Unfortunately, Rutheram still hasn't changed. He's actually getting worse. A few quotes that I found to show this are: " In truth, he'd always resented his grandparents, refusing to write thank-you letters his mother asked him to send in reply to their begrudging gifts, and he'd been secretly pleased when they'd fled to Paris" (17). The reason Rotheram hated his grandparents so much was because they were Jewish. Another quote is: "And yet the following week he'd gone ahead and Anglicized his name" (18). Rotheram did this because he didn't want to be connected to his father in any way and all because his father was Jewish. Then right after he had interrogated a man it said, "He was halfway to the stairs before he thought to turn back and aim a kick at the sleeping corporal" (22). He was all alone with the man he kicked. He didn't have anyone to impress and yet he did it anyway.
The good news though is that the whole book isn't just about Rotheram. There are actually three main characters: Rotheram, Esther, and Karsten. Esther is a waitress in bar and Karsten is a German corporal. When Karsten surrendered, the Tommies started trading things with them. "The Tommies want everything and anything... and when the prisoners shake their heads, the Tommies stop asking, stop bartering, start demanding at gunpoint" (62).
So far this book is really depressing but I'm hoping it'll get better.
February 20, 2008
Post A
Vocab
Denazification (20)-to rid of Nazism or Nazi influences.
motley (26)-exhibiting great diversity of elements.
Figurative Language
1) "Gripping the receiver, Rotheran told him stiffly that he understood, and he did, although dully, as if his head were still ringing from the blow" (20).
2)"The tears rolling down his blackened cheeks looked like oil" (59).
3)"Finally the landing craft, a long line of them pressing through the surf, throwing themselves onto the beach like spent swimmers at the end of a race" (57).
These are all similes because they use the words like or as to describe something.
Quote
"It comes to Karsten slowly that their surrender wasn't the one moment already past, at the mouth of the bunker, but somehow will go on and on. He wonders what more they'll have to give up before it's over. Everything but their lives probably" (65). This quote is significant because it's forshadowing and also because it's one of the few quotes where it shows what one of the characters is thinking.
Theme
Objects don't matter as much as the memories.
Denazification (20)-to rid of Nazism or Nazi influences.
motley (26)-exhibiting great diversity of elements.
Figurative Language
1) "Gripping the receiver, Rotheran told him stiffly that he understood, and he did, although dully, as if his head were still ringing from the blow" (20).
2)"The tears rolling down his blackened cheeks looked like oil" (59).
3)"Finally the landing craft, a long line of them pressing through the surf, throwing themselves onto the beach like spent swimmers at the end of a race" (57).
These are all similes because they use the words like or as to describe something.
Quote
"It comes to Karsten slowly that their surrender wasn't the one moment already past, at the mouth of the bunker, but somehow will go on and on. He wonders what more they'll have to give up before it's over. Everything but their lives probably" (65). This quote is significant because it's forshadowing and also because it's one of the few quotes where it shows what one of the characters is thinking.
Theme
Objects don't matter as much as the memories.
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