Not On Our Watch, Chapters 4-6

“If every member of the House and Senate has received 100 letters from people back home saying we have to do something about Rwanda, when the crisis was first developing, then the response would have been different.” –Senator Paul Simon 1994 (Page 86)

When i read this i was in utter shock. I thought this was one of the most insensitive quotes I have ever read. If it takes such a small number of letters to make someone stop 800,000 people from being slaughtered then that person shouldn't be in government. If it takes any amount of letters to make someone want to stop such a bloodbath then they shouldn't have the power to do so. Since they didn't get the 100 letters they just sat back and watched the horror in Rwanda unfold. Who knows maybe this same game is happening now in our government about Darfur. Maybe since its not as abrupt as the Rwandan genocide they are going to make it 10,000 letters before they attempt to stop it.

In chapter four it was really all about the history of darfur and how it lead up to genocide. it was mostly all fact and not very much opinion. Chapter four was hard to stay with since we have heard the Darfur genocide story without an ending so many times. Chapter five talks about why the United States is not getting involved affairs. They had a "Top Ten United States Excuse List". Chapter six was interesting because it gave you situations where activism was successful, it sadly does only give the good and not the times where activism attempts did not work.

Not On Our Watch, Chap 1-3

In chapter two one quote stuck out to me. When he was asked on page 31 "Being an activist for Africa is no small thing. Are you sure you are ready?" and he responded "No, i wasn't ready, and i wasn't one..."
I thought its was pretty bad that he said this, i completely consider him an activist, how much effort they are able to put in to Darfur is an amazing amount. It kind of looked like he didn't want to be called an activist just because hes a celebrity, and he has the connections to be able to get on a plain with a congressman and fly to Darfur. If he was anybody else then he would never be able to go to Darfur. That is really the only information that stood out to me. The rest of chapter one and two were pretty good because they explain their views in an odd way of writing. Several times in this book they push that they are not doing this because they are celebrities. Then chapter three was basically what we have heard several times in class. It was about Darfur, and how the genocide was sparked to get to the fire its at today.

Night 1

“The barbed wire which fenced us in did not cause us any real fear. We even thought ourselves rather well off; we were entirely self-contained. A little Jewish republic…We appointed a Jewish Council, a Jewish police, an office for social assistance, a labor committee, a hygiene department – a whole government machinery.”

It is very wise of them to try to get their mind off of all the horror going on and do something productive and try to start a little government among the Jews. Maybe it wasn’t to get their minds off of the genocide but to maybe make their man power into good use.
In my opinion I think this is kind of far fetched. As they all know people are being murdered left and right, cracking under pressure. To appoint a leader would almost be foolish, not knowing if the Nazis would decide to pick that Jew to be put in the next batch. Unless they were way more detailed with their government then we have today. If they had a chain of command leading down to the very last person then I would have giving it a little more success possibility in my mind.

End Reflection on the Novel

What is ironic, or dramatically unexpected about the novel’s ending?
· He died a silent death when he was in war
· We think he was glad to die
· He was fighting to live but living to die
· The rest of his life he would have to live with memories of him killing people and of his closest comrades perishing
· KARMA

What images of the novel are lingering in your mind? Explain why these images made a lasting impression on you.
Boots.
We thought it was completely ludicrous that the guy wanted to have the dying mans boots, and he didn’t even seem to care for the guy in the first place

Do you think Paul can claim to speak for an entire “lost generation” when he speaks of the effects of war? In Paul’s opinion war ruins those who survive as must as those who die. Do you think his fellow soldiers felt the same way about war?
· No, because he speaks for himself and not anyone else because he is not them
· Yes, because every soldier witnesses the same thing and he experiences everything the had experienced, including:
· Near-Death Experience
· Shooting
· Loss
· Hardships
· Struggles

Monologue

Paul in his men sit in their cement shelter and wait for the bombardment to stop as the recruits are in the process of cracking. all they can do is wait, play cards, and talk.

Hey, your turn. Did you hear that recruit a few minutes ago? They say he was blown to pieces. I keep telling them that all they have to do is not focus on the present but imagine the future, even though for most of them they have nothing to look forward too. We want to live at any price; so we cannot burden ourselves with feelings which . . . would be out of place here. They dont understand. They don't understand pain yet. They don't understand death. Well until then, they will be like sitting ducks. One by one they fall.

All Quiet On The Western Front

In my opinion I think that when you go through such rigorous training. Which in the right eyes can be viewed as tortured or brain wash. You loose all thought you had before. All you can think about now is what you where trained to do. For Paul and his comrades this all comes down to the basic instinct of wild animals. Protect yourself and hunt for food, in their case wait till dinner. When they wake up they train, and at night they eat, day in and day out. And when they get to the front line they are only prepared and focused on what they trained for, to kill. Like animals, if you give them a task that they know how to do and were trained to do they can do it. But if you give an animal a task that they are not used to they will become confused. For the boys an example I can think of is death of comrades. They can’t train for death. So when it happens they become confused. They become confused until it happens so many times that it is natural to them. Like an animal instinct. As we progress in the book I predict that to stay alive in war their animal side will try to force out all other emotions other then what they trained for. The boys will become mindless animals.

2/7/07

Napoleon in my opinion was a great influence to the French revolution. Some people may think that he did bad. I think that no person can just do all good. You always have to think about your wants and needs, to be able to get the better good for the people. Like how he just started taking over land. His views told him that was best, and would help his people. In those times they had different customs then they do now. Like how women are viewed. So he was just going with the current knowledge of the day, to mistreat women. He did though start the movement to give equal rights to different religions. In a sense he was letting people have the pursuit of happiness. If we had a Napoleon in this day and age he would either be taken down out of power, or killed. Since the stuff he did in his day were alright but today that would be horrible. Napoleon in my opinion was a great influence to the French revolution.