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horrors of the holocaust
Series of numbers to identify prisoner number
Simile of her eyes being compared to the horrible suffering caused during World War 2
metaphor for an ideal village/utopia
Euphemism for the release of the death camp prisoner whom Layton is in love with
Allusion to the infamous death camp controlled by the Nazis during World War 2
the tattooed figures symbolize her series of numbers she received as a prisoner and show her credentials as in the suffering she endured
antithesis of two contrasting words to describe Layton's lover as beaten up, but his love for her still
Hyperbole of Layton's heart being broken
For 7515-03296
Your eyes are dark and tragic as history
as you stare at the postcard village in the distance ;
your are a distinguished graduate from Auschwitz
and mankind's incurable viciousness,
and your slender arm with its tattooed figures
boldly displays your credentials to the world.
Each time, my dear, I see your naked loveliness
on this deserted beach my heart is torn apart
by love and loathing, gratitude and disgust,
by reverence and rage until my frantic mind
scurries like that insect between the hot stones
and I grow deaf to all but the waves' savage gulps
And though I know that all the innocent dead
find their resurrection in us and every loving pair,
imaging the dateless horror of the death camp,
the lexicon of human villainy made plain,
I curse without ceasing into the sweet empty air
and feel my loathing for mankind grow as vast as the sea.
-- Irving Layton
simile of Layton's mind being compared to an insect on between hot stones, meaning the powerlessness and isolation Layton feels as if on a desert
Antithesis to describe the innocent who did not deserve to die and suffer
Hyperbole of the endless feeling while in the death camp
Lexicon is "the vocabulary of a person, language or branch of knowledge"
Simile/hyperbole between Layton's hatred for mankind compared to the enormity of the sea
- in general it is a poem about a man who loves a woman who was in the infamous death camp, Auschwitz, and her name is only defined by her death camp number
-in the initial stanza, Irving Layton describes how he can see the pain that his lover had experienced by looking in her eyes
- he can see how she had longed for a “postcard village” (Line 2)which is like a utopia or an ideal place
-in the second stanza, Layton expresses the agony he feels seeing his lover so isolated and bare, even helpless and how he can’t even help her
-he is so frustrated that his mind is like an “insect between the hot stones” (Line 11) meaning that he is like a helpless and alienated insect on a desert
- in the third stanza, Layton describes the “innocent dead” (Line 13) as the Jewish prisoners who know their death belongs to the death camp, but they see hope when they see the love between Layton and a fellow prisoner, yet they still all fear the eternal death that lies ahead
- lastly, Layton remarks his hatred towards mankind and the cruelty that they can perform on each other
-people from a small village gather in the town square to perform the lottery
-Mr.Summers keeps a shabby black box for the lottery and insists on replacing it, but nobody wants to tamper with tradition; there is also Mr.Graves the postmaster
-a family name is drawn and then a person from that family is drawn to be the winner
-Tessie Hutchinson wins the lottery and is then stoned to death
What did we gain from both works?
From reading the poem and narrative we conclude that what we can learn is the style of writing to engage the reader through the use of cliff hanging, and to incorporate poetic devices with regards of allusion and symbolic items to portray pain and suffering which also plays a key role in showing not telling.
What did we teach?
In the context of the class we taught them how to show don’t tell, how to find certain themes, what love is portrayed in each piece and incorporating poetic/literary devices to explain what’s going on.
•Both poem and prose tells of innocent people dying.
•Violent act motivated through tradition
-The idea of violence is motivated through power. We can infer from Hitler because it talks of Jews in the concentration camps
•Both contains a sense of helplessness
•Narrative talks of a village and it’s twisted lottery game
-•Author utilizes allusion to give background knowledge of the poem.
•Character dies by stoning
-•“Scurries like that insect between the hot stones” (Line 11-12). Use of imagery to show unending suffering and not being able to help oneself.
• Emotions are usually in the form of
1. Anger, Why me?
2. Depression
3. Bargaining
4. Acceptance
•“It isn’t fair, it isn’t right and they were upon her” (pg 9)
-•Character is still alive and longs to go to the “postcard village in the distance” (Line 2)
•Both passages utilizes imagery and symbolism
-•Character marked for death by the tattoo hence the title.
•Person marked by a black dot on paper
•Both narratives are dark
-•Bigger theme is to portray the ongoing evil in the world.
•Setting takes place in an Isolated Village
•Characters know they have a chance of dying but oblivious to when.
-•“Mankind’s incurable viciousness”(Line 9)
•The date is particular when the lottery will take place.
-.“The lexicon of human villainy made plain” (Line 17)
•Both Characters cannot escape their fates.
-•The character has a chance of surviving.
-•Character is haunted day and night.
Personal Responses
Text to Literature
When we both read the poem "For 7515-3296" and the short story "the lottery" both themes, plot, and the whole idea of love reminded us about the book series "Game of Thrones" because in the Game of thrones everyone is motivated by the idea that they are the rightful owners of the iron throne. However none of them are actually "the one", therefore with the lust for power innocent people who are though of to be against such rulers are recklessly slaughtered in pursuit of something that merely is just a dream. In relations to love, The series utilizes the characters Daenerys Targaryen and Jorah Mormont, two unlikely people one a queen the other a queen's bodyguard/spy for a different kingdom. At first glance it seems as though they share a common ground of nobility but Jorah is sent to spy on the said queen and ultimately go home. Instead he lingers in her journey advising her. Why? Love, it's a sub theme in the whole theme of Power and War. With that said the pieces literature compliment each other on the themes, plots and use of characters to emphasize the storyline.
Text to World
If we look at the world around us, it would clearly spell out both pieces of writing because everyday we live, there are always some sort of troubling matter. In relations to the idea of Human cruelty, in society now days we do not express it in such violent ways such as in "The Lottery" condemning someone to death. In our scenario we are faced with another form of evil, bullying. To the eye it's a minute matter, children do it all the time and we somehow adopted it as some social norm. However it's a form of injustice and cruel way to indirectly punish someone, someone who is innocent. Why? For the pursuit of being the alpha male or the top of the food chain. The two pieces of writing addresses these matters but in a mere blunt way of saying human cruelty does hurt and if we don't stop it, it's just going to get out of hand.
Text to self
From both the poem and the short story, there is a common act of violence. In the poem, the Nazis captured and killed many Jewish people while in the short story, the villagers would draw on a winner that would be stoned to death. This needless brutality against other humans reminds me of the time I was fighting with my sister as a child and we would attack each other for the use of the computer. Disregarding the well-being of each other and believing that only the strongest would come out victorious, we battled over and over again in the same way to gain access to the computer for Internet. We completely ignored the fact that we could have avoided all the combat and injuries if we decided to talk it over instead, but alike the two works, we attacked our own kind.
Are the authors successful communicating their messages?
In both pieces of literature, there is a common morbid mood that contributes to conveying the authors’ message: the brutality that humans force upon each other.
In the poem “For 7515-03296”, Layton utilizes diction to his advantage in order to emphasize the despair that he feels and the message of the cruelties of mankind. He describes his loved one with “eyes…dark and tragic as history”(Line 1) and how he his heart is torn “by reverence and rage”(Line 10). By using the words such as dark, tragic, reverence and rage, the extremity of feelings in which Layton experiences can be understood. One can sympathize and realize that Layton’s hatred for mankind does not come from thin air, but is justified from the pain he undergoes when seeing his loved one having suffered. As a result, the frustrated and intense atmosphere portrayed in “For 7515-03296” successfully communicates Layton’s message: his growing loathing for mankind to dare harm one another and especially in the case of his lover who was tortured by other humans.
In the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, she uses subtle hints and symbols in order to satirize the tradition of violent and outdated practices and to lead to a dark ending. For example, the boys in the story begin to collect rocks and create a “pile of stones” (pg 1) which foreshadows the stoning of the victor who wins the lottery. Moreover, the announcer of the lottery is named “Mr.Summers” (pg 1)while the man who picks the slips is “Mr.Graves”(pg 1). These names symbolize life and death where Mr.Summers is renewal and Mr.Graves is death, all hinting towards the stoning. In the end, when the stoning occurs, it becomes very astonishing because earlier in the story, there was no clear indication of stoning except for the clues that led up to a dramatic finish. Consequently, the stoning of the character, Tessie Hutchinson, is astonishing and dark which successfully communicates the message of a horrifying act that humans create all due to tradition.
Is one of the pieces more effective in communicating a type of love, in your collective opinion? Explain why you think so. Identify lines/passages to support your assertions.
In the poem “For 7515-03296”, Irving Layton draws on a strong unconventional love between him and his lover who was a prisoner in Auschwitz while the short story “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson recognizes the desperate love for life. Between the two works however, the poem, “For 7515-03296” is more effective in communicating its type of love. In “The Lottery”, Jackson displays the love for life through the character Tessie Hutchinson. When Tessie is picked as the winner of the lottery, she creates excuses about how Mr.Graves wasn’t given enough time “to take any paper he wants” (pg 5) and how “it wasn’t fair” (pg 5)! Tessie also tried to keep her distance from the villagers to avoid being stoned because she wanted to live longer. Hence, the love for life in “The Lottery” is less effective because the use of words does not indicate an extremity. Rather, it sounds as if the Tessie is only whining. On the other hand, in the poem “For 7515-03296”, Layton effectively discusses his unconventional love for his lover through the amount of pain that he feels simply from seeing his loved one having endured such agony. Layton’s “heart is torn apart by love”(Line 8) which is the love he shares for her even though Layton himself is not being physically injured, he is mentally frustrated for his loved one. Thus, Layton’s use of diction and imagery of his own heart being torn from love indicates a heightened expression and sense of sorrow Layton encounters all due to love.