Summary OfThe Assault By Harry Mulisch

In the book Night by Elie Wiesel,brutality is expressed in many ways. This is a story about the holocaust, how Elie survived it and how he and his father made the best of a situation.when Elie and his family were taken from their home and put in a truck filled with other Jews that would take them to Auschwitz, they had no idea what they were looking forward to. As soon as they reached their destination realization hit Elie, there was the smell of burning flesh and smoke in the air and the awareness of the rough bed of the truck they had to sit in,the fear that they felt and also what they saw they were going to be living in.

In the book, “The Assault,” By Brian Falkner, there is a specialized group of teenagers fighting for the last hope of the human race to survive. This group of teenagers are disguised as under-cover alien lifeforms. The aliens they are disguised as are called Bzadians. The Bzadians main reason why they came to Earth is because their home planet is in the process of being destroyed due to the lack of resources. At first the Bzadians that first came to earth said they were a peaceful race and that they only needed a certain amount of space in order to survive.

Tobias Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain” is about a man who is a book critic. He recalls his lost a memory of childhood after being shot in the head during a bank robbery. In the beginning of the story, Anders’ personality is revealed as cynical, narcissistic, and pompous. As the story reaches its end, Anders reveals another side of his personality that has been hidden from the beginning of the story. Anders is presented as an unsympathetic character, but the author uses different points of view in the story that makes the audience sympathetic towards him in the end. The author uses different third person perspective, symbolism, and setting to contribute to the theme of the story that a human’s personality changes by time, and environment or experience.

Penned during two distinctly disparate eras in American military history, both Erich Maria Remarque's bleak account of trench warfare during World War I, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Tim O'Brien's haunting elegy for a generation lost in the jungles of Vietnam, The Man I Killed, present readers with a stark reminder that beneath the veneer of glorious battle lies only suffering and death. Both authors imbue their work with a grim severity, presenting the reality of war as it truly exists. Men inflict grievous injuries on one another, breaking bodies and shattering lives, without ever truly knowing for what or whom they are fighting for. With their contributions to the genre of war literature, both Remarque and O'Brien have sought to lift the veil of vanity which, for so many wartime writers, perverts reality with patriotic fervor. In doing so, the authors manage to convey the true sacrifice of the conscripted soldier, the broken innocence which clouds a man's first kill, and the abandonment of one's identity which becomes necessary in order to kill again.

Autobiographical texts are not simple retellings of experiences, but the result of a complex process of shaping and refining ideas and events that take place in someone’s life. The texts The Damage Done and The Happiest Refugee by Warren Fellows and Anh Do respectively, follow two different stories of survival and chance. One, a tale of the dealings of drug trafficking, and the other a description of a brave and valiant escape from post-war Vietnam. Through use of structure and language devices, my views of these two men and their surroundings have been shaped and manipulated; for Fellows, the view that he is simply an innocent victim of chance, and for Do, that he is a family man, shaped by significant events in his early life. Language conventions

In the book “The Assault,” by Harry Mulisch, the author demonstrates how the main character, Anton, becomes free of the influence of his memories by showing that Anton's approach to memory changes over the novel course of the novel – from protective denial to acknowledgment. However, what remains static is a constant self awareness that Anton shows in-regards to his attempts to repress these memories. During the beginning of the novel (post-tragedy) Anton is a shell of his memories of the night where is family was killed. This is shown through how many details of his character, from major life aspects such as his wife or his job, to insignificant things such as what sorts of media he likes, can all be traced back to his allegedly forgotten memories.  The

Brutality and Beauty are both aspects of the human spirit and therefore are evident in society and have been through the ages. History can be examined to bring forth examples of both, often side by side, often in times of great destruction such as in times of war. In the novel, The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak explores and compares the juxtaposition between great brutality and beauty in the human spirit evident in the German town of Molching during WW2. The author demonstrates how the characters in the novel can overcome cruelty and ruthlessness with acts of extraordinary kindness and humaneness. This is shown through the novel with Max and Liesel’s friendship, when Hans gives one of the Jewish camp prisoners a piece of bread and when Rosa and Hans protect Max from the Nazis. Zusak illustrates that a human’s capacity for hope is difficult to destroy regardless of the circumstances.

For example, Paul describes what he is feeling after the situation, when he says, “I notice my bloody hand and suddenly feel nauseated. I take some earth and rub the skin with it; now my hand is muddy and the blood cannot be seen any more”(217). When the author mentions nausea and blood, it helps create scary and frightening images in the readers heads, of dead soldiers and the war life. This creates a very depressing mood because it is hard for paul to see the dying soldier, when he knows that they are human too and have a family back at home waiting for them. Paul talks about how the blood disappears, when he covers his hand with mud. This adds to the melancholy mood because that statement shows how he felt so guilty, that he could not face the blood that covered his hands, and he how will never be able to take it back. As Paul watches the soldier's death, the author uses diction to establish a bleak mood. For example, Paul says, “then he opens his eyes. He must have heard me, for he gazes at me with a look of fright that for a moment I think they have power enough to carry the body off with them” (219). Erich Maria Remarque uses the word fright, which has a major effect on the mood of the passage. Using the word fright helps readers to understand the severity of war because it shows alike people can be so terrified of each other. This creates a depressing mood because it is

Your memoir, Night, drastically changed my view on the world; more specifically, I now sympathize more with individuals who are experiencing a struggle of any kind. This is a result of the brutal details that forced you to create a vivid image of the situation at hand. Before reading Night, I never truly took the time to imagine what it would be like to be in these tragic situations. Therefore, I would like to thank you for bringing this inhumane flaw I possessed to light. The first account of me realizing this flaw, occurred because of the Nazis’ brutality.

When a reporter comes to write a ten-year retrospective of the siege, his questions are different from all the others--more penetrating, more accusing. As Freda weathers this attack from outside, she has to decide whether to bury her long-ago actions forever or to forgive herself--and she doesn't know which will be harder.

In Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, human nature is the only abstract periphery between belligerent barbarism and justifiable violence. Through the insipid bombardments that rained shells over the Germans’ heads and noxious implementation of mustard gas, Remarque dexterously misleads the reader into believing that he fights in an apathetic war where all remnants of human nature and identity have been destroyed with the introduction of trench warfare. Through Paul Baumer’s eyes, Remarque identifies war as an artificial construct devoid of human identity and any subsequent emotions until the first bombardment, the first glimpse Baumer has of the unfettered abominations of war. After the shrieking of artillery shells ceased, it was replaced by the numbing scream of injured horses. Paul described this abhorrent noise as “the moaning of the world…, wild with anguish, filled with terror, and groaning” (Remarque 62), the first emotionally provocative scene in the novel. As if the description of the noise did not suffice to pique the reader, Remarque continues, “The belly of one is ripped open, the guts trail out. He becomes tangled in them and falls…” (Remarque 63). At this instant, Remarque sheds the obscure layer of superficiality and reveals the tatters of human nature and identity still exist even in most anguish conditions of comeradeship, sympathy, contrition, and selflessness.

In the short story Bullet in the Brain, Tobias Wolff creates a sarcastically doughty character by the name of Anders. However, it becomes transparent that beneath this stone-cold portrayal of a man resides a troubled past. Throughout the story, Ander’s life struggles slowly begin to show through the cracks, giving the reader insight into what has turned him into such a hateful man. Another interesting character in the story is the man who takes charge of the robbery. He remains unnamed for the entirety of the happenings, and, although he is not alone in committing this crime, plays an important role in framing the theme of Wolff’s work. Wolff uses literary strategies such as imagery and extreme detail to pull the reader into the story, lock in their attention, and relate the symbolism and emotion of what’s happening. These devices have a great effect on the story.

Challenged for offensive language, racism and violence in 2004. This book is very graphic in the description of the battle scenes and injuries on both sides of the battlefield. There are also

As long as there has been war, those involved have managed to get their story out. This can be a method of coping with choices made or a way to deal with atrocities that have been witnessed. It can also be a means of telling the story of war for those that may have a keen interest in it. Regardless of the reason, a few themes have been a reoccurrence throughout. In ‘A Long Way Gone,’ ‘Slaughterhouse-Five,’ and ‘Novel without a Name,’ three narrators take the readers through their memories of war and destruction ending in survival and revelation. The common revelation of these stories is one of regret. Each of these books begins with the main character as an innocent, patriotic soldier or civilian and ends in either the loss of innocence and regret of choices only to be compensated with as a dire warning to those that may read it. These books are in fact antiwar stories meant not to detest patriotism or pride for one’s country or way of life, but to detest the conditions that lead to one being so simpleminded to kill another for it. The firebombing of Dresden, the mass execution of innocent civilians in Sierra Leone and a generation of people lost to the gruesome and outlandish way of life of communism and Marxism should be enough to convince anyone. These stories serve as another perspective for the not-so-easily convinced.

Markus Zusak’s compelling novel, The Book Thief, is a multilayered and intricately created text that embeds a multiplicity of meanings as it explores diverse ways of representing the complexities of trauma and the human nature. The incorporation of trauma into literature has enabled an enhanced explication of the power and complexity of the relationships among cataclysmic historical events. Zusak’s exploration into trauma and the various coping mechanisms employed by individuals is a poignant reflection upon the human condition and furthers our understanding of the German community within Hitler’s rule. Zusak’s novel demonstrates the presence of all the major concepts in trauma theory, most predominantly intergenerational transmission of trauma.