Maus-Night Blogging assingment

1. In both books the characters had to remain positive and not give up hope for example in Night Eliezer and fis father kept supporting each other to keep on going and not give up
2. both books had the problem were there was a lack of food to eat.  In Maus Valdek had to always sneak out to try to fing food from someone because he would die from starvation other wise.
3.In Night they talked about how pople were killed in the gas chambers and in Night they talked about how they tricked the prisioners into the fact that they would have a shower but it was actually a gas chamber
4. In both books the main characters were scacred out of their mind at first but as time went on nothing bothered them.
5. Both books talked about having to live and see the dead. In Night Eliezer talks about sleeping on top of the dead one night.
6. Another thing that was similar was that both of the main characters had to take trains to concentration camps. On these train they could not stand and had to live off of snow on the roof
7. In both books the characters experience the death of loved one s and friends for example in Night where Eliezer's father died
8. Both books talked about having to make it past the selection process.  In Night the father does not make it through one of the selections but is able to sneak back to the good side
9. In both Night and Maus the prisoners are always thinking that the war will be over at any time and that they will be free men
10. Finally both books were told by people who actually experienced the Holocaust and in Maus the guy who survived was able to tell his story to his son

In future years I would recommend that the students at least read Night because I thought it left a larger impression in my mind about what the Holocaust was.  However, if there is time I would have them read Maus to because it just gave another perspective on what the Holocaust was and it was such a terrible event that I think we need to know as mush as possible about it.    

Fallen Angels and Restrepo writing

PRE-WRITING

1.In Restrepo when the soldiers flew in it made me see what it was like in Perry's eyes when he first flew in to vietnam for his deployment.

2. When the soldiers fly into camp it amazed me of how bad the living conditions were and made me realize more of what perry went through during his deployment.

3. When the squad in Restrepo is out on patrol questioning people and looking through the houses it reminded me of when Perry's squad went on missions to help and support the good guys in vietnam.

4.When Restrepo dies at the beginning it was similiar to when Jenkins died. Even though they were different ways of dying they both died at the beginning of their deployments before they even had a chance to prove themselves.

5. When the one guy in Restrepo talked about how it took him awhile to tell his parents what was was truely going on and how people were actually dying, this was similiar to how it took Perry time because he didn't know how to tell Kenny what was actually happening in the war because he didn't know how to write it in his letter and he didn't want to scare him. 

6.In Restrepo when the Sergeant was talking about shooting and killing the guys that didn't have to be killed it reminded me about how Perry's squad killed the good guys and even their own guys when they didn't know.
7. Creating outpost Restrepo was an exiting moment and reminded me of when perry would kind of make his on outpost when on patrol when he would dig himself into the ground and then put sandbags up.
8.  I thought it was a happy moment when the soldiers duty was over and were able to go home and made me realize more of how Perry must of felt and reacted when he was able to go home.
9. In Restrepo when they talked about the final battle where they saw the enemy 20ft. away from them that reminded me of when Perry and Peewee were in the spider whole and saw and killed their enemy who was literally on them.
10. I thought it was sad seeing one of the soldiers in restrepo crying over the death of a fellow soldier and made me realize how Perry must of felt when his fellow soldiers died in battle.  It also made me realize that soldiers are emotional and do get choked up over things.

WRITING
Reading Fallen Angels and watching Restrepo showed me how terrible war truely is.  When ever I see things related to war on T.V. they always show the best part and things making me think war really isn't that bad.  But wathcing Restrepo exspacially showed me that my assumption was wrong.  When I see camps on T.V. they always look nice and built up well.  But through the descriptions that Perry said in Fallen Angels and the actual visual evidence in Restrepo I discovered that the living conditions are actually terrible having to sleep on wood with low ceilings and always having to live in the dirt.  I also didn't realize how scary it was just to live on your down time having to always have somebody on patrol making sure there is nothing out there.  Another thing I learned was how hard it is to operate the guns.  There was a time in Fallen Angels where Perry had set the guns the wrong way and didn't even realize it or how skilled you have to be to work an M16.  Next, I learned that to join the army you must truely be courageous.  Seeing the soldiers out on patrol looking for people showed me that you never know when somebody could pop out and shoot at you killing you. A final thing that the book and movie taught me was that the guys do get emotional over things exspecially the death of fellow soldiers.  I assumed that soldiers didn't have very strong emotions but Reading Fallen Angels showed me that the soldiers have ceremonies and reunions for their fallen soldiers and watching Restrepo showed me that the soldiers do actually sometimes cry over death.

fallen angels essay

Michael Stenbeck

Hour 3

Fallen Angels

In the book Fallen Angels a theme that is portrayed throughout the book was the importance of making and having friends especially in tough times like war, and Perry and Peewee show this through their experiences in war.  They realize that in tough time’s friends need to become like family and support each other and keep each other going.  At first, Perry and Peewee aren't huge fans of each other but as time goes on they learn that they need each other and become closer to each other and by the end of the book Perry and Peewee are practically family and are willing to do anything for each other including risking their own life to save the other one.

            At the beginning of Fallen Angels when Perry first gets to Vietnam he does not realize the importance of having a friendship and what it means in war.  When he arrives he just cares about him self and does not want to worry about others and how they are or what they do.  

slaughterhouse 5 essay

Michael Stenbeck

Hour 3

Slaughterhouse 5 essay

“Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorian’s say about dead people, which is ‘so it goes’”.(pg. 27)  This quote is a great lesson to learn in life and can be applied to everyday life.  Death is just part of life and you must learn how to overcome the tragedy and move on in your own life.  When learning how to cope with death, other parts of life can help you, like past experiences in your life or advice from other people who have gone through the same experience of death or maybe just talking to someone else and letting them know how you feel.

One way to deal with death is to talk to other people who have also experienced death, and see how they cope with it.  This is exactly what Billy did in Slaughterhouse Five; however, he learned from a made up land that he traveled to that was called Tralfamadore.  Even though the Tralfamadorian’s were little green people from another planet they had a good outlook on life.  The Tralfamadorian’s always said “So it goes” when dealing with death, which is what Billy eventually learned to do.  The Tralfamadorian’s outlook on life was that death was just another part of life and it was something that should be celebrated because the person has moved on to there next stage in life.  Instead of being down and depressed like most people are.

Another way to cope with death is to learn from past experiences in your own life.  One way Billy learned to deal with death was with his past experiences with being in war.  When Billy was in war he saw death around him everyday.  At one point during the Dresden war Billy saw death all around him.  Billy discovered that death is all around him and it will always be. Death is just part of life and it shouldn’t be something you get all worked up about.

Finally, another way to cope with death or the loose of a loved one is to talk to others and your going through.          let them know how you feel.  This is what Billy did with the Tralfamadorian’s when he wrote to the local paper about them.  Even though it wasn’t about death it was important to Billy to let others know how he felt about the Tralfamadorian’s and let them know who they truly were.  This taught me that it is important to tell others how you feel and what you’re doing to cope with things like death.  It can make you feel much better and it can make you feel like a weight has been lifted off of your shoulders knowing that someone else now knows what