Mighty M: Anne Frank, Zlata's Diary, The Wave
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank, Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic; The Wave by Todd Strasser;
Remember to answer each in a separate post.
Think about the these three books and some of the themes they represent, such as racism, fear, power, intolerance, authority, resilience, etc. Both Anne Frank and Zlata Filipovic lived in difficult times where people were treated differently because of who they are. Pick 2 positive and 2 negative themes from each story and discuss why you think those themes are relevant to the those stories and how they affected you.
The Wave is a high school experiment that relates to the Nazis and the Holocaust. If your class did this experiment, describe how you think it might go. What kind of person do you think you would be during this experiment and how would you react to things?
Looking at all three stories and looking at yourself, write a short story with you being a character in a situation similar to the characters in these stories.
3 comments:
So many themes are shown in these two diaries, some positive and some negative. But which resounded the most with me?
In Anne's diary, the negative themes of Racism-against Jews-and fear-of the Nazis- resonated most with me. I think this is because these are two things that I deal with almost every day-although not the same way Anne did. There is racism against colored people, and sometimes people will say that you are racist against them because they are, say, black. (This happened to me) Fear is also in our lives every day, especially with anti-Americans in the Middle East, all over the world, and even here in America. Sometimes I wish I could just have my own little Secret Annex where I could hide-but unlike Anne, who hid to stay safe from the racism and fear as much as possible, I would go there to escape from the thoughts of things like racism and fear.
There are positive themes reflected in Anne's diary. These themes, for me at least, seemed to be cooperation and trust. Anne and everyone else in the Annex had to cooperate with one another if they wanted to survive and not be found by the Nazis. If they didn't cooperate with each other, or if they didn't cooperate by obeying the rules set down, then they probably would have found much sooner than when they actually were found. The other theme that resonated in Anne's diary was trust. Where would the Franks or Van Daans have ended up if they hadn't trusted those who took care of the-Meip, Krahler-or didn't trust one another. Where would families today be without trust?
In Zlata's diary, fear also resonated with me, but instead of racism, which was present, I saw more of a problem of authority. If the authorities didn't hold all of the power, then some of the problems wouldn't have come up. The "kids" as Zlata called them, couldn't construct a treaty to make peace with the gunmen in the hills. Fear also resonated, much in the same way that it did with Anne. What if Zlata's home were the next hit? What if someone in her family died? Or got hurt, and she couldn't go see them?
Zlata lived in a time of fear, but she alsowas surrounded by love. Her family loved her, and she had friends in the city that loved her. One French reporter even loved Zlata, enough to find a way to get Zlata and her parents out of Sarajevo. Zlata also had a good sense of humor. Without such a good sense of humor, Zlata could have fallen into a state of depression, what with all the chaos, death, and destruction around her. But instead, she held her head high and wrote about the horrors rather than letting them go to her head.
Both girls were faced with situations and themes like fear, hatred and racism that took the innocence of their childhoods, but they both made the best of the situation and even provided a source of insiders knowledge for generations to come. They proved that even the most downtrodden teenager can changed the world, one diary at a time.
If my class did this experiment, what would we be like? What would I be like?
I think that if my class did this experiment, many of us would be eager to prove ourselves, but some of us would be a little hesitant to join, much like Laurie Saunders, when she saw how her friends were acting. I think that I would be eager to join, to prove how the Nazis, like my Opi, had no choice about joining the Nazi army. I would want everyone to see how you get swept up in something, because everyone else was doing it. I'd also be eager to join because, although I know that most Nazis didn't have much choice in joining the Nazi group, I'd still be curious as to what it felt like. What would it be like to have so much power, yet be on equal status with all of my friends.
I think it would be coo to have an experiment like the Wave, to see how I would change and how my friends and classmates would change. Would people still have best friends? Would I be able to keep writing, if no one else in the group was good at writing? The equality might seem good at first, but I think it would be better to have good friends, all of whom have different talents and abilities.
Would an experiment like the Wave be a good thing? I don't know, but it would be fun to see how all of us would change.
Let's see how I can do with a Wave short story...
"Today, we're having a wave rally!" Mr. Ross announces. All of us Wave members look around at each other. I'm glad that we're all in the Wave. Well, most of us anyways. There are always those weirdos that won't join. We're all happy about the Wave rally; tonight, our national leader will speak to us from TV. The guys all check their pockets, and the girls check their purses for the Wave membership card. No card, no rally. I have mine. I can't wait for the Wave rally. I will get to hear our leader speak to us! I wonder what our leader will be like.
For the rest of the day, those of us in the Wave are excited, peppy, while those rejects that didn't join the Wave mope around. They say that the Wave is a bad thing, and they are upset by a Wave rally. But who needs them? I have enough friends now that I'm in the Wave.
Still, I wonder sometimes about the Wave. I haven't felt depressed since I joined, but I also haven't spoken to one of my best friends, one who didn't join the Wave. They don't have a national leader though, do they? The rest of the day goes by in a cheery haze. The rally will be right after school, and no one can wait.
Finally, the final bell rings. A handful of students leave, but most head to the gym for our rally. All of my friends are there-except one. We look around at the assembled TVs. Several people are jittery, and they can't sit still. I sit patiently, wondering what the projector screen is for. Mr. Ross comes into the gym. He crossed the gym, his bodyguard, Kane, right behind him. Mr. Ross stood in front of the projector screen with the friend I knew that hadn't joined the Wave. What was she doing here?
"The Wave!" shouted someone in the crowd. It became a chant, "The Wave, The Wave, The Wave!" It continued this way, with some students standing and giving the salute. Everyone could feel the energy emanating from the group of high schoolers. The Wave was powerful. The Wave was invincible. The Wave could never be stopped.
"All right!" shouted Mr. Ross over the microphone. Everyone silenced immediately. "You have all been very good Wave members. I have had fun teaching you in the way of the Wave! But now, it is time for you to leave me and obey your more powerful leader, the one who has been giving me orders." The Wave buzzed with excitement and anticipation. Some people there that weren't members of the Wave-why were they here?-tittered nervously.
"Now, see your leader!" Mr. Ross shouted. Instead of turning on all the TVs, someone hit the switch on the projector. An extra large image of Hitler appeared on the screen.
"This is your leader, or this is who your leader would be if he were still alive. You have turned yourselves into a tyranny, ruling the school and parts of the community from within. You took charge of yourselves! I was only a figurehead, someone to call leader. Now is the time to become what you once were-smart, young, independent teenagers!"
By now, most Wave members were crying. My friend-the anitWave one-was staring at us. I knew I owed her an apology. I had become that which I never had wanted to be-part of a cruel and heartless group. I realized then that my Opi, once a Nazi himself, would have been ashamed of me. He was forced to join the Nazis, But I had had a choice. I chose to go with the flow rather than risk being alienated from my friends.
The Wave may have made me equal with everyone else, but it also made me into someone I really wasn't. I went to my friend and apologized. She accepted. We were friends again, and the Wave was no more.
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