Put yourself in the position of a prisoner in a concentration camp. A dying Nazi soldier asks for your forgiveness. What would you do? In The Sunflower, Simon Wiesenthal raises that question for readers to wrestle with, and gives the responses of very distinguished men and women.

Before I even started reading this novel the first thought that came to mind was that in this test of the possibilities and limits of forgiveness, I would not have stayed silent like Wiesenthal. When given the opportunity of a Nazi soldier's confession, Wiesenthal chose to remain silent. Most would say they would do the same, which is completely understandable, and at first I thought the same about myself. But taking a deeper look, I have always forgiven people for everything. Not necessarily because I wanted to, but because its just how it works. Obviously I have never experienced a situation as drastic as Wiesenthal's, but I have always been a kid who feels compassion and sympathy for everyone (I felt bad for Alex in A Clockwork Orange).


It will be interesting to see how realistic Wiesenthal can make this situation for me, and how well he can pull me into his character. If he is able to do a good enough job, maybe my opinion on forgiveness will change due to the severity of the situation.

finally

After weeks of unbearably slow reading I finally finished A Clockwork Orange. My sluggish reading, mixed with Burgess unorthadox Nadsat language, led to, at times, a painful read. I enjoyed this novel, but not as much as I thought I would. The reason I chose it as my first read is because I heard so much about it. It was recommended to me by several people as "a book I would like". Its not that I didn't like it, but something about the whole nadsat language threw me off. I was able to understand the basic meaning of almost all the words, however I just feel it would have been better without it. While it gives good insite into the character's lives, I came to the conclusion that it was unnecessary.

In one of my earlier posts I stated that I sympathized with Alex. I could not explain it at the time, and can't really now either, but for some reason I feel bad for him. How could you show any compassion for a rapist murderer? I really do not know. Maybe it is his honesty and willingness to share the detail of his crimes, and his thoughts surrounding his actions. Chris Semansky's criticism of Burgess's novel is an excellent criticism and shares great insite into Burgess, and his protagonist Alex.


For my project on this novel, I plan on watching the movie again, and writing a comparitive essay. I have seen the movie once before, but at the time had not read the novel, and really was not paying much attention. All I remember is the movie is as brutal and terrifying as the book.


Don't forget to check out Drizzle's blog. Kid really works hard on that thing. Believe it or not.