A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

As I read more and more into the book I think of the many images that I visualize and associate with the Holocaust. Obviously for Sophie the Holocaust is a major part of her life, she had first hand experience with it. She came out of the concentration camps weighting  `` Thirty-eight. Thirty- eight kilos.`` (69) This is the equivalent to eighty-five pounds. The images that she must have seen are just brutal and cannot be expressed in words. But look and think for yourself what they mean to you.

Words cannot describe what happened at the concentration camps in reality and for Sophie Zawistowska in the novel Sophie`s Choice

Critical Article Summary

Critical Article Summary 1: 

"William Styron's Sophie's Choice: Poland, the South, and the Tragedy of Suicide" 
Critic: Bertram Wyatt-Brown 
Source: Southern Literary Journal 34, no. 1 (fall 2001): 56-67.

In this critical article the themes of depression and suicide are examined in Sophie`s Choice. As I read the book the things that Mr.Wyatt-Brown report on make sense to me as well. This article outlines the 2 themes that are outlined in the book. This article takes both the books that are mentioned in the article (including Sophie`s Choice) and the life experiences of Styron. A lot of the things that are discussed have to do with the life of Stryon. Throughout this article the depression and tragedy aspect of the book are reviewed. Some specifics include the lingering thoughts of depression on Sophie because of the concentration camps. A lot of the characters that are fabricated in Sophie`s Choice have a personal effect on Styron and shows the effects of Styron`s ``personal distress``. The article summaries the themes very well and from many different perspectives. 

It Was Nice to Meet You

So far in the book many characters have been introduced and many have been the focus of the story. The following are characters that have been mentioned so far:

Stingo

• main character
• born in Virginia
• mother is dead, grew up with his father
• from his childhood, he received the nickname Stinky because of his inability to care about hygiene ( he was later "shamed" into becoming clean)
• became a writer - worked for McGraw Hill
• was a member of the military during World War II
• lives on his own in a University Residence Club in the Manhattan area, New York City
• loses his job at McGraw Hill and loses money very quick
• his father "bails" him out and sends him money to help him survive
• past generations of his family (grandparents) have been a part of the slavery movement
• Stingo's grandmother would tell him stories about the slaves that she had at one point, they were named Artiste, Drusillia, and Lucinda
• he then moves in Yetta Zimmerman's house in Brooklyn
•  it is here in this new house the Stingo meets all the other characters in the book

Nearby Neighbors of Stingo

• the wife becomes a sexual interest to Stingo
• he recalls that he had had sex with this particular female interest in the garden, that he can see from his house
• from the description in the book this couple seems to be somewhat materialistic and of high prestige. (Eg. Abercrombie and Fitch references, "over groomed Afghan hound")
• later in the chapters the female neighbor is named Mavis Hunnicutt 

"The Weasel"

• boss of Stingo at McGraw Hill
• Stingo does not take a liking to him
• Stingo says that both him and the "Weasel" took an immediate dislike to each other
• from the south like Stingo

Yetta Zimmermann

• Stingo associates her with a Buddha
• she is widowed by her husband Sol
• description of Yetta: "...squat and expansive, sixty or thereabouts, with a slightly mongoloid cast to her cheerful features that gave her the look of a gleaming Buddha" (35)

Morris Fink

• the first person in the book that Stingo meets
• tells Stingo about Nathan and Sophie
• explains to Stingo the history of the people that live in the house

Sophie Zawistowska

• young character
• the "love interest" of Nathan 
• she was once in a concentration camp liberated by the Russians
• she is Polish with a bit of German and French
• her parents are not both from Poland
• her mother is from Lodz and her father is from Lublin
• they met while at school in Austria
• her receives  a lot of verbal abuse from Nathan, he will call her a " Anti-Semitic Polish pig" (87)
• she does not know what love really is and she is always being either verbally or physically abused by Nathan
• the potential new lover of Stingo
• Stingo takes a slight interest to Sophie and helps her when Nathan leaves one night

Nathan Landau

• love interest of Sophie
• verbally and physically abusive to Sophie
• vindictive 
• rude
• has very sudden mood swings
• he does not think before he speaks, he then later will regret what he says
• he is always in a conflict 
• very domineering
• takes advantage of Sophie
• racist 
• offensive

Side Note: The Soviet Union liberated Auschwitz in World War II. In the book there is reference to the ``Russians liberated that camp she was in`` (69), this is said by Nathan Landau.
YouTube video-Auschwitz haunts Soviet veteran

Change Has Come...

I think that the change of setting is important in the story because it shows the change in the plot. The change of the setting brought on many different emotions and feelings for the main character, Stingo.
Through the change of setting, the main character meet two other characters that through the next chapters. Stingo met both Sophie Zawistowska and Nathan Landau, that both live in the same house as Stingo. The two characters that are introduced are in a relationship that is very abusive. The relationship is filled with many mixed emotions and changes from one minute to the next. Theses characters that we now meet are a large part of the storyline and Sophie becomes friends with Stingo. Nathan Landau seems to be very fake and made up. He reminds me of the attribute that many people give to someone of a snake. He seems very sly and that he will make his way into any situation if he can. He is always yelling at Sophie from what Stingo hears and sees, but she always seems to come back to him and does not want to let him go. I think that this will be one of the main highlights of the book and these events will start to move the plot along even further.