Chattahoochee River
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Ch. 4 Food is Lyfe
What caught my attention this chapter was how often food was mentioned. Everyone was fixated on obtaining more food. Their food rations played a vital role in their survival in Buna. It served as a sort of currency amongst the prisoners. They were rewarded with extra rations, and punished with less. The prisoners' constant state of fear and malnourishment have made them take on a "survival of the fittest" mindset. The only thing keeping any of them alive was their daily soup and bread, so it makes sense that their lives revolve around it.
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Kingsly, I think you are pretty much right. Since they didn't have plenty to eat they probably couldn't think and function very well about much. Food defined their strength which defined their chances of surviving.
ReplyDeleteMalnutrition can cause diseases and prones you to infection as well. Not only to be beaten or killed but being starved to death just makes me cringe because that is one slow draining death. Hunger also results in depression which could also lead into how Eliezer has been acting and how he's changing as well.
ReplyDeleteUntil you mentioned it, Kingsly, I had never cued in on the amount of times food was mentioned. I agree, their lives centered around food. In America we have so much food we don't really give much thought to it.
ReplyDeleteI like that you pointed out food as being a predominant topic in the chapter Kingsly. Food is very important to one's survival, but what if food for the Jews was more than that. What if food was used as a way for them to distract themselves from the pain that they were experiencing? Either way, food is symbolic in that the Jews had become obssesed with it. They would risk their lives (such as the guy who crawled over to the pots of soup) in order to obtain extra rations.
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