Santha Statement

"But I put it all happily away because it happened to a girl named Cynthia and I was never really particularly interested in her." Are you convinced of this statement.

This statement occurs after Santha hears her mother and sister talking about whether or not Santha understood what was wrong. Her mother and sister agree that Santha is a child, and that she doesn't know anything about racism. This statement is basically Santha asserting that she does not care about what happened to her during school, which goes along with the discussion her mother and sister were having. In school she was called by the name Cynthia and, Santha is saying that Cynthia was never a real person, and she paid no attention to how Cynthia acted. This showed her mature side, and her ability to push aside hard times and focus on the more positive side of life. 

I think that this statement is true because Santha writes about how she never had any interest in school. The only reason she attends school is because she is forced to. She does not want to attend school, and at that young age, when a child doesn't have any intention on doing anything, he or she usually does not pay much attention to it. The fact that she accepted the name Cynthia also shows that she did not care much about her school life. If she was very adamant about what they called her at school, she would not have submitted so easily. 

This statement brings up the issue of whether or not Santha really cared or even understood what racism was. I think that it shows her naive nature of how she did not really care about what happened at school. Even though she was being discriminated, she did not notice, and she paid no attention to it. 

Shakespeares Rose Quote

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;	48
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. (II.ii.47-51)

I disagree to this quote from Shakespeare. I think what Shakespeare is saying that a name is just a title. The title of an object does not change what the object is. However, in today's time period, the name is a huge factor to what people think of the product. For example, if you look at the quality of Bose and Beats headphones, the quality is similar. Bose can even be better in some models, but since Beats has a more popular name, it is more prominently known than Bose headphones. People look at the name, rather than the quality.

The name of an object has been made so important in our society. We label everything, and classify it by the name. We even classify kids. In high school, people get organized into categories. The popular kids, gamers, nerds, goths, etc. The popular kids may be horrible people, but they can still be higher in the social status. The title of an object is everything. The title of an object can determine the quality and price of the object. Brand have become very big, and whatever brand society accepts as "cool" becomes huge. For example, Apple. Apple has become one of the biggest, if not the biggest technology  company in the world. Everyone is crazy about the new iPhone 5 that was just released. The quality of the product may not be the best, but its appearance and name gives it an advantage over other companies.

Our era focuses on physical conformation, so when a brand becomes popular amongst a group of people, it explodes into popularity. If a brand is not popular amongst people, it is prevented from expanding, no matter how good the quality of the product is.

Shakespeare's quote may have been applicable back in his time period, but it is certainly not applicable now.

IRB Exposition

Brian Oh
Language and Literature 10 ACE5
Mrs. Lee
9/6/12

In the beginning of the memoir, it starts off with a foreword from a reporter that talks about his encounter with the Elie Wiesel, the author of this memoir. He talks about how, like the diary of Anne Frank, Night shows the dramatic horrors of World War II in a Jew's point of view. He also adds that this memoir has a very big spiritual aspect, focusing on faith and other religious aspects during certain sections of the book. He concludes by saying that he was inspired by the book and it brought tears to his eyes.

The book is written in the perspective of a twelve year old Jewish boy named Eliezer. He is the only son of a orthodox jewish family that lives in the Transylvanian town of Sighet. His family conforms very highly to Jewish rules and traditions. A man named Moshe who was captured by anti-semetists tells stories about how they made people dig their own graves, but the people dismiss him as a lunatic. The Hungarian government falls and, it leads to the time when the Nazis take over and begin to take away Jews.

This memoir seems really interesting to me because I thought that The Diary of a Young Girl was the biggest memoir on Jewish Holocaust experiences but, After starting this book i realized that this book will probably be even better. It is in the point of view of a boy so i feel like i will be able to empathize better than i did with Anne Frank.

Since it is only the beginning of the book i think that a lot of the dramatic and horrific events are yet to begin. I just read the exposition, and I am yet to get to the rising action. I hope that this book really turns out to be as interesting as it seems at this point.