Section 1 (pages 1-21) Date: June 7, 2012 I started reading Eleni and had no idea what to expect really. I knew Beyond was a class on non-fiction literature, and that the book was about the Greek Civil War, but I had no information further than that. As I read this first section, I could tell it was going to be a very powerful, emotion-evoking book, and that I was definitely going to enjoy it. The first section was basically an introduction by the author, Nicholas Gage, explaining the book and what it's about, how he came about his information, and why he wanted to write the book. Even though the introduction was only just that, an introduction, it really drew me into the book because of the pure emotion behind it: I knew it wasn't just going to be a book where he was just denouncing the Greek guerrillas. It was honestly and truly going to be a book to honor the actions of his devoted mother, Eleni Gatzoyiannis. And that was enough there to make me really want to read the rest of the book. I used sticky notes torn in half to mark places in the section that I found interesting, descriptive, et cetera. Things in the assignment that I had been told to mark. Things that really stood out to me. In this first chapter, there were a lot of characters and people introduced, along with a lot of setting. The descriptions were amazing. On page 3 (the technical first page), was the first description of the eponym of the book, Eleni. The younger woman, with light-chestnut hair, blue eyes and a torn blue dress, caught the gaze of the villagers and shook her head. It stuck out to me because at first, it reminded me of the ideal person that Hitler described: light hair and blue eyes. It stuck me as weird, because of the time the war was going on, but then I realized the Greek Civil War started after WWII had ended. She sounded really pretty, though, and that did catch my eye. Also, on page 20, she is said to have been entitled the Amerikana. Katis is mentioned on page 12, the first reference to the judge that sentenced Eleni to her fate of cruel murder. I felt that this would be an important character later on, due to the emotion he was written into the book with and his important role in the death of Eleni. I marked this page, so I could reference back to him later on. He is mentioned to live on the fourth floor of 46 Napoleon Zervas Street (pg. 16). My next bookmarked spot was about Despo, a character referenced merely in passing, but she still resonated in my mind. She was a woman who was driven mad living in the cellar of Gage's old house, and tried to kill herself by stabbing herself in the stomach with a nail (pg. 17). To me, it was a case of pure desperation and strife to want to kill herself with a nail to escape the torture and pain. It made me feel a little better when Gage tried to find out some more information about her, although it wasn't much. Along the lines of strong emotion was Gage's description of the people he talked to who had no will to persecute those guerrillas who killed their loved ones. I felt so much anger that they wouldn't even want to face them and tell them how much they hated them, because if this happened to my loved ones, I'd be angry. I felt the same things that Gage did; These excuses kindled in me a growing disgust, rage and despair (pg. 18). How could these people, the boy who watched his mother be condemned to death, the man who watched his parents get executed,

not want to do anything about it?! It was... hard for me to get over these feelings and move on. However, a fresh break from the intense feelings of anger was the description of Lia, the town where Gage grew up as a boy. It was so beautiful sounding for a town that was ravaged by the cruelty of the guerrillas. From the river the road leads up, past waterfalls, ruined mills and white chapels perched on sheer cliffs, around hairpin turns and through tiny villages scattered like pebbles, until the asphalt ends in a bone-rattling path leading ever higher, through the hiding places of mountain goats and wild boar, to the edge of the timberline where the gray slate roofs of Lia become visible nestled among the scrub pine and holm oak of my village (pg. 18). This setting was just... it was spectularly written so that I could almost imagine myself driving up that road. It seemed so wrong that such a beautiful place was violated by the evils of the guerrillas. It was bone chilling, yet amazing to picture. 'Tin fagane i horiani' 'It was the villagers who devoured her' (pg. 19). This quote particularly stood out to me, because it raised the question of was it just the guerrillas who aided in the death of Eleni, or did those who were close to her help too? It was interesting. The villagers who lived in Lia knew her, and probably liked her a lot. But, to bolster their standing in the eyes of the Greek guerrillas, they turned on her and spoke against her. In turn, one could say that they also aided in the trial and murder of Eleni. It got me thinking would I do the same to a well known villager if my family was in danger? And the scary thing is, I probably would. Because when it gets down to it, who comes first? Your family or someone not as close to you? And rationally, it would be your family. Right? This was a very interesting quote... I liked it. On page 20, there was a quick allusion to Antigone and Hecuba, two references to Greek mythological plays. It was kind of a cool allusion, considering the story is by a Greek author and takes place in Greek. I just thought I would mention it in passing, since allusions are a literary term, and I've had to look for those almost every year since I started high school.

Section 2 (pages 22 70) Date: June 8, 2012 Children gathered walnuts, men sorted over the amber and amethyst grapes for the wine making, women strung garlands of dried beans, peppers, onions and garlic to hang from the rafters. The sunshine splashed the mountainside with butter-yellow autumn crocuses, gilded beech trees rustled with ghosts, and everywhere, pomegranates, squashes and pumpkins glowed like minature suns (pg. 25). This is the setting of the beginning of Chapter One the Mourgana mountain range in October of 1940. It was a really pretty picture, and I liked the scenery it painted in my head a lot. It reminded me a lot of the autumn colors we always associate with autumn. Page 27 gave descriptions of Gage's sisters, Olga, Kanta, and Glykeria. Olga is the oldest, at 12 years old in this scene. The way Gage writes about her, he makes her seem like a normal 12 year old girl bored with what's going on. It made me laugh a little bit because it just seemed so typical for today's era of children, that I didn't expect to see it in the traditional little town of Lia. The second oldest was Alexandra, or Kanta as she was referred to. She is nervous and superstitious, and reminded me a little bit of my self. The sight of a corpse would leave her screaming in her sleep for weeks (pg. 27). This part defintely reminded me of myself, because it would do the same to me, seeing a corpse. And the third oldest was Glykeria, who was six. She is the typical young child, curious about everything and doing anything to get a glimpse at the big commotion. She was a fat, and flaxen-haired. The fourth oldest, Fotini, wasn't really described all that much because she was two at the ceremony. She just sat on a grave and cried. Ugh. The part about drinking from the skull of Fotini. First of all, it was a bit creepy that they had to dig up Fotini's skeleton to wash the bones and inter them into another place. Then, they had to go and introduce the idea of drinking wine from her skull, freshing dug up from her resting place of about three years. It just... I know it was a custom of the village, but living the way I have, it really creeped me out. It was still incumbent on a woman to choose death before dishonor (pg. 33). I felt as scared as Olga reacted when I read this. If I had the duty to choose death before dishonor of my family, I'd be scared to pieces. Give up my life, just so I don't dishonor my family? I love my family a lot, but I'd rather not die for something like that... I liked the description of the things that Eleni had collected over the years from Christos' journeys on page 34. It was pretty cool, and I liked all of the things she had. The Singer sewing machine and the gramophone with its trumpet speaker were too big to hide. They'd be the first things the Italians would take. But smaller objects could be concealed in the hollow oak tree out back. She gathered the golden pitcher from Constantinople, etched with minarets and gardens, and the iridescent Turkish pillow. From her wooden dowry chest Eleni took the silver jewelry; the huge belt buckle and breast ornaments. Last of all she picked up Christos' brass-framed photograph and the sandalwood box that held his letters (pg. 34) She had a lot of things, and it was neat to hear about them all. She seemed really

different from some of the other villagers described. More American, because of her husband. I'm interested to see how that will play out later on in the book. May you have male children and female goats (pg. 35). It still amazes me how people prefer male children over female children, because they're essentially useless. This quote just stuck out to me because you need females to reproduce, yeah? So why always wish for boys? It just seems like... Pointless. The place I marked on page 39 was some character development on Christos, since we hadn't really heard much about him or from him. Christos, although he is from Lia, he likes being American. He adopted the ways of cleanliness, honesty, and industry, which is very different from the villagers he came from. He worked actual jobs and made a steady income, although it wasn't much according to United States standards. And although he only sells vegetables, he indulges himself on high quality suits, so it seems like he's higher up in the business world than he is. I like this about him. He dresses for success, but works the job of someone just scraping by. It's interesting. Another setting thing I loved the setting of the Turkish area that was descriped on page 41. Unmarried youths and maidens eyed one another, and carriages rattled by, drawn by horses in flowered straw hats. Gypsies entertained the crowd with monkeys and dancing bears. Peddlers of pistachio nuts, Turkish delight and multicolored syrups chanted their wares. At the edge of the water, a molten sheet of copper in the setting sun, fishermen mended their nets (pg. 41). This description was magical sounding! To Eleni, it must have been a whole other world entirely. The first sentence, about the young girls and boys eyeing each other, must have been so weird for her, since girls weren't allowed to be around men for the longest time. Everything seemed so magical and colorful, and gosh, I just really want to go there now.

Section 3 (pages 71 110) Date: August 17, 2012 Wow, haven't visited this in a while. I've gotten a bit of late start on it. Anyways, Section 3. The first thing that really caught my attention was the paragraph on page 81 detailing the guerrilla who sat in the throne that was reserved specifically for the Bishop Spyridon of Yannina. It struck me as religious defiance, and a show of We are better than religion and those that you worship. Or, in other words, another way of placing themselves in a higher power above the people of Lia. Next was the incident on page 85 with Nikola rolling off the cement slab and landing on his head. I felt really bad for Glykeria, who had no idea what to do in the situation, and was completely alone. I also felt really bad for Nikola, who must have been in so much pain. I was really scared about what was going to happen to Nikola after that, until I realized he obviously lived, since he wrote the book. I wondered why Fotini didn't do anything though. And then, Eleni's reaction to finding out Nikola was hurt. I can understand being upset since he was her only male child, but throwing rocks at her daughter?! What's up with that?! I couldn't believe what she called her, either. You you black devil, is this the way you look after your brother? Philip and Ian had a little bit of character description on page 93. They were the British soldiers stationed in Lia. Philip was the younger of the two. He was educated, and came from a rich family. Even though he was younger, he had been made a captain before Ian. Ian was a very suspicious man, and didn't like Philip. Just something I found, was a little snippet about my birthday, January 4th. On page 106, Gage mentioned something about the ELAS gaining a victory that left the Mourgana mountains in their hands for the rest of the war. It wasn't a very good thing, but it was on my birthday.

Section 4 (pages 111 176) Date: August 17, 2012 Page 111 had the most gruesome description of killings that I had read yet. I can't remember if there was worse later on, but coming back to the book a few months later, I re-read it and it still made me gag and want to cry: By the early months of 1944 the Germans knew they were losing the war and their reprisals became more vicious. All 228 inhabitants of Distomo, near Delphi, were murdered and mutilated, including twenty children under the age of five. The young women were mutilated and cut open from the genitals to the breasts, and the children were disemboweled, their entrails wound around their necks. I mean.. How did these people do this? Especially to women and children? It sickens me, some of the stuff I read in this book. You see, if we are not provoked, it is not necessary to fear us (pg. 120). This quote made me chuckle a little, especially coming back to it after reading the book. Most of the victims of this war were killed just because the ELAS was cruel. Most of the time, they weren't provoked. They killed just to kill and make a point of power. Disgusting. There were so many different descriptions of places in the book that I found just fascinating. I won't list them all out here, but one that I liked a lot was the desctiption of the Church of the Virgin on page 122. It sounded so interesting to look at. Ugh, so many things in the book that are just so heart-wrenching. It was Fotis who spied a gold signet ring shining from beneath a pile of fallen rocks in the still-smoking cellar. In the ring was a bone. Gage really doesn't spare the details in this book. I think it's the most thought-provoking one I've read so far. I don't think I've ever teared up as much over a book as I have on this one. And then sometimes, I laugh so hard! The British must really have cut off their balls. I don't know why (teenage immaturity levels?) but that part made me laugh a lot. During the first months of peace, the people of Greece still moved about the landscape like survivors of a holocaust; ragged, barefoot and close to starvation. The country was devastated by the years of occupation and the months of civil war; more than 100,000 homes had been destroyed, 500,000 Greeks had died of starvation or murder and the economy was bankrupt. The first promise of help appeared in the form of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (pg. 136). This is crazy... Greece was just utterly destroyed after this, and this wasn't even the end of it. It's a wonder how they even got up to par with the rest of the world. Page 138 was an event that happened when Kanta came home wearing something from the UNRRA ladies. Eleni freaked out, spouting things about What would the village think? All I could think of, and not being critical of it, was that Eleni was jealous, or even embarassed. Jealous, because of the finery Kanta received. And embarassed because she, of all people, was helped by the UNRRA.

The swimming pool Nikola made on page 143 was really cute to me. Sure, it turned out to be just mud. But haven't we all done something similar in our years as younger children? I can remember going to the beach and trying to make a little pool, but to no avail. Everytime I would fill the hole up, the water would just get sucked up into the surrounding sand. It was really cute and adorable to hear about Nikola trying to make his own swimming pool. It made me really root for him to get to America, because then he could go swimming in a real pool. It always strikes me as so surreal when I read things like on page 146, about the feather duster. I know what all this stuff is, because I've been privilaged to grow up in the United States in a middle class family. Eleni didn't grow up with these things. She had no idea what the feather duster was. She thought it was a table ornament. It was funny, but also kinda weird for somebody to not know what a feather duster was. It made me think about other countries that might be the same way even now. The description of a wedding on page 151 was cool, too. It was a little bit of a light shining through the bad. And so many traditions! I kind of wish there were all kinds of really cool traditions like that here. It was really cool to read them, from a historical point of view. Traditions from the past have always interested me. Oh my goodness, and the story about Milia and her first night with her new husband. I almost peed myself laughing. Poor girl, had no idea what was going to, or currently happening. She was probably really embarassed about the whole thing for the rest of her life. It was so funy though! The last thing of any importance was the fortune telling that Eleni received. All I could think of when the woman mentioned death was the death of Eleni. It was weird, to hear a fortune telling of things that were going to happen. It made the eventual outcome of the book spring back to my mind, and make me a little more sombre about reading on. But, of course, I did.

Section 5 (pages 177 220) Date: August 18, 2012 From the perspective of an avid reader, the idea of burning books is just horrific. When Spiro Skevis set the Stratis house on fire, I internally cringed. All those books had burned, never to be held or read again. Although everyone suffered under the occupation of the guerrillas, by the second week of December, Eleni began to suspect that she had been singled out for special attention (pg. 188). Well first off, obviously she had been singled out for special attention. By the end of the book, the whole village had it out for her. You live your life, and you get turned on. Life's cruel. The familiar faces of her neighbors would never look the same again. Oh, and page 195. The part where they burn Olga's foot. At first I thought, Why would she do that?! And then it kind of made sense. Eleni was devoted to her children, to the extent where she would physically harm them to prevent them from further injury from the guerrillas. That was the section I had really come to the conclusion that a big motif of the book was devotion. Eleni was definitely devoted to her children, no matter what the circumstances were. She tried her best to keep them safe. I'd say she did a fairly good job, since they all eventually made it to America. It was just too bad that she couldn't make it there with them. He noticed that although the one on the left, a teen-ager, stood stiffly erect, his rifle in parade position and his face an expressionless mask, he was crying (pg. 202). Easily one of the most powerful quotes in the book. I don't think I really have to say anything about this one. Oh! And another thing. There is way too many people named Christos! I got really confused throughout the book, because so many people were named the same thing. It was really hard to keep track of the characters. I can remember at least three different Christos'. It was really confusing. Devotion, again, on page 208. Eleni was forced to hurt her children in order to make their life easier. If she hadn't had hit Nikola, he probably would have gotten a worse punishement. [...] one of her two sweaters had been taken from her by the guerrillas because it wasn't fair for the Amerikana's daughter to have two when others had none (pg. 215). This reminded me of the liberals/democrats and communists.

Section 6 (pages 221 290) Date: August 18, 2012 Oh my word, the insults being thrown around on page 225. Some of those are even too vulgar for me, and I have quite the pirate mouth. That's just.. wow. It made me laugh, but I was really shocked, ahah. There was a piece of characterization of Nikola on page 228 that I thought was very sad, but also a bright light in the dimness of the book. Although he had killed his bird that he had nursed, he felt remorse for it. It seems like throughout the whole book, there wasn't a lot of remorse about what was happening. Just a lot of killing. To see Nikola showing some emotion, and not turning into one of the facist assholes was really nice. A breath of fresh air, I guess. I also thought that the dream of Fotini visiting Eleni was pretty intresting. Because that's exactly how it happened. Tsavana died, and then Eleni was executed. Ugh, page 242. Horrible description... I would really have hated to be that shepard person. I think I would have vomited. This section was really horrible, in terms of description and events. Like, for example, Glykeria learning that their previous house was being used to bury the dead. The place where they were born and grew up was being used so cruely and disgustingly. Oh lord, and the next tab I have. Same thing. Kanta, finding the dead body, with the arm sticking up from her grave. And the one who was still alive in her grave. And the shot they heard afterwards, signaling that the one was buried and alive was now dead. The pedomasomas were pretty bad too. On page 262, it gives a description of how the kids who were sent to them by their parents didn't have as wonderful as a time as expected. They were bribed with marmalade, but never saw it again. Their lives sucked, and a lot of the time they never saw their parents again. Then there's the guy who drank hydrochloric acid. I mean, oh my god! That's extremely dangerous! I understand a desire to not work for the guerrillas, but oh my god. That's just... extremely bad for you. And, that showed, since he died of throat cancer 25 years later.

Section 7 (pages 293 341) Date: August 18, 2012 The plans of escaping really stressed me out. I knew, just knew, that things were going to go wrong. I don't know specifically what I expected, but I was expecting something bad. One of the funny points was the first time Nikola tried ice cream. I thought it was really cute that he thought it burned him! He's never had something as cold as ice cream before, so he thought the cold was burning his tongue. I felt bad that people were laughing at him, but honestly I probably would have chuckled too. I hate how the guerrillas try anything to get their prisoners to crack. And it made me respect Eleni even more that she didn't crack, even though she was faced with some of the most ruthless people in the country. Page 325 is the page I'm directly referring to in this case. When Sotiris is trying to get Eleni to break down and admit that she was planning on escaping. He was trying to say that Olga wrote one thing, when she wrote another. I was really proud of Eleni for not cracking then and there. And oh my, the aborted execution of Giorgiana. I would have been scarred for life, as she clearly was. I suspect something like PTSD. Seriously though, just the thought of that raises my already high anxiety. Being handed a shovel with the knowledge that you're digging your own grave. That you're going to be shot, and the baby you set down by the tree... Who knows what's going to happen to the baby? Ugh, I hate thinking about it. I got really infuriated when Nitsa found out that she wasn't really pregnant. That it was a hysterical pregnancy. I just think about all the excuses she used that she was pregnant. I think that Eleni might have survived. I know Nitsa didn't really know that she wasn't pregnant. But people need something to blame, and I guess Nitsa is one of those for me.

Section 8 (pages 342 386) Date: August 18, 2012 A quote that I thought summed up the book a lot to start this section off: I thought you were human beings! (pg. 345). This was stated by Dina Venetis, when the guerrillas were beating her. It sums up the book so well. All the people in this book are human beings, but they sure don't act like it. She was lost, but her children were safe (pg. 350). Eleni finally broke and told everything about her plans to escape. She gave up. One might see this as weakness, and in some respects, it is. But eventually you grow tired of trying to fight. What is there to fight for when those whom you were fighting for are safe? She probably recognized that her duty of keeping her children safe was complete (from where she could see), and decided that it wasn't worth it anymore. It seems like she accepted that she probably wasn't going to make it out of there alive, and just accepted her fate. In some ways, I wish she had kept fighting. But I understand that tired feeling you get when you realize that fighting any more than you already have would be futile. You just give up. There's nothing more you can do, you've done all you can, why keep fighting? That's what I think Eleni finally realized as she was being kept. And, unfortunately, I think that's also what led to her execution. I thought the dream discussion between Dina and Sofia was really interesting too. I find that stuff interesting anyways, but to see that those dream predictions came true was cool. Unfortunately, it ended badly for Sofia. But Dina did get set free. Another powerful thing in the book (is anything NOT powerful?) was Marianthe going back for her shoes. They were the only thing she owned, and she actually risked her life to go back and get them. I bet she felt amazing when she escaped with the knowledge that she not only escaped, she snuck back in, got her shoes, and escaped again. Successfully. Really neat. 'You will see that the Democratic Army does not punish the innocent, only the guilty' (pg. 360). This quote really conflicted me. It was true, but it was also a lie. Technically, when they tried Eleni, she had planned on escaping with her family. She was guilty of that. But she shouldn't have necessarily been guilty of it. Leaving with her family is not really a crime. In the guerrillas' books it is, but they're horrible people. It was a really conflicting quote. In the end, I decided that it was mostly a lie, because the rules and laws they had enforced were stupid, and the punishments were overly harsh. Ah, and finally, a description of Katis. The silence deepened as a tall, balding, gray-haired man of middle age with a chiseled oval face, large nose, jutting chin, and intense eyes, stood up. He wore a dark-blue suit, which pronounced him a man of education and urbanity, and his long, delicate fingers rested lightly on the table before him. The part that really stood out to me the most was the part about his eyes being intense. I don't know why, but it really drew me into the description. I could almost picture him in my mind, just those eyes. And the image was really bone-chilling. As Katis read their names, villagers who had whispered statements to the security police under the impression that they were speaking in confidence, paled and ducked their heads, trying to disappear among the crowd (pg. 370). As my little sticky note tag says, you should be ashamed. They are disgusting people to

whisper false statements about their neighbors who have done them no wrong, and not own up to their actions. Cowards are the worst kinds of people. Side note: Stavroula pisses me off. The drama that the village had watched for three days was in fact not a trial at all, but a carefully staged propaganda play in which all the sentences had been decided long beforehand (pg. 385). I really liked this description of the trials. It was exactly what they were: a disgusting form of propaganda and something to instill fear in those who hadn't done anything wrong yet.

Section 9 (pages 387 440) Date: August 18, 2012 They realized that the trial had not been the propaganda success that was intended, despite Katis' careful planning and the number of accusers (pg. 389). I was so relieved to see people stand up for their fellow villagers. And relieved to see that some didn't fall prey to the stupid propaganda display that was the trial. On page 400, I noted the scene where the priest named a child something that wasn't a saint. I thought it symbolized the loss of faith the villagers had experienced. When they described the digging of the ditch, I predicted it was Eleni's first grave. Unfortunately, I was right. I cried when I read the part where Glykeria sees her mother and her aunt for the last time. She didn't know it was for the last time, which made it even worse. I knew that they were never going to meet again. It made me think of my mum, and how at any time, it could be the last time I see her. I can't even begin to imagine how Glykeria must have felt after she learned that her mother had been executed, not moved to another prison. She must have reflected on that last visit so many times. I know I would have. My children! Kitso Haidis was shaken by racking sobs as he stood over the corpse of his daughter. The sight of the broken body beneath the mass of burnished hair released all the tears he had never shed for his other four daughters, dead in their doll-sized coffins. He grieved for them and for this favorite child, whom he had abandoned in anger without ever saying goodbye. 'I was on the dock watching the boat. Olga recognize me. And I waved to them. Prokopi Koulisis, he picked Nikola up and showed him to me from the deck. First time I see my son. Oh my tears! My heart broke that minute (pg. 434). And so did mine. SO MANY FEELS.

Section 10 (pages 443 470) Date: August 18, 2012 They were placed in a retarded class. I know that they're way below the level of most American students at the time, but being placed in the class with the mentally retarded wasn't right, I don't think. There's a difference between needing the special attention that mentally retarded kids need and needing to be in a different grade than most kids your age. Fatalist the doctrine that all events are predetermined by fate and are therefore unalterable. Is it bad that I felt a sense of happiness when I read that Stavroula died slowly of cancer? Because I did. It was so nice to hear she suffered. On page 451, I wanted to punch the kid who was saying that they did all the things they did for humanitarian reasons. Kids are so ignorant. Which is one of the reasons why I want to become a history teacher, so that kids aren't ignorant of their past.