Night- Elie Weisel

The book, Night is about a teenager named Elie Weisel and his life in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. He was put into the concentration camps when he was fifteen along with his father. Some occurances that happen are very shocking, such as people being hanged, babies being burned in the crematoriam, people being forced at gun point to dig their graves and then being shot and thrown in. On one occassion peoplecan lose their conscience and their faith: A man is told to thrown his father in the furnace and he does it and Elie had lost his faith by noy vasting on Yom Kippur. In the end when the camps are starting to get liquidated, Elie escapes but his father is thrown into the crematoriam.

I will remember the struggle and emotion that Elie wrote about in this book. The images from this book that are embedded into my head are the great amount of  determination the Nazis had to exterminate the Jews. It has changed the way of how I think by thinking of what I have and not focusing on what I don't have. I found that the saddest moment was where Elie's father was thrown into the furnace and Elie didn't see it, he already knew. The most horrifying was where a baby was being hanged and as it was hanged, it was still alive. The most angering was when a person wanted people to say Kaddish for him, and they forgot. The most confusing was when Elie lost his faith. Just people you are in a certain situation, doesn't necessarily change your faith.

"The Handsomest Drowned Man" By Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Columbia)

Macho, Macho Man!

This story is about a drowned man who washes up on shore in which a couple of children discover him. The children start to play with him, although he is dead. He is decribed to be the size of Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but actually is handsome. A person tells the children to run along and alarms everyone in the village and studies him. The women of the village cleaned him up and tried to sew clothes but he was too big for any of them. The women realize that this man is an amazing, beautiful man and that their men actually suck. The men actually just wanted to get rid of him by putting him back in the water and thought the women were making such a big deal out of nothing. The women actually named him "Esteban". The men realize what big deal the women are making, he's beautiful! The village tried to create a proper mourning ceremony to comend Esteban. The women get  flowers to mourn him. To honor him, they made structures of buildings  very strong and wide. They also didn't sink him with an anchor because they wanted Esteban to "come back" if he wanted.

For my funeral. i don't want the wholw idea of mourning and crying and sympathy. I want to be the rememberance of my life. A timeline of my life. This story is similar to funerals I've been to because it is so emotional and sad. This reveals that death to Latin Americans is a painful loss and want to cherish every moment they can have with the passing of others.

-Kayla Campos

"The Youngest Doll" By Rosario Ferre (Puerto Rico)

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"The Book Of Sand" by Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina)

This story is about a Presbyterian who comes door to door to sell bibles. This man knocks on the door of a man who doesn't look interested in buying but persades him into buying a book that he thinks he would be intrigued by. The man invites the Presbyterian into his house to talk about this book he wants to sell. It is a book called, The Book Of Sand.This book is special because it cannot be read in a traditional way. the book has pages listed to infinity and can be read only by arbitrary. Just like when you go to the beach you don't know where the sand ends or starts. This man buys the book. As soon as the man realizes what he had in store. He realized that the book was evil, diabloical, and possibly satanic.

What are some things in our modern world thaqt are similar to "The Book Of Sand"? In other words, what infinitely informational phenomenons do people nowadays become obsessed with?What happens to them? And what are your thoughts on this?

Time is infinite. It will never die or stop. It is a process that will go on forever. People nowadays become obsessed with a mental disorder that makes them keep knickknacks and trash, called hoarding. They usually end up isolating themselves or needing to seek mental therapy. I think these people may just be lazy or really need to seek special help because you be overflooded with this disease.

"Borders" by Thomas King (Canada)

This story is about a a young boy and his mother, who are Natives, visiting his sister at the reserve. As they drive toward the reserve they encounter the American and Canadian border. The guard who guards the border asks the mother what is her nationality, American or Canadian? She instead says her ethnicity, Blackfoot. The guard won't let her pass because he/she doesn't know her nationality, so they go back home and the next day go back to the border.She again persists proudly that she is Blackfoot, every single time. They repeat this process because they want to get to the reserve. This stunt causes press to come towards the border and causes a stir. Finally they get across the border and visit her daughter.

What is more important to you nationality or ethnicity?
That is actually a trick question because neither are important because it doesn't matter where you come from or what you are. It only matters how you can relate with one another and co-exist and live a standard life.