Hana's Suitcase By Karen Levine

The narrator of Sophie’s Choice, Stingo, meets a young Polish woman at the Pink Palace in Brooklyn after World War II. She has a dark past due to some horrendous experiences during Nazi occupation in Poland and time in Auschwitz. It is important to take a critical look at her fictitious narrative and deem whether Styron has produced a plausible character. Also, it is key to assess if the stories told by Sophie attribute positively to real accounts of the Holocaust without trivializing the history in order to create a popular

Generally, when innocence is thought of, the first speculation recalled to one’s mind is the thought of pureness and the idea that the specific individual is free from moral wrong. On the other end of the spectrum is the term known as guilt. Guilt is the emotional notion in which one feels that they have compromised his or her own standards in a negative way. In the novel Sarah’s Key, Sarah frequently proves to struggle with both guilt and innocence. These specific themes are put on display when Sarah realizes she is not going back home, the scenario in which Sarah boards the cattle car to the camps, and the tragic event in which Sarah takes her own life.

In William Styron’s book Sophie’s Choice Styron explains the effects of World war 2 on an American, a Polish person and a Jewish person. Sophie, the polish women, who is forced to make a very difficult decision during the war, a choice that, affects her mental state of mind for the rest of her life. Stingo, the American and narrator of the story struggles to find inspiration for his writing career while also discovering his families past. Nathan, the Jewish man who is hopelessly in love with Sophie a holocaust survivor, lashes out in anger and questions her about her past. Sophie’s Choice uses three characters guilt to portray the hardships of World War 2 and the mental instability it has caused.

All of the characters were forced from their home sometime during this book. Josef, a German Jew during WW2 had to leave his home due to the violence brought by the Nazis. “Josef didn't want to leave. Germany was his home.” (6). Josef’s father was taken to a concentration camp and was released 6 months after but only if he left the country within 14 days. Josef knew it was unfair, that because he was Jewish that he must be punished for it. Later, Josef settled in France but the Nazis have begun to take over most parts of France. “One of Rachel Landau’s children would go free, one of her children would go into the camps”(291). The Germans find Josef, his mother, and Ruthie his sister and are asked for their papers which have a big stamped “J” on it for Jew. His mother tries to bribe the soldiers but they say it is only enough for one of her children to go free. Josef senses that this is the time to finally become a man and save his sister from the horrors inside of those camps. He sacrifices himself so Ruthie can escape the Nazis and is taken to the concentration camps with his mother. Josef and His mother, died in the camp and never got to see Ruthie again.

Born in Poland, Henia Weit was the youngest of nine children in her family. She lived in a town by the name of Sambor. Unfortunately, the town was bombarded by German soldiers shortly after Hitler started his reign of terror on the Jews. Henia’s family was forced to do laborious work in a ghetto until they were all deported to a concentration camp. Fortunately for Henia, she was able to escape and never went to the concentration camp herself. Instead, she had to survive for several years alone, with only her sister to turn to.

Through my understanding of the book, Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler May explores two traditional depictions of the 1950s, namely suburban domesticity and anticommunism. She intertwines both historical events into a captivating argument. Throughout the book, May aims to discover why “Post-war Americans accepted parenting as well as marriage with so much zeal” unlike their own parents and children. Her findings are that the “cold war ideology and domestic revival” were somewhat linked together. She saw “domestic containment” as an outgrowth of frights and desires that bloomed after the war. However, psychotherapeutic services were as much a boom then as now, and helped offer “private and personal solutions to social problems.” May reflects her views on the origin of domestic containment, and how it affected the lives of people who tried to live by it.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan follows multiple Chinese-American women who struggle with their self-identity and creating a balance between American and Chinese culture. Because of their immigration and many hardships in life, many of the women feel like they cannot truly tell who they are anymore, and throughout the novel these women are portrayed as ghosts. Ghosts are used to symbolize these women because they share many parallels including being only a remnant of who they once were, or who they could be. Ying-ying St. Clair is one of the women, who has a daughter named Lena St. Clair, she has had a troubled past in China, which has made her lose her fighting spirit, and her spirit in general. Ying-ying is fully aware of her loss of spirit and is embarrassed because she considers ghosts to be shameful and weak, and wants to save her daughter, Lena, from her fate.

Ursula Hegi’s “Floating in my Mother’s Palm”, tells a story of a young girl growing up in a small German town in the 1950s. Hanna, who is the lead character, has a painter mother and a dentist father, both of whom try to shield her from the harsh realities of their small town. The novel tells a story of a young girl’s experience right from birth and the many things that shaped her childhood. This essay will pay special focus on the second story of the novel, “Trudi Montag’s Romantic Episode”. This part tells a story about Trudi Montag, who is the town’s librarian and Hanna’s friend, though she is older. Trudi tells Hanna of stories of her childhood and any gossip that goes around town. The story sets precedence for major themes like love, broken love and superstition evident in the community. The author also uses the story to expound on issues of tradition and diversity that is evident in every community.

Life is a precious thing, and it is so precious that some people will undergo severe anguish to hold on to it. During the 1930’s and 1940’s in Germany, people of the Jewish religion were diabolically oppressed and slaughtered, just for their beliefs. Some Jews went to extreme measures to evade capture by the German law enforcement, hoping to hold on to life. Krystyna Chiger was only a small child when her family, along with a group of other desperate Jews, descended into the malignant sewers to avoid the Germans. After living in the abysmal sewers for fourteen months, her group emerged, and when she became an adult, she authored a novel about her time in the sewer. When analyzing the literary elements utilized in her novel, The Girl in the Green Sweater, one can determine how tone and mood, point of view, and conflict convey the message of struggle and survival that was experienced during the Holocaust, and how they help the reader to understand and relate.

Hana and Wilbur both faced character versus social world conflicts. Wilbur faced it when he was born Mr. Arable wanting to kill him because he was the runt of the litter he was the smallest on the group of pigs that were born. Fern spoke up and saved Wilbur that day she started caring for him and feeding him so that he would grow to be full sized pig. Hana faced many issues just because she was Jewish and born into a Jewish family. She originally was growing up as a normal child, until the social world conflicts started wreaking havoc on the life of her and her family. I started out as trivial things here and there but over time it was complete segregation. She was not allowed to play with her friends, go to the park, the movies, even the time she could leave her home and be home by were ordered. She was sent with her brother to a concentration camp where many people were killed just for being Jewish. This was done under the leadership on Hitler and the Nazi’s.

The book Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosany shows a theme of determination. When Sarah’s family is taken away by French police in the middle of the night, she locks her younger brother in her bedroom cupboard in a desperate attempt to hide him from the police and save his life. Sarah makes a promise to her little brother that she would come back and save him. Throughout this story Sarah is determined to keep this promise in the internment camp, and when she escapes. Although much of her determination brings her joy, it also brings her sadness and despair.

Lola’s mother worked as a seamstress for the Germans during World War Two and had a special pass to leave the ghetto. One day, on the Jewish holiday of Purim, she left the ghetto to walk to work. Lola’s mother and three other Jewish seamstress’s were murdered by a German Police officer even though they had the special pass. Lola was left with just her grandmother. Knowing that the Nazis were going to kill all of the Jews, Lola’s grandmother had to come up with a way to keep Lola safe from the Nazis.

The Holocaust becomes the center of this. Whether it be at his Hebrew school, where Jewish history shaped not only the curriculum they learn. But, also as a collective identity shared by a new and contemporary Jewish generation. While still being connected to the past. This is a struggle for Mark, who does not even identify himself as Jewish for most of the story, He is continuously challenged with where to place himself in this new world, as a second-generation immigrant to Toronto. For Mark, being a young Latvian Jew is not easy.

Gerda was 15 when she was moved into a ghetto called the Bielsko ghetto in 1939 ,September 1. Gerda had an older brother who was 19. But that changed when young men 16 and up had to sign up for the army. Now it was just Gerda and her parents. Then german fighter planes appeared overhead, causing people to flee the city. Her family remanded in the town. In the morning, she heard intense shouting and saw Nazi’s on motorcycles shouting “Heil Hitler”. One day women and men were separated and asked to be put in lines. Gerda was in the line with her mother and a guard asked her how old she was and she said, “18”. Then she was put in a truck a shouting at her mother to ask where she was going and her mother said she didn’t know. Gerda jumped out of the truck but a SS officer caught her and said to her that she was too young to die. Then she knew that her mother was going to die. After Gerda being moved into the ghetto she was deported in 1942 to work in a factory in Bolkenhain, Silesia. Besides the of all the labor and hunger there was caring caring between the inmates. A German supervisor, Mrs. Kugler, saved Gerda’s life because when Gerda got sick and the SS men had to inspected her to see if she should continue working or die. Mrs. Kugler helped her pass the Inspection by just letting her work and then rest again. She was moved to a camp called Marzdorf and spent three years there. It

Claire Standish or “the princess” portrays the stereotypical popular teenage girl in The Breakfast Club. She is in detention with everyone else because she decided to skip class and go shopping, which also plays into the stereotypical teen girl image. It can also be assumed that she is spoiled and rich since her father tried to get her out of detention but failed, and she mentions to the group that her parents only use her to get back at the other one. She brings a fancy lunch of sushi while the other teens either have nothing or the standard lunch one’s parents might pack for them. There are a couple of times in the movie that she brings up her social standing and could even be considered as looking down on those who are not as popular as her. Even closer towards the end of the movie she informs the others that if they were to say hello to her in the hallway in front of her friends, she would have no choice but to ignore them. By the end of the movie, she has opened up to everyone else about her fears of letting her peers down and has formed a close relationship with Bender.