October 2022 – amelia’s narratives

Letters to a Young Writer by Colum McCann

In Letter to a Young Writer it says to continue to have curiosity and expanding your knowledge, don’t be afraid to look to others for help, writing is always changing so don’t wallow in the failures, everything you write is important to how you grow as a writer, “a lot can be taken from you — even your life — but not your stories about that life”, no one can stop you from writing down your stories and thoughts throughout your life, so write everything down.

In Habit of Hoping it says wherever you are, keep finding your desires and joys in life; have hope in the beauty of living, theres a lot of negativities in this world but you should try to focus on what makes you see the positives in life, like writing.

In The Dark Dogs of the Mind it says that in order to not succumb from the negative mind and depression, write your way out of the darkness and fight the light through your imagination. If you lose motivation and are consumed in bad thoughts, write through your suffering and pain, because this can be your saving grace.

In Write Yourself a Credo it says to always write down your thoughts and anything that comes to mind because everything you think about and are inspired by is important and worth writing down because you never know how far one simple idea can take you.

Short Story – WWII Letter

02/05/1945

Dear Archie,

I know I have not written to you in a while, I had to get new envelopes. I hope this letter finds you in good health, and you need not worry about myself, I am safe and on rest now. I am currently in the hospital with minor wounds but I’ll be able to come home and see you once I am all healed; thank you for writing to me, I miss you so much. I have been thinking about you a lot. I know Christmas has just passed and I hope you are well and enjoyed the holiday. I was just informed that we are not allowed to write detailed experiences, due to the postal censorship, but I want to tell you what I have been faced with.

It was on the 24th, and we were stationed in Ardennes when we were called to fight. We fended off the damned Germans in a fierce last attack, and came out victorious! I must say, I was worried because I had heard shouts and explosions around me— but we were able to pull through. Though, it was not without minor cuts and bruises (my doctor said that I may have to amputate my leg but that’s neither here nor there, as is my leg hahaha).

I try to make light of it now, for we cannot change the past, but I fear I will be forever haunted. I make the light I cannot see. I cannot lie to you, dear friend, I believe I am irredeemable. Yes, all is fair in love and war, but taking a life changes you in a great numerous ways. The only way to survive was by always having a gun in hand, even at night when sleep should have protected you. Some nights, I wake up in a cold sweat… the blood, and smell of burning flesh and sound of gunfire and bombings… that last battle. I did come out of it alive and half-well, but others did not. My friends… my brothers in arms fell like flies in the night sky to the blaze of fire. By day I am able to smile and go about life as if I am free from the looming threat of battle, but by night I become terrorized once more. I can never forget the smell of burning flesh. The loud explosions. It pains me to admit that I cannot even celebrate in the nights festivities because of the loud noise. Too much remembrance comes about when the nights’ shadowy fingers grasp my conscious. Our trek back home was not much better. Heavy snow fell— cold and treacherous. My friend who had also been injured—but more gracious than I— had to be carried, and I was the carrier.

Do not fret, my comrades and I who had survived made it back and we are all in recovery. Every day I am grateful that I am still alive. Please send my regards to my family and friends and tell them of the good news of my homecoming! Write back to me soon before I get back (don’t forget, especially with that terrible memory of yours). I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

James Valley

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

In the movie, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, the main character undergoes internal and external struggles, which causes her to resort to fraud by forging letters and selling them for money. It is sad how poverty can cause this. She developed an alcohol problem, trust issues, and eventually resorting to an illegal way of getting money. Because she had low income she struggled mentally and did not have time to keep her house clean, which then made people look down on her and not treat her the same as she was then treated after she had money and was able to give gifts to the landlord. Because of this she was able to get rid of her insect problem. Having a good income from forging letters and selling them helped her in that aspect and also allowed her to receive good treatment, a possible love interest, and medicine for her cat. In doing this she also gained a friend that she started to trust and have a good relationship with. Sadly that friend gave the cat the wrong dosage of medicine and it died. I feel like this movie portrayed that money is worth more, as the love interest never worked out in the end, the friend betrayed her trust, and the cat died. I feel like the only thing that stayed constant was the fact that she was getting a lot of money. Eventually she confessed to the fraud and bettered herself and forgave her friend. In the end she found motivation to write again (wrote a book about this experience of hers) and made a long lasting friend; she was proud of her work and regretted nothing.

The Gift

Short story by Emma Donoghue‘s in the form of letters. I find it sad that Mabel/Lily was never told that she was adopted. I think it is important to tell children who their birth parents are, but of course help them understand that that doesn’t mean they are their birthparents are their mother and father. Whoever raises you is your true mother and father and I do not think it is okay to keep information of how you were born away from a child and especially even as an adult; they have the right to know who their birthparents are regardless of the situation. Mabel/Lily should have at least been told when she was 18 who her birth mother is and how her true life was and that her birth mother did not abandon her. It’s sad how poverty can ruin a mothers chance of raising their own child. I feel bad for Mabel/Lily’s birth mother, but also happy that Mabel/Lily was raised well in a well off family, where she was able to succeed and get married and have children of her own in the end. Maybe with how her birth mothers income and marriage was, Mabel/Lily might have not had a similar life, but this doesn’t excuse the fact that her parents never told her the truth. I like how the author of The Gift showed how distraught the birthmother was; her clear change in emotions were very expressive and in my opinion felt rushed. I felt like she was always trying to give explanations, which she does because she is scared of her birth child to think of her as fully abandoning her. It was interesting to see how Mabel’s father felt, and I think he is right in keeping the child, but they should have told her the truth of her life early on. These things can be explained to children in ways where you can also clearly show them that they have their mother and father, but also birth parents, which biologically gave birth to them, but their true mother and father are the people who raise and give love to you. Regarding the tone I think that the mother’s emotions were captured well. She was distraught and worried the whole time, and which you can see in every letter the mother wrote, as she sounded all over the place. It’s sad because of her dependency on a husband and never being able to provide enough for her and a child. Although she was never stable, I feel like she should have been allowed an opportunity after Mabel was 18 to be able to see her and have her child know her background.

WWII Love Letters

In listening to some love letters between a soldier from WWII and his lover, I was able to understand the true connection and love behind words. I felt as if this was the type of relationship that was needed during this time; something where you can hold on to physical letters, having the ability to always look back on the thoughts that someone had written down. Love letters are different than regular letters, where you would just write down simple things going on in your life or how you are doing. With letters between you and someone you love, emotions pour out and the two express their pure thoughts about the other, being completely vulnerable. I admire how open Chris was towards Bessie and how he said anything that was on his mind. I wish I heard more with how Bessie felt, but besides that I felt like they both equally expressed their love and understanding with each other. Even though they met through writing to each other, they still insisted on getting married, which worked out well anyways. It just goes to show that you do not ned physical conversation nor touch to fall in love. It’s amazing how people can fall in love through exchanging letters and having the strong trust in one another to be faithful and wait to one day be together. I wonder how many relationships had lasted in WWII with people who were fighting.

9/26 Holocaust Letters and Classmates Presentations

3 Points: reading a letter by a child living through the holocaust was eye opening and saddening, as she had expressed gratitude and appreciation for her families letters. I admire how appreciative she is of the little packages and letters she had received and treasures from her family, she said it was like having “A little piece of you”. So grateful for them. She was very optimistic and positive, as she had hope for being together again with her family. That is the only thing that she looks forward to. Misses her siblings and parents and doesn’t want anyone to worry about her. It’s just sad thinking about how this was the last letter she had sent before she was killed in the womens concentration camp in France. Considering her living conditions, she was so thoughtful and uplifting with the way she wrote these letters. She wanted to make sure everyone she loved was doing okay. Another letter that I read about, young girl, She secretly wrote this last letter in a bunker as her last goodbye, knowing she was going to die soon. Poured out all her her last thoughts, as she was trembling and crying with her mother and father. She knew everything was lost but was proud to be Jewish and dying for her people. I just thought this was packed with so much emotion, as she wished the best for everyone who would be alive reading this but you can tell this letter was rushed. The last point I have is that I think that from what I have read so far regarding holocaust letters, they either are pouring out emotion and last minute appreciation and gratitude for their lives and religion or writing about having hope for the future.

2 Questions: one question I have is how the secretly written letters from the holocaust were preserved and the second is, how was anti-Jewish legislation in Germany established?

1 aha Moment: Having listened to my classmates presentations on different Muhlenberg alumni who had served during WWII, I gained a deeper understanding of their personal experiences and relationships, as I had an insight to specific emotions and situations that they had wrote about in letters to the office of Muhlenberg alumni or their loved ones. Considering some of their letters were v-mail, it was interesting to see how they had to get around to the restrictions on what they could say. In general, I was pleasantly surprised with how positive and hopeful most of the letters were. The alumni were grateful for the ability to write letters and the ones sent to them were something they could hold on to from their old lives with their families and at Muhlenberg. I admire how a lot of them had a great perspective on life, even though they had to give up their last year/years at Muhlenberg, and some went to achieve great things after the war was over.