Literary Canons: The Watch and Warring Memories
LITERARY CANNON
LINDSAY DAVIS
FINAL WRITING PROJECT
KEISER UNIVERSITY
APRIL 20, 2013
Throughout this course, the class has been given the opportunity to read some very real, testimonial works which allow readers to empathize with the authors. Some of these works have given me a new and literal understanding of history. The two stories that have personally affected me the most are, “The Watch,” written by, Elie Wiesel and “Warring Memories,” by, Kandi Tayebi. Both of these stories are told in a very unique way and give the reader a deeper perspective. The first is told from one's personal experience and the second is a story which gives one perspective through secondary eyes. Both of these stories have an explicit depiction of history that is not learned in a textbook and I feel they should be part of the literary canon. People of all ages need to be aware of tragedy and growth from a personal stand point and not rely completely upon media sources and textbooks that only deliver a version of the truth.
“The Watch,” begins with the memory of a girl's bar mitzvah and a beautiful gold watch received as a gift. The watch could not be kept however, soon jewelry and valuables needed to be buried as the Jews were driven out of the town they had for so long called their own. They all assumed the valuables would soon be recovered. “Yes, we were naïve. We could not forsee that the very same evening, before the last train had time to leave the station, an excited mob of well-informed friendly neighbors would be rushing through the ghetto's wide-open houses and courtyards, leaving not a stone or beam unturned, throwing themselves upon the loot.” (Weisel, Elie. “The Watch.” pg53) Some twenty years later as the girl returned to the place she had so many years ago called home, she stood in the place where those valuables were buried. Using her bare hands she dug the earth and recovers,
LINDSAY DAVIS
FINAL WRITING PROJECT
KEISER UNIVERSITY
APRIL 20, 2013
Throughout this course, the class has been given the opportunity to read some very real, testimonial works which allow readers to empathize with the authors. Some of these works have given me a new and literal understanding of history. The two stories that have personally affected me the most are, “The Watch,” written by, Elie Wiesel and “Warring Memories,” by, Kandi Tayebi. Both of these stories are told in a very unique way and give the reader a deeper perspective. The first is told from one's personal experience and the second is a story which gives one perspective through secondary eyes. Both of these stories have an explicit depiction of history that is not learned in a textbook and I feel they should be part of the literary canon. People of all ages need to be aware of tragedy and growth from a personal stand point and not rely completely upon media sources and textbooks that only deliver a version of the truth.
“The Watch,” begins with the memory of a girl's bar mitzvah and a beautiful gold watch received as a gift. The watch could not be kept however, soon jewelry and valuables needed to be buried as the Jews were driven out of the town they had for so long called their own. They all assumed the valuables would soon be recovered. “Yes, we were naïve. We could not forsee that the very same evening, before the last train had time to leave the station, an excited mob of well-informed friendly neighbors would be rushing through the ghetto's wide-open houses and courtyards, leaving not a stone or beam unturned, throwing themselves upon the loot.” (Weisel, Elie. “The Watch.” pg53) Some twenty years later as the girl returned to the place she had so many years ago called home, she stood in the place where those valuables were buried. Using her bare hands she dug the earth and recovers,