Project Reflection: Izzy Bonecutter

In humanities we were assigned to a project about the war. Throughout the last
four months we have been studying both World War 1, and World War 2. We had been
studying dictatorships, fronts, sides, different countries, and almost everything that was
involved with the war. Our task was to create a five to seven page short story about a
main event in the war. We were asked to pick a few choice elements that could help
represent our story more clearly and give more information. We had to gather evidence
on our chosen topic by doing research notes. These notes were thoroughly thought out
and expanded in many details. It was important we detailed our notes so that our short
stories were accurate. In our short stories we were required to have a strong plot and
literary elements. Our stories were than exhibited in Marias Book Shop where we read
a chosen expert to the community.
As I mentioned earlier we were required to focus on literary elements. The
element I think I best incorporated into my story was historical integration. I was able to
show this element in my story really well because I had done a lot of research on the
subject. In this section of my story, I am Jewish. My family has raised me as a Jew.
From a young age my family has been practicing Judaism. My mother (Adir),would
always speak to me about god. God exists, god is eternal, she would say. My father
was strict. Growing up he had wanted me to practice the religion. He would talk to me
about Moses and how Moses was the greatest of prophets, and how all his prophesies
were true. He had assured me death was nothing to fear. He and my mother had valued
our religion and believed that the dead would be resurrected, it is obvious that I had
integrated religion into my story line. I think this shows how I integrated it really well
because it introduces the character as being Jewish, witch is also incorporating round
characters. I introduced the religion, and how it has effected the character. I also
introduced beliefs and thoughts on the religion. I think this statement clearly gives a
strong background on Judaism.

The literary element I struggled with the most was plot. I had three huge events
in my story. The main events included the bombing of cologne, getting sent to
Auschwitz and the death of his love, and becoming a writer and loosing hope to travel. I
think it was hard for me to organize the plot because I didn't know exactly witch point of
my story was most important or the climax. I had to overcome this by organizing my
story into three clear main sections, and creating the climax to be the most dramatic and
the change in my story. It was important to keep a clear plot so that the story line is
clear to the reader.
Throughout my story I made many revisions to refine my story. Here are two
examples of major revisions I made. I reached to the radio on the bed side table,
clicked the second button on the top and would listen till Lili Marlene came on. It was
written by a young soldier, Hans Leip, in 1915. He wrote this song before entering the
Russian front in WW1, and published the song in 1937. This was a major revision I
made because before it was just talking about my character turning the radio on and

listening to a random song. When I started to add in facts about the singer it helped me
expand on my choice element, religion. Another example is, I set my map down. I had
circled all the places I had wanted to travel in a red pen. It was a way for me to waste
time and excite myself with adventure. People who were admiring my map would talk to
me and tell me how it wasn't worth doing because Jewish people were not allowed to
leave the country. I will be able to leave the country, this isn't a forever thing, I would
always say under my breath. The last thing I saw before I had looked up was a red
circle around Hamburg Germany. I revised this by adding in his thoughts about how he
thinks he will be able to travel one day. This gives the character a perspective and
makes my character more round. My revisions effect my character because it gives
them a sense of my characters beliefs and gives more historical knowledge.