number 7 and number 4

i strongly agree with cassandra that georg has grown up alot, but so subtly you don't notice. at the beginning of the book, i was introduced to an average teenage boy, who's parents were divorced, and who's father was being sent away to a labour camp, but now i'm at pg 180-something, and it's hard to believe that the story isn't from a grown mans point of view. the perspectives, thoughts, and comments on everyday life in a concentration camp are alot more sophisticated. at first, he didn't really explain what was going on in his mind, it was more like a reporting on his surroundings. but now that he's been in the concentration camp for so long, he's more focused on telling us his thoughts. georg went through so much, that it's not really surprising the amount of change that took place. i think the reason you don't really notice the change until you compare the georg who lived at home to the one who lived in the concentration camp was because of the lack of emotion. but you can definatley see the change in his observations on his life and his situation.

this is in response to number 8. the line that really resonated with me was on pg 162, when there were 3 people who were to be hanged. during the hanging, everybody was chanting prayers in yiddish, to supports the unfortunate victims, and to support everybody else around them. after, georg comments on how he felt.

"Indeed, for the very first time, I too was now seized, I don't know why, by a certain sense of loss, even a touch of envy; for the first time, I now somewhat regretted that I was unable to pray, if only a few sentences, in the language of the Jews."

i don't know why, but this line just stuck with me. i'm not at all religious, but i've always wondered if complete strangers could be joined by such a...i don't know what to call it. "force" sounds too much like a Starwars thing. i kinda get the feeling that it might be like the connection that you feel with a group of strangers, when you all go through the same thing together, such as something like 911, or just finding out something so happy, such as being hearing that the boat with everybodys relatives on it survived the storm...that sounds stupid. i wish i could comment on it further, but i can't really find the words to explain something i haven't experienced...

-megan