I+Have+Lived+Synopsis+Page

**Day One: May 29, 2008 (Violetta)**

//Here are some of the ideas that my group have discussed:// //Some conclusions/discoveries my group discussed was://
 * On page 11, when Eli says "In America i grew from traumatized teen.... my hope is that the past evil will help us to avoid the them in the future" we thought that Eli was being ironic or trying to display how our world has learned from its past mistakes.
 * One of the questionsour group had a discussion on was Do you think that you would have taken the train back to Budapest, like Bubi, or would you find a way to get yourself to a safe location? We agreed to the answer that they would stay in the town with a neighbor till the next day.
 * On page 20 when Eli talks about hearing her classmates sing the vulgar army marching song which taunted jews. Were her classmates singing that song to gain relationship with the enemy(connection from Ann Frank when her father tells her to lie about their religion) so when times get bad they and their families will have some form of escape? Or were they not Jewish?
 * We discussed how each group member thinks that Eli is a strong girl because she is living a normal life worrying about boys and her clothes(when she got a new coat) and that is hard to do since all the things that are happening in her life at the moment.


 * Day Two: June 2,2008 (Jayna)**

Today my group disussed alot of things. we mostly talked about the bid ideas that are happening in the book so far. one main idea we have been playing around with is that we noticed that Ellike and her family try to find good things to mask the bad situations. for example, Ellike's family is relocated to the ghetto and overall this is a tragic event. however she finds this event to be somthing good for her b/c she sees this as being taken away from all the bad in the world. another example is when rumors go around that the men soon will be taken to working camps. this is also tragic because elli's father is forced to leave for work and not get payed. However the mother seem to think that this is a good thing b/c now they can work to earn the food they need. We also discussed the main character traits of Ellike so far. we think she is a little frightened b/c she doesnt noe whats going to happen next in this tragic time. we also think that even though she is going through a tough time she still worries about boys, her hair, and her looks(clothes). Some questions that we raised so far were mostly about the yellow stars jews had to wear in the past. for example we asked each other if we would be embarassed to wear a yellow star just b/c you were part of a certain religion? we all honestly answered and most said that we would not care and that we would be proud of who we were. we also learned where the city od Budapest is which is in the center of Hungary.


 * Day Three: June 6,2008 (Carolina)**

During our last class period Mrs. Sarah asked us to do a fish bowl. In this fish bowl we had to sit down and do our regular group discussion while the class listened to us. During the time of the fish bowl we all participated one way or the other and important concepts were brought to our attentions. Alex who was our philosopher brought up some important ideas that we discussed. The first question was //'How would you// //feel if you were forced to move to a new place and you could only take "essential items?" How would that affect you?'// This question was brought up because on page 63 Elli talks about the ghetto being liquidated and that they were only allowed to take essential items with them. In my opinion I wouldn't have taken anything because the family basically knew what was going to happen to them. They all knew that things weren't going to get better and even if they took essential items they weree going to be taken away from them just like they're most pride possentions had been. The group sort of agreed with my idea. Noreen thought that she would just take things like food and drinks in case they needed them. Especially since they weren't being fed enough. Violetta thought that she would take her memories. For example things like photo albums and stuff like that because those are things that mean most to her. She said this because even though the books had all been burned Elli managed to save her poetry book. Another question that was important but one that was not able to be brought up because of time shortage //was 'on page 64, Aunt Serena has this reaction about them being moved into liquidation. Why didn't the others react the same? Why did they resist the truth that they knew the worse situations that were yet to come? Was it because they were scared about facing the truths or did they really believe there was hope?'//. In my opinion I think that they all thought that there wasn't hope but that never the less they made themselves believe that there was hope. Like in the book //Twelve Angry Men// when one of the jurors says that it seems like the old man made himself believe that it was the boy. They could have made themselves believe this so as not to go into a sort of depression and to not give up hope. They probably thought that violence was not the solution therefore they didn't fight back. Violetta who was character captain described Elli because Elli was the narrator. She gave a description of Elli that we all agreed upon. She said that Elli is brave because even though Elli was in front of police officers and she knew that she couldn't keep the poetry book she kept it and she hid it from the officers. A person like any of us probably wouldn't have had the courage to do what Elli did. She showed her courage when she did this. Noreen presented to the group a discussion that she was having in this website with Mohammed. The discussion revolved around the question of 'Can you change your true identity in a time of life and death?'. Noreen said that she thought people couldn't change who they were they could just appear to be who they weren't through other peoples eyes. However Mohammed decided that this was a false statement because people are someties forced to change. So that was what occurred during this discussion. The place in which the story was revolving around during this time was the ghetto.


 * Day Four: June 11, 2008 (Noreen)**

The class period today was very informational. We mainly discussed many little topics that we gathered which were confusing. In __I Have Lived One Thousand Years,__ the author leaves out a couple of things, maybe because of marking it unimportant or because of other reasons not thought by the readers. However, as a group we were often left wondering what happened to certain characters, and how the whole deal with Hitler being dead "resolve" itself. In other words, what happened during that time? They were moved to other camps, then moved back. Then the process was repeated?! In the end, we finally we able to unravel the mess, because of Jayna, who had read ahead of the group and gave us an introduction to the chapters coming up.

//During our discussion we talked about several things:// [|Click Here] This is a link to a website I found that includes some questions we had, and others that were posted as discussion topics for this particular group. It has a spoiler alert "Some of the questions contain key elements of the plot. Do not read if you don't want to know what happens!" But we are almost done with the book so, it won't spoil much :)
 * 1) How would you feel if your life was at danger, when you thought you did nothing wrong, nothing to deserve it? On page 91, German guards came into the barrack that Elli and her mother were in, telling them to stay quiet even through the minutes of repeated gun shot echoes. While staying quiet, Elli heard a little girl yell that her mother had been shot. Not too long after, another gun shot was heard silencing the little girl's screams. Branching from that question our group discussed how we would deal with that situation: whether to be quiet and let the girl cry to her quick death, or to stand up and reply back to the SS Officers. We decided that it be best to stay quiet, so you could live. This was also connected to another part in the book where Elli had responded back at a guard when he had kicked her sick mother. She was severely beaten, only to be sent to the gas chambers days later (though that was not that last of her even then). Elli had the character in her which allowed her to step up for her mother. She had said from the very first days of being separated, said that if her mother dies, she dies.
 * 2)  Would you have responded to the tragic things being done to you, or would you have obeyed, only to find your way through living day by day? We connected this to humanities. The EQ for this unit is: how do people face injustices? We explored a couple of ideas, none leading to the fact that you would do something. Everyone contributed in saying that they would respond if a little kid was being beaten up but they wouldn't really do anything if their life was at stake, when dealing with our everyday lives. From there we went into the book, in a previous chapter there was mention of a man in their Jewish community in the ghetto whom said, if it is death that God wished upon me, then so be it. If not, then I will live. However, death will never scare me. We felt that this was a very good way to approach things, but we came to the conclusion that we would have been scared none the less.
 * 3)   Jews were thrown below the standards that normal people today would even imagine and oppressed at all times during the Holocaust. We figured that they wished to rebel, but did they actually do it? The Jews could have had no opportunities to rebel, because they were held under very strict rules. Possibly, they may have felt that there was no need to rebel, because if they did they would be shot before their voice was even heard. There was no point in it. Also they had never gone through anything even remotely similar to this situation, their fear may have taken over anything. The chance to escape or to rebel were too risky. Another possibility is that, they against the Germans and other Axis, would have never worked. They probably did not know of anyone who would back them up. One person rebelling would have solved nothing. Many others were needed to fight back, so why be the dumb one to step off the line and say something back?

Day Five: June 17, 2008(Jayna)(MY B-DAY!!!!!!!!) Todays Discussion was very um....off topic. Since my group was very organized all we had left to talk about was the JigSaw project that is due soon. Noreen mainly organized it and she was explaining what she wrote and where she got the information from. we also looked at pictures of Holocaust victims and the nazis and more. we did talk about some questions though. like for example some things that confused us were like the time Ellike and her mother were seperated into two groups. Elli didnt want to leave her mother since she was paralyzed and Elli was put into the Gas chamber group meaning she was going to be killed.So elli somehow escapes to the other side and finds her mother freshly dressed with new shoes on even though she is still paralyzed!! and the workers there could not have helped because if they saw that she was paralyzed than she would have been sent to the Gas Chamber group. So that is one thing me aand my group were stuck on.