Class Notes for 1/31/17 and Notes for Book Thief Parts 4-7

The Book Thief (parts 4-7 notes)

In class today we discussed the executive order passed by President Donald Trump. The order affects seven countries with predominately Islamic religions and bars them (even with green cards and proper identification) from entering the US for an indefinite period of time. Dr. West spoke to us about how we are all refugees and sojourners on this earth.
Hebrews 11:13-16:

³ These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. ¹⁴ For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
13:2-3:

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. ³ Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

Next in class we finished our group discussions on the different characters of the novel. We started off with Frau Hermann who we said was a lonely woman who mostly kept to herself. She started to connect with Leisel over there mutual interest in books. She encouraged Leisel to come over and read. The other character we discussed was Rudy who is Leisel's friend and fellow thief. He starts out as a troublesome boy but as the novel progresses we see him turn into someone that becomes protective of those he cares about. He is also a very curious person and add some comic relief to a heavy story.

We also discussed what makes a book young adult fiction. We talked about how the language in YA fiction is going to be different then a book written by someone like Shakespeare. It will also have a coming of age story, a story where a character is young and develops. The perspective of a young adult novel is also innocent. They have a timeless or relatable feel that is universal. They also contain peer group conflict in which the adults are not usually heavily involved and are not central to the story. However we see the opposite of this in the Book Thief as the adults play a very important role. Young adult novels also tend to have a faster pace so that they can hold the attention of a younger audience, they often switch scenes and perspectives and have a sense of a realistic or emotional authenticity.
We contrasting this with what makes the Book Thief historical fiction. Historical Fiction will establish a setting that was an actual time and place, there is also authenticity of dates, language, and names or people or events in the story. One question that was raised was: why do we tell the story to young readers? We discussed that a story like the book thief provides some different perspectives especially to the German people. Not all of them support of the Nazi regime and some even worked to fight against it. We also want to educate young people about human rights violations and genocide. One important thing that we said was awareness and prevention were key lessons to learn. ("Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.") One question I wanted to add was: how do we relay what happened in a gripping way without being too graphic or objectifying/ romanticizing what has happened?

Personal notes:
In this part of the book thief Hans's backstory was explored. He was friends with the German-Jew named Eric who saved his life. Because Eric is dead Hans channels his guilt into playing Eric's accordion and saving Max who is also a Jew. The novel compares the past and present, where in the past Eric would've been a hero for dying for his country. Now in the present, Jewish people are heated by the Nazi regime. We also get to see Hans's selflessness, because he not only risks his family and his safety by hiding Max in his basement, but he also gives bred to a Jewish person or on the street, in front of everyone, knowing he will probably be punished.
We also learn about Max specifically this section of the novel. He feels guilt that Hans and his family will be hiding him. Leisel befriends Max and they share an interest in reading. She brings him a newspaper so that he can read and do the crossword puzzle to pass the time. She and her Papa start to read Max the books that she steals. For a birthday present Max paints over the pages of "Mein Kampf," his only book, and records his own story showing that his life is equal to that of Hitler.
In parts four, five, six, and seven of the novel we see some very interesting a literary elements such as foreshadowing. Rudy has his death predicted and Death the narrator says he has less than two years left. Another element to the story is the use of literary FOILs. Leisel and Rudy could be considered FOILSs because of their differences and similarities. They are both two very brave young people and while Leisel shows her bravery through keeping secrets (like about stealing books and hiding Max), Rudy shows his bravery through physical acts, like protecting Leisel. 

Class Session Summary: Thursday, January 26

We opened class on Thursday with a discussion on World War 2-era Germany. The discussion centered on how, after the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to pay a large amount of reparations; this in turn led to economic hardship, made worse by a great deal of inflation due to the Depression, which left Germany vulnerable. In response to this hardship, the German authorities established Jews as a scapegoat for the country's difficulties. Hitler then rose to power with the support of the people; he was appointed chancellor, but took over when the president who appointed him died. We discussed how Anti-Semitism was not a new idea, but had been around during the Middle Ages, when Jews were blamed for the Black Death. Hitler turned the religious identity of "Jew" into a nationality, and blamed the problems that Germany was facing on the Jews.

We then looked at a timeline of Hitler's rise to power and the factors that made it possible, beginning in 1918 when Germany lost WWI. This loss was a great injury to German national pride. The German Workers' Party, primarily made up of demobilized soldiers when the army was disbanded in 1918, was founded; this group later became known as the Nazi party. In 1923, Hitler was arrested for treason, sentenced to three years in jail, and spent his first year writing the first volume of Mein Kampf. After that first year, he was released. Meanwhile, the GWP targeted the disadvantaged and unemployed members of society, a number that increased exponentially during the Depression. In 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor. Within his first year as chancellor, he established the first concentration camp ad Dachau in response to a fire that was blamed on Communists. In 1939,  he invaded Poland, breaking a treaty made after WWI.

Our discussion then turned to The Book Thief itself, beginning with an introduction to Markus Zusak, the author, who was Australian but had German and Austrian parents, both of whom grew up during WWII and experienced first-hand the horrors described in the book. We next discussed the narrator of the book, Death, and how we knew that the narrator was, in fact Death. We talked about the characterization of Death, with his own personality, preferences, and opinions; sense of humor; sensitivity, which makes him likable; self-critical nature; and his sympathy for and caring towards the people who survive. We also discussed the way Death talks about colors, and what colors mean to him.

Next, we split into small groups to discuss individual characters on our own. We only got through three characters during the class period:

Liesel:

• She has a brother who dies
• Referred to as "the Book Thief" until page 20; not developed as a young girl at first
• The older sibling of the two
• Not well-educated, but determined to learn how to read
• Skinny and pale--indicative of malnourishment
• Pages 19-24 contain most of her initial characterisation.

Rudy:

• Attractive
• Likable
• Comic relief
• Naive and innocent
• Likes Liesel

Rosa:

• Rough (p.32)
• Foul-mouthed
• Blunt and direct
• Opinionated
• Critical

Class Session Summary: Tuesday, Jan. 24

Today’s class set up some of the foundational principles for how Christians should engage in justice and human rights. Using the readings, from Good News about Injustice by Gary Haughen and “God’s Justice: A Biblical View” by Sarah Dylan Breuer, we started by thinking about how our theology could (and should) shape our understanding of justice. Some ideas included the biblical command to “Love one another,” the frequent prophetic calls to “seek justice” (as in the prophets), the importance of lamenting over injustice (especially in Jeremiah and Lamentations), the imperative for Christians to join God in the work he’s doing to rescue the "least of these," among other ideas listed above. Haughen offered us four lessons he's learned as he's been doing justice work to guide our thinking: 1. "There is a God of justice who is active in the world"; 2. "The Word of God has the power to change lives"; 3. "God redeems and restores the victims of injustice"; and 4. "Christians are embracing the biblical call to justice." (14, 16, 18, 20). 

From there, we worked in groups to develop key questions we’re interested in pursuing in this course. You can see the list of all the questions, but one thing I pointed out was how many of the questions started with the word “How.” I talked about how tempting it is to want practical solutions, to want to know what to do in the face of suffering and injustice. Though we will spend some time thinking about practical applications of what we’re learning, the majority of our time together this semester will be doing by learning, by understanding, by listening. That may feel frustrating at times, so it’s important for us to keep the long view in mind: college is for equipping, so better understanding how justice and injustice look in different historical moments equips us to think carefully and critically about where we see the need for justice in other circumstances. Ultimately, the goal is that all of us would be better-equipped to practice justice in whatever situations the Lord puts in our path, but to do that, we need the tools of empathy, awareness, and critical thinking. Sarah Dylan Breuer writes in one of the readings for today that for those of us who profess to follow Jesus, "engaging God's mission of justice and reconciliation in the world isn't an optional add-on" (32). The way we will engage is in reading about injustice and looking for God at work, seeing how the God of all history is moving to make the world God made as it should be. 

Using Christopher Marshall’s book, Crowned with Glory: Human Rights in the Biblical Tradition, along with a variety of perspectives from pastors I’ve gleaned over the years, I talked through some of the theological principles that shape many Christians’ understanding of human rights. Moving from the dignity and worth of all people based on their having been created in the image of God to the hope of a redeemed and restored earth where all of God’s creation flourishes as God intended it to, the key movements in Scripture that undergird the rights of human beings in the world are: Creation, Fall, Covenant, Jesus, and Redemption. See the presentation posted on Blackboard for Scripture references and more explanation, and especially for the definition of "human rights" that Marshall cites and interprets. 

With those principles in mind, we then turned our attention to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Drafted in the wake of the atomic bomb and the world’s learning about the specifics of the holocaust, this document marks the first attempt by an international coalition to delineate specific universal rights that could apply in all national and cultural contexts. Groups talked through a few of them and tried to identify which biblical principles they seem to be upholding. We didn’t finish this activity, so we will return to it on Thursday.

Reading Response #1: The Book Thief

Set during Nazi occupation in Germany, The Book Thief offers us a chance to see how the regime of Hitler affected everyday German citizens like the Hubermanns, the Steins, and Liesel Meminger. The campaign to exterminate the Jewish people is an obvious and egregious violation of human rights, and we will get to that. For this response, however, I'd like you to articulate how the story of Liesel offers us a picture of how the rights of German citizens also are violated by Nazi rule. You might choose a specific right to focus on and trace it in a few passages in the novel. You might focus on a couple of pivotal moments, or on a key character, in the novel and show what we learn about rights in those instances. Remember that your response should be focused on one, specific main idea, and that you should be using evidence from specific passages in the novel to show how that idea fleshes itself out. (See the Response guidelines for more information). Make sure that you finish reading before you write, so that you can take the whole arc of the novel into account (you need to know how it ends to make a convincing argument, in other words). Responses are due, posted as a comment on this post, no later than Thursday, Feb. 2, at the beginning of class.

How to Create a Post

For your Reading Responses, you will post those as comments on the prompt to which you are responding. But for the other writing you'll do in this space---Historical Context projects, Resource Reviews, and Class Session Summaries---you will need to create a post and tag with the appropriate labels.

Once you're logged in to Blogger, you can click on the New Post button at the top of your screen. A Post window will open, and you can type or paste right into the text box. The menu that runs along the top gives you the tools to insert links, images, or videos, in addition to regular formatting. At any point in your drafting process, you can Save your work. Once you've composed your post, you can Preview it, and then Publish when you're ready.

Before you publish, make sure to proofread carefully, preview your work, and add labels. You can see the Label link in the sidebar on the right of your screen while you're composing. You should use at least two labels: the one that names your project (Historical Context, Class Notes, Resource Review) and a category that names the unit your post contributes to, Nazism, Atomic Bomb, etc. (you can use the unit headings on the syllabus). You can also label your post according to the text it covers. Labels are like hashtags: they will group like posts together.

Also: it's always a good idea to also save your work elsewhere, just in case of internet troubles.

Welcome to Literature and Human Rights!

This blog will be the space for our Online Writing in this course. Here, you will post your Reading Responses as comments on the Reading Response blog posts, you will create Resource Reviews that point us to external resources related to our course content, you will post your Historical Context projects, and you will post your Class Session Summary for the class period you signed up for.

This blog is intended to be an interactive space where you can learn from one another, so I encourage you to check often. You will often be assigned to read particular parts of the blog in preparation for class discussion.