Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Problems with Mrs. Schacter.


---Describe Mrs. Schacter's son's thoughts as he watches his mother on the train and others' reactions to her.
Mrs. Schacter's son had a mixture of emotions. He was terrified that his mother was getting beat, but he knew deep down inside his actions would just make matters worse. The son was probably angry with the other Jewish people for doing such harsh things to his mother. Instead of standing out, the son gently tried to calm his mother down by rubbing her hand and comforting her. The son also felt very embarrassed that his mother was sputtering words of hallucination, and causing a scene in such a small place. Overall the son might have been very relieved because everything was quiet and calm.


---Why do the Jews so quickly reject Mrs. Schacter but just as quickly believe the news from the men who gathered water? How do they feel when the cattle car doors are opened in Birkenau?

There were a couple of reasons that the other Jewish people could have believed the men over the rampaging woman. One reason was that there were many men to believe as to one single woman. The men could see more since they were outside the cattle car as opposed to the woman peeping out a little window. In addition, when the woman shouted "Fire," there was no possible way that she could have seen such things. When the doors opened at Birkenau, people most likely felt ashamed for beating the woman when her hallucinations became a reality.
Posted by: Ryan Morris, Jared Andrews, Tyler Abma

6 comments:

Lindee said...

I never thought about it that way. When you answered that they were probably ashamed for beating her, and then seeing the fire when the doors opened. I wonder how the Jews felt when they saw the fire. Finding out that what she was saying all along was true. I really do just wonder what there reactions were to that.

Kyle said...

Yeah I was going to say the same thing. I wonder when they smelt the burnt flesh that they ever regretted beating her. If it was me, I probably would have.

Shelby E. said...

I was acutally going to say that also. They were treating her like dirt and no one believed her but when they got there what did they see and smell. The burning flesh, but they still had the guts to treat her badly in front of her ten year old son. He had no control over what she was doing and all he could do was try and comfort her.

Natasha said...

They weren't beating her because she was hallucinating, they were beating her because they needed her to be quiet. Just something to think about.

brady said...

I agree with what you were trying to say they didn't believe her and they probably should have. and they didn't even think about what her little boy was thinking while she was being beat.

Nikki W. said...

I agree with Natasha, they just needed her to be quiet. Her son was being quite because he knew if he did anything that it wouldn't work because he is little. I agree with your answers.