Post for June 28th / Holocaust and Suicide

Assignment 1:

**Look at various songs pertaining to the Holocaust. Respond personally and critically.

Purpose: Before reading the Book Thief, students should first understand the context in which it was written. This book takes place in Nazi Germany; looking at various songs about the Holocaust will provide students with an access point into the novel. Although the book is ficitious, the setting in which it occurs is very real.

Materials:

-Lyrics / music to:

• Angel of Death (by Slayer)
• Belsen Was a Gas (By Sex Pistols)
• Red Sector A (by Rush)
• Zog Nit Keynmol (by Hirsh Glick)

-Computer / speakers

-Journal / writing utensil

Procedure:

Students will:

1. split into 4 groups (each group will take one of the songs from above).

2. listen to the song, while also reading the lyrics.

3. Respond critically, answering the following questions:

• What is the song about?
• Who is the audience?
• From whose point of view is it being told?
• What is the tone?

4. Respond personally, answering the following questions:

• Did you like song?
• Can you relate to it in any way?
• How does it make you feel?

5. Students will answer these questions individually , as well as in a group. (Everyone should be writing).

6. Each group will be asked to share their lyrics / songs, as well as their personal and critical responses.

Assignment 2:

Revelation of a Theme (suicide)

Purpose: Students will look at suicide and how it is revealed through various aspects.

Materials:

• Ode to Billie Joe (lyrics/song)
• Ode to Billy Joe (Movie)

**Note: This song stirred up a lot of questions regarding the content and characters within the lyrics. It was nominated for 8 grammy awards and won 3 in 1967.

Procedure:

Students will:

1. talk about suicide as a large group.

• What is it?
• Who commits it / why commit it?
• Where is it common?
• What are some stereotypes surrounding this theme?

2. listen to song "Ode to Billie Joe," and have students respond to it critically. Have them take notes on it and share it with a partner. Then come back to a large group discussion. Share with students possible theories that have generated over time regarding the plot.

Possible theories include:

a) "The most common theory is that Billy Joe and the speaker were indeed involved in some degree of romantic / sexual relationship that was kept hidden from the speaker's family because the father strongly disliked Billy Joe. This in turn is commonly interpreted as meaning the couple had an unplanned child at some point, and they threw the baby off the bridge together rather than deal with this manifestation of their illicit relationship. The guilt stemming from the murder of his own child later in turn caused Billy Joe to kill himself.
Some have gone even further and speculated that because the child was unwanted, it was either stillborn or aborted in some haphazard fashion, and then quietly "disposed" of off the bridge to hide the proof that the pregnancy had ever occurred. I've heard some point to the relevance of the "Child, what's happened to your appetite" line as a subtle key to this. Loss of appetite commonly occurs after giving birth. But it also commonly occurs when someone is depressed.

b) Another theory is that Billy Joe and the speaker are different races. This is consistent with the song's Southern theme and may explain the speaker's motivation for keeping her relationship with Billy Joe hidden. The food being eaten at dinner may be intended to represent traditional black Southern cuisine, and the mother's use of the word "child" to address her daughter is a rather distinctly African-American expression. The speaker similarly mentions picking cotton, which is likewise a chore that has been primarily associated with Southern blacks since the days of slavery. An inter-racial relationship during the period in which the song is set would clearly be a social taboo, and may have led the speaker to break up with Billy Joe, who proceeded to commit suicide. The unwanted child theory can be similarly strengthened by this premise, as a mixed-race baby would be even more socially unacceptable than an mixed race romance.

c) A third theory says that Billy Joe's suicidal tendencies were well-known to the speaker. The thing thrown off the bridge was thus a gun, after she successfully convinced Billy Joe not to kill himself. But then later he jumped off the bridge anyway, proving the failure of her efforts."

Theories taken from: http://www.filibustercartoons.com/billyjoe.htm

3. watch the movie. Pay special attention to the role suicide plays. Also, students should be taking notice of differences and similarites between the movie and song (main focus, however, should be on suicide).

4. construct an essay comparing and contrasting the song/lyrics with the movie, with a focus on the theme, suicide, and the role it plays within each.

Click here to view the video for the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZt5Q-u4crc