AydenLeon refugee blog by Ayden Leon

Welcome to your Refugee blog!

aydenl817v — 2025-04-21 19:19:01 UTC

Welcome!

This will be your blog for our novel Refugee. Feel free to customize the colors and background, however, do not change the format! This could make it difficult to find your work.

This blog will be used for a variety of things: Exit Tickets, Reflections, Quick Writes and Journal Entries.

When you make a new post, your subject line should be the title of the Assignment. You can include a photo that enhances your writing. You will then respond to the prompt.

Some days you will have the opportunity to read a post from your classmates and respond in a thoughtful manner.

Darkness, irregular, bomb

aydenl817v — 2025-04-21 19:22:30 UTC

Darkness means that the house with Joseph, Ruth, the mom, and dad shows that something will happen to them. It's important to the story because it shows why the family was scared, and better describes the setting. Irregular in the chapter means the music was not right, and Isabelle didn't know what to do. Irregular better explains the environment that Cuba was in, and how if impacted the people. Bomb represents the war that is happening in Syria. Bomb is important because it helps show how dangerous the people in Syria were, and why they were limited to go outside.

Terrible Things Reflection

aydenl817v — 2025-04-22 18:48:39 UTC

The consequence is that the Syrians could be killed if they get out of there home, so they have to protect themselves. They can also be considered bystanders because they are not harming anyone, but neither they are trying to help the people that don't have homes or anywhere to be. It is worse to be a bystander because you are watching people getting hurt and killed and you don't do anything about it, so it can create more conflict in the war. If you don't do anything, you could also be harmed because they will look for more people that feel week or easy to take. An example is in the first chapter of the refugee when the Nazis go in Joseph's home to invade them, and they felt that they wouldn't do anything about it, so they took their father.

Section 1 Summary

aydenl817v — 2025-04-23 18:21:05 UTC

In all of three texts, they all want to find a way to leave their country due to conflict that was happening in their country. All of the father's of each text are wanting to leave their country in a hurry. Joseph's father wanted to go take a boat to the U.S. without paying for the ticket in a rush, Isabel's father wants to go to the U.S., and he wanted to go by himself at first, but his family convince him that they should also go with him, and Mahmoud's father wants to go to Germany, and is planning how to get there before they even come to an agreement where they all want to go. A possible theme that could eventually occur in the story is that the people will eventually find out where the family's are going, so that they can be sent back or sent to jail because Joseph said that they "will come for him soon enough."

Refugee quickwrite

aydenl817v — 2025-04-24 19:29:06 UTC

The quote reveals that Mahmoud's father is very protective over his family, and he is a bystander. He could stay, and help with the war, but he decides to go on with them, so that he is safe as well. The soldiers might find out where Mahmoud's family is going, and they could try to take his father because he is kind of betraying them. I would agree and disagree with his decision because I would want to protect my family, and as well as myself, and help them if anything goes wrong when they get out of the country. I also disagree because I could help out with the war, and would be remembered for an important sacrifice he would have made.

Things I would pack in 5 minutes

aydenl817v — 2025-04-26 06:08:42 UTC

I decided to take food, water, money, clothes, and blankets. I need to have food and water to survive, and if I only go to the stores to but food and water, it will get expensive, and iI will have to keep going to stores in order to stay hydrated, and not be hungry. I need money because in case I run out of water, food, and other important things that can help me live for a while. Clothes are important for the journey because I might not have time to look for a store that has clothes that I need or want. For example, if I was on a ship like Josef, I wouldn’t be able to keep restocking on clothes because they will probably not have it. Same goes for blankets, and it will help me stay warm when it is cold outside. Without having all of these materials, I probably wouldn’t be able to survive very well or I would struggle badly. I also would need to have enough in case my family goes with me, and they run out of food, or water. Now if I was in Isabel’s story, I would need to have enough to make it to Florida because there boat is already crowded, so I would have to limit what I take. There won’t be enough room, and it might get too heavy where the boat starts sinking a bit. If I was in Mahmoud’s story, I would not have to take as much materials because it’s more modern day, and stores are everywhere, but I would still need enough to manage to get to Germany if there are other conflicts in other countries where I would have to leave immediately.

Beyond The Surface

aydenl817v — 2025-04-29 19:25:10 UTC

The question that made made me think the hardest was Otto Schiendick's Actions because I didn't really know What Schiendick was trying to do accomplish. After I reread the part where he wanted to put a Nazi flag on the old man's funeral, I realized that he wants to show the power he has, and that he rules anyone that tries to mess with him. The narrator says "Schiendick wasn't the kind of person you wanted to mess with"(114). Later Josef's dad realizes that he made a mistake of saying that they shouldn't put the Nazi flag up because he was a Nazi party leader, and he could've killed him if he would've talked more, but Josef jumped in and stopped his father from more conflict. Josef knew that his father was already endangered because he knew that the Nazis could come back for him, and Josef didn't want Schiendick to not harm him like when he was at the concentration camp.

Symbolism

aydenl817v — 2025-05-01 18:53:14 UTC

A moment that has symbolism is when the two guards at the mall were not letting Mahmoud's family in for free, and they had to pay because they were syrians. When Mahmoud's family gave up on trying to get in, he said that they are only here "until tomorrow", and one of the guys chuckled, and said Right. Tomorrow." This means that someone from the family or all of them won't survive the journey because both of them don't like Syrians, and they think that anywhere else they go, they won't survive. It is important to the characters because they have to watch out who they are with or else they could maybe be sent back. They have to stay kinda hidden to make sure they make the journey.

164-209 Summary

aydenl817v — 2025-05-05 21:43:11 UTC

Invisible is an important them because Mahmoud learned that being invisible made him not be known, but he was able to not get bullied anymore, and he didn't want to be sent back to Syria if he was found. "Josef wished he was invisible"(197). This better understands how Josef is feeling because his mother took the sleeping draught, and his father jumped off the ship, so that he can die. Being invisible would be the only way for Josef to survive because if everyone knows that he's the son of his father, he will be sent back to Germany, and could be sent to the concentration camp if he is founded. If he is invisible Ruthie could be sent by herself, and his entire family would have fallen apart, so he has to try to keep it together with what he can do, so he can't make Ruthie invisible because she is enjoying the ship, and wouldn't want to stay away from everyone.

Important quote

aydenl817v — 2025-05-09 18:24:02 UTC

“Being invisible in Syria kept him alive. But now Mahmoud began to wonder if being invisible in Europe might be the death of him and his family”(214).Mahmoud now realizes what being invisible will do to him and his family, which have no one to help him, so he could finally show who he is when they get to Germany(214)