The Lazarus Project 241-292

I found the beginning of this section of the book to be very cruel yet intricate, as the pogroms mercilessly attacked the family.The details Aleksandar Hemon used and the way in which he described many characters feelings was very unique. Many personalities were noted throughout the section, especially ones of being quiet yet having many feelings embedded inside. In my opinion, this is how many people live their lives, sheltering feelings deep inside until they are proned and in some cases forced out.

For instance, towards the beginning of the book, Lazarus told his family of the events that happened at Mr. Mandelbaum's store. After telling them of the events, he showed little emotion of being scared or shocked as most people would. In the book, it states he "pulled a little paper bag out of his pocket and put a piece of candy in his mouth, rewarding himself for telling the story." This act of rewarding himself shows that he is concerned with the deed he just preformed rather than the acts he just witnessed. In other words, his thoughts of the appalling situation he saw is not discussed.

The idea of being oblivious of things happening around an individual is also seen in the perspective of the narrator. In the midst of the ruthless killing by the pogroms, the narrator states "mother sat down on the floor with her back to the stove. I was afraid that her dress would catch fire." Rather than attempting to defend his family, or show signs of being scared of the "killers", he worries about his mother catching on fire, an idea that would not come to many at that point in time. Beginning on page 250, Iuliana is also represented as being quiet and holding true feelings inside. Similar to Rosa, she is very soft spoken, generally only responding with one or two words and not answering questions to their fullest. When hastled and continuously bothered or forced however, they both prove they have in depth thoughts and feelings.

In this section of the book, there are also many ideas that point in the direction of going to the afterlife or recognition of it. This shows that characters recognize that they will eventually die, possibly believing that they will die soon. For instance, after Lazarus gets attacked and thrown onto the carpet it states "Lazarus used to pretend that was a magic carpet; he sat on it in the middle of the room and imagined flying to far off places." This far off place could of represented heaven, showing recognition and possible premonitions of death. Similarly in the same scenario it states "the down from the torn pillows floating, like souls, through the fog of what had just happened." The down represents the family members just lost, and the fog represents the blurriness and shock of the situation.

Overall, this section proved to be very grueling, at the same time having unique literary styles and ways of presenting information and characters thoughts.