by Barbara Sonek
We played, we laughed
we were loved.
We were ripped from the arms of our
parents and thrown into the fire.
We were nothing more than children.
We had a future. We were going to be lawyers, rabbis, wives, teachers, mothers. We had dreams, then we had no hope. We were taken away in the dead of night like cattle in cars, no air to breathe smothering, crying, starving, dying. Separated from the world to be no more. From the ashes, hear our plea. This atrocity to mankind can not happen again. Remember us, for we were the children whose dreams and lives were stolen away.
What is your initial reaction to this poem?
The initial reaction of the poem starts off somewhat cheerful because by stating "played ... laughed" both of those words have positive connotations but with "we" placed before the words shows the atmospheric sadness.
How does the author use 'we' in this poem?
The author uses "we" to create a sense of the number of the people. The use of using "we" towards the start of the poem shows the number of people before the alludes towards the holocaust.
What are the verbs used in the first sentence?
The verbs used in the first sentence are "played ... laughed" these verbs have positive connotations towards the narrator's life.
What are the verbs used in the second sentence? How do they contrast with those used in the first sentence?
The verb used in the second sentence "loved" has negative connotations juxtaposed to "played ... laughed" because "loved" suggests once being loved by someone then no longer.What effect does the listing of 'lawyers, rabbis, wives, teachers, mothers'? What is it meant to signify?
The effect by listing "lawyers, rabbis, wives, teachers" signify the joy in once having dreams to become what they wanted to become is now destroyed for all people in the situation.
What simile is used in the poem and what effect does it have?
The simile "we were taken away in the dead of night like cattle in cars" and the further listing of the conditions compare their lives towards animals being sent to an abattoir.
How has the poet represented herself in the last sentence?
The poet represents herself as being one of the dead pleading for the living to never allow such atrocities to ever happen again to anyone else.
If you could communicate to this person, a victim of the Holocaust, what would you want to say? What do you feel that you must do in your life as a response to this poem?
I would communicate to this person saying all that had happened in the world describing each recent incident that has recently occurred in the world. Some of these occurrences may be seen as horrific but is an example as the world improving from what it used to be.
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