The Zoo Keeper's Wife

While reading the end of The Zookeepers Wife, I was stunned by how quickly the Zabinskis returned to their previous lives. Soon after the war ended, Antonina brought Rys back to the zoo, and Jan returned from battle. They start up the zoo again, and it seems like everything is back to normal. I don't think that everything is back to normal though, people have horrible memories of the war, no one will ever be exactly the same. Antonina is described as, "Antonina wasn't involved in politics or war, and was timid, and yet despite that she played a major role in saving others and never once complained about the danger"(314). Antonina I believe was a very strong character throughout this book. She saved many people and was confident about what she did. When German officers would challenge her, she would confidently reply and they would back off. Antonina also kept her son save from all harm. In some ways one could say that being a "housewife" during this time was braver than going to war. She kept the underground railroad going and kept her family undercover.

This book really uncovered the holocaust for me. I never realized that it was this brutal. Because I read World War II from an actual perspective of the victims, the war became more real. To be in the Zabinski's shoes when bombs are going off all around the zoo, was breathtaking. All of the tough situations the Zabinskis went through. I was very pleased by this book and it makes me want to learn more about World War II. The book ends with a happy ending, Jan retires and to make a living writing books on zoology. Antonina becomes a children's book writer. The book ends with a poem describing Warsaw, Poland after the War. It describes how life goes on after the war, "Spring through fall, the horses live unaided by humans, wading in the ponds and grazing on bushes, tree branches, algae, and grass. Snow falls in mid-October and remains until may"(316). This quote I believe is showing that the seasons past and nothing changes. Life is still again. Poland went from intense chaos to slow moving, normal life again.

The Zookeepers Wife

The German forces continued to advance and a German officer assured Antonina that they needed their valuable fur farms and they should prepare to pack their animals and move them to safety. As bombs started landing closer and closer to the zoo, Antonina planned to move her family too. Choosing pets to leave behind tortured Antonina and Rys. They traveled light and Antonina, Rys, Jan's mother, two girls and fox man left for Lowicz on August 23. About a week before they left, Russians intruded the zoo looking for anything worth stealing. Antonina approached them hiding all of her fear and used her best Russian and commanded, "Not allowed! Your mother! Your wife! Your sister! Do you understand"(283)? She placed her hand on one of the men's shoulder and the "manic fury drained from his eyes"(283). Suddenly the man's attitude changed dramatically. He then gave the baby candy and smiled at Antonina offering her a ring from his own finger. Then the man unexpectedly ordered his soldiers out of the house leaving all they had. It seems to me that when Antonina shouted at them about their mothers and wives and sisters, that meant something to one of them, and touched his heart. He might have thought about his mother and sisters and his love for them. I think that by shouting this, Antonina made a connection to the Russians. By slightly touching the officer's shoulder, I believe she comforted him, which he probably doesn't get alot of. He quickly relaxed. I was surprised by the severe change in attitude of the man. He went from getting ready to steal everything in sight, to giving Antonina a ring and leaving everything behind. This shows that that war didn't make everyone evil and proves that there is no such thing as pure evil.

Later that week another officer appeared in the house. Antonina heard the squeak of the kitchen door and hurried downstairs to find a German officer in her living room. He wandered over to the piano and looked through the music. He demanded that she play for him so she started to play a German favorite song. The German officers shouted, "No, not that! Not that! Why are you playing that"(286)?! Antonina pulled her hands away from the keys confused and pulled out a different book. The officer pointed at "The Star- Spangled Banner" she played and he sang along. He then saluted her and left. This confused Antonina, she couldn't understand why he would want the American anthem played and why he was so fluent in music. Later the read the lyrics to the German song she had been playing, "They understand the bosom's yearning, they know the pangs of love, They can touch every tender heart with their silvery tones. Let them move your heart also; beloved, hear me! trembling, I wait for you; come, give me bliss"(286)! This makes more sense because the song is about a broken heart and a broken heart can rattle anyone's emotions. When someones heart is broken, one will never forget it, so when Antonina played this song, I am guessing the German officer was reminded of his broken heart and then demanded a different song. Love has the ability to relate to anyone and can rattle anyone's emotions.

The Zookeeper's Wife

The Polish people start to realize that surrendering to Germany and Adolf Hitler was a bad idea. The zoo is bombed and the surviving animals are sent off to another zoo. This devastates Antonina and Jan because the zoo and it's animals are their life. Jews are soon sent off to concentration camps and mass killings start. Hitler wants to purify the human race by killing off people that don't have the right features. Jan grew up in a Jewish school so he is good friends with many Jews. The underground housing of Jews is in desperate need of space. The zoo is perfect for this, because of the lack of animals the Zabinski's have a lot of extra space. Housing Jewish people is very risky, at times the Zabinski's would have 300 people hiding in the zoo until they get the right documents for them to live somewhere else. One suspicious footstep could lead to an immediate death to everyone living in the zoo. This puts the Zabinski's and everyone living in the empty animal cages in grave danger. Adolf Hitler commands the Nazis to kill every Jew they see. This is proof that when people get in a killing mood they can become savage. Hitler will do anything do get what he wants. It was hard for people to know who to trust and who not to trust. Heck, a zoo owner himself was interested in rescuing many of the Zabinski's animals. He repeatedly swore to the Zabinskis that he would take care of their animals, Antonina and Jan weren't convinced"(94). Antonina suspected he was lying, that he wielded enormous influence with higher-ups, and he might even be personally responsible for their fate"(93). Heck assured them that he had nothing to do with the closing of their zoo but no one can be fully trusted in times of war. Mostly people working for Adolf Hitler. Antonina writes in her journal, "We knew that Heck was a liar and with great sadness we understood that now there was no hope for saving our zoo;Germans were not interested in keeping them alive." Germans didn't care who lived and who died, as long as they got done what needed to be done according to them.

When one's life is in danger, they will go to extremes to survive. Killing became a sort of game to the Germans. One day Heck and his friends arrived drunk and armed to the zoo, "suddenly gunshots broke the winter silence, each one followed by its echo, as rifle fire crackled across the grounds, loud enough to hear through shuttered windows." Heck and his friends killed many of the zoo animals only for their own pleasure. Antonina and Jan valued the lives of their animals, on the other hand the Germans put very little value on life. The Germans increase in killing for fun worried everyone in danger. Antonina wrote in her journal, "Beyond politics or war, of sheer gratuitous slaughter, the savagery didn't serve hunger or necessity, it wasn't a political gambit, the doomed animals weren't being culled because they'd become too abundant in the wild... the brief frisson of killing outweighed the animals' lives. How many humans will die like this in the coming months"(96)? It was easy for the Germans to go around killing aimlessly for the fun of it. They were in power so they could do whatever they wanted. Another time the book demonstrates a time when the Germans portrayed death as a joke. One day a couple of Germans showed up at the zoo and implied that they were planning on killing Antonina and her two kids. Antonina used her best German and pleaded,"Calm down! Calm down" The Germans laughed and kept their guns aimed in her direction. They ordered Rys to walk around to the back of the shed and one of the Nazis followed him with a gun. "Antonina saw her son's face shriek with fear, the blood drain out of it, and his lips turn a light purple. She couldn't move and risk their killing her and Teresa, too"(280). She heard a gunshot come from the back of the shed. Then the man shouted, "Hey , boys! bring me that rooster! Get him from the bushes"(280). Rys then walked out from behind the shed, shaking with fear holding a dead chicken. The German soldier exclaimed, "We've played such a funny joke"(280)! The Germans faked that they had killed the young boy, and laughed about it. This shows that the Germans take death as a joke. They then ran away laughing. Antonina had been sure the gunshots had killed her son and was horrified to find it was just an evil prank. Many Germans took life as just a joke.

The Zoo Keeper's Wife

In this section, the bombing continues and Jan returns from the battle. Eventually Poland surrenders to Germany and the Nazis take over. The Poles believe that it is a better decision to surrender, they will so find out otherwise. Governor-General Frank issued a new law called, "Decree for the Combating of Violent Acts." This means acting or observing were equally punished. "Human nature being what it is, most people didn't wish to get involved, so few people were denounced, and fewer still denounced for not denouncing others . . .somewhere between doing and not doing, everyone's conscience finds its own level; most Poles didn't risk their lives for fugitives but didn't denounce them either." Similar to the play All My Sons this book categorizes people into whistle blowers and people who let it go. Many Polish people have the choice of ratting out on their friends, or risking their own lives by letting it slide. This is very similar to All My Sons because in that play, many characters have this decision too. The Nazis came in to Poland and changed all of their ways of life. They changed everything, Antonina walks through the city and says to Jan, "I can't breath, I feel like I'm drowning in a gray sea, like they're flooding the whole city, washing away our past and people, dashing everything from the face of the earth." Antonina feels as though the Nazis are destroying everything in sight. To the Poles, the Nazis just started a war in their territory and then invaded and basically ruined their lives. Took everything away, loved ones, houses, the city and much more.

Although it says most people just didn't risk their lives for fugitives, and I think this is true. The few people that did risk their lives for fugitives we hear about. These stories always amaze me. I think it takes a very brave person to hold fugitives, someone that cares for others more than the safety of themselves. I also believe that many of the Poles didn't get credit for holding fugitives because they either lost their own lives, or weren't discovered. It takes a true hero to do this. People were rewarded if they turned in people they knew so this gave a big incentive to turn them in. The happy medium in these two consequences is neither turning in your friends or holding them. It amazes me how violent the Nazis were, all for nothing. The Polish people never did anything to deserve all of this death and devastation the Nazis imposed on them . Many people were probably very scared for their lives during this time period.

Miller, Arthur, and Christopher Bigsby. All My Sons : A Drama in Three Acts. New York: Penguin Classics, 2000.

*All My Sons : A Drama in Three Acts
should be underlined but it won't let me underline!

In the play All My Sons the characters must decide between benefiting society, or benefiting their own family. This decision is what the play revolves around. Joe Keller was in a position where he could either benefit his family or benefit society. He chooses family. When Joe Keller admits to his son, that he was the one that made the mistake Chris gets very angry, "For me! Where do you life, where have you come from? For me! -- I was dying every day and you were killing my boys and you did it for me? What the hell do you think I was thinking of, the Goddamn business? Is that as far as your mind can see, the business? What is that, the world the business? What the hell do you mean, you did it for me? Don't you have a country? Don't you live in the world? What the hell are you?" Chris doesn't understand how his father could pick benefiting his family, and his business, over saving many pilots. When he was dying, his father was worried about the business and family. Joe Keller chose to save his business instead of Innocent pilots. Joe Keller says, "You're a boy, what could I do! I'm in business, a man is in business; a hundred and twenty cracked, you're out of business." This goes to show that Joe Keller cares about his business more than many other things. He knew that if he didn't send the cracked cylinders his business would be done for. But if he sends them out, the planes could be in danger.

In my opinion Joe Keller was morally wrong for sending out the dangerous cracked cylinders. By doing this he killed 21 people and that is not okay just because he wanted to save the business so he could give it to Chris. I think that Chris had the right to get mad at his dad. I think that the right decision mostly depends on the consequences. Which consequence makes a bigger difference. In this case killing 21 people is a bigger consequence than losing the business, so choosing society over family is the right thing to do. On the other hand of your family is in extreme danger and society's consequence is small then helping the need of your family is more important. I think that most of the time, society has the bigger consequence and is more important to risk ones family for society.

The Zoo Keeper's Wife

In the section that I read this week of The Zoo Keeper's Wife the Polish people start to worry about German forces lead by Hitler invading. The Zabinskis try to avoid reality of the thought of bombing Poland. One morning Antonina wakes to the sound of hundreds of bomber planes. Antonina is on her way to Rejentowka to retrieve her son and on her way is amazed by what she saw. "German aircraft looming near in seconds, chewing up the skies, flying low overhead, panicking people and horses alike. Pelted by bullets, everyone hurried through clouds of flying dirt, the unlucky fell, and the relatively lucky fled beneath splattering machine-gun fire. Catching a bullet was sheer chance and for seven hours Antonina beat the odds, but not without scenes of the dead and dying etched into memory." This is a very powerful quote, it shows that the bombing and death affected Antonina and that war never leaves ones memory. It also shows how violent this war is. Although it's only the beginning it is already killing many people. Antonina is also worried about her son, she thinks that if he grows up watching the war he will grow to think that that is what life will always be like. "At least her son, in Rejentowka, was spared these images, so hard to erase, especially for a small child whose brain, busily sampling the world, was learning what to expect and stitching those truths in place at a trillion connections. stay prepared for this world the rest of your life, a child's brain tells itself, a world of mayhem and uncertainty." If Rys, Antonina's son grows up seeing all of the killing of the war, Antonina thinks that his brain will be messed up forever. That he will expect the rest of his life to be like this.

The war gets worse so Jan and Antonina start to worry about the zoo and the animals. With the bombs, and animals went crazy. "The elephants trumpeted wildly, they hyenas sobbed in a frightened sort of giggle interrupted by hiccups, the African hunting dogs howled, and the rhesus monkeys, agitated beyond sanity, battled one another, their hysterical shrieks clawing the air." The animals start to go insane, this is foreshadowing for what might come. The animals are in a worse situation than the humans because humans can adapt to new situations, animals in the zoo are dependent on people. Jan and Antonina are very worried about how to keep the zoo running and how to save the animals. They are very attached to the zoo and the animals within. "In this Luftwaffe attack, a half-ton bomb destroyed the polar bears' mountain smashing the walls, moats, and barriers and freeing the terrified animals. When a platoon of Polish soldiers found the panicky bears, ribboned with blood and circling round their old haunt, they quickly shot them." This shows that the animals in the zoo are actually in danger because of this war. Something has to be done to save them. If the Germans aren't afraid to kill humans they won't be afraid to kill animals in the zoo.