IRB BLOG POST #4 ARTHUR KERTESZ- BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS.

The novel “Boy in the Striped Pyjamas,” by John Boyne raises philosophical issues about justice, humanity, and death. The idea of death has many different perceptions in the book. For example, the death of a jewish child in Auschwitz from the point of view of a Nazi soldier is just another Jew who deserved to die; however, from the point of view of a close family member of friend, is a tragic, undeserved  death of someone who had a great future. This also relates to the philosophical issue of humanity and raises the question of “are all human lives worth the same, and in what circumstances does one’s life matter more than others?” This question can looked at in two ways. One the emotional value, and other the physical value. For example, in the ending of the novel when Bruno in the gas chamber, his family mourns for his death painfully, while ignoring the painful death of millions of other Jews in the world. This shows that people often view one’s life as more important than other when one develops a relationship. Another example of this idea and physical value of life, is the Covid-19 pandemic. Holland, along with several other countries, are not allowing people over the age of 60 to use hospitals, to give priority to younger people. This shows that often people can value younger people’s lives since they have a brighter future to live. Another example of this is the government budget to save people in emergencies. If a person under the age of 21 is in danger, the government is allowed to spend up to $200,000.00 more than if someone over the age of 21 was in danger. Overall, people lives are not always worth the same, depending on their emotional value and physical value; however, the right question arises, “Is this really the way humans should be living.”

IRB Blog #3 ARTHUR KERTESZ BOY IN STRIPED PYJAMAS

The novel “Boy in the Striped Pyjamas,” by John Boyne has a very strong theme of Morality and Ethics. For example, Bruno is someone who has an outstanding sense of morality and ethics, even though he is very young. Bruno does not view anyone as subhuman or inferior, despite what he hears from others around him, or even his moral universe. An example of this is when Pavel, a jewish worker is asked to build a swing for Bruno by Lieutenant Kotler. Kotler calls Pavel several bad words and treats him as an animal, “Come over here, you—” (7. 390.) Bruno on the other hand, feels empathy for Pavel, and treats him kindly. Another character who has a good sense of morality and ethics in Bruno’s mother, Elsa. Despite being married to a Senior Nazi General, Elsa seems to question her husbands beliefs and ideas. Throughout the book, there are many times where she sobs for all the lives lost in the camps; however, there is one moment that stands out. After Pavel is done helping Bruno after he falls from the swing, Elsa walks in and thanks him for helping her son. Even though “thank you” is only two words, it means a lot coming from a women married to a Nazi General, to a Jew. This moment shows a lot about Elsa’s identity, and shows that we are all human, no matter what the times are. An example of someone who has a bad sense of morality and ethics is Bruno’s sister, Gretel. Gretel’s ethics are corrupted by Nazi beliefs, and is easily tricked into believing something false just to fit with everyone else. She almost never questions anything that is told to her. For example, when Pavel drops the bottle of wine, and is beat up almost to death for no reason, Gretel says, “The Jew deserved it.” Overall, having a good sense of morality and ethics is a crucial trait that is always important to have.

ARTHUR KERTES- BOY IN STRIPED PYJAMAS CHARACTERIZATION.

In the book “Boy in the Striped Pyjamas,” by John Boyne, the main character, Bruno plays a very important role. Bruno is the protagonist of the story, for he always has the best intentions, and feels constant empathy for others around him. Bruno is an 9 year old child, and like most children, he is very observant of everything around him; however, he is very naive and doesn’t pick up on the fact that his father is a Nazi official. One of Bruno’s main traits is his innocence.  For example, when Bruno first arrives in his new home, he looks out his window and sees the death camp of Auschwitz. Instead of recognizing it, he thinks that the camp is a farm, and thinks its funny that the people who work there all wear pyjamas. As the story progresses, Bruno starts to see some of the farmers (jews) get beat up for no reason. Bruno gets very confused and wonders why are these people getting beat up for no reason. Bruno eventually learns that the farmers are actually Jews, but he doesn’t know the reason why they are there. Bruno has always loved adventures and exploring. When he goes on an adventure, he eventually reaches the barbed wires of Auschwitz and meets his first new friend. Bruno gets confused on why the boy is trapped inside the camp, and when Shmuel replies with,”because I’m a Jew,” Bruno gets very confused. This shows how even though Bruno is very perceptive, he doesn’t really understand what’s happening around him, or in the world. Another example, is when Bruno watches his father’s propaganda video, of how Auschwitz will have amazing food and lots of entertainment, when in reality it was a death camp. When the video ends, Bruno goes and hugs his father, and becomes proud of him for being so ‘nice’ the Jews, but little does he know that his own father is taking a major role in the mass genocide of millions of Jews.

IRB BLOG POST 1- ARTHUR KERTESZ

“Those people … well, they’re not people at all, Bruno.”

This quote is extremely significant to the book, because it shows that Nazis viewed Jews as inhuman and inferior. Bruno’s dad is a high ranking officer in the Military for Germany; however, Bruno views his father as a good soldier fighting for his country,  and doesn’t yet know the truths of the war. When Bruno first sees Auschwitz out his window, he thinks that the people there are farmers. He comes to his dad confused on why do they all wear pajamas. In this quote, Bruno’s dad attempts to brainwash Bruno into believing the lies of the Nazis. The quote adds to Bruno’s motivation to visit Shmuel, making it more revolutionary. Bruno questions his dads beliefs, because when he talks to Shmuel, he views him as a normal person, making Bruno confused about what the rest of his family believes. This quote stands out to me because it shows how Nazis viewed Jews at the time. The way the phrase is worded to “not people at all” gave a feeling of disgust. This quote foreshadows Bruno’s discovery of what the camp really is about. When this quote is said, Bruno is still naive about what his dad really represents and the location he is in. At the moment, his biggest concerns are boredom and lack of friends. This quote really is the turning point in which Bruno starts questioning his father and the place he is in. This connects to the books theme of innocence. For example, Bruno still believes that Auschwitz is a farm with ‘weird’ people who wear striped pajamas, and overtime he discovers the truths. Overall, this quote marks the point in which Bruno loses his innocence and starts questioning society. a banana banana banana banana banana banana 

Final Project- Blog Post #7

 Ok. The time has come. I stand up from my chair as nervous as ever. I know I have practiced. I know my presentation by heart. I’ve done everything. I just need the last step to finish my Capstone. Present.I click the SmartBoard to start m

I click the SmartBoard to start my presentation. There is no turning back. Now I think “Why didn’t I do a WeVideo, then I wouldn’t need to go through this. OK just relax. Just RE-LAX”. The words start coming out of my trembling mouth. I click the SmartBoard again to advance to my last slide. And now, I just need to express what I learned. What I am passionate about. Then I was just talking. Talking, talking, talking and talking.

Although I tripped through some words, my presentation turned out to great. Leasson learned.

Just RELAX.

Working on Final Project- Blog Post #6- Arthur Kertesz

Now that we finished our research and we know the answer to our main inquiry question, we can begin our final project. We could choose between three styles for our presentation. There is Movie Style (WeVideo), Ignite Presentation (You talk LIVE with background images on Google Slides behind you and each slide advances automatically every 15secs. There are 12 slides, which means you have 3mins to present/talk) and another style for Capstone is TED talk (it is almost the same thing as ignite but you have unlimited time for each slide and instead of having 3min to talk, you are limited to 8-9 mins). I chose to do a TED Talk because I wanted to present LIVE and I didn’t want to have such big of a limit.

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Blog Post #4- Site Visit

To create your presentation you need to research. There are many ways to research, articles, books, internet sources, etc. However, to get a full experience, you need to live your topic, which means you have to go somewhere that will give you information that you wouldn’t get in a book or on the internet.

So I started by trying to find a GoPro office. That would’ve been easy if I lived in California. The second best idea was to go to a GoPro store. That sounded good until I realized that there are no stores that sell only GoPros. In kind of a panic mode of not knowing where to go for my site visit, I looked on GoPro’s website. I noticed that they had a store-locator. I quickly saw that Dick’s Sporting Goods in White Plains, 10min from my house, sold GoPros. I went there right after school. I saw how GoPro organizes its products in a very modern way: there is a screen showing a lot of cool videos that were filmed with a GoPro, with cameras and equipment bellow that. I noticed there are different equipment for different sports. There were also three different types of new cameras: HERO 5 Black, HERO 5 Session and HERO Session. The Site Visit was also very helpful.

 

These are some images of my site visit.

Interview- Blog Post #3

Sometimes when you research, you need to get a more opinionated view. You need to get a interview. First I tried to find a GoPro office, but there are none in NY. Started to look online for a number or email, and I found GoPro’s headquarters’ email… “Yes!” I thought when I saw that they had answered… The excitement didn’t last long when I saw that they had emailed back an automatic response. I told my mom what happened and I asked her for any suggestions. She said that her friend’s husband, Joel Birnbaum, practices extreme sports and he uses GoPro’s cameras a lot. I needed to revise my Interview Questions because now I was sending a email to someone that has experience on GoPro’s cameras rather than someone that works for GoPro. Then, I sent the Email right before school. Surprisingly I got the Email back on the same afternoon. “This is perfect!” I thought to myself as I read the Email he sent back. He neatly answered each and every question in a very complete way. This interview couldn’t be more helpful!

 

      

Choosing Main Inquiry and Sub-Questions- Blog Post #2- Arthur Kertesz

After you choose your topic, you have to develop a “main inquiry question”. A main inquiry question is what you are going to focus on your topic. An example of that is “How has Apple evolved over time?” or “How are electronics affecting lives of children?”. Your main inquiry question cannot be something simple like “What are genes?” or “Where the Titanic landed?”. It can’t also be something impossible to answer like “Is Louisiana definitely going to be hit by a hurricane this year?” Remember that we are researching our topics for six weeks.

Now here is how I chose my main inquiry question. Since Go-Pro has a giant impact in sports and Go-Pro is a very successful product, my main inquiry question turned out to be “What has made Go-Pro so successful and how has it impacted sports?”. That question covers the two main points of the Go-Pro.

After you have your main inquiry question, you need to create your sub-questions, which are smaller questions to help you answer your main one. They basically guide your research. I came up with these:

1.“What is a Go-Pro? What is so unique about it?”

2.“What sports use Go-Pro the most? “

3.“How is Go-Pro used in sports?”

4.” Who are the main users of Go-Pro?”

5.“ What does Go-Pro do in addition to selling its products?”

6.“How successful is the Go-Pro?”