the shawl

The story ia about fifteen-month old Magda, and how her mother, Rosa, deals and tries to keep her from death by the Nazis, as they march to a concentration camp. Along with Magda, Rosa’s niece, Stella is marching with them. Stella is always cold physically cold, and eventually steals the shawl , which i still dont understand what a shawl is. The book summarizes Rosa’s harse memorries of that dreadful day when she marched to the concentration camp, and her horrifying memories of later times she spent in the camp. She also witnessed one of nthe gaurds kill her daughter. Cynthia Ozick gave  us a great book, and one that intensifies as the reader moves through the pages. Her writing is a talent, and it is a gift to her readers. The Shawl is an excellent psychological study of love and death,  loss, remembering and guilt. I recommend it to all those who wish to have a greater understanding of the effects that the Holocaust has on individuals, decades after the fact. The Shawl should always be in  in high school, college and university libraries forever.

Emperor was devine

This short story by the name of  "When the Emperor was Divine" written by Julia Otsuka is a novel.  the book has different stories from through the eyes of each family member.  the titles are mother, girl, and boy.  The mother tries to protect the  children by keeping  them from the realities they were going through by not  by her not explaining exactly what was going on. Their father was taken away in the beginning  and this plays a major role in this novel  because the mother feels that she is better off woth him there for support and she cant really raise them  without him being around. He is a major role that has been taken away from her and without him she doesnt really play the mother role as she should have. She becomes depressed and doesn't show much attention to her daughter who begins to rebel at the age of twelve, and her son begins to takes care of her as well as be a friend to her. symbol of a women not having the support she needs from her husband and shows the worth of a dad, man, and husband being there for his family but it wasnt his fault. 

Emperor

In When the Emperor Was Devine, the author should not be called or labeled a minimalist. The tone of the book flows with  the main point of the book. The type of the writing is has more of a poetic stance  to the writing by portaying the feelings of the actions written throughout the words. someone is tne class said that monotone is the tone that the story was told in. I feel that the tone of the book is somewhat set the style and mood of what is going to happen and what the events are in the book. One question i wanted to ask in class was about in the beginning of the book. If the notes all over town was a notice about them being sent away to camps and such as why does she still try to fix the house up and continue her motherly routine.

Lying

In the novel , When The Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka lying is kind of the theme for the beginning of the books. In the beginning of the book i thought all of the white lies would come merge in to one big tradgedy or downfall. Being that i havent gotten to far into the book, i do not know if i am right or not. The theme is clearly white lies in the beginning of the story. One important lie is when the daughter claims that she doesnt receive letters from her dad. The dad is the most mysterious character in the story. Another lie that was told is when they was on the train. The mom told the son that they was gonna see horses and cowboys can be able to go out and pick any horse they want. She said they will probably be  able to see 8 horses , which is a flat out lie.

Difference in schools make a huge difference.

In this blog i want to show how much difference different schools make to your future and actions. Precious at first went to public school. The teachers there normally care enough to give you a passing grade and not worried about what is going on with your life. In NYC city almost all of my friends that go to public school say its like a party in there. One of my friends says he has to go threw metal detectors and when he does he swipes his card and then goes back home. The funny thing is he is cool with the security guards so he doesnt get in trouble. for the kids that actually stay either they do work or they go just to socialize. Precious went to class and sat in the back and did absolutely nothing. But she still managed to go on to the next grade. She thinks that she doesnt have to do anything to move on in life which is completely false. I went to catholic school my whole life. not only do they teach your the lessons better, they teach you how to shape into a young man or young women. In my high school i wasnt able to grow side burnsand i wore a shirt, dress pants, tie, and a blazer everyday. if we didnt do our homework we got detention and if we did anything worst than we got suspended. just like in real life if you break the rules you will have to suffer the consequences. Without catholic school i know for sure i would not be at southern today. When Precious when to the Each One Teach One program everything basically changed for her. she actually was challenged and had teachers that care. I dont even wanna think about if she never got into the program. in Harlem today there are hundreds of programs like that that are helping young children get better test grades.

What is the role of Precious' community in forming her individual self?

What is the role of Precious' community in forming her individual self?

Precious is from Harlem from 20 years ago.I reside in present day Harlem. The time period that she lives in is what makes Harlem famous for being sort of a rough edge place. People always ask me how do i live in Harlem because of the stories and movies such as Push and Precious. I think all of Precious problems should be blamed on her parents, her neighors, and her teachers. For one her parents are the complete opposite of mine. Her parents failed her by abusing her and keeping it to themselves. Her neighbors failed her by not calling the police or helping out what was going on in their household. her Teachers failed her by letting her go to the next level of studies without actually deserving to go. Then again her parents was not educated and they did not want precious to have a better lifestyle. In Harlem around that time there was alot of gangs and drugs, which did not make it easier for Precious to succeed. I am from Modern day Harlem. Today it is very cleaned up and you never hear stories like Precious going on in real life. Not to say its not going on but Harlem has better neighborhoods and better resources today.

Push

Being that Iam from Harlem, New York I kind of understand what is going on in this novel to a certain extent. Never before have I heard or witnessed someone getting raped or abuse like that as a child though. Plenty of time in school I had friends that have been beaten or verbally abused by parents. The reason that they got help is because i went to catholic school and the teachers really cared. In high school the guidance counselors was the one to help kids with situations like that. A couple kids that know that i am from Harlem always ask me what it was like and this movie kind of helped the stereotype. To be honest i know plenty of girls that are younger than me that already have children.Its sad to say because going to school in Connecticut show me a different view. I don't know anyone in Connecticut even my age that has children but in Harlem i know over 20 people my age and younger that has children. the movie precious , which i never seen, is the type of movie i try not to watch and I don't know why. Reading this novel explains better what was going with Precious. Its very disturbing and graphic. Being that she had a kid with down-syndrome didn't make it easier for her. I look forward to reading the book because i am from the same neighborhood and my family is the total opposite. I want to understand to not take my family and my education for granted because not everyone has it as easy as i do.