Monday, May 9, 2011

Yossel




1. Analyze: (b) Rising Action– “primary”
The entire book drives us towards the climax--The Warsaw Ghetto uprising. Yossel begins his story at the end, showing us the group hiding in the sewers, then jumps back in time to detail what led them there. He shows the barbarism of the Nazi's, both in the ghettos and the concentration camps, through his illustrations. The story throws image after image at us, showing everything the Jews went through, in order to clearly show why the Jews in the Ghetto had every right to rise up against their oppressors. The climax, wrap up, and conclusion are very breif. This story is about the evil acts that led to the uprising, rather than the rebellion itself.

2. Rating: (PG-13)
This is some pretty heavy material. It goes through the Holocaust with incredible detail, illustrating just how savage the German Nazi's were in their attempt to de-humanize their victims. Most of the nudity and violence is heavily stylized and the sexual aspect of the concentration camps are alluded to rather then clearly depicted.

3. Springboard: Yossel is a history book. The author has very detailed knowledge of the Ghettos and concentration camps. He knows details about the lives of the prisoners that come from hard study and first hand accounts. I've read other source material on the Holocaust and have been through the museum in D.C. so I was familiar with most of the material. However, I had never put two and two together and realized that the Germans made prisoners in the camp dispose of the bodies killed in the gas chambers. Thousands of bodies per day were loaded into the crematoriums by other Jews.

4. Application: I've considered having a character in my story who kept sketchbooks like diaries. This book is a great example of that--illustrated text rather than having the story told through pictures.

1 comment:

  1. Is it (b) Idea, or (e) rising action? Its (e) right?
    No need to mark as primary or secondary if talking about rising or falling action - but I like that you did, because it's relevant.
    That could be a cool application there. It certainly would add a unique narration to your idea.

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