Friday, May 27, 2011
Information on the Pianist
Source: Lowry, Lois. "Biography." Lois Lowry. Interact, 2011. Web. 27 May 2011.
<http://www.loislowry.com/bio.html>.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Summary: the Pianist
Ingredients:
1 c. Courage
1 tsp. Musical Talent
3 c. Bravery
1/2 c. Instincts
1 Tb. Connections
2 c. Intelligence
3 c. Luck
Tools needed:
Szpilman's Family- Halina, Regina. Henrik, Mother, Father
Cze3slaw Lewicki
Zbigniew Jaworski
Wilm Hosenfield, German soldier
The Umschlagplatz
Directions:
Place Musical Talent into Pot of Life to start off survival. Slowly mix in 3 c. Bravery to continue survival. Mix in Courage to enhance the Bravery. Add half the Luck to be saved from certain death. Add connections to escape the ghetto. Quickly mix in Instincts to save from being burned or blown up. Add rest of luck to escape death from a Nazi yet again. Final product should be a thin, worn out man who has survived a perilous 5 years in constant threat of being murdered.
1. Obviously, the author's life experiences have influenced his story. Without surviving through the Holocaust, he would not have had this story to share.
2. The elements in Szpilman's life included in the book are any related to the Holocaust, mainly his survival throughout the war, but also what he did after the war. He included these so that he could tell the story.
3. Aspects of Szpilman's life that were not included in the book are any times from pre-Holocaust and his life afterwords. This is because both of these times are not relevant to the book.
4. Yes, I consider it to be authentic. This is because it is a memoir, not a novel, so everything that occured in it is true.
Alex Coletta
Relationship between Author and Text
Answer these questions regarding the posts on the authors' background.
- In what ways has the author's life experiences influence his or her story?
- What elements of his/her life are included in the book? Why do you think the author chose to include these in the story?
- What aspects of the author's life are not included in the book? Why do you think he/she did not include them?
- Overall, do you consider this book to be authentic? Why or Why not?
Szpilman General History
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Szpilman
alex coletta
Wladyslaw Szpilman's Music Career
Wladyslaw Szpilman was born into
a family of musicians. He first trained at the
and then went to the Berlin Academy of Arts to continue his studies in piano
and composition. After returning to
performer and composer, and became the house pianist for the Polish Radio. His
performance of Chopin’s Nocturne in C minor was the last live performance on
the Polish radio before it was closed down by bombardment from the Germans.
After miraculously surviving the war, Szpilman gained his old job back at the
Polish Radio. He also composed extensively and gave performances as a soloist
as well as in ensembles. He passed away in 2000, bearing the name of the most
popular musician of post-war
Sources:
"Music
and the Holocaust: Szpilman, Wladyslaw."Music and the Holocaust: Home.
Web. 26 May 2011. http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/places/ghettos/warsaw/szpilmanwladyslaw/.
"Szpilman's
Warsaw: The History behind The Pianist." United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum. Web. 26 May 2011. http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/pianist/.
Question: If you were in the situation, what would you do?
I would initially be very nervous and I would not know what to do. When I saw the soldier appear, I would become very frightnened and emotional. After I got by my initial fear, I would brainstorm ideas of how to get out of the situation. As soon as I came up with my idea, I would run and execute it.
At first, I would tyry to make up a lie, just like Szpilman did. I might say I was sent here by the Nazi froces to find something, like the half liter of spirits. Due to my appearance, there wouild be no lying about the fact that i was Jewish. If this did not work, I would do just as Szpilman did and offer the half liter of spirits to him so he would let me live. If this worked, I would change my hiding place right after the Nazi left just in case he decided to tell the Germans where I was hiding. If the Nazi decided not to accept the bribe, obviously, there would be little that I could do at the time. Overall, it's easy to see that Szpilman did the exact same thing that I would have in this situation.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Quotation and Question
I do not think that he wanted to physically die. I think that his emotions were so stirred up that he only thought it. Sometimes when people are feeling a certain way, they feel bad and say stuff they don't mean. This scene was a good example of this.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
To me, the answer is not clear. A possibility could have been that Szpilman was not associated with the war so there was no need for him to die. Another possibility is that the German Nazi's enjoyed music. Because they liked music, they would not want to kill a musician.
I think that the author copes with the tragedies by thinking about something else and replacing the bad memories with good ones. Because of the young age of my character, I think this would have been easy to accomplish. Next, when my character is with her friends she is very happy. Being surrounded by happy events and people would also help cope with the tragedies.