3rd Quarter Reflection Blog

    Of the books I have read in 3rd quarter, my favorite book was Night by Elie Wiesel. I think that this book really influenced my way of learning about the Holocaust. I didn’t know much about the topic, mainly about Jews and the Nazis. In our Language Arts class, we had to complete tasks and go to websites to look for the answers. But reading Night gave me background knowledge, it portrayed imagery, and most of all it portrayed its mood and tone the most. Imagine being in a concentration camp, living under that type of torture, it really touched my heart knowing he survived and still lives up to this day. He survived through the work, through the exhaustion, starvation, and the losses of his loved ones. The courage to build up that strength was impressive. At such a young age, everything was taken away from him, that is one thing I admire of this book, he accomplished to focus on himself and learn to live without anyone at his side, the world is not perfect, but he definitely did his best to great through his adversity.

    The area that I have most improved in English Language Arts is collaborating with my group. For example, we had to create a poster and discover themes for Night, we each had to look for quotes in our book and discover how it related back to the theme. We all helped each other out and I think it is really important to work with my table because we all put in effort and do not give up when we think something doesn't seem right, we continue and try our best.  PARCC is coming up, and my mind has to get ready for the questions being asked. Reading is not my strongest subject, but this quarter definitely helped me learn new things for the future.

    Something that I have accomplished during this quarter, that I am proud of is, persevering into my argumentative essay unit. I have always looked at presidential debates for the running of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. One day, I want to debate for something important in my life. Something small that affects me , to something big that affects everyone. The thing that I accomplished, is researching into gun control laws. I am proud of myself for choosing this topic because it affects communities and people. People are getting killed and we do not have it under control. We need stricter gun control laws and stricter background checks on people. Although it is hard for me, I stay too specific. My teacher checks up on me, sees how I am progressing, she says that I am too specific. I searched for sources that relate to my claim. I am proud for reminding myself that I can accomplish this type of goal. It makes me stay persevered and strengthen my confidence.

   The most challenging part of this quarter for me was research. Research and research. Looking for credible sources is not easy. Many websites have grammar errors, punctuation and spelling errors. It Paraphrasing quotes is also a challenge for me because I try to interpret the information at my best ability but some of the words in articles,  are complex . As fourth quarter arrives, I want to rise and improve in my complications. I also got distracted by personal things outside of school, my focus is important because it strives for success. Third quarter overall, was not my best quarter, but it was not bad either. Fourth quarter will be better, it is my goal to get fours in projects and assignments. I usually go for meeting standard, but I want to achieve fours.

Life is Beautiful Blog

 

Life is Beautiful

 While watching Life is Beautiful, I observed some similarities that can be compared to Night. For example, one similarity that happened in Life is Beautiful, is that Guido (main character ) receives a message from his Uncle Leo, that the Germans are on their way to capture them. Guido is in fact an Italian Jew. According to the information about the Holocaust, the Germans’ goal was to get rid of Jews. In the movie, the horse sprayed in green paint, had a message from the Germans. Uncle Leo warns Guido that they are coming to get him and he must evacuate the area. Guido does not believe him and he stays optimistic. In Night, the people are ignorant and do not listen to what Moshe the Beadle has to say about the Nazis coming to Sighet. Moshe survived because he acted dead. He came rushing to his community, spreading the word that the camps the Jews are being sent to, are meant to put them to work until their last breath. The Sighet Jews stay optimistic and hope for the Nazis to not come their way. Another similarity shown in Life is Beautiful, is the son and father relationship like the one in Night. As they are heading to the concentration camps, Guido and Joshua (his son) travel in the same cattle carts and in Night, Elie and his father were inseparable. They both remain together, and do everything in their power to stay alive for each other. They both care deeply about one another and make sure they are safe. The love really shows in both Night and Life is Beautiful because the bond they have is incredibly strong, Guido takes food given to him and gives it to his son and in Night, Elie and his father watch over each other when going to sleep. These are some similarities shown in Life is Beautiful  and Night.

    As well as similarities, comes differences. I observed many differences from Life is Beautiful and Night. One difference shown in Life is Beautiful and NIght, is that Joshua is much younger than Elie. This can affect the way they are both different because Elie is much more mature and realizes that his life's in danger. However, Joshua thinks that he is in a game. A game that if you win 1st prize, you get a tank. In order to get 1st prize, you must receive 1,000 points. Joshua is still a little kid and doesn't understand what is happening to him and his father. He is still living in his childhood while it was taken away from Eliezer. In the movie, they incorporated the defeat of Ethiopia, by bringing an animal and a flag. Everybody in the Grand Hotel, started to clap because they took power over Ethiopia. They also have two different leaders. In Life is Beautiful, the leader is Mussolini. Mussolini brainwashed children and had an inspector go to schools and had them learn about their beliefs. In Night, the leader was Adolf Hitler. Hitler didn't brainwash children, however he sent them to the crematorium or gas chambers because they were “useless”. They could not do the heavy work because they did not have the strength. Not only were the events different from each other, the mood and the tone were also different.

Another significant difference shown in Night is that it's tone is depressing and Life is Beautiful, the tone is humorous and cheerful. Throughout all the torment, Guido still manages to protect his son by the truth by filling him with humor. In Night, the whole story was depressing and scary. Elie and his father write about their experience, living in harsh conditions while in the concentration camps. They had a point of view of being desperate to live. Their life was in their hands, the Nazis were treating them so bad, they sometimes felt like giving up. Death always crossed Elie's mind, I would too because the things, the work, the labor we had to do, was so exhausting. My bones would ache, and my stomach would be in flames. On the other hand. in Life is Beautiful, their point of view creates humor because when Guido, gets captured by the SS, he knows that he is going to die. He says goodbye to Joshua, and walks away in his goofy, silly, walk. The final thing Joshua saw, was his wink. I find it so amazing that in the goodness of his heart, he finds his sense of humor, knowing that he is going to die, he still smiles and makes Joshua smile. He is a true father, a father that loves his son so very much, that he has to hide all that fear and terror in his body, to make Joshua think he will be okay. But this goodbye, meant that he was on his way to his death.

Life is being shown beautiful throughout the film in so many ways. Life is Beautiful really impacted me. It was such an emotional movie that teared me up. One example shown in the film that makes it beautiful, is the setting. Guido mainly travels in the city and finds his first true love there (Dora). The setting is really important because the audience wants a better picture of where the time period is taken place. His family enjoys living in the place they are in the beginning, the nature, the animals. The grand hotel was a marvelous beauty, that so many people went to. Guido was a servant and really enjoyed his job. Another example, that shows how life is beautiful in the film is the love. When it asks how life is beautiful, it does not have to be something physical, it can be emotional. The love Guido has for his wife is breathtaking. The first time he laid his eyes on her, he completely fell in love with her. They went on a couple of dates, had fun, and smiled endlessly. As well as Guido's love for Dora, Dora's love for Guido is jaw dropping. Dora's husband and child were being sent to concentration camps on cattle carts and she told the soldier that there has been a mistake. When the soldier tells her, that there is no mistake, she decides to put herself on the train. Incredibly courageous. It inspired me because love is so beautiful, if you truly love a person, you will do anything for that special person, in tis case, putting your life at risk is one thing she decided to do for the sake of her love for Guido and her child, Joshua.