December+7-ESCAPE+IN+PART+I+OF+K&C-Annalin

Today Mr. Neal started class by explaining what the scribe posts are. These posts are intended to sum up the happenings of class, as well as making greater connections. These post should be written with the intent to fill in a student who was not present that day.

Mr. Neal asked us what we thought about yesterday's guest speaker Max Michelson. Holocaust survivor and author of [|__City of Life, City of Death: Memories of Riga.__]


 * __Overall__ : The class agreed that while parts of the presentation were hard to understand, hearing his story, and hearing about the Holocaust from someone who lived through it was much different than reading about it in a text book.
 * __One thing that shocked members of the class:__  was how talking about his experience didn’t seem to phase him. For example when he spoke about the last time he saw his mother, or showed a family portrait and casually talked about some of them being sent to Auschwitz.
 * __Connection:__  the class made from Max’s experience to The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay was the idea that the Holocaust was inconceivable to people at the time. That it was impossible to get your head around exterminating an entire group of people. Mr. Neal connected Max’s story about how he and his father were moved from one ghetto to the next and not wanting to leave Latvia to Thomas going back to the apartment and sleeping on the front steps even though it was extremely dangerous. That last point that was made was about the responsibility of other countries during the Holocaust. Germany has admitted to its sins, and continues to pay reparations and today they have the most sensitive legislation regarding human rights. No other country in the world has even made a formal apology for the mass crimes they have committed.
 * How do you think this idea of international responsibly will play into the book?

>> >> 
 * __Discussing Part One - Escapism __**
 * **__Confused? __**
 * **__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lexi asked for a better understanding of the river escape. Here is the sketch Mr. Neal made to help explain what happened. __**
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__The plan:__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> was for Josef to be tied up in ropes and in a sac and then to be pushed into the river by Thomas.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Reality__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Took him much longer than he thought it would. Thomas panicked he jumped in to try to find Josef. Joe got free, but then he had to get back into the river to find Thomas. They were both drowning then Kornblum saves them.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Result:__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Thomas becomes sickly and lost hearing in one ear and is never quite the same.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The relationship between the brothers is changed
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thomas worshiped Joe, but now there may be resentment.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Joe feels guilty.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Forget about what you are escaping from... Reserve your anxiety for what you are escaping to.” (** pg.21 **)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Eddie’s Harry Potter connection - is it all worth it, there are things in life that are much worse then just ending it all.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is an important Motif - When Josef tries to escape the people around him get hurt.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">River Escape vs Prague Escape
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">River, escape from normal life. Prague, escape to normal life.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Joe hurts his family, Kornblum comes to the rescue.
 * __**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Escaping with the Golem? Here’s the picture of how they planned to find the Golem. **__
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">__The Plan:__ pretend to part of the sens us to find out what apartments are occupied, the non occupied one will have the Golem.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">** See pg. 45 ** - Kornblum’s feeling towards the execution of the plan connects to the Holocaust.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff000b; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Eddie is the next scribe.