Maus vs. NIght

Personally I enjoyed reading the book Night much more than Maus.  This is because I liked how Night flowed in chronological order where as Maus kept jumping between present times and flash backs.  This was confusing to me as well as the fact that it was a comic book.  I enjoyed how Night really gave you a vivid picture in your mind as what the holocaust looked like and actually gave me some very disturbing images.  Also it explains in Night what the places were like and exactly what went on there in Night whereas in Maus it was not very descriptive and talked to much about present times.  I would have rather just learned specifically about the Holocaust which is what Night did. 

Night also was a true story from a person who actually experienced it first hand.  I would have never known from reading just Maus that the Holocaust what that brutal and terrible because it was not first hand and also not very descriptive in my mind.  Even though you might say its a comic book which has pictures, thus it would by descriptive, the pictures didn't really enhance my understanding of the whole time period.  Night was first hand and showed me how terrible the Holocaust actually was and what an actual survivor went through and how lucky he was to get through it! 

Lastly, I believe that in the future you should just have your students read the book Night.  This is because when I got home after school I had the urge to read Night and sometimes did not even want to stop reading it.  This is because it had vivid clear pictures.  When I got home I did not look forward to reading Maus and had no drive to read it.  I did not really interest me very much because it really just was not very interesting.  Maybe if I had read Maus first it would have been different, but I dont think so.  The author in Night was expressing his anger that he felt towards the Nazis by teaching others about what occurred in the camps.  Maus is just a childrens book in my mind that would help little kids figure out what the Holocaust was about and not in depth at all.

Restrepo blog assignment

Pre-writing:  10 scenes

1. When Staff Sergeant Rugel was killed in a firefight it reminds me of in Fallen Angels when Sergeant Carrol was killed in action.
2. In Restrepo they had IPod’s and PSP’s to keep them entertained while in Fallen Angels they were entertained by volley ball games and books/comics.
3. In both of them they called their base camp the Hooch.
4. In both Restrepo and Fallen Angels the attack helicopters killed many people of the enemy, but also killed innocent civilians.  This made the villagers you are trying to make happy mad at you for killing their friends. 
5. In fallen angels they prayed when people died such as Brew, and in Restrepo they prayed for the death of the other squad that had 9 people killed across the valley.
6. During the war in Restrepo one of the members didn’t tell his family that Rugel was killed because he didn’t want them to worry and it was his mom’s birthday.  In fallen angels Perry didn’t write home about killing his first guy to his brother Kenny because he didn’t know how to say it yet. 
7. IN both instances they went into the heart of the enemy’s territory.  In Afghanistan they go and build a base in the heart of the territory to set up a new base.  And in Fallen Angels they keep having to go further and further up into enemy territory to fight.
8. Both celebrate/remember their friend’s deaths.  Fallen Angels they celebrated Brew’s birthday by making a cake and in Restrepo they shot of a flare on the anniversary of their friend’s death.
9. One of the soldiers completely broke down in the heat of battle because of a friend’s death and couldn’t accept it.  In fallen angels Johnson could not handle when Brew died.  He didn’t really know what to do. 
10.   At the beginning of Restrepo the Hummer vehicle hits a land mine which reminds me of when Jenkins steps on a mine and dies in fallen angels.

          Theme:  They honor and respect their fallen friends that died in battle.  Also, That when you lose your leader sometimes you cant accept the fact that he is dead, and its hard to explain to other like when you write a letter home its hard to say what happens because you dont want your family to worry about you.  For example at the beginning of the movie their car gets hit by a mine.  You never expect that to happen you just have to be ready for it.  Also they honor their fallen friends by either shooting of a flare on his anniversary or celebrating his birthday with a birthday cake!  Lastly, when in both instances the squads lost their leaders, some of the soldiers couldn't handle the loss, but needed to get it back together otherwise they have no chance of surviving.