Literary Circles: Night, Cage, The Book Thief, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas + Stick Boy

It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.
-- Anne Frank.

Hi All,

Those of you reading Night might like to link to Elie Wiesel's page. Find out more about why it is he won a Nobel Peace Prize. To support your understanding of the events during World War II and what we have come to know as the Holocaust, you may also want to check out this Holocaust Memorial site.

Folks reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas may be interested to know that Mark Herman has just released a film version of this heartbreaking novel.

It is sad how we, as humans, are capable of such destruction. Yet, so often, and perhaps paradoxically, the human spirit is also capable of rising beautiful and awe inspiring out of the ashes of despair.

***

In preparing for your discussions and novel presentations, consider the following questions:

1) What does your selected story have to tell us about humanity and who we are as humans?

2) What does it tell us about the power of hope, faith, fear, loneliness and the will to survive?

3) How are negative boundaries between people created and fueled?

4) How might we, as a society, go about breaking down the barriers that are built between us?

5) What does your novel or memoir have to tell us about human suffering?

6) What are the implications these stories have for us a global culture today?

7) What is one question you would like to ask the writer if you had the chance? Why?