Daniel's Online Journal

Death – “I am haunted by humans”

In the text “The Book Thief” Markus Zusak shows us a different side of death when he says at the end of the text. “I am haunted by humans” To me this shows that death as emotion. In a way he feels cursed by who he is. He witnesses men, women and children like Liesel Meminger

Daniel Hadida
Title – The Soldier
Author/Poet – Rupert Brooke

First Paragraph – Intro – talking about the text

Second Paragraph – 1st Interest about the book

Third Paragraph – 2nd interest about the book

Fourth Paragraph – Why would I recommend this text

Daniel Hadida
Title – The Book Thief
Author – Markus Zusak

First Paragraph – Intro – talking about the text

Second Paragraph – 1st Interest about the book

Third Paragraph – 2nd interest about the book

Fourth Paragraph – Why would I recommend this text

The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak in August 2004 and published 2005. This text is narrated by a neutral perspective. Death. The Book thief is about Liesel a young orphan in 1938 pre WW2 arrives at her new foster family with parents Rosa and Hans Hubermann a house painter. We find out at the start of the book thanks to  Hans who noticed that Liesel could not read. From there we see that Han attempts to teach Liesel how to read. We see that Liesel from that moment she grows up loving books. Even though Liesel’s new family barely scrape by their life, their situation becomes even more risky when they secretly shelter a Jewish boy whose father once saved Hans’ life.
In this reading report i will be explaining two different parts of the text that interest me and why I would recommend this book.

My first aspect of ‘The Book Thief’  by Markus Zusak, which to me was a most important character in the text: Hans Hubermann. When Liesel first arrives to Himmel street (heaven street) her brother had just died in front of her eyes and her mother has sadly left her. Through all that, it’s understandable that she didn’t want to get out of the car at the start of the text. Hans is the man who eventually gets her out. When Liesel begins to start having nightmares, Hans was always the one there for her every night to calm her down. “Trust was accumulated quickly, due primarily to the brute strength of the man’s gentleness” When it’s ‘come to light’ that she doesn’t know how to read Hans turns Liesel’s routine nightmare into a time of learning. Hans taught Liesel to read and eventually to write and may have even sparked Liesel’s love for books. The best part of Hans Hubermann in my eyes though has to be when was his accordion playing. “I often look at his fingers and face when he plays. The accordion breathes.” Liesel loved when He played the accordion because she could just stop and listen and forget about the troubles in the world. “No one can play like you.” Papa didn’t have do be a good musician it was the it twas just the way he played every note and chord with passion and happiness that came through his playing. In a way I can relate to Liesel as I have a strong passion for music, not only playing it but for me It is my favorite way to relieve stress and like Liesel it distracts me from the World.

Another aspect of the book thief by Markus Zusak which I liked was how the Hubermann’s were not part supporting the Nazis until deep into the ww2. I enjoyed this because it showed how not all Germans during ww2 were for supporting the Nazis to win because of the terrible things they to the Jews. I imagine many Germans at that time had friends which were Jews. We this with Hans Hubermann and Max Vandenburg who turned up on their door one cold night. Max becomes a great friend for Liesel Meminger. Max is stuck in inside hiding for months as, if he was seen by anyone, the Hubermann’s would be taken. Since Max doesn’t get to see what the day looks like he asks Liesel to describe it for him everyday when she comes home. Which I found very emotional. “The sky is blue today, Max, and there is a big long cloud, and it’s stretched out, like a rope. At the end of it the sun is like a yellow hole…” Max paints this image of the wall of the basement with two figures, Max and Liesel, walking along it. Liesel finds it her responsibility to look after max and keep him happy and entertained. So, when Max gets he sleeps in her room and Liesel reads to him everyday. Whilst this was happening Liesel wonders why the Nazis hate the Jews as  the one she knows is so kind to her. I like how Mark Zusak shows that not all Germans blindly followed the Fuhrer and that some were against his plans. For me personally I feel lucky living in new Zealand as we get freedom of speech so if we don’t agree with something we can speak out about it. Compared to Nazi Germany where if one speaks his mind out to the public that most people have a different view on he would end up dead. Which I find disgusting cause I believe in different opinions o make the world a better place.

I would recommend this text as it shows you a perspective of the German families that did not support the Nazi party and that some of the families like the Hubermann’s hated Hitler as much if not more than the UK and the USA. This text also shows a different narration as presented by Death. This got me interested in the text as it shows a neutral point of view of  World War two.

Daniel Hadida
Song- Happier
Album – Divide
Artist- Ed Sheeran

First Paragraph – Intro – talking about the text
Second Paragraph – 1st Interest about the book
Third Paragraph – 2nd interest about the book
Fourth Paragraph – Why would I recommend this text

Title – Once
Author – Morris Gleitzman

How is the idea of “Exposure” (being dangerously exposed to the natural elements/weather)Represented in the poem? We first see the danger of exposure in this poem through the title as exposure means to be exposed to extreme winds and temperature. Through the first sentence we feel the harshness of the winds that Wilfred Owen experienced when he said “In the merciless iced east winds that knifed us. The images that we can see through this quote is that Wilfred was trenching through terrains with savage winds making the men struggle to stride, from the east as the wind knifed, this is meaning that the wind was sharp & strong.

A second example of “Exposure” in this poem written By Wilfred Owen is in the third paragraph where he says “Clouds sag stormy” This quote is implying that the clouds were sagging low as a storm. I think from reading this that Wilfred believed he was near to the eye of the storm. Another example of Exposure in the same paragraph is when he says “shivering ranks of grey” from reading this I believe that Wilfred is implying that ranks of grey are the ranks of solders striving through these wintry conditions freezing.

Another example of exposure in this text is in fourth paragraph, line 3 where Wilfred Owen says “Sidelong flowing flakes that flock, pause and renew” In my eyes from reading this quote I think this is showing that the strong fast snowflakes are skimming through the wind sideways “knifing the men” with the snow storm pausing at certain moments and renewing with even worst blizzards.

“Pale flakes with fingering stealth come feeling our faces” This quote by Wilfred Owen in the fifth paragraph I think this shows the meaning the pale flakes representing the snow. In my eyes I think that fingering stealth resembles when a sow flake lands on a finger it quickly fades away away.

Language Techniques (feat Jayden)

Simile: For the example given “Watching, we hear mad gusts tugging on the wire, Like twitching agonies of men among it’s brambles.” We see use of a simile. I feel that this is used to show how violent the wind is. As if it was men trying to escape it to save their lives. Struggling to escape it’s painful grasp. Yet it is just wind. Trying it’s hardest to sweep through and get to the men who have hunkered down for the night. The simile is used to show the vicious force of the wind. The poet can compare this because it was something he had to experience every single day. He had to see and hear his fellow soldiers be trapped in the barbed wire.

Personification: In this example we see personification. A language technique being used in the text “Exposure” when Wilfred Owen says “Merciless iced east winds that knife us” This quote is giving the cold sharp snowstorm human like abilities, knifing something or someone, cutting and wounding them. This is placed in this text as the situation that Wilfred was in with the cold and the storm makes the wind drag the snow ride to remarkable speed and strength allowing to reach human abilities making the snow painful when it strikes.

Emotive Language: In the example “Dawn massing in the east her melancholy army.” We see not only Wilfred Owen misses home and is in a depressive state but that his fellow soldiers are also home sick and wish to go back home to their loved ones. This use of Emotive Language lets us feel their pain and misery That they have endured during the war. It lets us know how they wish for the war to end and how they are saddened by the idea of never returning to their peaceful home.

What is included?: Consider the selection of words/vocabulary in this poem. Why have specific words been chosen? How do the words affect our understanding of what is taking place?

In my opinion I think the poet used good use of vocabulary. The Title “Anthem for Doomed Youth” this shows and example of the youth that was put in war and fight and see things that in my opinion no one at that age should see. From this title alone it makes me understand what time was like with youth going to war and, from this it also makes me feel sorrow for the youths family members like parents sibling ext.

In the first sentence the poet Wilfred Owen who also made Dulce Est Decorum Est we can feel an anger from the poet when he says “What passing bells for these who die in the cattle” Bells would toll after someone’s death to announce sorrow to the world. Wilfred is disgusted by the fact that men, young and old are just left in a country they don’t know and are surrounded by other men who aren’t in close relation to them.

We can see from the text that Wilfred Owen  has a value of religion. The language in this poem Wilfred Owen has many words that are very related to religion. Example of this is when the poet said “can patter out their hasty orisons”. Orisons means prayer, through this we I saw that Wilfred is saying that taking the war lightly is wrong, prayers must be properly done because what other things should people turn to; praying seems to be the only hope that the men will be safe.

Wilfred Owens, the poet has used many language techniques in this poem Anthem for Doomed Youth for many different reasons, such as showing his feelings about the war during its current place. For example in this poem we see a simile language technique used “these who die as cattle” this brings the idea back that the men are being treated like cows. One dies, just get another one is the notion. from this alone we can tell that this is clearly not fair to the men and their families.

What images are presented in the text?

Dulce Et Decorum Est written by Wilfred Owen: The images that we can see through this text are: The way war can be very stressful and tiring. we can see this through the first paragraph where it says”Bent double, like old beggars under sacks.” through this sentence we can see a a simile comparing solders in WW1  to old beggars under sacks from that we can tell that the men are exhausted and walk hunched. This would be caused because of constant walking through mud and not getting enough sleep a normal person should have.

Language Techniques 

• “As Under a green sea” A simile comparing the poison that got them to a ocean this language feature shows that the solders in this text got bamboozled by a large amount of poison “drowning” them.
• “He plunges at me guttering, choking, drowning” A listing language technique used to build understanding for the reader on what the scenario is. In this case we see that someone is struggling to survive through this gas and is more detail on what is happening. Each word expanding on what the character is going through.
• “Gas, GAS! Quick, boys!” This quote is a Imperative language technique giving a command, making the reader of this poem feel something major has happened. In this example we can tell from this that they were caught out of no where with I believe by reading this poem, poison gas. Also for by reading this I think that it was a sergeant making this quote with his commanding way of words.

Dulce Et Decorum Est – Wilfred Owen

Who Was Wilfred Owen? 

Wilfred Owen was a English Soldier and one of the leading poet in WW1 born March 18th 1893 in Britain died at the end of WW1 at the age of 25 in November 1918.

Why Did Wilfred Write The Poem?

Wilfred Owen wrote poem to his mother and was a form of catharsis to deal with the horrific things he saw during WW1 specifically the gas that was used to poison the soldiers.

Where and When was the Poem Written?

Wilfred Owen poem: Dulce et Decorum Est was written known to be written in France but most people don’t know exactly know where it was written but it is known that all of Wilfred’s poems were written in one year but his most popular one Dulce Et Decorum Est was published to world in 1920 but however was written during the end of WW1 in 1918.

What does the poem mean today?

Now a days this poem: Dulce et Decorum Est written by Wilfred Owen shows to the readers the gore and destruction during WW1

How is the Poem Interpreted?

Personally this poem made envy all of the men that fought and died during WW1 because it made me feel sorry for them and their families

Bibliography

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46560/dulce-et-decorum-est

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Owen

Empty like a crevasse; Signal Iduna Park, a mass of metal structures scaffolding and hugging Borussia Dortmund’s grounds. A ray of neon lights glimmer onto the damp grass. Thousands of black and yellow bees stripe across the stadium, waiting for the swarm. Dull, circular lights on the edge of the roof anticipating to shine on the big day.

Deep inside the hole one man prepares the ground for what’s to come. Wearing typical grandad clothing, light coloured jeans, a yellow cap and a black polo shirt with a bumblebee coloured badge, a Borussia Dortmund badge. A circular, ball shaped badge with a BVB in the centre. He leaves a white trail behind him like a snail. Going up and down, making the lines the football game needs. The grass is clean cut, he creates amazing patterns along the pitch,criss-crossing triangles and diamonds. The silent atmosphere in the stadium, brings out an echo, showing potential when filled.

When the sun falls and the night rises, those dull lights shine, exploding into life. Sounds of cars parking and people muttering,  shouting and chanting. Food bars selling hot dogs, burgers, coffee, chips and alcohol. The smell takes over the line which is as long as the stadium itself. The star players with the spotlight on them, warming up and getting used to their new surroundings.

El rondo. Midfielders passing the ball between each other in a small circle with one defender in the middle passing the ball so quickly that half the time you don’t know where it is. Defenders playing long passes across the width of the pitch in the air and landing right to the other player on the other side. Goalkeepers and attackers practising together, attackers hitting the ball like a cannon. Goalkeepers defending the goal like they’re life depends on it with reaction time of a spider.

The swarm of people arrive, the empty crevasse turns into a beehive within seconds. During the game fans either sit eating hot dogs and watch the game while at the other end of the pitch fans screaming at the players on the pitch, telling them what to do and shouting at the opposition fans, having banter.

The Yellow Wall,  Signal Iduna Parks reputation for being the best atmosphere in the world. From the floor to ceiling, black and yellow banners held above the fans heads make that tiny badge ten times bigger. Fans support their idols showing their respect for the club wearing black and yellow. Others come with face paint of Borussia Dortmund’s badge, occasionally a few with tattoos. New season club jersey and jeans are the typical fans clothing while some wear several old jerseys showing the clubs history.

There is nothing else like it, no other club has fans so passionate.

“I survived because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me.” – Joshua Graham

To survive circumstances one must fight even if the odds are against you. This idea was shown in the texts “Touching The Void” written by Joe Simpson, “Apollo 13” directed by Ron Howard, “Rabbit proof fence” directed by Phillip Noyce and “The Martian” directed by Ridely Scott. All of these texts show aspects of survival. In the text “Touching The Void” and “Rabbit Proof Fence” both use the use of inner conscience and other key techniques to make the character’s survive. All these texts show a story of one’s survival and what they had to do to achieve this.

Touching The Void

The nature of survival was shown in the text “Touching The Void” written by Joe Simpson. This was shown by Joe Simpson and Simon Yates showing us that to survive it is essential to have these aspects, rational decisions in difficult scenarios and never giving up on yourself.

The first aspect used In “Touching The Void was rational decision making made by Simon Yates when he cut the rope to let Joe Simpson to fall into a crevasse. This happened when Joe fell and broke his leg and Simon had to lower him down the mountain and ended up lowering him down a edge of a cliff. After a while Simon was getting tired of holding on to Joe This was shown when Simon says

“I couldn’t hold the weight much longer”..”I kept stamping my feet. I was trying to hold the collapse of the seat but it wasn’t working. I felt shivers of fear… I can’t hold it, can’t stop it.”

This shows that Simon couldn’t hold Joe for much longer. Simon was convinced that Joe was going to die so he had to make a rational decision quick about their situation to survive. We see Simon using rational decision making when he says “The knife. The thought came out of nowhere. Of course the knife. Be quick, come on get it.” This shows when there is you and someone else’s life is at risk an individual would save themselves over the other person because they are scared of dying and would rather the other person die for the sake of their own life.

A second aspect of survival is never giving up. This was shown in the text after the rope was cut when Joe fell down 100 ft and into a crevasse, surprised that he lived considering he has a broken leg. We see this when Joe said “Alive !…laughed again, a real happy laugh.” Joe realizes that he can’t climb up the crevasse with his broken leg so he decides to decent down the crevasse and later on finds a hole to break through to the surface. As Joe attempts to decent Siula Grande, the voice takes over Joe. The voice tells him to set distant goals to make descending the mountain easier. This is shown when Joe’s voice said:  “The voice, and the watch, urged me into motion… I keep moving…. The voice told me to reach that point in half an hour. I obeyed.” This shows that some people just need determination to achieve their goals no matter where it comes from. This also relates to other moments in the world like when marathon runners run for a long period of time and how they need encouragement for them to do well. This aspect of survival helped Joe return to their camp and it ensured him to survive as he believed he could’ve.

Apollo 13

The nature of survival that was shown in this film “Apollo 13” directed by Ron Howard. The pilots on board The Apollo 13 ship showed us that to survive you must fight no matter the odds and to use what you have in what scenario your in.

The first aspect that was used in “Apollo 13” was when all of the pilots in the film. Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise when they didn’t give up when their oxygen tank was running out and fought against all odds, instead they just instantly changed their mission from going to the moon to getting back to earth safely shown when Jim said “We just lost the moon.”

After the oxygen tank exploded they had too much carbon dioxide poison and in order for them to survive they had to conserve their power to re-enter earth’s atmosphere. Against all odds was used in this scenario when we see a cutaway shot when everyone was freaking out about how they won’t get back so Jim Lovell says “Let’s work the problem people let’s not make things worse by guessing.” This aspect of survival can also be related to Touching The Void when Joe was stuck in the crevasse with a broken leg and he used but yet he fought against all odds.

This shows that in both scenarios with the pilots of Apollo 13 and Joe Simpson even though they are in a bad situation and death is not that far off and there is near to no hope they still try to solve the problem against the odds because they refuse to die and want to make it home to their family.

The second aspect that was shown in this film was using everything they have. This was shown when their oxygen tank exploded and they had to improvise with the help of the ground team who were simulating their situation so that the pilots can get home. They had to end up creating their own carbon dioxide filter from scratch using nearly everything they had on the ship. This was shown when one of the ground team members said with the director using a high angle wide shot “Gentleman at this moment I want you to forget the flight plan, from this moment on we are improvising a new mission. How do we get our people home.” This shows that the ground team did not give up on the men in the sky.

Rabbit Proof Fence

In the film “Rabbit Proof Fence” directed by Phillip Noyce, Molly showed us that to survive  she had to use their knowledge about their surroundings and landscape in the desert.

We first see this aspect in Rabbit Proof Fence when Molly and her family are in Jigalong camp and they are hunting Iguana. A long shot shows Molly’s mother encouraging the girls to hunt and is teaching them to read animal tracks.

This helps Molly when she is taken from her home, Jigalong Camp, and has to get back using this aspect  through the Australian desert trying to survive. We know that the hunt when they are running away we know this because the newspaper said “the only trace and remains of the girls we found was a dead rabbit”. This shows that Molly uses her previous knowledge from hunting when her mum taught her back at Jigalong camp so that she can survive in the Australian outback.

A second aspect that was shown in Rabbit Proof Fence was Molly’s knowledge of tracking. This was shown when Molly, Gracie and Daisy were at the farm with an aboriginal servant who was serving the family who owns the farm. The aspect of survival was shown when they got caught and had to run away back into the wilderness. Whilst they were running Molly was dragging a branch along the ground so it would hide their trails. This shows Molly’s understanding of tracking because she knew this would ensure that they wouldn’t catch them. After this Moodoo says, “she pretty clever that girl, she wants to go home.” Moodoo’s words show that he knows and understands that Molly wants to see her family and homeland of Jigalong again. He relates to this because his daughter who is also a prisoner of Moore River as he wants her to be free from control of A.O Neville as well.

Molly also shows her understanding of tracking when they were in Moore River and they were told to “take the bucket out.” whilst doing this they saw a storm approaching and Molly knew that it is the best time to escape because the rain will cover their tracks. Molly ensures the Gracie and Daisy that it will work when she says: “He not gonna get us. We will just keep walking and the rain will cover our tracks.” After they escape Moore River it begins to rain and a three shot showing Molly laughing. This shows that Molly knew that the rain would cover their tracks. After this we see a long shot of Moodoo walking along the track leading his horse, trying to find their tracks. All of this shows Molly understanding of tracking because if Molly left during another time they would of not of had he rain to cover their tracks and Moodoo would have tracked them and found them.

The Martian

The nature of survival was shown in this film “The Martian” directed by Ridley Scott. Mark Watney played by Matt Damon showed us to survive it is essential to have knowledge of your surroundings and to have hope that you will survive.

The first aspect that was shown in “The Martian was hope made by the main character Mark watney when he decided not to give up and decided to have hope that he will live even when the odds are against him. This was shown in the film when after the other pilots on the Mars mission evacuated and leaving him behind assuming he was dead after hr got hit with a satellite dish in a storm and then instead on giving up and waiting to die on Mars he said to himself “I am not going to die here.” This shows that he had hope that he wasn’t going to die he convinced himself that he would not die there. Also whilst he was saying this Ridley Scott made that moment significant because whilst a mid shot of Mark Watney he made everything around the main character silent, up until the point where he said the quote This aspect of survival could also be referenced to Apollo 13 when their oxygen tank exploded and instead of giving up they decided to work out a way to get home.

The second aspect of survival shown in this film was knowledge of your surroundings. This was shown when Mark Watney realizes after being concerned that he won’t receive any help from Earth until much later after he runs out of food that he can last much longer on Mars because he remembers the station came with potatoes with dirt from Earth and human waste to help grow the potatoes. After realizing this he empties one of the biggest rooms in the station and lays dirt along the ground and plants them carefully along with the human waste as compost and surrounds the room with plastic fabric and in order to create for him he had to make the room hot enough to condensate he did this by making a man-made heater out of scratch using materials that were already in the station so that the room would get moist and wet for water for him to drink and grow more potatoes he then would repeats this process until he finds a way to get home of the recuse team comes. He knows how to do this because he is a botany this is proven when he said into the camera of his computer “Luckily I’m a botany, Mars will come to fear my botany powers” He does this to give himself confidence to himself that he has a strong chance of surviving even though he is in a rough position. All of this refers back to the aspect of survival knowledge of his surroundings because if he didn’t know what to do with his supply’s he had along in the station he would have been no where near close to surviving for as long as he did. This point also reminds me of Apollo 13 when the pilots had to make their own man-made carbon dioxide filter with just what they had lying around the ship.

Survival is usually determined by determination to survive and mental strengths to allow them to survive. These were used in the films and text: “Touching The Void”, “Apollo 13”, Rabbit Proof Fence and “The Martian”; Where key characters showing their survival and how they survived when they where in life-threatening situations.