No Man is and Island

The poems and book are about treating every man as an equal. It doesn't matter whether you know him or not and it doesn't matter if he's not your family. The point is that we are all involved in mankind and we are the same. I think "No Man is and Island" means that no matter who someone is, they should not be going through anything alone and everyone should support them because we make up one big continent. The book also speaks about isolation and the contrast between "us" and "them". The book is also about prejudice and otherness.

In the book named The Island by Armin Greder, there is a main idea about not caring for someone because someone doesn't know them or they're different from that someone. The man in the book is different from the other men on the island because he is slim, pale, and weak while the other men are tough and large. The village men isolate the new man because he isn't like them. They also are quick to judge him without even hearing his story. They didn't base their opinion on the man by experience with him, but instead on a quick look at his appearance. The illustrator emphasizes the isolation and weakness of the man by making him naked and isolated on the page. The isolated man is an outsider compared to the mob of village men who are considered the insiders. This applies to real life issues. People see huge contrasts between the words "us" and "them". When we say "us" we refer to ourselves as the insiders and when we use "them" we refer to them as the outsiders. That's how it ties into the topic of no man being an island. We shouldn't be isolating the outsiders we define as "them". We should all be united and not isolate anyone.

The poem emphasizes the idea of everyone being the same. "every man is a piece of the continent" symbolizes that we are all one and together no matter whether we are related by blood or not. We are all part of mankind. This poem also points out that no matter who the person is, people should care. That's shown in "any man's death diminishes me", proving that the writer is setting an example and saying that every time a man dies, we should at least care and acknowledge it. The idea is sticking together, caring for each other, and never being alone. This poem is letting people out there know that others should be there for them and we care, they're not alone. The idea is also that you don't need to know the person to care and be there for them. Take a second to check if they need help because we are no different from them.

The video focuses more on taking a second to help others we don't know and it really stresses the idea of nobody out there being alone. In the video, the symbol for all people out there who need help are poor people on the streets. The examples are homeless people who get passed everyday and are completely ignored until one man stops to help. That man is like the writer in the other poem. They are the people who realize that we are all part of mankind and need to show other that they're not alone. The man in the video didn't know the homeless man, which proves the point that our family members aren't the only important people. We are all important.

The main idea of the poems and book is people out there needing help and people treating them differently because they don't know them or aren't the same as them. They all have the similar idea of not isolating someone and making sure that person isn't alone. The book was an example of isolating someone because you don't know them and their different from you which is showing what it would be like to be left alone without anyone to turn to. The other poems show how people should really be caring and helping others no matter whether we know them or if they aren't the same as them. Nobody should be alone. We are all part of mankind. Another similarity the they had was prejudice. In Greder's "The Island" none of the village men listened to what the pale man needed to say and in the video nobody really cared to listen to the homeless people's side of the story or whether they need help. The poem "No Man in an Island" shows how the man isn't prejudice but cares about everyman because we are ll a part of mankind.

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas:

The Boy In Striped Pyjamas was set in the past. Why should you care about the issues raised in the book? Should we continue to study this book in Grade 7?

WE should care about the issues raised in the book because they are big issues in life. The main issue of the book is that since Bruno is Nazi (or his father is) and Shmuel is a Jew they can't be friends. The other large issue of the book is the cruelty and journey through hardship of those going through that period in time. I do believe that we should care about these issues so we can learn about how horrible and torturous those times were to others and hopefully prevent it from possibly happening again.We should also care about these issues because now we can look at the progressed world and know that it most likely never happen again.

John Boyne actually ends his book saying "Of course this all happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age." (p.216) and said that he actually wanted people to look around at the world and realize what happened then, will never happen in this day and age. This got me thinking that we should care about past issues so we can compare it to our world today and the progression the people have made. Especially with the issue about how torturous the Nazi were to the Jews. We have proof of some torturous events against Jews from Nazi such as when Kotler (Nazi) beat up and possibly killed Pavel (Jew) for accidentally spilling some wine (in the book). WE should also see how our world has progressed with the second issue about Bruno and Shmuel not supposed to be friends. We should look at our world now and realize how all nationalities are friends and there are rarely racists issues. Most international schools help encourage nationalities to be united. We should also care about these issues to realize and remember the torture some people must have felt going through this. Maybe after noticing how much pain was caused, it can strengthen the idea of never letting those issues happen again in this day and age.

We should continue to study this book in 7th grade. This book is very emotional and if we're able to handle all of it, then we should definitely continue reading and studying the book. I agree with studying that period in time in general but I strongly think we should continue studying this book. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas lets people know about what the Holocaust seemed like through the eyes of an innocent German child. It was about half seeing and half understanding for the main character, Bruno. This book is a good place to start at a 7th grade level. It introduces the Holocaust in a way maybe kids like us may have understood it and maybe we can connect better to an innocent child than an adult Jew.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is different as a 7th grade book. It shows what life may have been like a a German boy who's father is a Nazi. It's also interesting because we still have a Jews perspective sometimes because of the character Shmuel. We also get to see a glimpse of the Jewish life through another kid's eyes. As kids ourselves in 7th grade this book is quite easy to follow and possibly to connect to more than other characters. AS I said, it's also a good and easy way to introduce the book to students since it doesn't describe the brutality of some actions from Nazis towards Jews.