AP Literature: Everything is Illuminated discussion

Time is also a really important thing that is emphasis through out the story . Time in the book is a little hard to understand because of the fact that all of those stories happen in different years . This for me gives the story an interesting twist because in each part you have to put in context the situations and the history of that year . Time is seen mostly when the author talks about Yankel . He is a character that feels time passing really intensely . He does not want to age , he does not want time to go on because he does not want to leave Brod and he believes that she can not live with out him basically . So he focuses most of his time avoiding anything that can remind him of time passing. This is ironic because the fact is that no one can escape time and that death is the most secure thing in the world .
ATT Daniela Arango APB1

To me, time is the most confusing of all things. All of the stories are happening at different times but at the same one. One is the present, another is the past, and the last one is the future. I still need some clarification because i am still having some difficulties with it. As far as the story goes i know that the story of the baby in the water was written in the past and takes place before the rest of the story. However i am confused about the letters that Alex and Jonathan write to each other and the time they are in an adventure seeking for Augustine and Alex is the translator. It seems to me as though time does not exist. I can associate this with the play waiting for Godot yet i know that for this story it does make sense and there is a way to figure it out. If anyone would please explain it to me i would be happy to finally understand.

Laura Agudelo

I disagree with Laura and Daniela in the fact that time makes the story more confusing. I think that the author intentionally makes the story confusing and then throws in dates in the titles to help the reader locate himself in the right situation. The shifting back and forth from the 1700's to the 1900's every chapter and also throwing in letters gives me the feeling that the novel is more like a movie than a book, in which every scene is interrupted with flashbacks and flash forwards that give us insight into what is going on but leave us uniformed enough to keep us interested and wanting to keep reading. I think time is also of extreme importance in regards to religion and the way the different narrators allude to it, at the end of the 1700's, there had been no conflicts related to Judaism, while the time when Alex and Jonathan are alive they are just a few years after the war, which places many religious implications in the scenario. Although only implicitly, I think religion as well as traditions are an important part of the book for it is around culture and history that the whole story revolves. The timing of these situations, the contrast between culture of the past and the present add great depth to the text.
-Manuela Navarro APB1

I understand why Laura would think that time is nonexistant, because to me as well, it is extremely confusing and disorienting. But I don't fully agree, I think that on the contrary, like Manuela said, time is present at all times. The is a date included in every titlewith the purpose of guiding the reader as to what is happening in the story. As for clarification to Laura, the story is divided in three ways of story telling, the first is Alex's texts, they are a narration of the journey that both JSF, his grandparent and Alex himself are going to in search of answers. The writing is rudimentary because it's written in Alex's poor English. As for time, this part of the novel takes place in the 1990's. The second part of the story is the Legend of Brod, in which the legends of this city (which happened around 1790's)are told. Alex's letters, I think (Not completely sure) are the most recent sections of the novel, in which Alex talks personally to Jonathan and therefore I'd say, since it's not a planned transaltion or an old legend, the most trustworthy source of information in the novel. time is just the means by which we can keep track of all that is going on.
-Malena APB1

I think that after finishing the book i can finally understand everything that has been going on. I feel that time is one of those things that are very key to understanding the connectivity of things. I would like to thank all of you who helped me understand the way that time works because i was very confused. Now I understand the different times, the different stories and the way that things work. As for time, im still a bit confused and i think that the author wants to confuse the reader on purpose to make the story slightly more interesting and to make it a puzzle for the reader. Like Manuela Navarro said, i think that the events are more important than the dates. To me, a story is worthless if I simply write a number on it. But, when there are changes and one can compare between two events, than the whole story takes a personality and i can understand, relate, and enjoy the story more. In the end, I finally understood how time worked, specially because i could not trust the titles of the stories.

Manuela's post was very interesting, and I completely agree with her when she says, "to me a story is worthless if I simply write a number on it. But, when there are changes and one can compare between two events, then the whole story takes a personality." What happens with time in this book is extraordinary. JSF manages to go from the letters, to Alex's and Jonathan's stories, in a way that one is sort of confused and taken to the past but at the same time he allows us to follow a timeline and keep tract of the timing in the story. I think this technique was difficult for him to achieve, since perhaps he knew that some people would find it very difficult to understand. I have to confess that the first few chapters I was losing track of the story's flow but then I understood it fully. One of the most important quotes in the story was when grandfather said, "I am not a bad person. I am a good person who was lived in a bad time." Do you think this quote is true? With everything we have learned about what he did during WWII, does this apply to him? And, do you think a person is good even if he/she has been influenced wrongly by their past events?
MARIANA VELÁSQUEZ TORO

I think that after finishing the book i can finally understand everything that has been going on. I feel that time is one of those things that are very key to understanding the connectivity of things. I would like to thank all of you who helped me understand the way that time works because i was very confused. Now I understand the different times, the different stories and the way that things work. As for time, im still a bit confused and i think that the author wants to confuse the reader on purpose to make the story slightly more interesting and to make it a puzzle for the reader. Like Manuela Navarro said, i think that the events are more important than the dates. To me, a story is worthless if I simply write a number on it. But, when there are changes and one can compare between two events, than the whole story takes a personality and i can understand, relate, and enjoy the story more. In the end, I finally understood how time worked, specially because i could not trust the titles of the stories.
LAURA AGUDELO