Insun,+Chris,+Brendan,+Sung-Woo,+Connie,+Joe+Joe+Beikirch

5/19/10 POV thing

page 29

Aside to the sergeant: “Starting from, this evening.” They didn’t like putting a man in the cells in the morning -- it meant the loss of his work for a whole day. Let him sweat blood in the meantime and be put in the cells in the evening. The prison lay just over there, to the left of the parade ground. A brick building with two wings. The second wing had been added that autumn -- there wasn’t room enough in the first. The prison had eighteen cells besides those for solitary confinement, which were fenced off. The entire camp was log-built except for that brick prison. The cold had got under our shirts and now it was there to stay. All that wrapping-up had been in vain. My back was giving me hell. How I longed to be in bed in the infirmary, fast asleep! I wanted nothing else. Under the heaviest of blankets. The zeks stood in front of the gates, buttoning their coats, tying a rope around their bellies. And from outside the escort shouted: “Come on. Come on.” And from behind, the guard urged them on: “Move along. Move along.” The first gate. The border zone. The second gate. Railings along each side near the gatehouse. “Halt!” shouted a sentry. Like a flock of sheep. “Form fives.” It was growing light. The escort’s fire was burning itself out behind the gatehouse. They always lit a fire before the prisoners were sent out to work -- to keep themselves warm and be able to see more clearly while counting. One of the gate guards counted in a loud brisk voice: “First. Second. Third...” And the prisoners, in ranks of five, separated from the rest and marched ahead, so that they could be watched from front and behind: five heads, five backs, ten legs. A second gate guard -- a checker -- stood at the next tail in silence verifying the count.

Passage thing

page 5

This passage really stuck out. I liked how it shows connections and part of the theme in one page. It shows the craft as well, when these three are combined it looks and is very cool to read. (Joe, I don't think this is your second assignment when given at the end. First one.) This is very vague.

Craft I like how the author explains how cold it is. “There wouldn’t be a warm corner for a whole month. Not even a doghouse.” You can really see the imagery, it is very good. Also things like, “his fate hung on a balance.” It sets the picture of how close he is to getting screwed or getting..good stuff.

Connection It is like Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet love each other so much that everywhere they are without each other, it is like torment. Romeo and Juliet end up dying so I think Ivan is gonna die too.

Theme The theme is basically how bad it sucked to be in these work camps. There is still much to read, but you have to work when you’re sick, you’re constantly starving, and the only time you get a day off is if it’s -41º outside or you can’t stand. All the time, the characters talk about how bad their condition is or how cold it is.