living a life that is apparently worth a pocket watch. Well, according to the NKVD, that's what they are.
My thoughts on this sentence are quite cruel as the sentence it's self. I think that this is one of the ugliest comparison I have ever heard! How could a human being be compared to a metal object?! It is terrible. They have already had a very horrid journey so far, the last thing they need to here is they have as much worth as a pocket watch.
I don't necessarily have any deep questions, but I do wonder why the NKVD officer was taking Jonas away in the first place. I have pondered this for a while, and still have not come to a conclusion. Even though I am done the book, I still wonder about questions that stuck in my head.
Sincerely,
Amelia Pond l>o<l
I thought the same thing when I came across those few sentences! No one should be treated like that, especially not a child who has done nothing. And his life was traded for a pocket watch! The guards figured that the life of a person was worth a pocket watch, THE LIFE OF A LIVING BREATHING PERSON! It just makes you feel "disgusted" as you said that these event happened to people!
DeletePixelated|>o<|Dragon
I also had the same question as you, what were they going to do with Jonas? Would it be any worse than where they currently are at? Even worse were they going to kill him for sport? That definitely sounds like something Hitler or Stalin would do.
DeleteI thought the same thing, how can a living, breathing person be even compared to a metal object. It was so, so nice that the Mother gave a precious family heirloom to a disgusting Soviet Guard that tried to take her son away so that she could get her son back. Most of the Mothers would have screamed and begged and the Soviet Guards would have spit on her and taken her son away.
DeleteWhat do you think?
Julia Child
@Julia Child, @Rafi A. @Pixelated Dragon,
DeleteI am glad I'm not alone on this. But I do have to ask, why a pocket watch? Any thoughts on this? Anything to explain?
And I also have to add, why was the guard taking Jonas away in the first place? Some people think it is because they were taking just the men, but Jonas is only a one boy who isn't as strong as some of the others. Adding on to that, they didn't mention in the book that they were taking away other men, just Jonas. So why?
SIncerely,
Amelia Pond l>o<l Bow ties are cool!!
@Amelia Pond
DeleteHmmm. I never thought about that. In the book, Aundries' mom said that they did try to take him, so they must of actually taken other boys from their families. Right?
@Amelia Pond, maybe it didn't matter if they were the strongest. Maybe it just mattered if the had energy. But this confuses me because they told the guards that Andrius was slow, so they didn't take him away. They might've just needed stronger men to work?
Delete@Amelia Pond, @Destiel's Real
DeleteI think it was because he was educated. That even though he was a child, his family was fairly wealthy, and gave the NKVD a reason to take them away and 'get rid' of any assumption that what they were doing was wrong.
@Amelia @ Fangirl @ Destiel I am pretty sure the guard spotted all the jewelry and valuables on the Mother's jacket, then realized how much she seemed to care for her weak son. So being the greedy person he was he decided to bribe the mom so he can get some loot.
Delete@Amelia @ Fangirl @ Destiel I am pretty sure the guard spotted all the jewelry and valuables on the Mother's jacket, then realized how much she seemed to care for her weak son. So being the greedy person he was he decided to bribe the mom so he can get some loot.
Delete@Rafi A. The jewelry was hidden in the jacket, so I don't think that he would've seen them unless he tore the seams apart. He might've just noticed the jewelry on her neck and wrists.
Delete@Fangirl! At The Disco I never thought about that. Sorry if this is wrong but was this the part where they were selling the people, or just taking them away? I can't really remember. If it's the part I'm thinking about (selling people.), then it wouldn't really matter if they were educated or not, right? Unless the job the needed people for required someone who is decently educated.
@Rafi A.,
DeleteI don't think they would have cared whether or not she had many valuables, but they might have done it for fear though, because had they have wanted to have taken Jonas away for the sake of it, they might have just done it. But as we have learned already, Stalin ruled under fear, and this might have been what they were trying to do.
@Desiel's Real,
I'm talking about the part where they take Jonas and force Lina's mother to pay her pocket watch in exchange for him.
"One morning they caught an old man eating a beet. A guard ripped out his front teeth with pliers. They made us watch."
ReplyDeleteWow, so a guy tries to fulfill his basic human needs, and what does he get? Personally I thought that the guards were going to beat him or something like that, but nope! Why do that when you could make someone lose two of their teeth permanently. This just shows the cruelty of people like Stalin or Hitler. They were fully willing to just take ordinary people who had done absolutely nothing in any way shape or form towards them. They were willing to just tear apart happy families and smash up everything they had ever owned. All so they could have more power and money for themselves. Now from Hitler's perspective he probably thought he was doing what was right for his country. Maybe to him killing the Jews was his way of making Germany a better place. But even if it seemed right to him that doesn't make it right to anybody else. This book makes you realize what it was like for certain people back in the 1940's, just because they believed in something different than someone else or something small like that. It's just unbelievable to me that people would even think of doing something like this! This book really, really shows just how bad it must have been for some people back then and its really cool how it does it, but at the same time you're like "Oh..."
Pixelated_Dragon
I totally agree with what you are saying! Why would someone pull someone's teeth out?! Like you said, They are just trying to fulfill their basic human needs, and look what happens! They pull out his two front teeth in the most painful way, and makes everyone watch. It is absolutely disgusting.
DeleteSIncerely,
Amelia Pond l>o<l
I agree. someone should go up to Hitler or Stalin and do the same thing that they both did to millions of people and see how they feel. These people did nothing to deserve all this torture! I also agree with your last statement, this book is an amazing journey through history.
DeleteThis book really makes you think that these events have happened, and not just to one family, but thousands of them! The cruelty that some people have just so they can have maybe an inch more land to control is just horrific!
DeletePixelated|>o<|Dragon
@Pixelated Dragon and @Rafi A. The one thing I have to wonder is why that punishment? It is crazy, terrible and out of the ordinary, so why the pulling of the two front teeth? It is absolutely insane! I don't understand why you would pull someone's teeth out. Of all the punishments in the world, and they choose this? And to make everyone watch as well? It is very horrific and cruel. When I say "Of all the punishments in the world and they choose this?" I am definitely not implying that they should punish them a different way, they shouldn't punish them at all!
DeleteBut what do all you guys think about this and what I just said? Anything else to add?
Sincerely,
Amelia Pond l>o<l bow ties are cool!
@Amelia Pond Personally I thought that maybe the man would get whacked with the butt of a rifle, or maybe have trash thrown at him, which still aren't things that should happen to anyone don't get me wrong. But it just blew all my expectations out of the water! They could have just killed him with one well placed shot, which might have been a relief depends on how you look at it. But they just condemned him to an even more miserable life! It would be harder for him to eat, and he would be in pain every time he bit into something. But what disgusts me the most is not the fact that they did that, it's the fact that none of the guards even batted an eye at the punishment. To them, they are nothing more than the dirt under they're fingernails! Not one of the guards showed a single sign of remorse. All this man wanted to do was be alive, and he was punished for it. It's really just a big slap in the face that this probably happened to someone at that time, possibly multiple someones!
DeletePixelated|>o<|Dragon
@Pixelated Dragon,
DeleteWhoa! That was powerful! I definitely agree with you there. You definitely have a point there by saying they are nothing to the NKVD, but maybe think about this. What some do care? What if they were being forced to be this way. This may not apply to all of them, but it could be true.
Thoughts? Anything to add?
Sincerely,
Amelia Pond l>o<l Bow ties are cool!!
Oops! When I said, "What some do care," I really meant, "What if some do care?"
DeleteSorry,
Amelia Pond l>o<l Bow ties are cool!!
@Amelia Pond
DeleteBy the way, this paragraph may have spoilers, you have been warned.
You do have a point, that was also a question that I had in my mind while I read. Some people like Nikolai, were a bit nicer than most of the other guards. But why would, or should, he be nicer? I started forming some theories in my head about it, and I thought "What would make him do that?" Then it hit me, when did he start being nicer? He started to be nicer around when they went to Siberia, when times were more desperate, he let Lina steal some wood, among other things I think. What if Nikolai had actually fallen in love with Lina's mother? It might sound kind of daft, but think about it, he might have fallen in love when they went to Siberia, because he wasn't as nice on the farm. It would explain why he was also nicer to Lina and her brother, because they were her kids. It would also explain all the favours he did for her, he drove her back to camp, he let them steal things, and was actually nicer to her! Then again this could just be a coincidence, and it was just that he realized that what he was doing was wrong, but that was just one theory that crossed my mind.
Pixelated|>o<|Dragon
@Pixelated Dragon,
DeleteTHIS HAS SPOILERS!! DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU ARE DONE THE BOOK!!
Very good theories. I do definitely agree with most of them. But I don't think he suddenly realized what he was doing wrong, I think maybe he was like that all along, he just didn't want to be killed by Stalin, or by other NKVD soldiers. I think he was forced to be this way. What do you think about that? Tell me thoughts, or explanations, or emotions, etc.
But I definitely agree with you on the others. What if Nikolai had fallen in love with Lina's mom? I wonder... That is very good thinking there. I also agree with you when you said he wasn't as nice on the farm, and then suddenly became nicer to Line and her family. I think it is because he didn't want to be caught. Definitely in the early stages of the captivity. I think he started being nicer after the farm because he saw how desperate they all were. Which I do admire, if it is true. But I am still on the edge with him, and I am not very cool with him!
What are your or others thoughts?
Sincerely,
Amelia Pond l>o<l Bow ties are cool!!
Page 180, chapter 45.
ReplyDeleteJonas:"Tadas told one of the girls that hell is the worst place ever and there is no escape for all of eternity."
"Now why would Jonas be talking about hell?" asked Papa, reaching for the vegetables.
"Because his father told him that if Stalin comes to Lithuania, we'll all end up there."
Wow. I wonder what Jonas is thinking throughout this journey. He was there when Tadas was describing the wonders of hell."Tadas told one of the girls that hell is the worst place ever and there is no escape for all of eternity."
Is that how the victims of the Holocaust would describe it? What is Jonas thinking through this journey? I had a connection to this part. It isn't much of a good connection but it is better than nothing. So later in the day that I read this part I was listening to music on my brother's computer and this song came up called 7 Years by Lukas Graham. it basically went like ”Once I was seven years old and my mama told me..” Then “once I was 11 years old and my father told me..” And for some reason it made me think of Jonas. Jonas is about the same age as the singer in some parts of the song and I guess I was thinking about how different Jonas’ song would be if he made one like it. Some might think that the singer grew up in a more civilized time than Jonas (the singer is only 21). But that isn't what I think. In my opinion that is completely wrong. To this day we still have persecution going on our world just like back then. No, the reason is simply your personal info (race, gender, disabilities,etc.)and where you live. There are female Muslims being discriminated just like the Jews were by the Taliban in the Middle East, there are black people being discriminated by some whites in America.
This needs to stop.
DeleteAnd there are more examples of racism than the ones I put
Delete@ Rafi A.
DeleteI do agree with you when you say there are more examples of racism. But it a terrible thought to think that this is happening now! But it was especially horrible then.
Anything to add or anything to say that wasn't said?
Sincerely,
Amelia Pond l>o<l Bow ties are cool!!
Pg. 5 "He threw his burning cigarette onto our clean living room floor and ground it into the wood with his boot. We were about to become cigarettes."
ReplyDeleteI didn't really understand this statement at first. Then I understood it and I was like, "Wow". It's just crazy how powerful a few sentences can be! I don't know how Stalin doesn't feel guilty! He killed his OWN PEOPLE!!! Why!!! I don't get it. And why? Did he feel more in control? Was he obsessed with the feeling of total power? He fed on fear and made others starve. Comment if you think that this is a powerful phrase and/or your thoughts on why you think Stalin killed his own people.
Julia Child
@Julia Child
DeleteAs we talked about in the group conversation (You were not far enough in so you couldn't participate) One idea that came around was that most of the people who had been taken and killed, were educated people, people who had connections. Most people were not as educated, and saw nothing wrong with what Stalin was doing, only because they didn't know exactly WHAT he was doing. What we talked about was that Stalin was trying to eliminate the people who could shut him down, people who were educated and knew that what he was doing was wrong. At least thats what I believe he was doing
Pixelated|>o<|Dragon
@Pixelated Dragon
DeleteOh! I never thought of that! That seems like something Stalin, being the jerk he was, would do. But wouldn't the educated people explain to the uneducated people why Stalin was horrible?
@Julia Child, @Pixelated Dragon
DeleteI think that this is a very reasonable assumption, because in a communist country like the one Stalin lead, he was the only one above everyone else. This is a lot like the book we are reading aloud in class, breaking Stalin's nose. Stalin must have had eyes everywhere, and clearly thought the educated people would pick up the idea that what he was doing was wrong. The educated people wouldn't have told the uneducated people about it, because they might have been working for the government and filed a complaint that they were working against Stalin.
@Julia Child @Fangirl! At The Disco
DeleteThey could have been controlled by fear, as in the book, Lina's father Kostas works at a university. So he would be an educated person. But did you ever notice that every time Lina drew a funny picture of Stalin her dad freaked out?
@Julia Child @Fangirl! At The Disco
DeleteThey could have been controlled by fear, as in the book, Lina's father Kostas works at a university. So he would be an educated person. But did you ever notice that every time Lina drew a funny picture of Stalin her dad freaked out?
@Pixelated Dragon
DeleteYeah, iI did notice that. It seems to me like her father knew something about Stalin that maybe Lina didn't. I think that he was trying to protect Lina and Jonas from the NKVD. But unlike any of the other people in the book, her father was very aware of what was going on. I wonder why?
What are your thoughts?
Blog #2
ReplyDelete04/13/16
Pg: 90
"That sounded like something mother would say, throwing color onto a black-and-white picture."
I really loved this metaphor, it was really inspiring and up lifting. It shows that even though Lina and her family's life kinda stinks right now, her younger brother Jonas always sees the the rainbow though the rain. I really do like Jonas' character, he is always cheerful and thinks about other before himself. He is quite young, but in some ways he's older then Lina.
Till next time ;)
**Spoiler**
ReplyDelete"But mother, he's a monster," I said, wiping water from the scar on my forehead. She moved in closer, wringing out her skirt. "We don't know what he is." -pg.264
I was really surprised at how Lina's mother spoke out about Nikolai. She seemed to be shocked and scared that they would think she was up to something. This makes me wonder, though. Was she lying to Lina and Jonas about Nikolai or she actually never did anything. At the beginning of the book, Lina's mother was convinced the NKVD were mean- which they are- but does she have some sympathy for Nikolai or is the NKVD forcing her to do such a thing?
@Fangirl! At The Disco
DeleteI also wondered that, was she lying to Lina and Jonas? I think she said this because throughout the book he was different from the other officers. He turned his back when the women undressed for the baths, he sometimes let Lina off the hook for stealing food or wood, (In Siberia) and generally wasn't as vicious as the others. Personally I think he was just an NKVD officer because he didn't want Stalin to hurt him, or hurt his family (If he has one). This could be the case for the other NKVD, but I'm not so sure, they seemed to vicious and cruel to be pretending. The NKVD could be forcing her to do something like that, but I'm not so sure.
What do you think?
Pixelated|>o<|Dragon
@Pixelated Dragon
DeleteNikolai was very different from the other officers, indeed. If anyone forced Lina's mother too do anything, I doubt it was him. I agree with you that he probably became an officer by being forced. I doubt someone like him would join the NKVD purposefully. Do you think he was forced to join, and if so, if you think that they took him just like they tried to take Jonas in the beginning of the book?
Blog post #3
ReplyDelete04/29/16
Pg#177
" Mrs. Avrydas turned her head to me. Her eye makeup ran down over a bloody welt that blazed across her cheek. What had they done to her? I felt the cigarettes crush between my fingers. Andrius stared at me. "I'm sorry." My voice caught and broke. "I'm really so sorry." I turned quickly and began to run. Images streaked and bled together, contorted by my speed---Ulyushka, grinning with yellow teeth; Ona in the dirt, her one dead eye open; the guard moving toward me, smoke blowing from his pursed lips---Stop it, Lina---Papa's battered face looking down at me from the hole; dead bodies lying next to the train tracks; commander reaching for my breast. STOP IT! I couldn't."
This oddly enough is my favourite part in the whole entire story. I really, really like sad books! Anyway.
I think that this part just shows how messed up Lina is. This whole journey of hers has been terrifying. Traumatizing. My biggest concern is how this will affect Lina when she gets older. Will she be the same person she was meant to be? Will she ever trust anyone again? So many question. Not a lot of answers.
Another question I have is, what happened to Mrs. Arvydas? Why did they hurt her?
When Andrius told Lina that the NKVD had forced Mrs. Arvydas to sleep with them or else they would kill him. my reaction was "WHAT THE WHAT!!!! ARE YOU FLUFFING KIDDING ME!!!! WHY. WHAT. WHY. WHY. WHY. WHYYYYY!!!!!!!!" Basically my reaction. I went through so many emotions right at that moment. I was horrified, disgusted, sad and amazed. I just could not believe that these people would do such a thing. It is simply despicable.
Until next time.