Thursday, April 26, 2012
Time Period?
Hi all. Sorry that I neglected to get the actual post for you to respond to. Do it if you can before C Block. If not today then, when you can.
As the assignment read, what about this time period is familiar to you? I imagine that history has provided you with a pretty good background, and maybe there's less reason to list the things you're all hearing in class there. Or maybe the first few postings will set the groundwork for that part, and you can simply confirm what's already posted. So as you go to the postings, look for what isn't there. Maybe you could cross the Atlantic and mention a few things that take us from the Dust Bowl and the Joads into the late 30's and early 40's in the USA.
Go for it!
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I am familiar with this time period, I am not familiar with France or the events during this time that took place in it. The book mentions Kristallnacht, which I am familiar with from studying World War II. Other then that event, I don’t recognize any events from the first two chapters of the book except for the mention of the Seine River, which I have heard about in previous classes that have had to do with Europe.
ReplyDeleteOn page 7, Max makes a reference to a time when “America choked in a cloud of dust.” He is talking about the dust bowl, which we just finished learning about. He is talking about the dramatic events occurring around the world as his life flashes by. This also reminds me of WW2, because he is forced to grow up prematurely. His father expects him to be knowledgeable about complicated topics even though he is just a young boy. Although it is not a direct correlation, soldiers fighting in WW2 were faced with growing up earlier than they typically would. Max is dealing with a similar problem in a different setting.
ReplyDeleteOn page 4, Max describes the rainbow colors that lit his grandfather's gallery during sunny afternoons, and how the school children thought they were angels and reported their sightings to the choirmaster. He says, "When he could no longer bear to tell any more youngsters that they had not seen angels but just rainbows, and from a Jew's house no less, the choirmaster hinted to some older boys that perhaps they should break the windows, which they did." This reminded me of what we are learning in History because we are studying how Hitler managed to use the jews as a scapegoat. Jews were considered the problem during this time period, and hearing that the boys broke the windows of the gallery just because they were part of a Jew's home reinforces what I have been hearing about in history.
ReplyDeleteI really didn't know anything that went on during Nazi occupied Frnace although I did know how the Germans took over France. It's interesting to see the civilian impacts of the occupation along with how it affected the art world. The art world is a culture that I did not know anything about during the second World War.
ReplyDeleteIn history, my scrapbook place is France, so I am pretty familiar with the situation during this time period in France. Although I have prior knowledge of the events in France, I haven’t fully researched what actual life was like for Jewish people in France. The novel is providing me with some of that information. For example, Max describes Princess Noailles: “She’s an anti-Semite. She makes a show of leaving the Orchestra when they play Mendelssohn or Offenbach.” This demonstrates the early anti-Semitic views that some people held. These ways eventually escalated into the awful tragedies brought on during World War 2.
ReplyDelete-Raja
I feel like this event is similar to the scenario in World War I, because essentially the same thing is happening in France. Nobody expected Germany to rise up and attempt to conquer Europe, but after it had happened once, I thought France would be a little more prepared in the possibility that this could happen again. I think that this is a deja vu in some sense, because even though the people and the time period has changed, the same war is going on inside Europe. This relates to the Grapes of Wrath, in the form that Max's family is being forces to migrate from a "dust bowl" which in this case is Hitler's army. It seems that Max takes on the role of Tom Joad, trying to take leadership in the family's journey to recover paintings stolen by Nazis. I can already sense that a big problem will arise, because anxiety and tension are being heavily portrayed throughout France in fear of Hitler's reign, despite how the people think the last thing to happen will be war. These problems will bubble to the surface, to create a potential catastrophe that will involve the entire country of France in a war they will never forget.
ReplyDelete-Quinton Capretta