Thomas Keneally's Style
Narrative Voice
Thomas Keneally wrote Schindler's List in a third-person point of view. There are no instances of the word 'I' or 'We' in the story, aside from the dialogue which is obviously used in conversation. On page 24, the text states, "Before the Hilos had even been properly calibrated, Oskar began to get hints..." This is a basic example of how it is written in third person. Schindler's List depicts the story of many Jews and Germans lives during the holocaust. It shows how they lived in the conditions, and how they survived the thoughts of what was going to eventually happen to them, which was death from gunfire, or starvation, or even something even more disturbing. I think that the third-person view makes it even more inspiring, because it's not one person's eyes that you are seeing the story unfold, but from a full spectrum of people, which is just that much more amazing.
Descriptions
Keneally used very flowery descriptions in this novel, which made it that much more real. The Holocaust, although a touch subject, is also something that everybody should know about, so that this mistake never has to happen again. Obviously it wasn't right, and I feel as if the descriptions in this book make it that much more of a protection against humanity and society of thinking to ever do this again. An example of the surreal descriptions used is found on page 84. The text states, "The munitions section was so far developmental; it would take some months of planning, measuring, and test production before any shells appeared." This is blown so far out of my expectation, and the amount of detail put in this book makes you feel like you are experiencing what is actually happening. It brings you in to feel how terrifying it was in these camps, the oppression that the Jews didn't deserve, but still received, and just makes the story have an overall scary tone and mood, which I feel is a good thing in some cases.
Use of Dialogue
The use of authentic dialogue really comes to life in this novel. An example of this is found on page 105. "When Oberführer Scherner and I are laughing about all this over a drink..." This continues throughout, and an Oberführer doesn't have an army equivalent, but it still automatically clues you in on where this is taking place even if you don't know what the Holocaust is. I think that this was a great contribution to this book, and I'm learning more German every day with it.
Literary Techniques
Schindler's List is written in chronological order, from the first event to the last event in order of time. To put it simply, in chapter one, the setting was in September of 1939, while in chapter two and 13, the settings were October of 1939, and 1941 respectively. With a novel of this genre, chronological order is a guideline in my opinion. Why would somebody retell history, and it be out of order? You need the order so you know how these malicious events went down. Keneally did a very good job, and even at times, went ahead of the time, into the 60's when some of the survivors said and did important things after the war.
Genre
This novel is considered a historical fiction book, although I believe that it deserves more than that. This book takes real life accounts from people that have first hand knowledge and experience, and Keneally took these stories, added very realistic dialogue, and published this book. I think that this is practically a historical non fiction book. But I know that it is a historical fiction novel because although these dialogues are realistic, it IS exaggerated to a point. I'm sure nobody said everything that he wrote, and Schindler's List reflects on a point in history that actually happened. The Holocaust was a real thing that happened during the early to mid 20th century, and is something that nobody wants and nobody needs to happen again.
Theme
The theme is seemingly shouted out loud in the last page in the second chapter of Schindler's List. It states that he who saves one mans life saves the entire world. I inferred that this was the theme because with prior knowledge, I knew that Oskar Schindler saved 1100 Jews during WWII. I think that the theme is saying that if you make the attempt to save one persons life, and continue after that, it will continue getting easier, and I say this because that is how it worked in the book.
Thomas Keneally wrote Schindler's List in a third-person point of view. There are no instances of the word 'I' or 'We' in the story, aside from the dialogue which is obviously used in conversation. On page 24, the text states, "Before the Hilos had even been properly calibrated, Oskar began to get hints..." This is a basic example of how it is written in third person. Schindler's List depicts the story of many Jews and Germans lives during the holocaust. It shows how they lived in the conditions, and how they survived the thoughts of what was going to eventually happen to them, which was death from gunfire, or starvation, or even something even more disturbing. I think that the third-person view makes it even more inspiring, because it's not one person's eyes that you are seeing the story unfold, but from a full spectrum of people, which is just that much more amazing.
Descriptions
Keneally used very flowery descriptions in this novel, which made it that much more real. The Holocaust, although a touch subject, is also something that everybody should know about, so that this mistake never has to happen again. Obviously it wasn't right, and I feel as if the descriptions in this book make it that much more of a protection against humanity and society of thinking to ever do this again. An example of the surreal descriptions used is found on page 84. The text states, "The munitions section was so far developmental; it would take some months of planning, measuring, and test production before any shells appeared." This is blown so far out of my expectation, and the amount of detail put in this book makes you feel like you are experiencing what is actually happening. It brings you in to feel how terrifying it was in these camps, the oppression that the Jews didn't deserve, but still received, and just makes the story have an overall scary tone and mood, which I feel is a good thing in some cases.
Use of Dialogue
The use of authentic dialogue really comes to life in this novel. An example of this is found on page 105. "When Oberführer Scherner and I are laughing about all this over a drink..." This continues throughout, and an Oberführer doesn't have an army equivalent, but it still automatically clues you in on where this is taking place even if you don't know what the Holocaust is. I think that this was a great contribution to this book, and I'm learning more German every day with it.
Literary Techniques
Schindler's List is written in chronological order, from the first event to the last event in order of time. To put it simply, in chapter one, the setting was in September of 1939, while in chapter two and 13, the settings were October of 1939, and 1941 respectively. With a novel of this genre, chronological order is a guideline in my opinion. Why would somebody retell history, and it be out of order? You need the order so you know how these malicious events went down. Keneally did a very good job, and even at times, went ahead of the time, into the 60's when some of the survivors said and did important things after the war.
Genre
This novel is considered a historical fiction book, although I believe that it deserves more than that. This book takes real life accounts from people that have first hand knowledge and experience, and Keneally took these stories, added very realistic dialogue, and published this book. I think that this is practically a historical non fiction book. But I know that it is a historical fiction novel because although these dialogues are realistic, it IS exaggerated to a point. I'm sure nobody said everything that he wrote, and Schindler's List reflects on a point in history that actually happened. The Holocaust was a real thing that happened during the early to mid 20th century, and is something that nobody wants and nobody needs to happen again.
Theme
The theme is seemingly shouted out loud in the last page in the second chapter of Schindler's List. It states that he who saves one mans life saves the entire world. I inferred that this was the theme because with prior knowledge, I knew that Oskar Schindler saved 1100 Jews during WWII. I think that the theme is saying that if you make the attempt to save one persons life, and continue after that, it will continue getting easier, and I say this because that is how it worked in the book.