The Last Part of The Lazarus Project

The final bit of reading of The Lazarus Project started off with a particularly brutal section. It talks about Lazarus witnessing a man being brutally killed during the Pogrom. For a boy to witness this kind of brutality is hard to believe, and it goes a long way to show how horrible the pogrom was.

An interesting part occurs later on, where Rora talks about when he saw "a magic carpet flying across the river. It was a blue and white piece of nylon, but still I could not stop seeing it as a magic carpet." (page 253). It's useful to noticed that previously, Lazarus also imagined himself to be on a magic carpet when he was back home as a boy.

I think the magic carpet really symbolizes these struggling people's wishes to be free of their troubles and to just get away. Lazarus, who was an impoverished Jew, wished for the carpet to fly him away to America and a number of other countries. Rora just imagined a piece of Nylon as a flying carpet, a way to get away that the Chetniks would keep shooting down, showing how one's circumstances in the country keep them from getting away from the troubles.

I also found it interesting when Brik talks about his indecisiveness while in the car with Seryozha. He says that if Mary was in the car she would have been sure to do something, but he ended up doing nothing in the situation.

Later, though, Brik does step up and do something. He ends up pummeling Soryozha, breaking his jaw and perhaps even killing him. He says, "I wish Mary could have seen me in that moment, the lethal combination of wrath and good intentions." (page 264) Brik, in this section, reaches his breaking point. He can no longer keep his passive self in the very hostile country and has reached the point in which he can't handle the terrible things going on in the country anymore.

I did find some comfort that Olga decides to help Isador instead of living in total regret over Lazarus. She writes her mother that "I chose life over death. God will take care of the dead. We have to take care of the living" (page 272). Even though Olga will struggle with Lazarus, it's good to see that she can continue to live and help others in bad situations such as Lazarus's.

Finally, it was eye opening to see that Rora's whole story about Miller and Rambo was all made up. I guess when one comes from a very troubled past, it just makes things feel better when your whole past is made up to put you in a better light.

The Lazarus Project Part 3

This section of reading was already discussed a lot by Mr. Kudera in class, so I found a lot of connections that I probably wouldn't have otherwise. The first part of the story has a very informative list of all the wounds Lazarus received in his death. The assistant chief then calls Jews "creatures of a different world" which is agreed upon by Miller (page 88). This once again reinforces the hate and anti-semitic views of these characters.

The story then shifts to the story of Olga, who, as discussed in class, now seems to be the protagonist of the older story. The story begins to focus on her actions and thoughts and her struggles of losing her brother Lazarus. I thought it was interesting how Lazarus "daydreamed about being a reporter for The Hebrew Voice, while Brik in the present day story is a writer and has written columns. It's just another way to connect the two characters.

The end of the section also had a puzzling scene in which Lazarus comes to the door. After my initial reading, I was unsure of whether this was a dream, flashback, or just Olga going mad. Either way it certainly illustrates the emotional torment she is experiencing.

Back in present times, Brik and Rora are journeying through Eastern Europe. I thought as they were driving and saw "a horse cart with a cage full of rabbits, the man holding the reins slouching like a refugee" that this showed the contrast between their privileged lives and those of many in Eastern Europe (page 100).

I also liked the section in which Brik talks about how in America people often disbelieve a story when they hear it, but those in Ukraine and Bosnia leave all notions of reality behind to follow the story. I think they do this for the same reason that Rambo and Miller careen dangerously around a warzone in an Audi-they are looking for release from reality. They want a way to, even if just for an instant, remove themselves from their tough lives to escape to something better.

I also find it puzzling how Miller can continue to write so venomously about the Jewish and poor community in Chicago as he is exposed more and more to them. Maybe his preconceived notions about them are just too much, but it seems like he would eventually change his views about them after being exposed to the truth so much.

The Lazarus Project Part 2, off to Europe

This section of reading proved to be fairly intriguing, keeping the pages turning as Brik and Rora meander through Europe, learning more about life and searching for answers.

I looked up a few words to help my understanding of the reading. First off, deracination means an isolation of an individual from their native land. A fishmonger is simply a dealer of fish, and finally an aberration is the act deviating from the normal.

This section of reading starts off with Brik and Rora meeting and talking more about their past, present, and future. While the two are meeting and discussing ideas, I think I enjoyed more from Hemon's side tangents than the main plot itself. For example, Hemon writes about Rora: "He stuck out in the morning Andersonville crowd embarking upon their day's work of achieving perfection...I finally comprehended what I had known but had never been able to formulate; he had always been complete. He had finished the work of becoming himself, long before any of us could even imagine such a feat was possible" (page 30).

I liked this quote because it shows what a lot of people struggle with-confidence in themselves. Almost everyone I'd say struggles with their own identity long after reaching adulthood. People like Rora stand out because they're completely fine with where they have come from and who they are.

Another section that stood out to me was when Brik describes the church he attended as a child. He says that "everything in the church bespoke death, the heavy-clothed, airless, blind and deaf and decaying death" (page 39). I think it's very ironic that a revolutionary and life filled religion of Christianity can be so downtrodden in traditions that it becomes the solemn place as Brik describes it.

When the story shifts back to the early 1900's immigrants' mistreatment becomes the clear subject in the story. When the Fitzes and Miller go to investigate Lazarus's apartment and interogate his neighbor mercilessly, one clearly feels sympathy for the immigrants who are severely mistreated. Also, when Olga sees her dead brother sitting there, the situation is extremely distressful. Fitzpatrick even goes as far to say, "Happy to see him? Give him a kiss..." (page 57).

This mistreatment strikes anger in most readers, I'd assume. It's hard to tell where people get so much anger from. Really, though, when put into stressful situations, people tend to want to force the finger of blame somewhere. In Spike Lee's movie, 25th hour, there is a brilliant scene in which Edward Norton stares into a mirror and laces out an expletive laced rant against any kind of minority in New York, venting all of his frustrations in the post 9/11 environment of New York City. No minority was at fault, but Norton feels a sense of justification in himself in making everyone seem like villains.

In the same sense, when problems arise, people have to blame someone as responsible. Whether this responsibility resides with them or not is really beside the point. Blame is given in order for the other party to feel at peace with problems. With punishment dealt out, they feel happier about themselves, and better with the overall situation.