Class notes

Week Four

We went over descriptive writing using a Power Point and I should have given some advice about using sensory language, interesting adjectives, and complex sentences. As to Night, there will be no posting of new vocabulary from the third section of the book. Please review the vocabulary from the previous two sections for synonyms, and expect that other words from section three will be shown with the original sentence, and that you should be able to explain the meaning of the word from context. Key passages have been alluded to in HW5, but any others you should find from your own critical thinking and our class discussion during week five.

Week Three

To study for your quiz on section two of the book, learn these words:

Linger (47), altruistic (48), quarantine (48), pittance (48), conscientious (48), cynical (49), evoking (50), sanctity (50), infirmary (51), famished (52), defiance (53), imprudent (54), credible (60), dissipated (60), manacled (62), stifled (67), lament (68), transparent (78), amputated (78), deluded(80)

Also, some words from the previous section will be on this week’s quiz. Hint: look for frequently reoccurring words throughout the book.

More key passages:

Page 49 – “He complained that they would not allow him to play Beethoven; Jews were not allowed to play German music.” A violinist.

Page 52 – “All right, son. Come back to see me when you feel better.” The dentist.

Page 53 – “He threw himself on me like a wild beast…” and the young French woman’s reaction.

Page 55 – “Look at the little officer, teaching the old man to march…” Why was he doing that? Did it work?

Page 58 – “I nodded once, ten times, endlessly. As if my head had decided to say yes for all eternity.” What kind of literary device is this? And why did the author say yes?

Page 60 – “Falling to the ground, his face stained by soup, the man writhed a few seconds at the base of the cauldron, and then he was still.”

Page 65 – “And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes.”

Page 67 – “Thousands of lips repeated the benediction, bent over like trees in a storm. Blessed be God’s name?”

Page 68 – “Each of us recited Kaddish for his parents, for his children, and for himself.”

Page 69 – “Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement. Should we fast?” “I nibbled on my crust of bread. Deep inside me, I felt a great void opening.”

Page 72 – “I began to laugh. I was happy. I felt like kissing him. At that moment, the others did not matter! They had not written me down.”

Page 75 – “Then he began to run, to try to catch up with us. Perhaps he had forgotten to tell me something…But we were marching too fast…Left, right!”

Page 77 – “There followed terrible days. We received more blows than food. The work was crushing. And three days after he left, we forgot to say Kaddish.”

Page 81 – “I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.”

Page 82 – “After the war, I learned the fate of those who had remained at the infirmary. They were, quite simply, liberated by the Russians, two days after the evacuation.”

Page 83 – “’Try to sleep. Gather your strength for the journey.’ It reminded me of my mother’s last recommendations in the ghetto.” What literary device is this?

Page 84 – “So we were men after all? The block was cleaned from top to bottom.”

Week Two
We discussed pages 6 to 11 of Night, why the headings were titled as they were, and what kinds of surprises there were in the text. I asked the class to think about why the author would have surprises like this in his writing, and why a Jew would write such as book as this.
Here is a list of words from this section of the book, with synonymns. Below, look for key passages that will help you with the quiz and formal assessment.

Here is a vocab list of words from pages 3 to 46, which is the first section of Night:

Utter (3), Penury (3), Chant (3), Fraught (4), Exterminate (8), Annihilate (8), Disperse (8), Emigrate (8), Liquidate (9) (13), Penetrate (9), Optimism (9), Anguish (9), Emblem (9), Billeted (9), Lodged (10), Jubilant (10), Sublime (10), Provoke (10), Edict (10), Prominent (11), Bleak (11), Lethal (11), Frequent (11), Apparatus (12), Delusion (12), Treatise (12), Anecdotes (12), Antechamber (13), Jest (15), Console (15), Rescind (15), Relic (15), Molten (16), Phylacteries (16), Indiscriminately (16), Surreptitiously (16), Convoy (16), Procession (17), Surreal (17), Captivity (17), Ridiculous (17), Hysteria (18), Inhabitants (20), Evidently (20), Conflagration (21), Extinguished (21), Civilian (21), Evacuated (21), Partisans (21), Farce (21), Shattered (22), Shredded (22), Horrendous (22), Strolled (22), Intolerable (23), Constraint (23), Inhibition (23), Caress (23), Irrevocable (24), Hermetically (24), Pious (24), Cling (25), Hallucinate (25), Bound (26), Gagged (26), Mute (26), Suffocate (26), Stench (28), Abruptly (28), Throng (29), Wielding (29), Holster (30), Tumult (30), Imperative (30), Interrogating (30), Inmate (30), Invective (30), Moron (30), Petrified (31), Monocle (31), Baton (31), Crematoria (32), Elude (32), Infernal (33), Hearse (33), Nocturnal (34), Condemned (34), Brutality (34), Interspersed (35), Numbed (36), Lucidity (36), Oblivion (36), Glacial (36), Colossus (37), Floundering (37), Devoured (37), Notion (37), Collapsed (38), Harangued (38), Convalescent (38), Abstraction (39), Remorse (39), Lulled (40), Fragrances (40), Muster (41), Liberation (41), Camaraderie (41), Prevailing (42), Veritable (44), Radiant (45), Grave (45)

Utter (3) – complete, Penury (3) – poverty, Fraught (4) – filled with, Exterminate (8) – kill ruthlessly, Annihilate (8) – wipe out, kill completely, Emigrate (8) – move permanently to another country, Liquidate (9) (13) – sell, empty out, Anguish (9) – suffering, Jubilant (10) – rejoicing, Provoke (10) – enrage, Edict (10) – decree, Lethal (11) – deadly, Frequent (11) – to visit often, Delusion (12) – false belief, Anecdote (12) – a short, amusing description of an event, Console (15) – comfort, Rescind (15) – revoke or cancel, Indiscriminate (16) – not done selectively, thoughtless, haphazard, Surreptitiously (16) – clandestine, obtained or done by stealth, unauthorized or secret actions, Surreal (17) – dreamlike, unreal, Hysteria (18) – an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, irrational laughter, weeping or screaming, Conflagration (21) – a huge, destructive fire, Extinguish (21) – put out (a fire, light), end or wipe out, Evacuate (21) – to remove people from a dangerous place, Horrendous (22) – horrible, shockingly dreadful, Stroll (22) – to walk leisurely, to ramble around, Intolerable (23) – unendurable, insufferable, Constraint (23) – limitation, restriction, Caress (23) – light stroking or touching to show affection, Irrevocable (24) – unalterable, unable to be repealed, Hermetically (24) – sealed, airtight, Pious (24) – religious, Cling (25) – hold on to tightly, Hallucinate (25) –to imagine or see things that are not there due to illness, drug-taking, or thirst, Bound (26) – tied up, Suffocate (26) – to die because of lack of air or inability to breathe, Stench (28) – terrible smell, Abruptly (28) – very suddenly, Throng (29) – a crowd of people, Wield (29) – to handle a weapon effectively, Interrogating (30) – questioning fiercely, Inmate (30) – prisoner, Petrified (31) – terrified, Elude (32) – escape

Infernal (33) – hellish, annoying, Nocturnal (34) – done at night, Interspersed (35) – scattered

Lucidity (36) – lucid – clear, easily understood, Oblivion (36) – completely forgotten, Colossus (37) – anything colossal, gigantic, or very powerful, Flounder (37) – to struggle clumsily, Devoured (37) – eat hungrily, Harangue (38) – scolding, intense verbal attack, Convalescent (38) – adj. form of convalescence - to rest, to recover (after illness), Remorse (39) – painful regret, Fragrances (40) – good smells, Liberation (41) – freedom, Veritable (44) – truly, Radiant (45) – glowing, Grave (45) – serious

Key passages:
A. Page 7 - Moishe pleading with the Jews in the synagogue for them to escape the Germans.
B. Top of page 21 - first paragraph titled "Night." The night, stars, and conflagration are all symbols. The last sentence, open to interpretation, probably means that at "night" without "stars" we'd be blind.
C. Pages 30 to 31 - two inmates, one telling them to lie about their ages, one asking them why they came to Auschwitz. Think about the motives of each inmate.
D. Page 34 - "Never Shall I forget..." Repeated seven times (alluding to Revelation): repetition is a literary device, usually used in poetry. There are also other kinds of figurative language used here (imagery, hyperbole, personification), so be able to say a style reason for this passage, and a practical reason - such as wanting to reach a larger audience than just Jews - Christians reading the book might respond to the allusion, and any reader will just remember!
E. Page 37 - "The night had passed completely." and the paragraph following it.
F. Page 39 - "It doesn't hurt." His father: the description before this sentence describes how the author reacts when his father is hit. What literary device or trick is this?
G. Page 41 - "Those were the first human words."
H. Pages 44 and 45 - the author lies to a relative about the well-being of his family.
I. Page 46 - "We pretended, for what if one of us still did believe?" The author and his father are pretending to believe their female family members are alive and well. Why?

New York Times articles

If the article is required, it will be handed out in class. If not required, please search for the title on The New York Times web site or follow the link below. Required articles often have special questions I've made for them. If there are no questions provided, I expect a 150-word minimum summary and a 250-minimum reaction to the article.

Here is a list of the articles we will do, which will be updated as we do them:

Week One: New York Times – Planets Galore questions amended!
Week Two: (not required) New York Times – Why Does College Cost So Much?
Week Three: (not required) New York Times – Absorbing the Pain
Week Four: Fool.com - When Rich People Do Stupid Things HW6 questions due 3/14
Week Five: (not required) New York Times - China's Winning Schools - 7 questions attached
Week Six: no article (testing week)
Week Seven: New York Times - One Hundred Years of Multitude - 5 question attached: HW8
Week Eight: Long weekend for tomb sweeping day: spend time with your family - no article.
Week Nine: New York Times (2 short articles) HW10: Lady Gaga Gets Garbled on Malaysian Radio and ArtScience Museum opens in Singapore. You need to do a 150-word summary and a 250-word reaction that refers to both articles. The number of words you dedicate to each article is up to you, but you must talk a bit about both articles in the summary and reaction. The total number of words (minimum) for this assignment is 400.
Weeks Ten and Week Eleven: You will be away on your trip to Malaysia and Singapore. There is a New York Times article for homework extra credit called Times of Upheaval for which you should provide the usual summary and reaction. I hope at some point you can put a reflection on your blog about your trip, perhaps with some photos. Be careful and enjoy!
Week Twelve: HW11 Article Due Friday 5/6 250 reaction only on 10 Natural Wonders to See Before They Disappear
Week Thirteen: optional extra credit article - When We Hated Mom - due 5/13 250 word reaction only, worth up to +5 points on homework
Week Seventeen (due Week Eighteen, 6/16): 250-word reaction only, HW16 for this class

D-Day Veterans Recall World War II Turning Point

My main reasons for offering articles are:
To give you more examples of "authentic text," which are things written in English that are meant for native speakers, not for students. This gives you a real feel for the language, and a goal to shoot for.
To introduce some non-fiction into the curriculum. We do a lot of fiction in literature class, but as a reading class it is doing you a disservice to not let you read at least some non-fiction, which will be readily apparent in your lives both at university and work. It can also be useful and quite interesting.
To support the themes that are in our books, and provide more information about them, perhaps for projects or further research.
To tie-in with other courses or subjects you are studying now, or other book themes you have done in the past, or current events that shape our world, or for insight into other culture through those events or articles.
Finally, just to have interesting discussions or writing topics. It's good at times to get away for the usual things we do.

Prepare for Liftoff!

In the spring, 40 years ago, U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave an unusual speech to Congress and the nation asking it to commit to land a man on the moon and safely return him to Earth before the decade was out. In 1969 this task was successfully completed. As a result of this, the computer you are now using to read this post came into existence, as the whole computer industry was created for the purpose of that mission.

While the first article we are reading in week one is about astronomy, and one of the authors we are reading this semester did write a book called The Martian Chronicles, most of our reading will not be science fiction. However, you can use the same sort of dedication of purpose to reach a goal in about 8 years, as they did, and launch your career with unexpected positive results.

In another way, we will be reading about other kinds of Earths - right here, but far away and in different times, but under much different circumstances. Do you think the big questions in life, and human nature stay the same? Let's begin by exploring that.