Denial Ain't Just a River in Egypt - "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas"

3/12/2014

Film Poster

Primary Blog Entry: As you watch the film, "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas," consider all the different ways the humans subconsciously and consciously invoke denial as a coping mechanism/survival tactic. Select two or three topics (single words) in which denial often occurs. List them, briefly define each topic, and explain how and why denial is so often found in the experience of each topic. ADD WORD COUNT AT END OF BLOG ENTRY!

Secondary Blog Entry: After you have posted your Primary Blog Entry, please read ALL of your colleagues' entries. Select two that interest you and respond to them in Secondary Blog Entries. You may agree or disagree and explain why, provide further examples and evidence, or offer an alternative way of addressing the topic. ADD WORD COUNT AT END OF BLOG ENTRY!

Primary Blog Entry Expectations (respond to the prompt above): 200-250 words, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class.

Secondary Blog Entry Expectations (read everyone's first responses, select two that interest you, and respond to their ideas): 100-150 words EACH, minimal errors in grammar and usage, thoughtful and thorough writing. Please use the assigned "pen name" given to you in class.

(3 total blog entries for this assignment)

Student #13

3/13/2014 02:04:04 am

There are 3 topics in denial often occurring and they are feeling, art and fun. The reason why feeling is one of the topics in denial that often is because not a lot people face the true, and they have to lie about their feeling. For example in the movie, when the family moved into the new house, the little boy show his mom that he wasn’t happy, and the mother trying to show her face expression as happy, even known that she wasn’t happy with the new house.
Art is also one of the topics that relate to denial that often occur because sometime an art work can show two different stories. For example in the movie when the boy drawing the picture of a farmers wearing a pajamas. The picture showing the normal life of farmers with happy face, but the pajamas show the farmers isn’t happy to wear those pajamas on. The boy didn’t know the story about the pajamas, that’s why he just thought it’s just a normal thing that farmers do.
Fun is one of the topic relate to denial that often occur because fun sometime showing the personality of the person and feeling as the same time. For example in the movie, when the boy throw the ball over to the boy wearing pajama, the boy wearing pajama gave the ball back and refuse to play. He said he can’t play because he is not allowed to play. Even know the boy want to play, but he have to hide it and lie about his feeling.
(263 words)

Student 5

3/15/2014 04:57:19 pm

I agree with your assumptions and statements on all your topics correlating about denial occurring. Art can show many meanings and can lead to people having different opinions about them. This leads to arguments about the denials of one’s opinion towards a specific topic and can correlate to scenes from the movie. Both feelings and fun can also have many forms or had to be hidden in secrecy. Sometimes people have to deny their own feelings and needs in the world for others. This act is seen many times in the movie with the boy and the mother, and I agree that they correlate to both the movie and examples in real life situations.

Words: 114

3/16/2014 07:13:00 am

I agree with the art, feeling, and fun because in the movie those are used the most like with fun the boy playing with the other boy and for feeling varies in charcaters such as the mom and grandma how they feel towards the father and the things he are doing and also the boy who dosent lose his inocent and dosent believe in what they are telling so with this sad i agree with the statement above because it really connects to the story and a great choice of words to connect with the movie. Over great coping with denial and showing how they connect to the movie and great word choice.(111)

Student #9

3/16/2014 04:44:53 pm

In response to Student #13 I do believe unconsciously we do express ourselves through art. I agree with the example used of the boy, at one point the boy showed people to be happy in his drawings but now that they were in a new environment he drew the people in pajamas to be unhappy; unpleasant. It was interesting to see that the boy just assumed it was a normal thing. A question I wondered while watching the movie was that does his age influence him being so in denial or was it just due to the lack of knowledge and being shield from news of the outside world.
(109 word count)

Student 21

3/13/2014 03:28:18 am

1.School - Some students are in denial when it comes to taking quizzes or tests, especially if they don’t fully understand the content. To avoid the “embarrassment” of asking the teacher or another student for help before the quiz/test, they often tell themselves they can figure it out on their own. Strong students who usually do well in the class may not be used to being behind, and tell themselves that they know enough to at least pass.

2.Addiction – Denial is easily found in those who are addicted to a substance or even to T.V. or video games. These things can become more than fun and entertainment, and instead become a part of a person’s life that they struggle without. People deny that they are addicted to these things, because using illegal substances or watching excessive amounts of T.V. is unhealthy. They don’t want to believe that this important, even vital (to them) part of their life should be stopped.

3.Family – It is understandable as to why someone would want to deny the problems they see often in their immediate family. People might tell themselves that every family has their problems, despite almost constant arguments and fights. No one wants to see their family fall apart or its members at odds with each other.

Word Count: 217

Student #13

3/13/2014 05:50:12 am

I do agree with you about your opinion about school. It’s really interesting how students that study hard in school, always study before test/quiz, but when they take a test, they get a lower score than the one that don’t even try hard in school or study before test/quiz. This showing that the students who try to avoid have lower score and keep try hard, even know they will get lower score than other students. I also agree with you about family. It’s true that no one want to see their family relationship fall apart, they always want to do something to fix the problem in their family. I guess you probably know when people said “you are not the only one, there a lot people have to deal with their own problem, get over it!!!” you know that they try to hide their problem with family or their personal stuff.

Student #13

3/14/2014 01:29:53 am

(151 words)

3/16/2014 07:28:39 am

I agree with topic you used family because in life people keep things from family which can be bad because who better than ur family to help but some people keep it to them selfs. Also i agree with schooling because there many people in life who can do the work and show wat they have but when it comes to test they forget and instead of improving that weakness they leave it alone and keep doing bad to the point were there barley passing the class but there knowlege tells else wise also they rather feel falure than to get help because they want to feel like a bother.

Student 03

3/16/2014 08:14:44 am

All your topics are completely agreeable. I especially agree with the family one because no one would talk about family problems in public, so they keep it to themselves. This causes the problem to build up and these people end up in denial. So I completely agree with you on that regard. I also really agreed with addiction. People who are addicted to anything lie to themselves thinking that they are not addicted. That they could stop at any time, but it’s not that simple. Almost all addicted people are in denial when it comes to talking about the thing they are addicted to. That’s what makes it so hard for people to get over the addiction. So I agree with your topic addiction. Overall all your topics are very agreeable. Word:131

Student 2

3/16/2014 10:47:45 am

School is agreeable when people are in denial. I would say that people are most in denial is from taking courses that have a teacher that they disliked. Most cases are where people chose a course because their friend ask them to do it with them even though that subject isn’t their favorite. Basically after a week in, they regret taking that class and continue being in denial until the end of the year until they are able to switch out. This occur in college as well. When someone finished a certain amount of years for their bachelor degree and decided to change major, they are in denial because they wasted those number of years for nothing.
Word: 117

Student27

3/16/2014 02:10:54 pm

I agree with you when you say that addiction is a huge problem with denial. Whenever somebody is addicted to something it can affect themselves and others around them drastically. People who have bad addictions can make them feel bad and depressed a lot throughout their life and have many situations where they have to deal with denial. As an example like smoking, drinking and even too much video games can be bad addictions. Those addictions can lead to a horrible future and affect you badly and you will later on then feel as if every decision you made in life was possibly wrong and disappointing.
Word count: 106

student 15

3/16/2014 02:15:26 pm

I agree with your topics of why some people choose to live in denial. The whole idea of family; is a good way to put it, because even me can be in denial of my family and would choose to ignore rather than face them and try to fix them to make them right because I may be afraid of the outcome that they will bring. The whole denial about addiction is understandable. What I don’t understand is the denial about school and the example of test or quiz. If you are doing a test or a quiz you can’t ask another student for help and if you ask the teacher he/she may not even give you the answer you want, so I don’t agree with how you explain denial of school and how someone can be in denial about school.

3/16/2014 02:16:57 pm

word count 141

student 22

3/16/2014 04:58:08 pm

I strongly agree with you since nowadays teenagers don't know what is right and what is not. They go through "hard times", when they aren't really hard, they are just experiencing new stuff and they are going to learn step by step. sometimes teenagers just don't want to admit that they are wrong because they become "rebels" since they don't want to admit that they are actually the ones that are wrong. sadly teenagers brain is not fully develop until they are 25 so it is really hard to notice the bad from the good or the good from the bad.

Student14

3/13/2014 11:15:55 am

God – Many people, both adults and young people, are in denial when it comes to God. The idea of a Supreme Being may baffle many minds. Many people may not be able to grasp onto this idea which leads them into a cloud of denial. As you go on in life you meet many people with different beliefs, teachings and morals which means that everyone has a way of presenting their faiths. Someone else’s idea may cause you to reconsider your own belief which drowns you deeper into the pool of denial.

Aliens- Growing up, we all in one way or the other were made to believe in extraterrestrial creatures known as aliens. We usually read books and watch movies that have aliens in them. It is with no doubt that many people believe that aliens exist and that there is a planet somewhere where these aliens live and go about their daily lives like normal people do. Science has really influenced and fueled a lot into this idea of aliens. We still continue to live in the denial of whether aliens exist or not.

Love – Considered to be the greatest emotion of all, love can be found in many forms. Some sources of love include people, both tangible and intangible things. Some people are in denial that love exists and that even if it does if it’s real. This denial may be because we usually look for love in the wrong places or have experienced too much hatred that we are made not to believe in love.

Word Count - 258

Student 21

3/14/2014 03:49:26 am

I found your topic of God and denial very interesting, and I completely agree with you. You could argue that believers are in denial because they don’t want to believe that there isn’t a God or afterlife. Believers who choose to follow more modern versions of religion may be in denial that older religious testaments and teachings were sometimes appalling and unfair (ex. slavery is in the bible, but is never reproached). Those who don’t believe in a God may be in denial because they don’t like the idea of an all-powerful being. They may also be scared about what would happen when they die, therefore choosing to believe that nothing happens.

Word Count: 112

Student 5

3/15/2014 04:42:04 pm

After reading your opinions about your topics correlating to denial, I find that I agree to your statements. There are those who try to make others reconsider their beliefs on something because they think that it’s not real. While some agrees on one thing, it could be the opposite for others and began to denying specific beliefs. Love is known to me the best feeling ever and there is those that have seen love in many forms. It’s true that people tend to look for love in the wrong places and some don’t even believe it out of all the negativity experiences in one’s life.

3/14/2014 12:37:06 pm

Your opinion about God and denial are very interesting. It seems that there are two types of people who experience denial in regards to religion and God: the people who do believe and those who do not. The people who choose to have faith may be in denial because they fear what may happen if there really isn't a God. Religious people may be in denial of the possibilty of a lack of a higher power. With the same idea, the people who do not have faith may be in denial because they are unsure of if there even is a God. I found your topic on this very thought-provoking.

Word count: 110

Student 5

3/15/2014 04:43:47 pm

Student 8

3/15/2014 06:08:44 pm

I honestly agree with your first topic about the existence of God and I completely agree with you. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. We are all different people in this world and so we all have different believes. People who Believe in the existence of God follows and act in the righteous way that please God. They may even denial about the existence of other creatures. Likewise non-Believers on the other hand can choose not to believe in God. Because they cannot really accept that there is something called "hell and heaven.” due to society. Sciences this days have made it possible to create people through the use of machines unlike the natural way. This have really made it difficult for other people to believe about the existence of God. (word count 140).

Student 07

3/16/2014 03:05:14 pm

Secondary #1
I disagree with denial being related to god. It's true that different beliefs do cause people questions life. However, it doesn't cause denial. Religion is actually very justifying for people. People turn to religion for accepting enviable events such as death or sin. Although differing religions do tend to make people question their own beliefs, they are not in denial of their faith in their god. A way that denial may come up in the terms of religion would be the denials other faiths. Which, is a major concept in the movie.
Word count: 94

Student 5

3/13/2014 04:05:37 pm

There are things we know about and things we don’t. However, it’s the person’s decision if he/she wants to accept or deny the truth whether it causes him/her to feel hurt or not. The three topics that denial occurs often are love, culture, and reality.
Love relates to denial often occurring for resulting to questioning if the love from one another is real or not. It’s something that we can’t live without since love can bring an enormous impact on one’s personality and views on their environment and society together. It’s hard to accept the reality of your family or close friend doesn’t accept you for who you are and it thus creates a coping mechanism in order to not be hurt.
Another topic is culture. A person can easily feel offensive when others talk bad about their people and culture all together. However, there are two stories in this situation since you might not know a lot about your cultural background or people as you might like to think. This was the case for the boy in the movie since he’s hearing and experiencing the positive and negative traditions of his homeland.
The last topic that relates to denial often occurring is reality itself. Everyone interprets their reality based on their experiences. People are likely to see their reality in a positive feeling but might be the opposite with others, but you wish not to let that ruin your happiness of what you know and come to love.

Student 5

3/13/2014 04:06:37 pm

Word Count: 250

Student #13

3/14/2014 01:48:00 am

I agree with your opinion about love, culture and reality. It’s really interesting how love can bring different emotions to one another and it hard to see love fall apart between you and your close friends or family. That’s why we try to create happiness when it come to the battle of love, even know we don’t like it to happen, but at least one smile can stop the battle. I agree with you about reality, because I had that experience before and I know you also had that experience also too. It’s really hard trying to be in positive with other while you are carrying a huge heavy sad/sorrow stories on your back. We create happiness to other in bad day; it’s just like creating a light in a dark cave to have hoped there is way out. Just like in the movie, the boy try to change the history by be friend with the boy in the camp.
(160 words)

3/14/2014 12:41:04 pm

Your idea on the denial of reality was very interesting to me. Because everyone interprets their own reality, their own truth, it seems as though they allow themselves to believe or disbelieve anything they choose. This is a form of denial. Choosing a false sense of reality is the same as denial. The reality of one person may be different for another, and this may cause denial as well. If someone wants their life to be like another, they may be in denial of their hardships. They may look past certain situations or experiences that make them question the truth, which really just causes a sense of denial.

Word count: 108

Student #11

3/16/2014 11:50:35 am

I agree with you when you said that love is a key aspect that is largely associated with the idea of denial, in the movie, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”. I too feel that love is very important and that often times it stands in the way of the truth being revealed. I think that we see this mostly through the mother’s denial. She really, really loves her family, especially her kids. She is completely unaware of everything that is going on in her backyard, literally. She believes her husband when he tells her that what he is doing is legit and legal. Therefore she feels no need for worrying about the safety of her children and becomes completely oblivious to everything that is going on.
Word count: 127

Student 16

3/16/2014 04:10:09 pm

Sold, I totally agree with you about the topic on Love. It’s true that we can’t live with love, but to be exact everyone has a sense of love and it truly does impact one’s self. Even though you don’t experience the same so called “Love” from family compared to either a girlfriend or boyfriend, you have still have a sense of love coming from that person. Truly one does not experience the same love from a sibling compared to a companion. It’s that same sense that we wouldn’t have as much denial towards both people status is we ever find out there was no love at all or that it’s over with.

student 15

3/13/2014 05:06:35 pm

Denial is often times something that someone lives in or goes in to hind themselves from or just be in a particular area that they zone out themselves from the rest of the world. People choose to be denial because they don’t want to face the truth or a lot of other reasons.
A lot of times people goes in denial over the truth, because they feel if they do that they would really be healthier but this is wrong. Going through this faze can actually affects people around you and the ones that really know the truth. It will sometimes want you to really be in the position of denial because that/ those specific people are constantly there to remind you.
Guilty of something you do or someone else did, that can be unforgiveable and allows others to be uncomfortable if they know about the situation can cause an individual to be in denial. Sometimes the guilt that you are in denial of; you someone know if you were in deeper or try harder there would be no reason to be in this position of being in denial of guilt that you and someone else part take in.
A person can do anything to protect the one they love. Other reasons for denial are protection and love. In order to protect the one you love and makes sure he/she is safe a person can keep all the denials, and everything to threaten the other happiness; that person would push all the darkness and sadness deeper inside of them, to
make sure the one they love is always kept safe. (270) word count

Student 19

3/14/2014 02:09:23 am

Education
Throughout the movie "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, “has three characteristics of denial. The first one would be the denial of education. The movie has denial of education because of what their homeschool teacher, teaches them. Their teacher teaches them only to hate Jews and to cherish Hitler. He does this because he feels as if they need to be just like everyone else who dislikes the Jews. Along with how Gretel has her mind sent on the extreme dislike of Jews. Throughout the movie you are able to see that she begins to put up posters in her room.
Safety
The second one would be denial of safety. I say this because the mother knew that when they were moving that it was not going to be a safe place sure to move to. She then realizes when she finds out that the horrid smell is the burned bodies of Jews. She does not agree with this because she believes that it is very sick. Her realization of this is probably the main reason why she wants to move away with the kids. She does not believe that it is the best for a child’s environment. Along with the fact how Bruno is not even allowed to go the backyard.

Student 19

3/14/2014 03:36:33 pm

*word count* 225

Student10

3/15/2014 04:47:07 pm

I like the fact that you talk about denial of safety. Yes it is true that the mother thought about how dangerous it was for her kids to live in that environment when she knew about what they actually burn in the camp. She was in denial because she could have moved with her children the moment she found out what has been going on in the camp, but here she waited until the last minute when Bruno had also planned to go into the camp to help Shmuel look for his father which led to Bruno’s death.

Student #4

3/15/2014 09:53:00 am

I agree with your idea of the denial of education in the film. I believe the mother plays a lot into this topic. She didn't know her husband was getting them a tutor, and she also didn't know who he was or what he was like or what he'd be teaching her children. She asked Bruno at one point in the movie about the "books" in his satchel and when he said they were adventure books she was relieved. She also noticed Gretel's changes after the tutor was hired, and that's when she began to have suspicions. The mother was in complete denial about her children's education, because its easier to go along with something (especially in her position) that say something and fight against it.

Student #11

3/16/2014 11:40:56 am

I agree with you when you said that education is a key characteristic that is largely associated with the idea of denial, in the movie, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”. I too feel as if the teacher that the father has gotten to teach Gretel and Bruno is teaching them from his bias point of view. They are both very young and naive and easily persuaded, especially Gretel because she doesn’t have a huge imagination like Bruno does. He does a fantastic job at brain washing Gretel to the point where she is unaware of her obsession with the corruption that s current taking place. Even though Bruno is being taught the same things that Gretel are, his symptoms of denial are a little different; he is more use that they he is not allowed to ready exciting books rather than listening to the man and actually understanding what is going on.
Word count: 154

Student 9

3/16/2014 04:54:54 pm

I have to agree on both topics; education and safety are key aspects of denial in this movie “The Boy Striped in the Pajamas.” The children are shield of the truth of what is going on in world beyond the walls of their house. The education brought into their home is extremely bias it only one perspective. The education is targeted in teaching them that Jews are evil what their parents are keeping from them. Father one time explained to the son that the Jews were nothing like them, they were not people but didn't go into depth of why.
(100 words)

Student #11

3/14/2014 10:11:50 am

While watching “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”, I have noticed that there are two very common topics that are constantly subconsciously/consciously invoking denial as a coping mechanism are education and love.
1. Education- In the movie, the father has a teacher come to the house to educate his children Bruno and Gretel. Bruno does not grown to be too fond of the teacher because he does not allow him to read action and fictional books. However, Gretel penetrates deeper and deeper into a state of denial that she is completely unaware of. All the information that the teacher is presenting to them from his bias point of view on history and the current circumstances at hand are brain washing Gretel. The mother starts to realize that she is acting more defensive and she is changing. She puts up posters all over her room of Hitler and the Nazi’s listens to their music and supports their behavior, even though she doesn’t really know what is going on.
2. Love- In the movie, the mother’s love for her family often times puts her in a state of denial, blocking reality from being revealed to her. She loves her husband and has faith in him, believing that all that he is doing is for the good of the people. She doesn’t want to believe that anything he does is actually endangering anyone or causing destruction. In addition, she loves her kids and wants the best for them. Even though she is in a state of denial I feel as though she kind of knows that something isn’t right. As a way to try to cope with the idea that something bad may actually be happening behind the scene, she tries to cover it up in front of her kids; especially Bruno. She wants him to feel as is everything is fine and wants him to have a normal childhood. To do this, she allows him to go out and play, never noticing that he is sneaking to the concentration camp until it is too late!

Student #11

3/16/2014 11:53:08 am

Word count:343

Student 19

3/16/2014 12:59:52 pm

I totally agree when you listed love as one of your characteristics. I also believe that the mother was very much in her state of denial. I believe this because she was denial the first day that they have moved. She told her children that the house was nice even though she very much knew that their old house was much better. Another person who was in denial was Bruno’s sister, Gretel. She was in denial because she told her brother, Bruno that the house was nice as well, and all they had to do was make it feel like home. Love is a very important part of this movie.
Word count 110

Student14

3/16/2014 03:04:40 pm

I totally agree with you on the topic of education and denial. In the movie we do see how the teacher tries to get the kids into believing that the Jews are evil and that only people who follow Adolf Hitler’s doctrines are good. We can somewhat relate this to our educational system. Teachers usually teach us what is usually in the book usually leaving out the vital parts. In school we are only taught what they think we need to know and don’t teach about the real world and all the problems that come with it. I also agree with you on the topic of love. The woman knows what her husband is doing is very wrong but her love for him overshadows the wrong he is doing.
Word count - 129

Student 28

3/16/2014 04:24:43 pm

I agree with love as a characteristic. I believe this because the mother was in denial when she said the house was nicer than their old one when it actually wasn't even close to the old one. She was also in denial when she said that the Jews where farmers instead of saying that they weren't farmers but Jews inside a concentration camp where they make them work and kill them whenever they want. Gretel was also in denial because even though she knew what was happening in the camp across from them she never told Bruno what was happening there for love.

Student 28

3/16/2014 04:25:44 pm

word count 103

3/14/2014 12:30:08 pm

Three possible situations in which denial occur are death, addiction, and love.
As one is experiencing death or the death of a loved one, denial regarding the situation is very common. One of the common stages of someone dying is denial. They may not want to believe that their disease, illness, or reason for dying is true. They may not want to think about what happens to them afterwards. Is there a heaven and hell? People experiencing death sometimes become so attached to their memories or their present life on Earth. Those who have loved ones experience a similar type of denial. They don’t want to imagine life without their loved ones. When someone you care so much about no longer has the ability to live for whatever the reason may be, you may feel as though you’ll tell yourself anything as to not believe the harsh reality.
Along with addiction usually comes denial. We’ve all heard the common phrase, “I can quit when I want to.” However, most people suffering from addictions know for a fact they this is not true. They know they need help, but they don’t want to seem to admit it to themselves. Why is this? Denial seems to play a very important role in regards to how soon someone may receive help from their addictions. This is why family members have interventions with people suffering from addictions. Interventions are designed to remove a person from denial so that they are able to receive the help that they truly need.
Love, which can be described as the most powerful emotion known to living creatures, has many possibilities for denial. People have a way of denying the truth so that they can protect themselves. For example, after a break up, when love is lost, a person may tell themselves that they can do certain things to “get back together” with the one they love. Also, when someone feels rejected, as in when the love is not reciprocated, a person may tell themselves that the other person does truly love them and that they are meant to be.

Word count: 351

Student 8

3/15/2014 06:32:38 pm

I found your topic about denial of death to be very interesting and I completely agree with you. Whenever somebody is seriously ill and is very unlikely for them to survive it. The person tend to be in denial about dying and continues to have fate or hope that things might turn out good. Likewise the family members as well tends to also be in a state of denial as well. About losing the person and the person and the only thing will be left are their memories that they shared. I can based this on a personal experience, when my neighbor's son died, the boy's family was in a complete denial because it felt so unreal that their son, brother is gone forever physically. In general I think that sometimes being in denial might be the only to continue living. Because if you continue to accept the truth it might hunt forever. (Word Count 153).

Student 10

3/16/2014 06:23:34 am

I like the fact that you talked about love. Love is associated with denial in such a way that we tend to give so much love to the ones we love and don’t even pay attention to it when they don’t need us in their lives anymore. It could be obvious that they do not want us anymore but then again we tell ourselves that “oh I know he or she loves me and wouldn't let me go”. Denial is set in this because we think we can make such person love us the way we love them also which we always get ourselves wrong.

Student 28

3/16/2014 04:35:41 pm

I agree with the characteristic of death for denial because a lot of people go through these types of things everyday. People usually block off their emotions using repression. The people continue to have hope and faith in the person because they don't want to cope with the fact that the person is going to die no matter what happens. In the end denial of a death can help a person continue to live the rest of their lives in peace also to think that the person has gone somewhere better where other family members will take care of the person that past.
(Word Count 103)

Student27

3/15/2014 04:38:36 am

Relationship- Relationship is very import to everyone as a topic of denial. Relationship if what you have with others in life and if you choose the right or wrong person to be in a relationship with is what holds you back. Many people can realize after being in a relationship with others for a while it can lead to many times where you think of denial. Denial can totally affect a strong relationship with others because then people start to think too much about appearance and emotion. As example having a boyfriend or girlfriend is what a lot of people want in life but after a couple of months when you get to know them better it can make you think if this person your with is the right one.
Education- Education can affect those who are in school or even outside of school. Education is what you learn and if you don’t pay attention enough it makes you think a lot. As example if you were in a class and your teacher is saying something important and you weren’t listening then when you have a test the next day and you start denying the choices you made that recent day. Many people think education isn’t really that important, but later on in the life they start to feel denial when in college and wished they did more when in school.
Life- Life is very important because without it you wouldn’t have been here. Sometimes there is people that think suicidal but then have denial upon that thinking about how it may affect them and drastically affect others. Throughout life everyone has at least had times where denial occurred and they had to think their way through the situation. Without denial you can’t normal, because if you do something bad and you don’t later on deny it life isn’t so important to you. In life you ever feel depressed or disappointed that means you’re going through a stage of denial where your starting to doubt things.
Word count: 336

Student14

3/16/2014 03:32:30 pm

I do agree with you when you say there is a connection with relationship and denial. In relationships, people usually remain in denial until the end of the relationship. They feel like they love their partners too much they find it hard too hard to believe that they are either hurting or doing anything that may be unhealthy for the relationship. They usually live in denial thinking that things will eventually get better as time goes on. Again I agree with you when you say suicidal people live in denial. They sometimes don’t want to believe that their actions affect others so they continue to live in denial and that leads to a lot of problems.
Word Count - 116

Student #4

3/15/2014 09:27:24 am

Events - Throughout history, the world has experienced many different kinds of events. Some of these events people claim to not "believe" happened but are actually in denial. Some people don't believe the Holocaust happened, but there is evidence that it clearly happened. This can go for wars, catastrophic events or even recent situation like the disappearance of the Malaysian plane.
School - School is a topic that a lot of people have denial about. Students tend to think that if they have an upcoming assignment or test they don't need to study for even though they know they do. People also think that school isn't that important but when they graduate high school and get into college, reality sets in and they see that school really does matter.
Religion/God - The last topic, Religion or God is something that varies from person to person depending on how they were brought up and their own personal beliefs. The idea of a higher power can be controversial and lead to denial for some. Some people question the truthfulness of God because there really isn't any evidence that proves the bible is real. The bible could have been written by anybody, and that is an specific example that causes people to have denial about God.
Word count: 202

Student 21

3/16/2014 03:27:14 am

I enjoyed reading your analysis of people denying significant and often terrible events that have occurred. While most people accept what they see or learn as fact, those who are skeptical don’t want to believe that something so terrible could be carried out by humans. You could even say that conspiracy buffs or theorists are in denial, and come up with fantastic explanations, based loosely on facts, as to why or how an event took place in order to cope. I think that those who are in denial of an event, despite overwhelming evidence that proves it occurred, have trouble dealing with the fact that humans are capable of unspeakable evil. Whether they come up with wild explanations or simply refute its occurrence, they are all just trying to deal with this fact.

Word Count: 133

Student27

3/16/2014 02:04:52 pm

I defiantly agree with you when you say school leads to denial. Many student in school deal with denial every now and then during their school life. If it’s just a homework they are debating on doing or even studying for a test they can easily feel bad later on for the actions they had did when they decided not to do certain things in school where if they had done it they would have probably been in a better situation. As you had said, which is true that in the beginning of the school year you feel as if what you do that isn’t correct is alright until you realize that towards the end it really impacts your life and future and you start to encounter many phases leading towards denial.
Word count: 132

Student 2

3/15/2014 02:21:35 pm

From watching the film, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” denial occur in everything. The two topic that denial occur in are careers and sports.
1.Career: Someone’s career is a job that they specialized in so that they can work in the field that they choose for the rest of their life. When people decide on a job that they really interested in, it doesn't end well because it isn't what they expected that job would be. They just think it sounds cool and looks neat to do. After awhile of working that job, they starting to regret picking that field as their career. They would be in a state of denial for the rest of their lives while working in that job.
2.Sports: In every type of sport that could be named, there always players that are in denial in some way. Some would be in denial of not taking that risk in a high-stake game against their rival. Others regret not listen to the team of something that they are doing that affecting the team as a whole. Every athlete have that moment of denial of where they should had that that instead of doing this. They would regret it for the rest of their lives if they can’t do anything about it.
Words: 215

Student 03

3/16/2014 08:04:14 am

I agree with your topic of career. I think that when someone chooses a job they don’t like they lie to themselves in order to cope with the job. This is completely denial. So I agree that when someone chooses a career that they don’t like they go in denial. However, I don’t agree with your topic of sports. I don’t think someone could be in denial of something that they need to do in the game. I think that is more of regret the way you are describing it. If the player doesn’t do something that is crucial in the game then yes they will regret it. I think your trying to say after that regret and feeling the player will be in denial and lie to themselves thinking that it never happened. That is wasn’t their fault. Word:139

Student10

3/15/2014 04:29:05 pm

Hope—In the movie “The Boy in the Stripe Pyjamas”, Bruno told Shmuel that he was leaving with his mom and that Shmuel could come and visit him. There was no way Shmuel was going to get out of the camp but here Bruno was in denial that Shmuel will be out at a point in time so that they could all meet again. Bruno had hope that Shmuel will be out and never thought that anything can come in their way. Little did he know that they will both end up in the camp.
Betrayal—we tend to betray our loved ones just to escape criticism. Bruno betrayed Shmuel when he was asked if he knew Shmuel. He denied ever meeting him before because he was afraid of what the soldier might have done to him. We forget about the pain the person whom we are betraying will go through and does what we think it right. Betrayal is linked with denial because one might think that when they betray someone, it saves them from getting hurt or being punished.
Love—love is a very important aspect in every living thing. We show love to our dear ones in which we expect them to love us back. Sometimes little do we know that the ones we thought were supposed to love us back the same way does not but rather sees us as a threat and which we were never with them.
Word Count:243

student 22

3/16/2014 03:42:06 pm

I don't agree with the topic of hope. Because Bruno knew he wasn't coming back at all, he even said it. Now they both had the hope of finding Shmuels dad, this is why they both went to look for him. They both were innocent because they didn't know what really happened to his dad and no one would say anything because every single person in the camp just look out for themselves, they are all selfish because they get to that point of no caring about anyone. They didn't have any hope of living either, they were just doing what they had to do.

Student 8

3/15/2014 05:54:39 pm

In our generation most of the things that people put in denial are drinking and education. Denial can be termed as the action of declaring something to be untrue. Alcohol is one of the productive products in the nation but however it also have some disadvantages. Drinking causes liver damage and other harmful things to the human body but company’s and even the nation still accepts and enforce the selling of this things because of the incomes that can be generated through this. Company’s make it seem like alcohol doesn’t have any major side effect. But realistically alcohol is one of the leading cause of death Alcoholics continue to drink even after their world has fallen apart. They blame everything and everybody around them for their problems, except alcohol due to being in the thought of denial. Education can be a way of denial as well. In our society, parents enforce their kids to attend school to everyday without knowing what the kid’s dreams and goals are. A person who doesn’t follow this path is considered to be illiterate. It seems like for our generation, we attend school to make our parents happy and not ourselves. An example will be; let’s say there is a boy who enjoys singing and wants to pursue a career in singing. But unfortunately, he cannot fulfill his dreams because his parents are forcing him to what they want. They are in denial about the boy’s passion. (word count 242).

Student #26

3/16/2014 11:11:43 am

I totally agree with you Student # 8, i feel that people are more in denial are alcoholics. The company's that make this poison know its bad for the human body, but still make the alcohol for money, because that's want people only care about in this world., Everything is making money. Alcohol is one of the leading cause of death in this world. You can go ask a person who know that they drink if they think they have a problem and the majority of the time they are in denial and say no. People are just to scared to admit the truth and get help. People need to just pull there pants up and jsut admit the truth about there problems with alcohol.

student 15

3/16/2014 03:22:12 pm

You state that denial is the action of declaring something to be untrue. Well if that is the case? Why haven’t you stated what exactly are people been declaring untrue about alcohol? They drink alcohol knowing the truth about; they don’t deny the fact that it harms your body, they like the effect of it that’s why they drink it. In the instant of education and the example you use to explain it doesn’t make sense to me because at the end of the day you have to be educated to know to read those words to sing it. So at the end of the day education is going to be needed at some point. If you had said a kid is slow and will never learn no matter how hard you try, yet you continue to try to send that person to school. Then the person sending the child that will never learn would be in denial. (158)

3/16/2014 05:43:01 am

Failure- in the movie boy in the stripe pyjamas the father feel like if he was let down. He felt like that because when the boy died it seem like the father had sympathy because he allowed the boy to a relationship with a jew and as his position in the war he has really no were to stand because he know wat happens when some in the family does not agree.
Hope- The boy never was in denial when he belived in a good jew he didnt think they were bad people but what he grown up to think that they were these serpents but they were people just like him. The mother hope was to not see her children lose there purity because she didnt want them to fall into the things there father did because she disagreed with the war and the action that were taking place but she had hope when her son still had the child in him.
Betrayl- The little boy that was friend with him he kinda threw him under the bus when they asked him were he got the food from when the boy thought they were friends. Also the dad felt betrayed because his son was friends with it jew which at the end caused him his life.(208)

Student 19

3/16/2014 01:14:32 pm

I agree when you listed betrayal as one of your characteristic. I believe that this is a good word to describe denial because in the movie Bruno did tell a lie on Shmuel, which gotten him a beating. Betrayal also happens with Bruno’s parents. Bruno’s father shows a signs of betrayal because he not only betrays his wife but his mother as well. He shows betrayal to his mother because at her funeral he placed a letter on her casket knowing that she was against what he was doing along with against the Nazi’s. He betrays his wife because she as well does not agree with what he is doing.

Student 19

3/16/2014 01:16:59 pm

word count 110

Student 03

3/16/2014 07:53:49 am

1. Death- Everyone dies. It is a part of life that everyone goes thorough. However how someone copes with that is entirely up to him or her. Sometimes, when someone dies the pain of losing someone is to painful and to cope they begin to be in denial. People fool themselves into thinking that the one that died isn’t really dead and sometimes they completely ignore that fact. They go on with their lives thinking everything is fine and they believe that the one that is dead is just busy doing something. It’s to the point that people in denial completely avoid any contact with people who know about the death of the person. So it’s not uncommon for people to be in denial when the people they love die.
2. Divorce- Many people don’t realize but often time’s children who grow up in families that have divorced sometimes live in denial. The children don’t want to think of their parents being separated so they lie to themselves. This is especially common in children of younger age. The children believe that their parents still love each other and eventually come back together. However this may be true, but it is often times not the case. The children long to see their parents together so they go in denial to cope with the fact that their parents will never be together. 230 Words

Student 2

3/16/2014 11:05:53 am

I do indeed agree with both topics. Death comes in big terms. I can agree that when people have someone close to them died, they want the person that died to still be with them. They just can't accept that their love one to be gone from their lives for the rest of they lives. It is hard to have someone that you love to instantly be gone. I don't think that people would distance themselves from people around them. They would just not talk about it.Under "divorce," it is very hard to see your parents separate as a young child. To filled in that hole, some would imagine that their parents are still together even though they know that it will never happen. (word 124)

Student 16

3/16/2014 04:21:28 pm

I agree with you and the topic on Divorce. It is true that children long to see their parents together, so they go in denial to cope with the fact that their parents will never be together. Other than never being together again, children don’t go into the sense that their parents still love each other as said by many parents on television. Age can also be a factor in the process of denial in children. The younger children tend to believe in their parents that they still love each other, but cannot live together and thus are more in denial than children in their teen’s experiencing divorce.
W.C. 108

Student #26

3/16/2014 10:32:49 am

Three topics when denial often occurs

Adventure- Bruno is an adventurous boy. He likes to run around finding new things to do and explore. He meets Shmo and wants to be able to interact with him and explore. He doesn't understand the fact that he can't leave the camp to go play, But at the end they decide to have Bruno come to the side were Shmo is at into the camp. This shows that Bruno is very interested in playing and making friends and is very innocent and doesn't understand.
Lies- Bruno's father lies to Bruno when he tells him that the strong smell that comes out of the chimknees of the camp is burnt wood or cooking of some sort , Bruno of course since he is so gabble he believes it.
Love- the mother since she listens to what ever her husband said's and loves him, she moves to the new home knowing that the family would be closer to the fathers home, she's in denial when she tells Bruno that he would love the new home and make many friends. She knows that the children would be homed schooled and wont get to meet new people.

word count: 159

Student #26

3/16/2014 11:01:38 am

Secondary Blog

Honestly a lot of people in this world live in denial, wether its for something bad or good. They think what there doing is okay but in reality its not good. Denial is probably one of the best known defense mechanisms, used often to describe situations in which people seem unable to face reality or admit an obvious truth. Denial can involve a flat out rejection of the existence of a fact or reality. In other cases, it might involve admitting that something is true, but minimizing its importance. Sometimes people will accept reality and the seriousness of the fact, but they will deny their own responsibility and instead blame other people or other outside forces. Addiction is one of the best-known examples of denial. People who are suffering from a substance abuse problem will often flat-out deny that their behavior is problematic. In other cases, they might admit that they do use drugs or alcohol, but will claim that this substance abuse is not a problem.

word count: 202

Student 07

3/16/2014 02:47:08 pm

Acceptance- A time that denial usually occurs is when people are looking for acceptance from others. This is depicted mostly i the mother and the grandmother. The mother does know what is going on and is only in denial because she does not want to be the outsider and oppose to what everyone around her, including her husband, believes is right. The grandmother however, is very upfront about her opinion and does not get acceptance from other, not that she cares.
Innocence- People always want to be the victim and not the villian. The father is in denial of what his "work" is doing to his family because he believes that he is being a hero to his country. Gretel is not in denial because she only knows what she is told. She was told that what is going on is perfectly fine and jews where to blame, not the german soldiers.
Love- love is one of the most driving causes for denial. Love can come in different forms and can cloud judgement. The mother's love for her husband made her in denial of what he was doing. Bruno's brotherly love of shmul made him in denial of what was going on in the world. Love makes people see and believe what they want to.
Word count: 215

student #22

3/16/2014 03:23:25 pm

Denial consists of the refusal to accept a past or present reality and is most commonly employed to protect the host from their own negative traits; to protect them from the repeated memories of the negative actions of another or to avoid recognizing their own guilt for past actions, thoughts or feelings. It is a self defense mechanism. It can also be really scary and very sad to the people who are implying it.
For example in the movie, The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas, Bruno’s mom is in denial because of where she’s living and her husbands charge. She knows the place she’s living at isn’t right or appropriate for her children at all, but she just does not want to say anything since she thinks it is ok, but it really isn’t. Now her husband has a job that she doesn’t know about, like killing Jews. She is highly unlikely to fully accept the particular reality that her mind has decided she cannot cope with. She just doesn’t want to believe what her husband is really doing since she didn’t fall in love with that man; she feels like she doesn’t know who she is with anymore. At least she knows that the place they are at isn’t a good place for her children and that’s one of the reasons they decide to move back but the bad thing is that she never warned her children about the true. This could’ve has been the worst mistake of her life just because she didn’t want to believe it doesn’t mean she had to hide from her children and causing more consequences.
Word count: 272

student #22

3/16/2014 03:32:54 pm

Denial consists of the refusal to accept a past or present reality and is most commonly employed to protect the host from their own negative traits; to protect them from the repeated memories of the negative actions of another or to avoid recognizing their own guilt for past actions, thoughts or feelings. It is a self defense mechanism. It can also be really scary and very sad to the people who are implying it.
Scared- Bruno’s mom is in denial because of where she’s living and her husbands charge. She knows the place she’s living at isn’t right or appropriate for her children at all, but she just does not want to say anything since she thinks it is ok, but it really isn’t. Now her husband has a job that she doesn’t know about, like killing Jews. She is highly unlikely to fully accept the particular reality that her mind has decided she cannot cope with. She just doesn’t want to believe what her husband is really doing since she didn’t fall in love with that man; she feels like she doesn’t know who she is with anymore.
Protection- She knows that the place they are at isn’t a good place for her children and that’s one of the reasons they decide to move back is to protect them but the bad thing is that she never warned her children about the true, this must’ve been her worst mistake because she would’ve said something about it.
Word count-247

Student 16

3/16/2014 03:54:02 pm

Denial can be consciously and subconsciously invoked by humans their face and attitude. A person’s face can say it all without anything having to be said. To be more exact, a person’s eyes show whether they’re in denial or simply put lying if ever asked about the supposed matter. Can the direction a person's eyes reveal whether or not they are making a truthful statement? Sort of, but not everyone makes it obvious like the people do in television shows. For example, if you asked someone to "What color was the first house you lived in?” up and to the right would be the direction their eyes moved in while thinking about the question as they "Visually Remembered" the color of their childhood home. As you can image, those eye movements would have been apparent on Bruno’s father’s face if asked about the Jewish people by his son.
Attitude is everything; a cognitive component is a structure of attitude which involves a person’s belief / knowledge about an attitude object. Without knowing it, a person’s attitude can change when the subject of denial comes into terms. We try to invoke denial, but not everything about us, subconsciously and consciously may agree with us.
W.C. 203

Student #9

3/16/2014 04:30:32 pm

The mother in the film “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” reveals that humans subconsciously and consciously invoke denial as a coping survival tactic. The father constantly expresses to his wife and family that it is his duty to honor his country. The mother constantly tries to make the best out of the family moving situation. It is evident that the mother doesn’t like the living situation but when asked she says “It is not for me to say, it won’t feel like a home until we make it a home.” She believes that she is helping to assist her husband with the kids to support him while he serves the country. When the daughter’s attitude starts to change the mother is curious to what the tutor is teaching the kids. She starts to ask her husband but stops because it’s so easy not to prime. It is not until when one of the soldiers said to her “they smell even worse when they burn” that she realized that her husband was leaving out important vivid details of what was exactly happening to the Jews. This was a mind opener for her. She knew that the Jews resigned at a Working Camp but not as a death camp.
(208 words)

Student 28

3/16/2014 04:56:11 pm

1. Lying- Death is a good way for denial especially in the movie called, "The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas" The way people cope with these is not believing that they are actually dead. For example when Lt. Cople killed Pavl when he spilled the wine. Everyone knew that Pavl got killed except Bruno. When he asked when Pavl gets back Gretel said he would never come back. No one told him that he was killed when the Lt. beat him to death. I also lie to myself to keep my mind at ease and to keep my emotions a bay. This is one coping mechanism in general.
2. Acknowledgement- This happens threw out the movie especially with the mother. She has to do this for the father because she already knew what he does as a job and what he does when he goes off to work. She knew where she was going and what she had to deal with while she was there. She also knew what changes have been the kids have been going through especially Gretel. Gretel as accepted the knowledge of the teacher and became a supporter of the Nazis. This changes the whole outlook in this movie because this is what ends of killing Bruno in the end is the curiosity. (Word Count 217)

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Denial Ain't Just a River in Egypt - "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas"

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