Class Collective Analysis of The Fiftieth Gate

50 Keys – Fiftieth Gate Thesis: Memory is individualistic and non chronological, it can often be confusing and disorientatingQuote: “Left. Right. Left. Left. Right”Analysis: Baker uses an unusual structure, rhythm and varied syntax “Left. Right” to invoke a sense stability and order to the killing of Wierzbnik. This militaristic type imagery relates back to the fact that history, as documented evidence in some cases shows events in a scientific and ordered manner. Rather than being clouded by the doubt of memory. Also the person’s emotion and in every case impacts upon memory.

Thesis: Memories that cannot be verified by historical scholarship can sometimes be discounted or disregardedQuote: “Prove it,” I heard myself sayingAnalysis: Baker uses didactic and evocative language ‘prove it’ to illustrate that even memory can be fabricated in Baker’s mind and can be seen to be disproved due to lack of historical evidence. Thus making it false. Baker in this instance believes his mother’s memories of the holocaust are a product of the mind and that the concrete documented history he studies is everlasting and right in comparison to his mo

Thesis 1: History often is very brief in recording personal experiences and thus does not convey real understanding and emotion of experiences of individualsQuote: “She remembers: screaming, the sound of shots, mothers separated from their children” p.111Analysis:Baker uses varied syntax and evocative language ‘screaming, the sounds of shots’ to create meaning and emotion behind the memory of this event, the holocaust. In these instance is shows that history doesn’t value emotions and doesn’t convey the real experiences and emotions of those people involved in that historical event. This showing that even memory with its fractured structure and unreliability can have greater substance and accuracy than documented history. In this sense, being to brief and not accounting for all little details lost within time.Thesis 2:History can sometimes arrogantly assume to record the past more accurately but by doing this it often robs the individual of their personal experiencesQuote: “I disappoint him with details of the Polish archives. Instead I try narrating the stories in his own style, dramatising the conflicts and scandals as if I were preparing a script for a television soap-operaAnalysis:

Baker uses the metaphor of the ‘television soap opera’ compared to the holocaust. He does this to illustrate in his mind the difference between concrete evidence, against the emotional and forgetful memory of his father, which describes a constant flow of dramatic events and terror. In this sense history arrogantly in Baker’s mind becomes the ‘past’ and until his father changes his perspective and Baker starts to write a heterogeneous composition, a bricolage of text types. It robs Bakers father of his experiences, and the general history of this event becomes the reality of his father.

Thesis: Memories allow a person who experienced the past and relay their experiences with their own voiceQuote: “There were Jews trading memories and poker cards”Analysis: Baker uses Juxtaposition of “memories and cards” to illustrate how the Jewish community relay their experiences. In an almost comical way they illustrate their obligation to their people due to many memories and experience being destroyed through death in the holocaust. This play full way also shows how that in personal history cannot be as tangible as ‘poker cards’, and that memory in a way is that tangible, thus being more effective in relaying true history than history itself.

Thesis: History can sometimes be important framework to support memory or fill in the information that memory and personal experiences might not record or rememberQuote: “And after the list of the dead came the analysis”Analysis: Baker uses evocative imagery, “list of the dead” to illustrate the need for a detached framework such as history, to truly indentify the real and calculated history behind an event. In this case the memories of those dead are long gone and without history filling in the information on how they died, the personal experiences of these people will be lost forever.

‘I begin my search amongst all these scattered stones’ p.12 ‘Scattered stones’ -> metaphor for fragmented and disjointed memories

‘Stones’ -> used as cultural aspect of remembering a dead person in the Jewish culture

‘stone’ -> solid memories that are hard to destroy

‘begin’ and ‘stone’ -> paradoxical, the stones are usually placed as a way for remembrance of the dead and how one starts searching for answers when the person is dead.

Against the century’s rootlessness, memory valorizes the aura of place. The idea of memory is represented through the quote ‘I begin my search amongst all these scattered stones’. The context of this extract focuses upon Baker’s experience at a field where ‘Treblinka’ used to be. The ‘scattered stones’ is used as a metaphor to

recognise remembrance and the idea how Jews remember loved ones who have gone from the world. It is through the depiction of the field in which valorises the aura of the place.

‘This was the deal: I would give them my knowledge of history; they would give me their memory. An exchange of pasts....

Simon is doing this one

‘Nightfall is to me sadness and darkness and I just can’t disconnect my past, you know’ p.108

Nightfall -> negative tone

Memory -> experiences of the Holocaust

Connection between ‘nightfall’ and ‘darkness’ -> negative connotations

As a result, he could not forget his past.

Memory, consists of personal recall and the reconstruction of past events. The idea of memory is represented through the quote ‘nightfall is to me sadness and darkness and I just can’t disconnect my past, you know’. The context of this quote is based upon Baker’s father’s experience of the Action where he and his family were captured by the Nazis. The dark tone in ‘nightfall’ and ‘darkness’ used to represent the experience of being in hiding of the Nazi’s and how it had affected him.

Page 29.

Memory can be "triggered" by certain details such as sound, music, smell and the five senses. Yossel remembers a pleasant time eating lollies with his grandfather. When forgets about the war, he relaxes and is able to remember more of his childhood. "For a moment he forgets his fear, and allows himself to reclaim forgotten images from childhood. Once again, it is prompted by the taste of food."The use of alliteration, “forgets his fear,” accentuates that fear is almost like baggage that the father carries with him.

Page 56. (Heath+Doug)

In a forgetful century, memory resists. In an age of archives memory yearns. Mark baker shows how people are forgotten through the use of a simile in the quote, “the graves look like broken tree stumps, Grown moldy from neglect and decay” which alludes to how people are forgotten by those they used to know. Baker is using the bucolic imagery of a broken tree stump to show that memories are forgotten, and as time goes on the memory will decay. The allusion to the forgotten and the parallelism between the graves and the Jewish community during the war emphasis how the Jewish people were

treated and the how their lives were cut short.

Page 61. (Heath+Doug)

Memories is the raw material of history, and are used to bring history alive. In the Book the 50th gate Mark Baker uses Religious allusion seen in, “garden…..fruits reveal the secrets of the world” to represent that memory overpowers history. Memories are the secret key to history, the fruit is a symbol for knowledge. When Baker says this he is intending to create a rhetorical question in the mind of the reader. This question is intended to bring to light that history is a maze and that memory is the map.

Page 62. (Heath)

History rejects the ambiguity of memory. Mark Baker uses truncated syntax in the sentence “I- his son turned informer - confront him” to emphasize that mark baker is a tool of history whilst confronting his father the tool of memory. The use of negative language such as confront and informer bring to light the tone of the sentence. That it is meant to questions the reliability of memory in relation to history and is meant to highlight the rejection of the unknown by history.

HISTORY AND MEMORY

Thesis:

The representation of a particular event, personality or situation has the potential to be shaped by a myriad of depictions. Deliberate selection of the medium of representation coupled with emphasis on specific form and structure enables the composer to convey a meaning or interpretation through this particular representation. Thus Mark Bakers chosen representation to unveil the mystery of his parent’s survival during the Holocaust by unlocking their personal memories coupled with the raw emotions associated when recollecting a traumatic historical event negate the possibility of an objective representation of the past. Thus memory although fragmented and subjective may provide a deeper appreciation of a past historical event yet due to the unreliable nature of both history and memory absolute truth can never be fully ascertained.

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Thesis 2:

Memory is repetitive in its fixations, its emphasis upon victimization and domination, and its passivity and self-contentedness

Quote:

Jews remember with stones. Rocks and Pebbles placed on the gravestone; impenetrable, mysterious, eternal. P114

Analysis:

The Jews use their memories in contradiction by exclaiming that memory is more concurrent then history, however they use their memories to put down ‘stones, rocks and pebbles’ to create history so they can remember. The paradoxical nature of this concept is ironic considering the weakness that they portray memory as through them placing solid stones, which will not be forgotten.

Thesis 3:

History is often collective and holistic, however memory/testimony are often intensively personal.

Quote:

His eyes have refocused on my document… but his mind has travelled to another time and place. P87

Quote DeconstructionsPage 89“It is a symbolic site in an inhospitable wasteland”

Against the century’s rootlessness, memory valorizes the aura of place. The juxtaposition between a symbolic site and an inhospitable wasteland emphasizes how collective memories overwhelm the darkest times. The irony in the syntax highlights the impact that the holocaust has had on the memories of the individuals, creating symbolic sites within wastelands.

Page 131 “Where have all the Jews gone”

- Rhetorical question- Factual evidence- Evocative syntax

Memory and history may play shifting, alternately more or less contentious roles in setting the record straight. Mark uses truncated factual evidence within the chapter to emphasize that it is possible for entire groups of people to be lost in time. The memories of those survivors are few but the history is none. The rhetorical question emphasizes the unimaginable loss that has occurred due to the annihilation of the Jews. Mark uses this evocative syntax at the end of the chapter to question the audiences understanding of what happened.

pg 133 “Mum, I found something at last”

Memory is not found like history, but recorded. Mark Baker uses a truncated sentence “Mum, I found something at last” this shows the futility of of attempting to reveal histories intricate corners. When bakers mum is able to simply remember what happened to her, baker himself must search for the facts in the pages of history. The use of the “found something at last” is a cliched term that is again further used to portray the frustration experienced when attempting to discover the truth in histories.

- It works freely by evocation, similarity, metaphor. Memory dreams in fragments, gaps and dissipation. It is multiple and promiscuous. But conversely, history acts as an anchor to retrieve past events. a Baker uses constant questioning and interrogation as seen in the quote “am I usurping her memory...” Baker uses rhetorical questioning to display a sense of self reflection and perspective. the responder is forced to question their very own beliefs and opinions on Baker’s self evaluation of his actions and motivations, creating a more meaningful text, one that promotes the self refection of the responder as well as the author. (pg 138)

- In a forgetful century, memory resists, where in an age of archives, memory yearns. Genia’s memory has been dismantled by the pressures of time and shock. In the quote “the episode is recorded by her teacher in handwritten report card” (pg 306). Baker employs imagery to instil a sense of archival history and documentation in the responder. Through the use of imagery the responder can create a more intimate connection with the character and text.

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Page 124 – “It gnawed at me, the feeling that my father’s narrative had surrendered to forgetfulness”History is solid whereas memory withers away. Baker uses the verb surrendered as emotive language to create parallels between Yossl’s memory and the holocaust. One of Yossl’s most important possessions, his memory is failing him. Just as the Jews did during the holocaust, Yossl cannot help the forgetfulness that comes with age, and his story is beginning to fade. The alliteration in the ‘F’ of feeling father and forgetfulness represent a negative tone, showing the interplay between Yossl’s depressing memories, and the hard facts that history presents us. History is solid, like a tree and memory is the leaves that age with time. They begin to wither and disintegrate whereas a tree grows and gets stronger.

Page 197 – “For every alternative, there is an alternative; every shadow casts its darkness on someone elses light”Memories are an interesting and engaging way to relate to the past. Memories are often personal, and as a result of this it is human nature to try and find the positive issues of previous experiences, memories and history. The motif of light shows the negativity brought by the holocaust, and the pain and suffering the Jews endured, however by contrasting the shadow from darkness to light, this quote represents the idea that opportunity presents itself during hard times. This shows memory’s connection with personal experience and emotions and its intimate relationship with the past.

"My parents remember" to the end of the chapter - page 174a.      What makes up history and memory, respectively, is dependent on the perception of those who create it.b.      The use in the chapter of the Rabbi and his "disciples", the allegorical representation of history and memory through the "letters soaring high".c.      The Rabbi and his disciples are used in this chapter to exhibit different views of history and memory. What some people consider to be memory (the emotive nature of the burning parchment and the "soaring letters" that the Rabbi could see), the disciples consider to be history.The allegorical representation of history and memory through the "soaring letters", symbolizes the eternal, but ever changing, state of memory. In the same way, the burning is an allegory for both the destructible nature of history, despite its reliability, and is directly related to the burning of the Jewish bodies at the concentration camps, symbolizing the impermanence of the history of the Holocaust, for example, Holocaust deniers.

4.      260 - "Again I find myself peering into memories black hole"a.      Memory can both be lost, and be lost inb.      The paradox of "peering into" a "black hole", and the cyclical diction, "again".c.      "Peering" into a "black hole" is impossible, as black holes suck in all light, and can only be found by looking for a swirl of matter being sucked in. In this way, Baker has made the insinuation that looking into someone else's memories is impossible. This means that the best that can be done is to see the impact that memories have on a person and the way that they have been affected by it, and how they describe it; but it is impossible to actually fully understand any other

a.      History is more easily manipulated than memory, but memory can be corrupted from both the inside and the outb.      The repetition of "maybe", the supposition that she might have "never existed there", the existentialist allegory that everything may just be "a horrible nightmare"c.      The repetition of "maybe", draws attention to the questioning of her own memory, and adds to the readers questioning of Baker's mothers past, while still adding to the empathy through the diction, "horrible nightmare". This is supported by Baker's mother's supposition that she might have "never existed

there", the existentialist allegory that suggests that she was not a victim of the Holocaust, she is in possession of a memory that is not her own

Page 211 “no, not a search an obsession , a raid on my mothers memory, a sons theft of her past”

Memory is a burden for those who experience it and a gift for those who hear it. In the book “The Fiftieth Gate” Baker makes the case that people can become entranced by the memories of others. “no, not a search an obsession , a raid on my mothers memory, a sons theft of her past”. The use of forceful diction such as “Raid” and “Theft” bring forward the ideas of a compelling necessary action to the forefront of the readers mind. This representation of a compelling act shows the need for memories to be given as gifts to the later generations. Humans have always been curious about our past, making it the responsibility of the generation that experienced it to pass it onto the next as a memory.

Page 205“How many branches have I neglected”

- Rhetorical question- Metaphor- Bucolic imagery

Memory is the raw material of history, and the discipline of history nourishes memory in turn. The branches are a metaphor of the memories of the individuals who suffered during the holocaust. Marks mother has suppressed her own memories and has denied others the chance to explain what they went through. The bucolic imagery of the branches emphasize that the neglect that is occurring is all part of the same root. The collective memory of the individuals within the holocaust are being neglected and the rhetorical question that Mark uses shows the realization that his mother has come to.

“They were two Polish words which my father had not forgotten; Wielki Piec” Page 142

Memory is the raw material of history, and the discipline of history nourishes memory in turn. This ideology that history nourishes memory is evident in “They were two Polish words which my father had not forgotten; Wielki Piec”. The Polish Jew idiom used, Wielki Piec, may be symbolic for the relentless memory of Yossl, and furthermore the relentless Polish Jew history. It is symbolic in perhaps suggesting that the idiom is a metaphor for physical Polish Jew History, and Yossl’s personal memory, as he ‘had not forgotten’ the idiomatic words, or metaphorical events. Additionally, the idiom also acts as a symbolic representation that Polish Jew history has not devoured overtime from a result

of personal memory augmenting history, as Yossl still remembers the unforgotten Polish Jew words.

“The proclamation serves as the Boys’ first lesson in history” Page 231Change demands engagement, which entails conviction; conviction allows debate, which leads to change. But memory cannot be debated; history can. Baker suggests that history can be taught to an inexperienced individual, but an individual’s personal memory cannot be taught; “The proclamation serves as the Boy’s first lesson in history”. Here, Baker has given a didactic element to the ‘proclamation’, or document/declaration, where it is a metaphoric object for teaching history. In saying this, Baker uses an almost euphemistic voice to subtly convey the idea that history can be taught, but one’s personal memory cannot be taught as personal memory varies on individual perspectives, and is therefore an inaccurate source for augmenting and filling in the gaps of history.

Pg. 154 “You read, you read. Books, books, everywhere. But do you know how it feels?”

History, it is said, surpasses memory when it comes to making the past matter. Through the repetition of “read” and “books” Baker has created the idea that history is a physical object, which people can read and interpret. However, one’s memory and experience of a certain even can affect their memory and ‘how they feel’. This contradicts the notion that history surpasses memory when it comes to making the past matter.

Pg. 242 “Its my story my mother says, he finds the daughter and brings her home”

Memory can be neither dispossessed nor interrogated. Personal or collective, memory cannot be dictated. It is sacral, innocent and immediate. The possessive/protective tone of the Bakers mother claiming that her son’s dream is hers, represents the importance of her memory. It’s almost like his mother is holding onto her memory of childhood and doesn’t approve of Baker having a similar dream, which has become a memory.

Page 249 – “Perhaps I should give away the shoe, add it to the mountain of shoes in Auschwitz”Memories are an interesting and engaging way to relate to the past. The shoe, and the mountain of shoes is used as a metaphor to represent the Jews during the holocaust. The harsh diction of the sentence represents the shoes as a collective memory of great suffering. The shoes are valued as a historical document, a way to fathom the number of Jews that lost their lives during the holocaust, contrasted to the importance of personal memory – being lucky to still own shoes, to be alive. In this way, by alluding to the Jews as shoes, Baker portrays history, and the way in which the Nazis viewed the Jews as collective, unimportant and impersonal.

“An attempt to obliterate not only my parent’ foreignness, but the memories attached to it”- Page 252Against the century’s dislocations, memory anchors the self, where it consists of personal recall and the reconstruction of past events. Though, it conversely involves forgetting as Baker documents that “an attempt to obliterate not only my parents’ foreignness, but the memories attached to it”. The harsh diction of; “An attempt to obliterate” is perhaps symbolic of Baker’s parents ‘harsh’ experience in their attempt to forget and disembowel their heritage, for their son’s benefits. Conjunctionally, Baker’s parents’ heritage has been personified to act as a metaphor for a mental captivity of holding Yossl and Genia in their memory, of which they wish to ‘obliterate’.

Pg 290

Memory is a personal experience that is unable to be verified in the way that history is, it must be taken at face value "For her there are no witnesses to interview... no means of validation" The repetition of "no" shows the futility of Bakers mother's attempts to make her memories justifiable in the eyes of the world. The quote allows history to be presented in a logical sustained manor, but its continuous use of the word "no" highlights the idea that memory is being blocked and prevented from becoming recognized by the millions, like history is.

Page 156"I could not answer her. The final moments can never be retreived by history."

History is a factual account of the past but it does not tell the full story of what happened to individual people. History could give the dates of when people were killed at Belzec but it could not capture their emotions or their last thoughts before they died. “I could not answer her. The final moments can never be retrieved by history.” There is a sense of sorrow here as Baker feels he cannot adequately explain to his mother what happened to the people who were killed at Belzec. An almost defeatist attitude by Baker is shown through words such as, “not,” “never” and “final.”

Page 248“I hear them call her Buba and envy the word which I have never uttered, at least not as something that belongs to me.” An understanding of the past can help us connect to out heritage. Baker learns how his grandmother Raisl knocked her head in a truck accident and eventually died in a Berlin hospital. Such a tragic end for a person who had survived the Holocaust. As a consequence Baker never knows this grandmother and feels sad that he has never had a chance to use the word Buba in a personal sense. “I hear them call her Buba and envy the word which I have never uttered, at least not as something that belongs to me.” The use of the Polish word “Buba” for grandmother reminds us that Baker feels history has robbed him of any memories of having a grandmother. To show this emotion of loss he uses the emotive word, “envy” in relation to other people who have

known the love of a “Buba.”

“...it always begins in blackness, until the first light illuminates a hidden fragment of memory...”- Page 316It works freely by evocation, similarity, metaphor. Memory dreams in fragments, gaps and dissipation and is multiple and promiscuous. Memory is individualistic, and is thus difficult to read chronologically. The first sentence and the last sentence of the book are the same in the words; “...it always begins in blackness, until the first light illuminates a hidden fragment of memory”. This elliptical nature of the novel is suggested to be symbolic of each individual memory which represents a fragment of history, which therefore alludes to an elliptical construction of the book, but furthermore of history itself. Additionally, the readers become cognizant that at the beginning of his journey, Baker is metaphorically in the dark about his parent’s identity, where he goes through non-linear and contradictory memoirs to allude to an end, where a metaphoric ‘light illuminates a hidden fragment of memory’.

1. Memory consists of personal recall and reconstruction of past events. Necessarily, it also involves forgetting. For some, losing a memory is like losing a loved one, irreplaceable. The paradoxical nature of Genia’s wish to forget her memories and haunting past is demonstrated by Baker in this quote. “What I remember. What would you remember before you were eight? I wish I could forget what I remember”. The use of Rhetorical questioning and the defensive nature of Genia’s statement against her son’s constant interrogation highlight the necessity for memories to be forgotten and reshaped to satisfy the agendas of those involved. Additionally Genia’s aggressive tone, portrayed through the anaphora of ‘what I remember’, embodies her defensive nature of refracting a metaphoric spot light away from her memories of the Holocaust experienced as ‘only a little girl’.

2. It works freely by evocation, similarity, metaphor. Memory dreams in fragments, gaps and dissipation. It is multiple and promiscuous. But conversely, history acts as an anchor to retrieve past events. This is evident when Yossl explains; “For sure I will remember bits and pieces if we go back. For sure the church, the church I will remember”. Yossl is in a state of confusion, or fragment, where his contradictory diction implies that his memories are non-linear as he can only remember ‘bits and pieces’. Yossl’s personal recollection of the church is not only a memory, but here the church is a historical motif as it is a metaphoric anchor of history which allows for memory to be created, and to augment the gaps of history.

3. In a forgetful century, memory resists, where in an age of archives, memory yearns. Mark’s parents experience the resistance of memory, as they collectively recollect; “the fire, the parchment burning, the bodies

burned, letters soaring high turned to ashen dust”. A redundant motif of death and fire of Yossl and Genia’s memory engages with the audience, and acts as a medium for us to feel a sense of sympathy and pathos for the victims of the Holocaust, as the harsh and repressive diction creates a metaphoric bricolage of the ‘bodies burned’. The anaphora of ‘the’ could be interpreted as being a structural, or metaphoric, representation of the physical anaphora, or accumulation, of ‘the bodies burned’.

Confrontations of memories of the past can sometimes be very painful.

"Tet yod. The point of light, pouring through the fiftieth gate."

As much as the light pours through the fiftieth gate, so to does the dark come out. Baker is refering to what would happen if the fiftieth gate opens. Baker uses a metaphor when explaining how there is a point of enlightenment, “point of light,” The syntax of the diction alludes to light being knowledge. Another metaphor is used as Baker describes what comes out of the fiftieth gate, “pouring through,” likened to a waterfall, unstoppable.

The hair you can have. The rest is mine. P.308 Hair -> metaphor, a single strand of memory

Hairs-> number of strands represent memories

Memory, consists of personal recall and the reconstruction of past events. The idea of memory is represented in the line ‘the hair you can have. The rest is mine’. The metaphor in ‘hair’ is used to symbolise the similarities with the idea of memory. A single strand can be used to symbolise a single fragmented memory of an individual and so can unlock ones part of their life.