My book, "The boy at the top of the mountain" by John Boyne, ends with Pierrot at a camp for soldiers from the Axis Powers. He then gets released and gets a job working on a boat. He makes some friends, but leaves to become a teacher. He teaches for a few years until he runs into some childhood friends, convincing him to revisit his birthplace. He visits, and he tells his story to his deaf friend, who is now an author, and he turns it into a story. The most valuable lesson in the story is how even though he got brainwashed, he eventually realized he was wrong, and decided to admit it. The lesson to learn is that you should admit your mistakes instead of covering them up, leading to more and more mistakes. In the story, Pierrot says, "You might get mad at me after I say this. In fact, you might want to kill me. But it's all true, and I know I messed up" (Boyne, Pg. 184). The reason people should still read this book today is so they find out how easy the German people were brainwashed, and how to avoid being brainwashed by a leader like HItler. In the book, it states, "We were all brainwashed so easily, maybe we should have thought more about what we were doing" (Boyne, Pg. 176). This is why I think others should read this book.
8 Comments
Varsha Karuturi
5/2/2018 05:00:35 pm
Wow! I was not expecting an ending like that. You did a great job citing your evidence from your book. I will definitely take a look at your book.
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5/3/2018 01:01:55 pm
I really enjoyed your blog Thanuj. The end of the book was a real plot twist from your last blog. I really like your most valuable lesson and I think it's very hard for people to admit that they were wrong and for him to admit that he was wrong and that he was brainwashed takes a lot of guts.
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Omer Ali
5/3/2018 02:51:48 pm
I watched a movie like this once, called The Wave (SPOILERS AHEAD). It was about how a social studies teacher started what was basically a cult also called the wave, after a student in his class asked how the Germans didn't realize what they were doing during WW2. He used some basic disciplining techniques to make them all willing to do just about anything for their group. Then, after a few weeks, he told them that they now had a political representative, a national leader. He brought them all to the auditorium, waited for them to get impatient, then unveiled their national leader; Hitler. Just goes to show it's better to think for yourself than to have others think for you, as you could find yourself doing something that you would normally perceive as un-acceptable, it sounds like a psychological book which is right up my alley. :)
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Corinna Fultz
5/3/2018 03:45:48 pm
Was John Boyne his deaf friend, or someone else who heard the story?
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Glenna Ruslander
5/3/2018 06:08:29 pm
I agree, admitting to your mistakes is important because if you don't you will just make the same one over and over again. Since admitting to your mistakes is the first step, I think we also need to realize each others mistakes so that non one will make them again.
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Hasti sherafat
5/4/2018 05:53:04 pm
Do you think that the germans being so hopeless after world war 1 was the reason they got brainwashed so easily and blindly followed what hitler said?
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Hasti sherafat
5/4/2018 05:54:05 pm
Reason*
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sophie flynn
5/4/2018 07:59:30 pm
i agree. i feel that the brainwashed soldiers aren't good for the society. Imagine everyone being brainwashed.
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