In the books Annexed and If I Should Die Before I Wake, the two protagonists are Jewish teenagers growing up in an environment that don’t appreciate them for who they are. In Annexed, Peter is forced to go into hiding with his family to try and save his life. Unlike Peter, Chana in If I Should Die Before I Wake, is already known by officers and forced to live in the Lodz Ghetto with her family.
Although Peter and Chana live in two different environments, they are actually very similar. They both are struggling to survive both within and outside of themselves. Peter is struggling on the inside because he was confused whether he was going to get caught or not. Although this was a big problem, he had a bigger one, his love life. Peter was upset about the fact that he was stuck in the Annex instead of the outside world, unable to do all the things that he wished to do. He was especially upset because he never ‘made love’ to anyone yet. When Peter first arrived in the Annex, he was depressed because he recently learned that his girlfriend, Liese, was taken to a camp. Soon after arriving in the Annex, he became confused for his feelings for Liese because of Anne. Even though Peter is focused a lot on love, he cares passionately about his family.
Unlike Peter, Chana isn’t interested in love, but more on staying alive and surviving with her family. Since officers recently killed Chana’s father and her baby sister was sent away in hope of a better life, Chana is holding on to everything that she has left. Similar to Peter, Chana wishes none of this was happening and that it could just all stop.
In the end, I think that Peter and Chana both want most is to survive. Neither of them wish to think about the fact that they could die, but instead the possibility that they could live. I think that if they knew they were going to die, they would want a quick easy death, instead of a long, painful, and tragic one. They would want to get the suffering over quickly, similar to every other Jewish person.
Good ideas. Thanks!
ReplyDelete4/5 You have some technical errors. For example, "...Jewish teenagers growing up in an environment that don’t appreciate them for who they are," should read, Jewish teenagers grwoing up in environments that don't appreciate them for who they are."
Also, this sentence does not make sense, "In the end, I think that Peter and Chana both want most is to survive." I bet if you reread it aloud you will see what I mean.