What is Textual Analysis(Free)

What is Textual Analysis (unit #3 Wiesel)

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WHAT IS TEXTUAL ANALYSIS?

ANALYZING THE

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

LECTURE BY ELIE

WIESEL:

Hope, Despair and

Memory

CRITICAL READING AND WRITING

HIGHER ORDER THINKING

This is a self-contained unit on textual analysis; everything you need is here. This unit focuses on a small section of the Nobel Peace Prize Lecture by Elie Wiesel: Hope, Despair and Memory. This work is listed as a text exemplar in the CCSS Appendix B1. Achieve positive results in creating analytical thinkers by nurturing your students abilities and giving them the necessary tools to develop critical reasoning skills. This can be achieved through close textual analysis of small sections of texts. This unit moves away from generic questions and focuses on text-based answers.

INCLUDED IN THIS UNIT ARE THE FOLLOWING:2

! A small excerpt from the Nobel Peace Prize Lecture by Elie Wiesel: Hope, Despair and Memory. This excerpt appears in the unit itself but is also included as a separate PDF in the zip file so that you can send it to your students to print if necessary. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 "Appendix B.indd - Common Core State Standards Initiative." 2010. 2 Jun. 2013 " The image for this unit is from the following: By Russian Government [Public domain or CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons



! Suggestions on how to read the text at different levels.

! A breakdown of the excerpt sentence by sentence with writing prompts.

! Group questions and individual questions.

! Essay questions and discussion topics.

! All of the questions included here are text based and require critical thinking, reading, and

writing; they address concerns regarding the Common Core ELA/ Literacy: Shift 4: Text-based Answers.

! Questions aligned with ELA-Literacy CCSS 8-12 - in particular with the following

standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.1; 9-10.1; 11-12.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.4; 9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.1 Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

! TpT prefers free units to be under 10 pages. Therefore, this unit provides some, but not all, of the information that I usually provide in my Textual Analysis and/or HOTS units.3 The formatting is slightly different; there are some teacher notes provided here in my other Textual Analysis units I provide more notes and suggested answers. Included here is a small portion of the speech itself see the entire speech here: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1986/wiesel-lecture.html.

! I will create another unit that provides more notes, answers, and new essay questions to this

same speech. Please follow me to receive an email so you know when Ive posted this follow-up lesson.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#!See the end of this unit for links to these documents. These lessons are similar but more in-depth. !



4

Hope, Despair and Memory

"And yet real despair only seized us later. Afterwards. As we emerged from the nightmare and

began to search for meaning. All those doctors of law or medicine or theology, all those lovers of

art and poetry, of Bach and Goethe, who coldly, deliberately ordered the massacres and participated

in them. What did their metamorphosis signify? Could anything explain their loss of ethical,

cultural and religious memory? How could we ever understand the passivity of the onlookers and -

yes - the silence of the Allies? And question of questions: Where was God in all this? It seemed as

impossible to conceive of Auschwitz with God as to conceive of Auschwitz without God.

Therefore, everything had to be reassessed because everything had changed. With one stroke,

mankind's achievements seemed to have been erased. Was Auschwitz a consequence or an

aberration of "civilization"?"5

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!$ Elie Wiesel, Professor of the Humanities, Boston University, USA speaks during the session '269 A New Agenda: Combining Efficiency and Human Dignity' at the 'Annual Meeting 2003' of the World Economic Forum in Davos/Switzerland, January 28, 2003. copyright by World Economic Forum swiss-image.ch/photo by Sebastian Derungs 5 The Nobel Peace Prize 1986 Elie Wiesel: Noble Lecture: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1986/wiesel-lecture.html



! Individual work students should do the following:

! Do a superficial read of the text (read it once without stopping).

! Read it again a tad slower try to figure out the major idea that Wiesel is presenting.

! Now read it actively interrupt your reading when a thought enters your mind write it

down in the margin.

! Underline any words that you do not understand; look them up in a dictionary record the

words, and the definitions, on flash cards.

! Group work students should do the following:

! Ask a group member to read the passage aloud.

! Discuss your ideas from above.

! Ask group members what they think is the most important point in the excerpt.

! Ask group members to help you understand aspects of the excerpt that you did not

understand.

! Ask group members to supply evidence from the text that supports their opinions.

! Participate in shared inquiry: pose basic questions regarding the passage that cannot be

answered in one single way. For instance: How do we reconcile the existence of God with

human atrocities like the Holocaust?



! Close textual analysis: (Answer the questions below in the spaces provided; some questions require outside research and will require longer responses than the space provided use this section for your beginning notes.)

! And yet real despair only seized us later. Afterwards. 1. Why do you think despair would not have seized them during the atrocities of the Holocaust?

! As we emerged from the nightmare and began to search for meaning. 2. Why do you think human beings need to search for meaning? This makes us different from animals, of course, so what does it say about human beings? What are we searching for? Why is meaning associated with despair?



! All those doctors of law or medicine or theology, all those lovers of art and poetry, of Bach and Goethe, who coldly, deliberately ordered the massacres and participated in them.

3. What is theology? Why does Wiesel specify these three fields? Explain, in your own words, what this phrase means. (Extra research: Who was Bach? Who was Goethe? What is Wiesel implying by the references to Bach and Goethe in particular?)

! What did their metamorphosis signify? Could anything explain their loss of ethical, cultural and religious memory?

4. What does metamorphosis mean? Why does Wiesel speak of their memories? Does it make it worse that someone who knows better ends up committing atrocities, than someone who never knew any different? Why is the former a worse situation? What is culture?



! How could we ever understand the passivity of the onlookers and - yes - the silence of the Allies? 5. What does Wiesel mean by the passivity of the onlookers? (Extra research: In the beginning, what did the Allies think of Hitler? Are there historical examples you can find that reference the silence of the Allies?)

! And question of questions: Where was God in all this? It seemed as impossible to conceive of Auschwitz with God as to conceive of Auschwitz without God

6. (Extra research: How does one reconcile God and evil?) Rewrite this passage in your own words:



! " Therefore, everything had to be reassessed because everything had changed. With one stroke, mankind's achievements seemed to have been erased.

7. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why or why not? First, before you begin to explain your answer, rewrite this passage in your own words:

! Was Auschwitz a consequence or an aberration of "civilization"? 8. This question requires further research. Begin by defining aberration and civilization. Present a

case either supporting or opposing Wiesels statement.



! Teacher notes:

1. One answer is that the victims could not succumb to despair while trying to stay alive. See Wiesels speech The Perils of Indifference: http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/History/American-History/The-Perils-of-Indifference/7390

2. I have in mind that all human beings search for meaning because they are cognizant that

they are going to die we are all mortal.

3. See Tom Stoppard's 1974 play Travesties, which quotes Lenin saying that when he listens to Beethoven's Appassionata sonata, he wants to "pat the heads of those people who while living in this vile hell can create such beauty," but he can't afford to indulge his love of music, however, because now is the time "to hit heads, to hit them without mercy."6

4. I engage the class in a discussion about violence and ignorance and how they often go

together. However, we also discuss the educated criminal. Furthermore, I sometimes ask the students to do a research paper on the Nuremberg Trials and analyze some of the defendants, especially focusing on the question of education.

5. There are several articles on how the Allies wouldnt believe the truth about the Holocaust.

6. This quotation leads to a very in-depth discussion as to how and why God could create a

world with terrible suffering. I often teach The Fall of Man at the same time as this lecture. I will develop this answer much more in my follow up TpT unit.

7. This raises a question about The Enlightenment. Germany had an extremely well educated

and civilized populace. This returns to question number four above.

8. This research project could be done in groups or alone. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!%!http://www.isteve.com/Film_The_Lives_of_Others.htm. This site is about the film The Lives of Others a fantastic film that raises a similar question to Stoppards play and this speech. I have a TpT unit on the film: Film Study: The Lives of Others (quiz and questions and summary)



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What is Textual Analysis(Free)

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