Post-Holocaust Jewish Literature

Misguided Rage in Post-Holocaust Jewish Literature

The theme of misguided rage is evident in this week’s readings. The main character in Borowski’s “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen” worked at a labor camp where he found himself feeling more angry at the Jewish people he was sending to their deaths rather than the Nazis who had him working under strenuous conditions. Lispector’s “The Daydreams of a Drunk Woman” gave readers an inside look into a the mind of a woman who was completely unsatisfied with her life and how she would take it out on her family and those around her. Celan and Amichai’s poems provide vivid imagery that paint pictures of death, anger, and confusion.

The topic of Post-Holocaust Jewish literature can be taught through the theme of misguided rage. Despite it being Post-Holocaust literature, the painful scars of the past are still prominent in this week’s readings. Teaching students about the history behind the authors as well as the history of the Holocaust can help put students into the right mindset to read and analyze these readings.

An element of popular culture that will engage students into this week’s readings is media. Being able to see the atrocities that were happening during the Holocaust will both engage and shock students. Many know what the Holocaust was, but watching videos, hearing stories, and seeing pictures may be a better approach in order to truly understand what was happening to people and how they must have felt. Teaching students about the history of the Holocaust followed by survivors’ interviews, pictures, or video clips can help students put themselves in the shoes of the Holocaust victims so that they may read this week’s texts with a clear insight into the images and feelings that the authors were trying to evoke.