Theme Notebook

8th September 2010

Being compassionate towards someone changes their personality in a positive way.

     Being compassionate towards someone changes their personality in a positive way. In the short story ‘Thank you, Ma’am’ by Langston Hughes, Luella the protagonist, gets robbed by a boy named Roger. Unfortunately for him, Roger fails to steal her pocketbook and gets caught by Luella. Luella doesn’t turn him loose. Instead she takes him to her house to get cleaned up and have a small snack. ‘The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse which she left behind her on the day-bed. But the boy took care to sit on the far side of the room where she could easily see him if she wanted to. He did not trust the woman not to trust him’. This quote shows Luella showing Roger that she trusts him to do the right thing and not run or steal. It also shows Luella being kind to roger by not telling him to stay there or make him follow her into the kitchen. Roger, who was trying to to steal from Luella earlier, is now wanting to be trusted by Luella. He takes an opportunity to run and instead of running the goes somewhere she can see him. “Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes.” ‘The boy wanted to say something else other than “thank you ma’am” to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, But he couldn’t do so as he turned at the barren stoop and looked back at the large woman in the door.’ In these two quotes Luella does something nice for Roger by giving him the money to buy his blue suede shoes. Luella has been compassionate to Roger by helping him correct his wrongs and by giving him the ten dollars he needed to buy his shoes. She helps him despite him attempting to steal her pocketbook. Her compassion forces Roger to want to be a better person.
     
     Being compassionate towards someone changes their personality in a positive way is also an important theme in the movie ‘The boy in the stripped pyjamas’ by Mark Herman. One of the scenes where this is a significant theme is the scene where Bruno falls of the swing and hurts himself. Pavel the potato peeler rushes to Bruno’s aid. Pavel helps Bruno even though he is the son of the man who runs the concentration camp. Pavel being Jew still helps Bruno even though he could be killed just for touching him. Pavel took the time to help Bruno even though his whole family is against Jews. Pavel felt compassion for Bruno because he respects the fact that Bruno is just a boy and even though he’s not a Jew, helps him when he’s hurt. Bruno isn’t the person whose personality changes though. After Bruno gets cleaned up, his mom comes into the kitchen. She sees Bruno talking to Pavel. When she finds out what Pavel did she thanks him and doesn't tell her husband that Pavel interacted with Bruno. Pavel was being compassionate to her son so her personality changes and she respects Pavel for that.

     Being compassionate to someone makes them become a better person. With ‘Thank you, Ma’am’, Luella was compassionate to Roger and made roger a better person, and with ‘The boy in the stripped pyjamas’ Pavel was compassionate to Bruno, which made Bruno’s mom a better person. It makes people feel good and it makes them want to return the favour. People want to make other people feel good. Also being kind to someone makes you feel good.
 
 
16th August 2010
 

One's identity is fragile

     Ones identity is fragile is an important theme in "Lamb to the Slaughter" where the main character is Mary Maloney. She was a bright and pleasant person and she was also a complete perfectionist. She had everything she could ever want. A house, the perfect husband in her opinion, a baby and she was happy all the time. Her whole life revolved around her husband, Patrick Maloney. He was all she ever thought about and she did everything for him. He was the reason she was happy all the time. One perfectly normal day when Patrick came home from work he told her he had found someone else and that he was going to leave her. Her natural instinct was to pretend that he wasn't really going to leave her and go back to her normal routine. As it slowly started to click in that he was actually going to leave her she absentmindedly killed him. Right after she claimed that he was really dead she had to practice acting normal. She had to review her daily routine. That single act of killing her husband made her identity shatter and reveal a darker side to her. Her identity was so fragile that if people found out about her true identity it would not only affect her but also her baby.

     Another example of a story where one's identity is fragile is the "Book Thief". In the book thief the main character is a young girl named Leisel Meminger, a Jewish girl living in Germany during WWII. She gets adopted into the Huberman family, she is taught to keep her identity a secret. She is not even allowed to tell her best friend Rudy that she's actually a Jew because he is loyal to Hitler like most of the other Germans. Hans and Rosa Huberman cant even tell their own son that Liesel is a Jew because he works at a camp. Leisel doesn't make her life any easier for herself because she starts stealing books and soon she starts stealing books from Nazi book- burnings. Her identity is fragile because both her true identities, being Jewish and being the book thief, put her life in danger. If anyone finds out her true identity she will be killed. 


     Sometimes your true identity might not be what you want it to be. Like with Mary Maloney, her true identity was not what she wanted. She wasn't perfect but all she ever wanted to be was perfect. The fragile part of her identity was the shell that protected her true identity because if that shell cracked and her true identity leaked out she would have to face the consequences. Sometimes your true identity might not be what others want it to be. For Liesel if anyone found out her identity, she and her foster family would have to be killed. The fragile part of her identity was also her fake identity but her identity was not as personal as Mary's. Liesel's identity was also personal but it was not as personal as Mary's. Leisel's identity was hidden becuase she needed keep her religion a secret. Her identity was hidden for governmental reasons. Both their identity's are fragile because they both have serious consequences.