Selections from "I never saw another butterfly" by Hana Volavkova

After WW 2, Hana Volavkova collected poems and songs written by the children incarcerated in the Terezin concentration camp, many of whom died later in Auschwitz. She was director of the Prague Jewish Museum.

"The Butterfly" by Pavel Friedman

Pavel Friedman was a teenage Jew in the Terezin Ghetto near Prague in 1942. Along with the adult Jews, many of these Terezin children were then sent to other death camps where they were killed. Very few children survived from the Terezin ghetto. Pavel Friedman died in Auschwitz a couple years later. The symbolism of this poem is very strong. In its metamorphosis from a common ugly caterpillar to a beautiful and colourful winged butterfly, the butterfly often takes on the symbol of hope, beauty, freedom, but also of rebirth and resurrection. But the poem is one of lost hope: "Only I never saw another butterfly. That butterfly was the last one. Butterflies don't live here, in the ghetto." All the beauty of the world, represented by the butterfly is gone. What is left is the horror of the ghetto, and death.

"Terezin" by Mif

This poem speaks more directly about the pain and suffering endured in the camps. The vocabulary used is one that evokes pain, grief and death. Amidst all the pain however, rises a sliver of hope as it "A fourth year of waiting, like standing above a swamp from which any moment might gush forth a spring." These children are still waiting for something good to happen, someone to come take them away from this hell. A hell where people are neither dead or alive, they are just waiting: "Meanwhile, the rivers flow another way, another way, not letting you die, not letting you live." The poem opens and ends with the same verse: "The heaviest wheel rolls across our foreheads to bury itself deep somewhere inside our minds." This repetition stresses the never ending waiting for the unknown that these children endured. They had no idea what they were doing there and what was awaiting them.The wheels are reminiscent of the trains in which these people were brought to the camp. It is most probably those same wheels that will transport them later on to Auschwitz where death awaits.
Many of these children had been seperated from their families and put in a special part of the camp with supervisors to look over them. Some were as young as five years old. Mif recalls this when he writes: "We've suffered here more than enough, here in this clot of grief and shame, wanting a badge of blindness to be a proof for their own children."

Higuchi Ichiyô's "Childs Play"

Ichiyô was born in 1872 in Japan and died at the age of 24 from tuberculosis. Her father sent her to a private school with a classical curriculum despite the opposition of the mother. Ichiyô developed a reputation for being a voracious reader and excelled at writing. At a young age, her family moved to the red light district because of lack of means, an environment that became an inspiration to the young girl in her writing of "Childs Play". Some of the plaSy's main themes are growing up, poverty and interaction between children. The main characters are Midori and Nobu. Chokichi was the leader of the back street gang, and Shota, the leader of the main street gang.

Henrick Isben's "A Doll House"

"A Doll House" is a realistic, modern prose drama. It shows the relationship between a married couple, Nora and Torvald, and Nora's struggle with Krogstad, who threatens to tell her husband about her past crime of signature forging. These events incite Nora's journey of self-discovery. Her main struggles are however with the oppressive and stifling attitudes of her selfish husband. At the end of the play, Nora decides to leave him. She takes with her only her coat and leaves him with everything, including her children. The end of the play was modified for many years, due to the inappropriate, socially unacceptable ending. Indeed, in the beginning of the 1900s when the play was written (more precisely in 1906), a woman leaving her husband was considered a taboo. Women had absolutely no rights at that time, they could not even borrow money without the approval of a male. Relationships therefor become a central theme to the play, as well as power and social expectations of men and women.

Tadeusz Borowski's "Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Gas Chamber"

Borowski is a polish writer and was incarcerated in the camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Dachau for two years, at the age of twenty. In this story, Borowski writes about his own experience in the death camps, perhaps as a way to externalize his feelings of guilt, but also as to not let people forget these acts of horror. "The narrator's dispassionate tone in his stories,as he describes senseless cruelty and mass murder, individual scenes of desperation, or the eccentric emotions of people about to die, continue to shock many readers. Borowski is certainly describing a world of antiheroes, those who survive by accommodating themselves to things as they are and avoiding acts of heroism." (Norton Anthology, p. 2770) The narrator is a polish prisoner at the Birkenau concentration camp. He is not however just a regular prisoner, for his position gives him privileges to food and clothes, as he works under the German Nazis, transporting and unloading people that were arriving at the camp.

How does the “politeness” of the title mock the content of the story? Can you find other examples of such mockery within the story?

The politeness of the title creates a contrast with the actual acts of gruesome murder that were being committed in the camps. There was absolutely no consideration for the victims that were treated worse than cattle. I think this politeness is meant to draw attention upon the detachment with which the Nazis but even some of the workers, went about with their acts. For example on page 2774, just after describing how tough the conditions in the camps, the narrator explains how carefree he was: "Several of us are sitting right now on a top bunk swinging our legs in a carefree manner. We take out white, extravagantly baked bread: crumbling, falling to pieces, a little provoking in taste, but, for all that, bread that had not been molding for weeks. (...) Under us, in the block, naked, sweating people mill about." Borowski shows detachment but he is also mocking the bread. I think the sarcasm is used here to resurface how life in the camps was really like. Henri the Frenchman is also very detached from everything that is happening around him. When the narrator asks him if they are good people and explains the rage he feels toward them Henri replies: "Oh, no, quite on the contrary, its normal, foreseen and taken into account. You are tired with this unloading business, you're rebellious, and rage can best be vented on someone weaker. Its even desirable that you should vent it. Its common sense. Compris?" I think these people chose to detach themselves from this gruesome reality in order to survive. However, the narrator can never quite rid himself of his guilt. His vomiting is a metaphorical representation of his attempt to get rid of the guilt that weighs on his soul, and his responsibility in the death of 15000 Jews from Sosnoweic-Bedzin. (Critical Essay on "This way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen", Rena Korb)

Cynthia Ozick's "The Shawl" (written in 1989)

The shawl tells the story of Rosa and Stella in their attempt to survive in a Nazi death camp, despite the hunger, the cold, hostility and the inhumanity that they face. Rosa is carrying a baby, Magda, hidden in a shawl that she has wrapped around herself.

For the most part, the text is written in short and simple sentences that are very descriptive. This seems to enhance the state of mind that the characters are in. They have been dehumanized by the way they are treated, a single false step and they could be shot dead like animals: "But if she moved from the line they might shoot." They are barely even part of this world anymore: physically they have been reduced to almost nothing through their food deprivation, and mentally, being in a death camp, they are surrounded by death, pain, horror. It is even said of Rosa that she is "floating." She acquires an almost ghostly characteristic. She is not fully there and merely exists through her fight to protect and keep the child she is holding alive. Nothing more than instinct is keeping these characters going. The writing style mirrors the instinct that drove these people to survive, they had nothing left but their emotions.

Several times, the shawl that Rosa carries Magda in, is referred to as a "magic shawl." The shawl in itself greatly contrasts with the hostile environment of the story, as it represents the magical provision of safety and nourishment in a hellish surrounding. The shawl keeps the child quiet when roll is being called, it keeps her in a little nest, protected from the horror surrounding them and safe from the Nazi soldiers' eyes. It even nourrishes Magda when Rosa's nipples go dry: "She sucked and sucked, flooding threads with wetness. The shawl's good flavor, milk of linen." I think the way Magda is nourished by the shawl can be interpreted two different ways. First of all, the piece of cloth turning into food shows just how terrible the conditions of the camp were and just how much pain these people had to go through. When a person is so hungry that a piece of cloth represents nourishment and even takes on a sweet taste of "cinnamon and almond," they are gripping at their very last resources. But the nourishment of the shawl that keeps this baby alive also reminds the reader of how powerful love is. The shawl takes on a symbol of this motherly love and nourishment that Rosa gives the child, and that is what is keeping her alive. Amidst all this horror, and demonstration of the horrific acts that humanity is capable of, the story also celebrates love, the persistance of good amidst all this evil.

Katherine Mansfield--"The Fly"

Question to consider:  Although the story “The Fly” never overtly mentions World War I, make a list of details which indicate that the story is related to WW I and takes place shortly thereafter.

Although World War 1 is never overtly mentioned in the text, when one takes the story and puts it into its historical context, such an interpretation would make sense.
Indeed, the story was written in 1922, only four years after the end of the First World War that took Mansfield's brother. Similarly, every character in "The Fly" has experienced a loss of some kind. Mr. Woodfield has lost a person named Reggie, possibly his son, as his daughters went to visit his grave, and the Boss also lost his son. Evidently, one of the major themes of the story is loss, and how people deal with it. Most importantly, the story analyses how the boss deals with this loss, as he feels more resentment than sadness towards his son.

The fact that he has never even visited the grave shows his inability to deal with his loss. Also, he finds himself unable to cry, when the memory of his son surfaces. The boy was his only son and the Boss had worked his entire life, building up a business for him: "It had no other meaning if it was not for the boy. Life itself had come to no other meaning." I think that the boss feels resentment towards his son for dying in the war and not living long enough to fulfill his fathers dream. There is also a psychological analysis of various ways that people have to deal with loss. Some people transform their sadness into anger, making it easier to deal with the pain, a stage that Mansfield may have gone through herself when losing her brother with whom she was very close with.

The boss quickly turns his attention to a fly that is resting on his desk, and spends the rest of the story dropping ink on it, until it dies. In my opinion, this symbolizes various things. The fly represents the bosses son. He challenges the fly the same way his son was challeneged by the war. He drops four ink drops on the fly, one drop of ink per year of war, and watches as the fly fully recovers the first time, struggles slightly the second time, even more the third time and finally dies with the fourth drop of ink. At first the Boss admires the fly's courage: "He's a plucky little devil, thought the boss, and he felt a real admiration for the fly's courage. That was the way to tackle things; that was the right spirit. Never say die." But with the final drop, the boss is seized with anger as he watches the fly give in and die. He is angry at the fly for not standing up to the challenges he is facing, just how he is angry at his son for getting killed in the war. But after the episode of the fly, the Boss can no longer remember what he was thinking about: "He fell to wondering what it was he had been thinking about before. (...) For the life of him he could not remember." The boss tested the fly's limits and relates to it in the sense that he himself is being tested by his son's memories.

This interpretation can also be seen at a larger scale however. The Boss symbolizes the authority, the leader. Most of the time, a boss pushes the papers but doesn't get his hands dirty. By choosing this particular job for the character, Mansfield is representing the leaders behind the war. The fact that the Boss cannot cry at the memory of his son represents the numbness that has fallen over the leaders and the people, at the consequences of the war, the destruction it caused and the huge losses of men. When the war was over, the damaged countries were so occupied with reconstructing themselves that the people who had died and the entire reason behind the war seemed to have taken a backstage role. The son represents those that have fallen during the war, the lost generation, whereas the fly is symbol of Europe. With each year, Europe had more and more trouble recovering until it's economy finally completely collapsed, mirroring the fly's struggle with recovering from each drop of ink. This symbolism is enhanced by the fact that the boss and the son are not named, allowing them to take on the faces, and speak for many people.

Woodfield is the only character that has a name in the story, and the similarity between Woodfield and Mansfield could lead one to believe that the author desired to put herself into this story. After all, this story is also about her traumatizing loss. Woodfield triggers the entire resurfacing of the memory of the son's death as he tells the boss how his daughters came across his grave. He triggered emotions in the Boss that he had not felt in a long time, however, the man is unable to weep. I think that Mansfield is making it a point that one cannot forget the fallen ones. She wants us to remember.

I think the sons photograph also represents a connection with World War One. The boss describes his son's expression as "unnatural. It was cold, even stern-looking. The boy had never looked like that." I think this reflects what the war did to these young men that left home to fight. They were engaging in such brutal acts that they lost their humanity. The description of the boy's photo reminds me of the priest's speech in "Joyeux Noël" when he is telling the soldiers to kill the enemy like they are not sons of God. Taking the humanity out of these men is what allowed them to keep fighting and to kill all those men. It is much easier to pull the trigger on an evil person than someone you may have someone in common with. I think Mansfield is making a point here. The soldier is not who she thinks we should remember, but the person behind that cold expression, before the war robbed them of their humanity.

James Joyce's "The Dead"

Discussion Question 1: Consider all the references to death, the dead, and dying throughout the text, what is their significance?  How does they influence/inform Joyce's title selection?

Jame's Joyce's constant reference to death throughout the text, starting with its title "The dead" implies that mortality is a key part of the story. "The dead" is set during the winter time, around Christmas.  Despite the many festivities that are going on, at which people should be enjoying themselves at this wonderful party and dance, the mood is bleak and gloomy.

The darkness that seems to fill the house, the corridors and the staircases, the shadows that are cast over the characters, as well as the cold winter night and the silent blanket of snow that is falling outside, give the reader the uncomfortable sensation that these characters are living life without really living. Their almost ghostly characteristics enhance the idea that they are really dead. For example, Aunt Julia's "hair, drawn low over the tops of her ears, was grey; and grey also, with darker shadows, was her large flaccid face." (p.1948) Her colorlous face reminds the reader the one of a corpse. Gretta, Gabriel's wife, also takes ghostly characteristics as she seems distant from the other characters, like she is in a different world: "Gabriel watched his wife who did not join the conversation (...) She was in the same attitude and seemed unaware of the talk about her." (p.1967) Also, when in the room together, he does not hear her come to him from the window, as if she moves around like a spirit.

The lingering memory of those who died also enhances the feeling that these characters are almost dead themselves. Gabirel's speech constantly refers to them: "we still cherish in our hearts the memory of those dead and gone great ones whose fame the world will not willingly let die." (p.1962) and again "but yet there are always in gatherings such as this sadder thoughts that will recur to our minds: thoughts of the past, of youth, of changes, of absent faces that we miss here tonight."

The memory of dead Michael Furey, Gretta's long lost lover who died for her, at the age of 17, is also an important reference to death in the text. His last name reminds the reader of the fire of passion that he felt for this woman, a passion so strong that his memory is still very much alive after all those years. A little part of Gretta died with Michael, and the only time she seems to fire up with a little bit of life is when Michael's memory surfaces. After hearing Bartell D'Arcy sing "The Lass of Aughrim," Gretta remembers her long lost love. She turns to Gabriel and he sees that "there was a sudden color on her cheeks and that her eyes were shining." (p.1967) Michael Fuery's death serves as an epiphamy for Gabriel as he sees himself as a shadow, in a world where life and death meet: "A shameful conscieusness of his own person assailed him. He saw himself as a ludicrous figure, acting as a pennyboy for his aunts, a nervous, well-meaning sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and idealising his own clownish lusts, the pitiable fatuous fellow he had caught a glimpse of in the mirror." (p.1972) While during his dinner speech, Gabriel focuses on the separation between the past dead and those that are still alive, he realizes how false this separation is after seeing how alive Michael Furey's is through his mere memory. Despite his death so long ago, he is the most alive character of the story. Joyce voluntarily creates a confusion the living and the dead by creating a world where the dead are alive and the living are dead.

The snow is a final touch to the confusion between the dead and the living throughout the text, and this idea can be clearly perceived in the last paragraph: "Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. (...) His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead." (p.1974) The last sentence captures Joyce's world where life and death meet and intertwine. 

Discussion Question 2: Consider the names of the characters, specifically Gabriel and Michael--what is their origin/meaning generally and then consider their use in the text.

In Christianism, Gabriel and Michael are the names of two of God's angels. Michael is an Archeangel, which means he is of higher rank, and Gabriel is God's special messanger. While Gabriel announces the birth of Jesus, he is also considered the angel of death. Gabriel's subservience to Michael in the bible is also true in "The dead". Gabriel feels inferior to dead Michael. He will never receive his wife's love like Michael did, and he will never cause her emotions to surge, like they did with the memory of Michael.

Kafka's "The Metamorphosis"

Discussion question 1: According to Dictionary.com - a metamorphosis is, "a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism--a complete change of form, structure, or substance--a form resulting from any such change."  In considering this definition, what was Gregor's life like before and after his metamorphosis--do you believe his change was literal or metaphoric and why?

Despite Gregor's complete physical transformation, he changes very little mentally. Throughout the entire story he tends to accept his fate without complaining or questioning why he is going through these events. Instead, he takes his transformation like an unfortunate fate that could have happened to anyone and is not out of the ordinary, and tries to adapt to his new life. According to Norton's Anthology, "no allegorical interpretation is finally possible, for all these potential meanings overlap as they expand toward social, philosophical and religious dimensions and constitute the richly allusive texture of seperate tales by a master story teller." If there is no political, religious or social allegorical interpretation, the only interpretation left would be the one that Gregor fall into a permanent insanity that affects his view of the entire world and turns him into the shame of his family and those around him. 

Discussion Question 2: Kafka includes many references to hunger and food--what is the significance of these references? 

The many references to hunger and food could be symbolic for Gregor's desire to be loved and accepted by his family, and simply to exist. When the narrator talks about Gregor's life before the metamorphosis, the reader gets the overall impression that Gregor merely exists to his family through the money and economic benefits he provides them with. He is not truly loved. This feeling is strengthened when, after his metamorphosis, his family turns against his due to his incapacity to go to work and maintain their lifestyle like he used to. Kafka could possibly be identifying himself with the main character. It is stated in Norton's Anthology that Kafka suffered from "his father's overbearing nature and felt deprived of maternal love." The apple scene could also be symbolic of Kafka's sufferings as he grew up in an unloving family. Gregor's father bombards his son with apple's, one of which lodges itself in Gregor's back. No one tends to Gregor or even bothers removing the apple, that ends up creating a permanent injury and causes his death. This could be a figurative interpretation of what Kafka went through in his own family. His bad relationship with his family permanently injured him and affected his life.

  Discussion Question 3: Identify and discuss some of the themes of "The Metamorphosis" - be sure to refer to your notes about what a theme is and in your discussion identify key passages of the text that support the themes you've identified.

The major underlying theme in Kafka's "Metamorphosis" is isolation. After Gregor's transformation, he barely ever leaves his room and when he does he is forced back into it like an animal. This isolation becomes gradually more unbearable for Gregor. At the beginning, Grete, Gregor's sister comes into the room to leave him food, but soon she barely even does that anymore, and uses her feet to shove the food through the door as not to set foot into the room. Gregor's loss of contact with the outside world, and therefor isolation, is also symbolized through his loss of long distance eyesight due to his animalistic condition: "From day to day, even the things that were rather close were growing hazier and hazier; he could no longer even make out the hospital across the street." (p. 2014)

Another major theme is money, as it is at the root of many of Gregor's problems. Money problems define Gregor's life before his metamorphosis and after metamorphosis. Prior to his uncomfortable condition, Gregor's only worry in life was the one of providing his family with a comfortable lifestyle: "Gregor's sole concern at the time had been to do whatever he could to make the family forget as quickly as possible the business catastrophe that had plunged them all into utter despair. And so he had thrown himself into his job with tremendous fervor, working his way up, almost overnight, from minor clerk to traveling salesman, who, naturally, had an altogther different earning potential and whose professional triumphs were instantly translated, by way of commissions, into cash, which could be placed on the table at home in front of the astonished family." (p.2013) Furthermore, right after Gregor's realization of his handicapping condition, his first worry is providing for his family and how they would survive if Gregor would not be able to go back to work.