Isaiah's Blog

One reason what this book should be taught to the class is because after reading this book it has given me a lot of emotions with Sad, Angry, and Confused. Sad because of all the people that were killed and how  they left all there lives behind. Angry because some many innocent people died for no reason. Confused because I don’t know how someone would kill all these people and sleep well at night. My second reason is because it shows how it felt like to be in the war. It was very graphical with the words that Walter used during the book. My final reason is because it makes you feel like your there. Like in one chapter he was saying how during the war a man was shot cold blooded right in front of him and how he didn’t know if he was dead or alive.

What came as a surprise in the book is that they were having an art contest or something like that. Someone was looking an artist and Woody was going to volunteer for it. Apparently Woody went to art school before he joined the war. It weird hearing there story before the war I mean I know that all these people who joined the war had a life on the outside but they don’t know or understand that what they do in the war can change their lives forever. No matter how big or how small anything can be frightening especially if you don’t have any idea on what you are doing.

I began to think of the prisoner as a slave after reading this chapter because during my reading I noticed how they were treating him so poorly saying how they have a problem with and insulting him. I know that he was part of the Nazis in the beginning of the war but he didn’t have a choice and because of that the American Soldiers are treading him as a slave thinking that he is just a pest with nothing to live for. I also think that they are treating him as a slave because in the last chapter the American Soldiers were discussing on how they were going to kill him or give him away like a toy.

Something I learned from my reading is that they captured a German but didn’t know if he was a civilian or a Nazi but before they found out anything about him they were already thinking how they were going to kill him or where they were going to send him. I know that the Nazis killed millions of people & that why Americans hated any Germans at the time. But after hearing the prisoner’s story about how he went into the army so that they wouldn’t kill his brother or how before any of this happened they were going to raise a farm together. The American Soldiers didn’t think of Germans as people at the time but the lesson that I now know is don’t judge a book by its cover.

This scene reminds me of a similar scene in a movie that is called, “Forest Gump” because in the movie as Forest Gump (Tom Hanks) is walking through a field in Vietnam after the rain stops bullets starts flying through the air going after the American Soldiers. When Forest sees his friends fall to the ground he eminently drops on the ground to cover himself from all the bullets that Charlie’s men (Japanese soldier) had shot at them. When finally he decides to run off in the wilderness so that he can find a spot to hide and wait for his team.

I think this setting is important because as they are walking through all the corpses the main character Josiah Wedgewood felt very embarrassed. Like if you walk into a strangers house and find him naked. That how embarrassed he was after seeing all the dead bodies just lying on the side of the street just watching you with there eyes. As you would feel terrified of just being there in that exact situation. I wouldn’t know how to react either between sad or disgusted. “How would you be disgusted you may ask,”well in this world we live in how could someone just kill thousands maybe millions of people and sleep at night very peacefully thinking that they did something right.

As I read, I felt sad for these soldiers going through WWII because on page 102 Gomez was talking about grow when WWII was over he was going the Paris to see the Eiffel Tower and how he was to have picnics there, while sitting on the nice green grass having a drink with a nice bottle of wine. The thing that really makes me feel sad for this character is that he is sure that he is going to make it in this war, he is not sure that he still going to have his arms or legs still and then things will change, he won’t go to France, he doesn’t even know if he will even see his love ones again.

I noticed that when the soldiers were eating supper they were not very happy that it was chicken soup they thought it was dirt with water. But when Josiah Wedgewood ate his food he was very astounded with his supper and wanted more. One soldier even said , “When I get home I’m kissing my Mama a 1000 times every time she makes supper for me.” This shows that because of their situation fighting in the war and being pushed about by their Sargent. All they want is for the war to be over and go home to their family, relax, and enjoy a nice supper made at home.

As I read, I felt sad for these soldiers because when they justed arrived they thought it was going to be like a picnic, laughing, and giggling. Until they went to War, what changed is that they finally realized the War wasn’t going to be easy. Some men don’t even look like men anymore because of how burnt they look after the explosion.

I feel so sad that Duncan has been hit in the chest brutally and probably might have died. It also frightful that the main character Josiah Wedgewood has been blinded by the blast that he doesn’t even know if he’s dead or alive. As a matter of fact he doesn’t even know what he is doing or where he is going.