"The Lost" Post 1b

One thing that I noticed about “The Lost” was its unique writing style. Mendelsohn doesn’t follow a concrete story line; instead, he circles from one idea to the next, reiterating certain ideas. One of these is Yizkor, the annual Jewish memorial service for the dead, which is defined on pg 9 as well as on pg 21. I think that Mendelsohn is imitating his grandfather’s style of story-telling, to help us better understand the type of culture in which he was raised in. With this style it’s as if he is telling multiple stories at the same time that all relate to the same central idea: his six lost relatives. I really like the way he refers to them as lost instead of dead, because, as he explains: “My grandfather told me all these stories, all these things, but he never talked about his brother and sister-in-law and the four girls who, to me, seemed not so much dead as lost, vanished not only from the world but- even more terribly to me- from my grandfather’s stories” (15). I think that this brings up the idea of the difference between being dead and being “lost”, because lost implies a sense of unknowing. Is it better to know the truth, however unpleasant or tragic, or are we sometimes better off not knowing? I think that the author is leaning towards the idea of the necessity of truth, as he describes that their lostness from his grandfather’s stories makes him feel “terribly”.

"The Lost" Post 1a

Vocabulary
sunt lacrimae rerum (dedication): latin for "these are the tears of things"
umlaut (7): the diacritical mark placed over a vowel to indicate when an earlier vowel takes on the sound of the second vowel.
yizkor (21): Jewish tradition of remembering family members who have passed away annually

Three Appeals
"Of this Shmiel, of course, I knew something: my grandfather's oldest brother, who with his wife and four beautiful daughters had been killed by the Nazis during the war" (7). Although this statement in itself is a logical appeal, because it is simply stating information, it alos has qualities of emotional appeal. The matter-of-factness in which it is proclaimed, along with words like "of course" give it the feeling of something very integral to Daniel's family. As well, the subject matter itself (the murder of the Jews by the Nazis during WWII) is a very emotional subject.
"Given the existence of this eyewitness accoun of events taht are so distant from anything I could ever have experienced, and which therefore I have a difficult time "imagining" or "envisioning", I perefer to avoid paraphrase and instead will simply cite his description" (51). This quote has an emotional appeal, as we want to know what could be too horrible for him to imagine or envision. It draws us in.
"At the moment when my mother said Herman the Barber I realized I could be wrong, that traces of those six might still remain in the world, somewhere" (73). I think that this statement is an emotional appeal because it invites us to wonder what Daniel could find out about his six lost relatives; what he was going to do about this mystery.

Quote
"So this is what my grandfather had been carring around with him, all those years. The letters Shmiel had been writing, in the last desperate year while he could still write, when he thought he could find a way out... It had been there, right in front of me, and I hadn't seen a thing" (61). This quote is significant for two reasons. First of all, the fact that Daniel's granfather has been carrying around the letters indicates that they are extremely important to him, and implies that there is something unfinished regarding Shmiel's demise. Additionally, Mendelsohn brings up the idea of something being right in front of you which you simply don't look carefully enough for. I think that this might become a recurring theme.

Theme
One must take advantage of every oppurtunity one has, and not let chances pass one by.