Fatelessness Written Task 1

The Yellow Stars

In this letter I will not use my name, the fear to the red flag with the black star is too much. I have a family, one son and a wife. I had lived all my life here in Budapest, but I have never seen such a change inside this city, inside the people, inside the families. The arrival of the yellow stars make us all the same, is like a cattle marked by a branding iron, but what hurts us more, is that we put our star on cause we are proud to be Jewish, but at the same time it's a contract to let nazis forget our rights. I'd tried to get use to the idea of living unequal, but when I wake up every morning, I'm afraid that when I open the door of my bedroom a death camp is waiting for me. Sometimes I feel like sleeping is my only escape from this prison that use to be my home, sometimes I dream of never waking up so I can be free in my imagination.

Sometimes this situation makes me feel cursed, like if my religion was my sentence, but I can't escape, because my escape is suicide, but I can't leave my family alone in this madness, and I can't just give nazis what they want, more dead jews. Sometimes I watch my son go to school and I wish I could have his innocence. He doesn't realize the chaos that we are living in. He wakes up every morning like it's just another day, nothing new, just the usual. I wish death stop tormenting my head in whatever I do, that's why I don't like knowing what nazis are doing, because it makes me afraid of my own destiny. I've learned to not feel safe, is the only way to be safe when things are like they are, it prepares me to avoid problems but it makes me wonder how long I'll be able to hide from my tragic future.

A yellow star in your coat makes you think if you are going to be treated worst than a nazi dog or if you are going to live to see that happen. I don't see Budapest as my home any more, I live like a lost boy who is searching his mother to go back home for dinner, but the difference is that the lost boy will find his way home, and my home doesn't exist anymore. How it's possible that nazis feel like heroes? I think that heroes should go for the bad guy, and if the bad guy is himself, then it transforms into the villain, and this villain is the worst of all.

I used to be proud of my blood, my past, my family legacy, but now, I feel like my past is behind me pushing me to the deep, where I can only go down to the dark and never up to the sunlight. I can't be myself anymore, I can't go shopping where I used to, I can't let my son play where he used to, I can't be normal anymore and my hands are tied for this one.

Praying to the Torah look like a sin now, even in the privacy of my house. Judaism is disappearing too, synagogues have been destroyed, there is no respect for our culture, important books have been burned, even the ones written by famous people like Einstein, knowledge is sinking with culture in the same boat and the captain is hitler's ideas. Nazis are trying to create a new world, but they can't do it right, for that, more cultures must be involved, having only one perspective it's impossible to create the perfect anything because there isn't a discussion involved.


I don't know if there's a possible end to this madness, I don't understand how evil can get so strong, It seems like there is no God, because he is the only one who is so powerful to set us free, but we are still here, trapped in what used to be our home, hopping for a miracle to come, but it never does. Besides everything, hope is still around us, and it's the only thing that let us stay sane, even with a yellow star in my coat, I still feel human, and even though I'm branded, I don't feel like another's man property. If nazis take me, I won't be happy at all, but I would be satisfied when I realize, after going to labor camps, after being sent to a concentration camp, after facing my own destiny and thinking of nothing else than fear, that when I die, I will be safe dreaming forever. This letter is as important for me as important for you, for me to relief from this emotions, and for you, because like that you can see through my eyes.

Rationale

I have chosen to write an anonymous letter of opinion to a newspaper written by Georg Koves's father. I did it anonymous because in the novel the name of Georg's father isn't said but I said in the letter that it was because he was to afraid of nazis, that is understandable given the situation. I though it was going to be very interesting to express the feelings of a Jew in the middle of the Holocaust.

The audience for this letter is the Jewish community and anyone who was against the nazi regime on the WWII and like to see things through the eyes of a Jewish man.

In the letter I have tried to express as much feelings as possible, because given the situation of Jewish people during the Holocaust it’s impossible to describe all the emotions that a jewish man was experiencing that time. I have also traed in the letter to highlight the dilemma of a jewish man of that times to decide if he is going to stay alive, trying to be safe, or if he was going to end his life forever by suicide. I tried to emphasize the suicide option too, showing that it was the best option for most of the Jewish people that time to escape from nazi regime.

Holocaust Timeline

1933

The Nazi party takes power in Germany. Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor,or prime minister of Germany.- Nazis 'temporarily' suspend civil liberties
- The Nazis set up the first concentration camp at Dachau. The first inmates are 200 Communists.
- Books with ideas considered dangerous to Nazi beliefs are burned.
1934

Hitler combines the positions of chancellor and president to become 'Fuhrer' or leader of Germany.'
- Jewish newspapers can no longer be sold in the streets.

1935

Jews are deprived of their citizenship and other basic rights.
- The Nazis intensify the persecution of political people that donÕt agree with his philosophy.
1936

Nazis boycott Jewish-owned business.
- The Olympic Games are held in Germany; signs barring Jews are removed until the event is over.
- Jews no longer have the right to vote.
1938

German troops annexed Austria.
- On Kristallnacht, the 'Night of Broken Glass,' Nazis terrorized Jews throughout Germany and Austria - 30,000 Jews are arrested.
- Jews must carry id cards and Jewish passports are marked with a "J."
- Jews no longer head businesses, attend plays, concerts, etc.;
all Jewish children are moved to Jewish schools.
- Jewish businesses are shut down; they must sell businesses and hand over securities and jewels.
- Jews must hand over drivers's licenses and car registrations.
- Jews must be in certain places at certain times.
1939

Germany takes over Czechoslovakia and invades Poland.
- World War II begins as Britain and France declare war on Germany.
- Hitler orders that Jews must follow curfews; Jews must turn in radios to the police; Jews must wear yellow stars of David.
1940

Nazis begin deporting German Jews to Poland.
- Jews are forced into ghettos.
- Nazis begin the first mass murder of Jews in Poland.
-Jews are put into concentration camps.
1941

Germany attacks the Soviet Union.
- Jews throughout Western Europe are forced into ghettos.
-Jews may not leave their houses without permission form the police.
-Jews may no longer use public telephones.
1942

Nazi officials discuss the 'Final Solution' - their plan to kill all European Jews - to the government officials.
-Jews are forbidden to: subscribe to newspapers; keep dogs, cats, birds, etc; keep electrical equipment including typewriters; own bicycles; buy meat, eggs, or mild; use public transportation; attend school.
1943

February: About 80 to 85 percent of the Jews who would die in the Holocaust have already been murdered.
1944

Hitler takes over Hungary and begins deporting 12,000 Hungarian Jews each day to Auschwitz where they are murdered.
1945

Hitler is defeated and World War II ends in Europe.
- The Holocaust is over and the death camps are emptied.
- Many survivors are placed in displaced persons facilities.
1946

An International Military Tribunal (Judicial assembly) is created by Britain, France,the United States, and the Soviet Union.
- At Nuremburg, Nazi leaders are tried for war crimes by the above Judicial assembly.
1947

The United Nations establishes a Jewish homeland in British-controlled Palestine, which becomes the State of Israel in 1948.

Men writing as Women, Women writing as Men

Here I have two examples, one of Women writing as Men, and the other of Men writing as Women.


Tana French writes her first novel, In the Woods, from the perspective of Rob Ryan, a detective in his early 30s.  


Stieg Larsson, in his bestseller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, closely follows the perspective of Lisbeth Salander, an angry, brilliant 25 year old computer hacker.

Literary Analysis of Chapter 2 from Fatelessness

1. Title of selection: "Fatelessness" - Chapter 2

2. Author: Imre Kertész

3. Genre: Autobiographical Novel

4. Setting: Hungary, Budapest. Neighborhood where Georg lives, at his mother's house.

5. Historical Context: German Occupation of Hungary during the Second World War. Jewish people are forced to live within the standards and laws of the Nazi regime.

6. The author wrote this piece to (author's purpose): Give account of the first days of Georg's without his father living with him. 

7. The main idea of this peace is: to demonstrate how Georg transformed from a boy with no problems to one struggling because of Nazi regime.

8. The message (or theme) of this selection which the author would like us to "take away" is: that there are changes for good or bad in life, and experience is a path full of horror that eventually ends in happiness.

9. Characters:

• Protagonist(s): Georg Koves
• Antagonist(s): Nazi Regime
• Static Characters: Mr Sütó
• Dynamic Characters: Georg, Annamarie

10. Did the author use any special literary devices in this selection such as: personification, metaphor, simile, foreshadowing, suspense, flashback, imagery, humour, poetic sound devices such as rhyme, etc. List and give specific examples.

A. The story "The Prince and the Pauper" about a prince and a beggar who physically look exactly the same and swap places, is used by Georg as an allusion to the idea of acknowledging one's "differentness" in terms of the circumstances that you are forced to live: (pp. 36 and 37) "Then again, I had also read a book, a sort of novel, not long ago. A beggar and a prince..."

The narrator uses this example to clarify his point of view towards the Jewish state of being "different" as a merely circumstancial event that should not bring them down, in opposition to what the older neighbouring sister thinks. It is most likely used to represent the lightness of thought and somehow naïvety of the main character regarding the treatment that Jewish people received due to the Nazi Regime.

B. The narrator uses a flashback to tell his first love encounter with Annamarie (p.32) "The incident occured the day before yesterday..." This technique is likely used by the author to give it a sense of remembrance, to show the importance that this event gained in his heart and mind and that now lives as a memory.

11. What was the author's "tone" towards the subject/person/idea he/she wrote about?

The author's tone while retelling the events from chapter 2 is quite matter-of-fact and straight-forward:

"This evening too I was with her in the other room to look at the Fleischmanns' ornamental fish, because in truth we have frequently been in the habit of looking at them at other times anyway. This time, of course, that was not quite the only reason for us to got here. We made use of our tongues as well" (p33) He shows himself very direct when giving account of the events that took place when he met with his mother, his first love encounter (like in the quote above), his awkward discussion with the neighbouring older sister, and his first quarrel with Annemarie.

12. What "point of view" was this piece told from? List clues that indicate this.

The point of view used was 1st person, as it is a recount of personal events in the narrator's life. "Already two months have passed since we said good bye to Father (...) For the last two weeks I myself have been obliged to work" (p27)

13.List the conflicts in this section (internal and/or external)

External: Georg vs his mother: on the subject of "belonging" and "attachment".  "...my mother was badgering me about what kind of life I want to live, because in her view all that matters are my wishes and whether or not I love her:" (p31) Georg's mother wants him to move with her and abandon his stepmother, moreover given the new circumstances (both Gerog's father and his mother's husband have been sent to labour camps)

Internal: Gerog's internal struggle on what to do regarding his mother's feelings "I came away feeling rather troubled: naturally I could not allow her to go on supposing that I didn't love her, but then on the other hand I could not take entirely seriously what she had said about the importance of my wishes..."(p31)

External: Georg vs older sister (Annamarie's friend): "Still, there was something in her line of thought that somehow exasperated me; in my opinion, it's all a lot simpler" . this conflict arises from the clash of views on the concept of "differentness" and why people "hate" Jews. 

3 quotes for Chapter 3 of Fatelessness

1) “...he turn toward the gendarmes, ordering them, in a bellow that filled the entire square, to take ”the whole Jewish rabble” off the place that, in his view, they actually belonged-the, stables, that is to say-and lock them in for the night.”(page 57)

The quote show us how Nazis treated Jewish people, is like Nazis think that the jews are some kind of cattle.

2) “I once asked him what he found so great about smoking so much, to which he gave the curt reply, “It's cheaper than food”.”(page 42)

The quote shows how jewish people had so little at that times that some of them even replaced food with smoking.

3) "They led us on into a maze of gray buildings, before we suddenly debouched onto a huge open space strewn with a white gravel - some sort of barracks parade ground, as I saw it."(page 56)

With this quote we can finally realize what is happening, Georg and the others are being taken to a concentration camp.

7 pillars to Judaism

Mezuzah: A mezuzah is a piece of parchment inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah. These verses comprise the Jewish prayer "Shema Yisrael", beginning with the phrase: "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezuzah)

Tefillin: Tefillin also called phylacteries are a set of small black leather boxes containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, which are worn by observant Jews during weekday morning prayers. Although "tefillin" is technically the plural form (the singular being "tefillah"), it is loosely used as a singular as well. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefillin) 

Shofar: A shofar is a horn, traditionally that of a ram, used for Jewish religious purposes. Shofar-blowing is incorporated in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Shofar come in a variety of sizes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shofar)

Hannukah: Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukah)









Kosher (Kashrut): Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food that may be consumed according to halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér, meaning "fit". Food that is not in accordance with Jewish law is called treif. Kosher can also refer to anything that is fit for use or correct according to halakha, such as a hanukiyah, or a sukkah (a Sukkot booth). The word kosher has become English vernacular, a colloquialism meaning proper, legitimate, genuine, fair, or acceptable. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher)





Tzedakah: Tzedakah is a Hebrew word literally meaning righteousness but commonly used to signify charity. It is based on the Hebrew word meaning righteousness, fairness or justice, and it is related to the Hebrew word Tzadik meaning righteous as an adjective. In Judaism, tzedakah refers to the religious obligation to do what is right and just, which Judaism emphasises are important parts of living a spiritual life. Maimonides says that, while the second highest form of tzedakah is to anonymously give donations to unknown recipients, the highest form is to give a gift, loan, or partnership that will result in the recipient supporting himself instead of living upon others. Unlike philanthropy or charity, which are completely voluntary, tzedakah is seen as a religious obligation, which must be performed regardless of financial standing, and must even be performed by poor people. Tzedakah is considered to be one of the three main acts that can annul a less than favorable heavenly decree. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzedakah)

Sabbath: Sabbath is the seventh day of the Jewish week and the Jewish day of rest. On Sabbath, Jews recall the Genesis creation narrative in which God creates the Heavens and the Earth in six days and rests on the seventh. Sabbath observance also entails refraining from a range of activities prohibited on Sabbath, such as lighting a fire and cooking. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat)

Imre Kertész's Life and Times

Imre Kertész was born in Budapest in a Jewish family. In 1944 he was sent to Auschwitz at the age of fourteen. He survived the German concentration camps and returned back to his native Budapest where he has been living since. During communism, Kertész worked as a journalist, playwright and translator. Fatelessness (Sorstalanság) was first published in Hungary in 1975.

It was consequently translated into German, French and Swedish.In 1992 Fateless was published in English and in 2002, Imre Kertész received the Nobel Prize for literature. 

Questions to the Video:

1. Before the interview, the presenter visits a monument to the Holocaust created by the American artist Peter Eiserman. Considering the shapes, architecture and general design, in what ways do you think he represents the reality in the concentration camps?

2. Which is the paradox the presenter mentions regarding Imre Kertész and the place where he lives?

3. Refer to antisemitism before and after Auschwitz according to Kertész.

4. In what way do reminders of the past in historical books make us "much richer"?

5. Which metaphor does Imre use to exemplify the effect of FATELESSNESS on its readers?

Answers:

1. It shows vulnerability, because the huge pillars makes you look small and defenseless.

2. He says that he only feels safe in germany, the weird thing is that is the country that once wanted to kill him.

3. The antisemitism before wants a new auswitz, more totalitarian.

4. It make us avoid problems in the future.

5. If we don't know about the past this would become an entity lock down in a box trying to break down the wall.

Anne Frank's Diary

Anne Frank was one of over one million Jewish children who 
died in the Holocaust. She was born on June 12, 1929, in 
Frankfurt, Germany, to Otto and Edith Frank. 

For the first 5 years of her life, Anne lived with her parents and older sister, Margot, in an apartment on the outskirts of Frankfurt. After the NAZI seizure of power in 1933, they fled to Amsterdam.

The Germans occupied Amsterdam in may 1940, deporting Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau and Sobibor killing centres in German-occupied Poland.

During the occupation, Anne and her family went to hiding in a secret attic apartment behind the office of the family-owned business. They stayed there for two years.

On August 4, 1944, the Gestapo (German Secret State Police) discovered the hiding place. The Franks were sent by train along with other Jewish prisoners to The Auschwitz Concentration Camp Complex. Due to their age, the two girls were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, where they both died of typhus in March 1945, just a few weeks before British troops liberated it. The girls' mother, Edith, also died in Auschwitz. Only Otto, the father, survived the war.

Fatelessness Chapter 1 Analysis

For analyzing the first chapter of Fatelessness, we answered some questions related to it.

Questions:

1.  What characters are introduced in this chapter?
2. Choose two characters and select a quote to describe them physically or psychologically.
3. What is the narrative technique? Provide evidence
4. Describe the setting of this chapter

Answers:

1. Georg Koves, Mr Sütó, Annamarie, Georg's Father, Mother and stepmother, Granparents, and other members of his family, the Baker and his wife.

2. Uncle Willie: "His head is pear shaped, broad, bulging, and bald on top, but narrowing at the cheeks and toward the chin". (page 17)
Mr Sütó: "Yellowish red light-spots were dancing like busting pustules all over his round, brownish-skinned features with the pencil mustache and the tiny gap between his two broad, white front teeth" (page 6).

3. Point of View: Narrator in First Person. ("I didn't go to school today" page 3.)

Narration: Indirect. ("We were already on the upper floor when it occurred to my stepmother that she had forgotten to redeem the bread coupon. I had to go back to the baker's." page 12)Speech: Reported. ("We were already on the upper floor when it occurred to my stepmother that she had forgotten to redeem the bread coupon. I had to go back to the baker's." page 12)Tense: Past tense. ("I didn't go to school today" page 3.)

4. Budapest, Hungary, WWII, Holocaust, Nazi Regime.

Image Analysis

In class, we had to choose an image about the holocaust and try to
make some reflections about it.

In this image I can see a hand tying to reach something, also a nailed fence that seems to be at the top of a wall. I think this image shows a jewish man in a concentration camp searching for freedom even though there is no way to escape, also it shows that with the odds against, there's still hope. When I see this image a few things come too my head: The Holocaust, Nazi Regime, WWII, fear, hopelessness, etc.

Dunkirk Evacuation

The Dunkirk evacuation, commonly known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, code-named Operation Dynamo by the British, was the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, France, between 27 May and the early hours of 4 June 1940, because the British, French, and Belgian troops were cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk in the Second World War. The evacuation was ordered on 26 May. 


In a speech to the House of Commons, Winston Churchill called the events in France "a colossal military disaster", saying that "the whole root and core and brain of the British Army" had been stranded at Dunkirk and seemed about to perish or be captured. In his We shall fight on the beachesspeech on 4 June, he hailed their rescue as a "miracle of deliverance".

Atonement

TASK:

Watch the first half of the 2007 movie adaptation of "Atonement". While you watch, take notes and answer the following questions:

1. What sort of social and cultural setting does the Tallis House create? What emotions and impulses are being acted upon or repressed by its inhabitants?

2. A passion for order, a lively imagination, and a desire for attention seem to be Briony's strongest traits. In what ways is she still a child? Is her narcissism - her inability to see things from any point of view but her own - unusual in a thirteen-year-old? 

3. Why does Briony stick to her "version of the story" with such unwavering commitment? Does she act entirely in error in a situation she is not old enough to understand, or does she act, in part, on an impulse of malice, revenge, or self-importance? 

4. As she grows older, Briony develops the empathy to realise what she has done to Cecilia and Robbie. How and why do you think she does this? 

Answers:

1. The Tallis House is a huge house that makes us realize how rich are the Tallis, but the problem of it, I think, is that it seems too far from the city, and that's why I think Briony doesn't seem like a normal 13 year old girl.

2. I think narcissism is normal for a 13 year old girl, they usually want to show their attributes to the world and everyone to see them, but Briony took it to the extreme to a level that isn't normal for any age.

3. I think that her need for attention is so big, that she can do anything to take obstacles from her way.

4. Because she get's a mature point of view that makes her understand what is right or wrong from a better perspective.

Pride and Prejudice

Here I have some other questions taken from CC pp. 287, 288 that will help analyze more deeper the novel:

1. What degrees of emancipation and/or conservative reinforcement of 18th-Century family values does Elizabeth Bennet's marriage to Mr. Darcy support?

2. 

What attitudes to marriage does 'Pride and Prejudice' convey? What other options did Elizabeth Bennet have?

3. How does the introduction made by Vivien Jones affect your reading and approach to the novel?

4. How could the social circumstances and contexts of 'Pride and Prejudice' apply to different cultures and contexts today?

Answers:

1. She had an advanced thinking of society compared with the most of the people back then, she was a free and liberal woman.

2. In the 18th-19th centuries, women had a road to follow during their life, and that road ends with marriage, it was a necessity because women back then didn't had jobs, so they had to get married with someone that they maybe didn't love, someone that had money. Elizabeth managed to change the road to be with the one she truly loved.


3. The introduction made by Vivien Jones is like a tool that help us understand better the novel and approach to it too.


4. The story of Pride and Prejudice, is a story that will always appear in any type of context or cultures in real life, and it will keep on happening while people still have different ideas than each others.

Pride and Prejudice

To start analyzing Pride and Prejudice, a novel written by Jane Austen, we first watched the trailers of modern times versions of this story, after that we answer the following questions:

1. Why do you think "Pride and Prejudice" continues to be a referent for modern tales? 

2. What do you think is the effect that these different authors (film directors, producers, modern writers) want to achieve in today's audiences?

3. If you had to choose one of the previous versions to analyse, which would be the one and why?

Answers:

1. Because it's a story that keeps on appearing on the actual real life and that's why authors get inspired by these feelings of "Pride" and "Prejudice".

2. Authors want us to learn how to relate with feelings of "Pride" and "Prejudice" and also to connect with their story by associating it with real life.

3. I think that Lost in Austen will be an alternative, because in that version we see a "modern woman" perspective of reality back then and we can compare what was right today with what was right in 19th century