Christmas Carol Assignment

This is a piece on what the quote below means.

Quote:

"If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future , none other of my race," returned the Ghost, "will find him here.  What then?  If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the population." (66)

A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens

In this quote, the Ghost is hinting on the fact that Scrooge's logic is actually very illogical.  Quoting Scrooge's earlier comments effectively triggered Scrooge's better side.  Seeing that his earlier comment almost wished for the young boy to die, I believe this is one of the turning points to Scrooge's behavior.  From here on, Scrooge's behavior definitely changes to the better.

Survival Again?

Author's Note: This is my theme essay on the theme survival.  Although I had a piece just like this all about Life of Pi, this one compares this to Milkweed.  Please comment on my theme analysis.

Are you capable of killing or stealing from another human being? Now think about this.  Would you be willing to kill or steal from another human being if your survival depended on it?  In the books Milkweed and Life of Pi, both of the main characters are forced to either to kill or steal in order to survive.  Survival is a major theme in books, and it brings out a very thought-provoking question.  What would you do in order to survive?

In the book Milkweed, Misha is a young boy who lives on the streets of Warsaw during the Holocaust.  His only memory is that of stealing food on the streets in order to survive.  When all of the Jews, along with Misha,  are sent to the Warsaw Ghetto, Misha still finds a way to steal food.  He has already lived the lifestyle the Warsaw Ghetto has forced upon its occupants.  Also, although he steals food to feed himself, he is also able to share his stolen food with the Milgroms and the orphans. 

Pi, the main character in Life of Pi, had a much different situation compared to Misha's.  In the story, Pi is trapped on a boat in the middle of the ocean for 227 days accompanied by an adult Bengal tiger.  Unfortunately for him, Pi is a strict vegetarian and simply refuses to touch meat.  This is where the Bengal tiger is very important.  The Bengal tiger symbolizes Pi's development of an alter-ego, which enables him to, when faced with starvation, put aside his vegetarian ways to be able to stay alive.

As you can see, Misha is a static character due to his lack of change over the course of the story, unlike Pi, who is a dynamic character because of his dramatic change from beginning to end. The character in Milkweed who would best compare to Pi would be Uri, because, like Pi, Uri is a dynamic character.  Uri completely changes from being a Jew living on the streets stealing food to becoming a Nazi officer.  Becoming a Nazi officer was Uri's solution to surviving.

Pi's situation, as you can see, is much different compared to Misha's.  Being a vegetarian forces him to adapt to the sudden change of events while Misha can simply continue living the life he is very familiar with.  Although they face different ordeals, both characters have the same common goal; survival.

Milkweed Point of View

Author's Note: In this assignment, we have to break down how the narrator affects the reader's interpretation.

The book, Milkweed, was told in the point of view of a young child.  Unfortunately for the reader, this child does not understand any of the things that is happening to him, resulting in some confusion.  For an example, he made the invasion of the Nazis sound joyful, and thinks of it like a giant parade.  Also, when he snatches food from people, he thinks its all a game and tries to get away from people, thinking they're playing too.

If this story was told in the point of view somebody with knowledge of what is actually going on, like Uri, the whole story would create a whole new feel to it.  Instead of describing the invasion as a joyful parade, Uri would understand the Nazis were coming to take over the town, making the scene more fearful.  Also, while Misha thinks it's a game, Uri snatches food from people because he has to in order to survive.  If it was told in his perspective, snatching food would sound daring rather than fun.  As you can see, if this story was told in Uri’s perspective, the feeling to the entire story would be completely different.

Misha vs. Pi

Author's Note: This is a character analysis assignment.  The character I chose was Misha, who I also compared to Pi from Life of Pi.

In the book, Milkweed, the main character is a young boy, named Misha who lives on the streets of Warsaw in the year 1942.  Misha has no memory of his own name, his age, or even who his family is.  His only memory is that of sealing food on the streets in order to survive.  Survival is a key theme in both Milkweed and Life of Pi. 

Misha uses his street smarts in order to survive.  In order to eat, he steals food and his small size and quick speed help him accomplish this  He does not have feel remorse when he steals the food because, to him, that's his way of life.  Since this is true in both the beginning of the book and while in the ghetto, I believe he is a static character.  Pi, on the other hand, is a dynamic character.  In the beginning of Life of Pi, Pi was a strict vegetarian.  When the struggle to survive on the lifeboat worsened, he was forced to abandon his beliefs in order to survive.

Both characters face difficult situations.  When Pi is facing starvation, he develops an alter-ego in order to cope with what he is forced to do so that he can live.  When Misha is facing starvation, he simply did what he does best, and that is when he steals food.  This is where the two boys are different.  Pi abandons his beliefs while Misha's beliefs and behaviors are almost reinforced.  Although these two faced extreme situations, one went through a radical transformation, while the other remained essentially the same.