ENG2D
Whitfield
Going Home to Auschwitz
Essay by Marsha Lederman
Pre-reading:
1. Brainstorm the word ‘home’. Consider your 5 senses and think of the
connotations of the idea of home.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. What does the title of the essay suggest?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. Define ‘cathartic’.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
4. What does kosher mean?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
While reading: read these questions before reading the essay so you can be
working on them as you go
1. Why are there so many unanswered questions in the first column of page
291?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. The sentence, “But this is not fiction.” (291) is very powerful. Explore this
sentence a bit.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. In the last paragraph of 291 Lederman repeats ‘you’ and ‘I’. What is the
purpose of this repetition?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
4. What are the ironies associated with Lederman’s reference to Auschwitz
as “hell” (292)?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
After reading:
1. The conclusion uses a device called closing by return. How does the
ending bring the reader back to the introduction? What thematic effect
does this return create?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. Re-consider the title. Is she going home? How so? How not?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
3. Describe a place that is an unlikely ‘home’ to you.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________