Senior 2:

What point of view does the author use? Does the author use point of view primarily to reveal or to conceal?  Explain.

The point of view the author uses is third person. He uses third person to mainly reveal things about each character pertaining to Marcel and the investigation. He doesn’t bring in first or second person because well there’s no mutual relationships shared between the characters only that they  somehow know or know of Marcel Petiot. He also couldn’t give a first person perspective because well, the only first perspective would be is of the victims and they didn’t live very long once they arrived to his house.

The purpose of the room was not clear, but there was already a disturbing hunch that this small space with its iron hooks, many decoys, and virtually soundproof walls might well be where the victims had met their demises. (8)

Through third person perspective we’re able to understand everything going on not just the life of Marcel but neighbors as well and learn about and understand the investigation that was going on at the time. It’s able to give a deeper in depth look on what was going on. About the Germans in Paris, the police force and in Marcel’s life to a degree. Sadly we’re unable to learn about the victims and their lives and who they were since they left who they were when fleeing from the Germans and when they were “rescued” by Marcel. I honestly wish we could’ve gotten some sort of information on the victims, but due to the way they showed up to Paris and the conditions they were subjected to they weren’t identifiable. Marcel made it very hard to identify anyone especially when back then they didn’t use any sort of DNA or teeth matching to find out who these people were.

King, David. Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-occupied Paris. New York: Crown, 2011. Print.

Senior 2: So creepy

What is the setting of the story? Is the setting familiar or unfamiliar to you? Why?

The setting of this story is Paris, France during World War II, so I can’t really say I’m able to relate, but I do know through history books and documentaries that this was a terrible time. Especially for Marcel’s victims who were mostly  Jewish people running from Nazi’s seeking help and safety.

The majority of them being Jews fleeing prosecution. Dr Petiot had become the self-appointed executioner for Hitler, gassing, butchering, and burning his victims in his own private death camp. (342)

Could you imagine? Running for safety trying to find someone who will help you and end up in the same position. I mean I would be terrified if I was a Jewish person and I’m desperate for safety and someone offers to keep me safe just to turn around and be this evil e who’s going to end up doing the same thing I was running from. It must’ve been terrifying for the victims of Marcel, all they wanted was someone to keep them safe from the Nazi’s but all along they were living with one. It’s horrifying what he did but it gets even worse when he tricked them into trusted him as much as they did and to take advantage of these poor desperate people who just wanted an escape. Marcel took advantage of his victims because he knew they would be desperate for shelter and safety and led them in and tricked them into being the victims of horrific crimes. The worse part is that Marcel Petiot is a real person who committed real crimes against real people.

Senior 2: This Setting…

What is the setting of the story?  How does this setting create a mood or atmosphere for the story?  Describe the mood, using evidence from the text to support your answer.

Since the setting is during World War II its obviously creates a sad, depressing mood, but it also has the mystery side to make the setting also creepy. The moods teeter from sad to creepy often, at once time your sad because these poor people were victimized then the next minute you’re thinking “what the hell??”. Just like when your reading and you read that he burnt the bodies in his house, how do the neighbors not notice or smell it, I mean it’s burning flesh…coming from a HOUSE not a cemetery or a morgue or crematory, a plain old house. Now if it was me and I saw black smoke coming from my neighbors house with a disgusting small along with it I’m going to notify the police, luckily a neighbor did call it in.

The smoke had begun 5 days before, but now, in the unusually warm weather, it was getting worse, seeping through closed windows and soiling the furniture…the air was a nauseating smell described variously as burnt carmel, burnt rubber, or a burnt roast of poor quality.(1)

Thank god for this neighbor, if it weren’t for them who knows if he would’ve ever been caught or even hear of. He could’ve gone on to be a successful physician who was secretly murdering innocent people. and as if murdering people who were innocent wasn’t bad enough he had lied and said they were spies for Germany and that he was apart of a vigilanty group stopping German’s who were trying to destroy Paris.

Senior 2: Conflict Conflict Conflict…

What is the conflict in your book?

The conflict in my book “Death in the City of Lights” is definitely character v character. The main character Marcel Petiot, soon to be known as the notorious murder in Paris during World War II, and between the entire Paris police force but specifically, Victor Massu, chief commissionaire. This book is gruesome but keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire way with the story getting crazier and crazier. Marcel was well known in the community and was a respectable physician. But he wasn’t always this way.

It was difficult, for Massu and historians alike, to navigate through the layers of rumor, gossip, and myth that surrounded Petiot’s childhood. As with many other accused murders, former neighbors dwelled upon tales of his sadism and antisocial behavior…snatched baby birds..poked out their eyes, and laughed as they shrieked in pain and stumbled into the side of the cage [then] he watched them starve to death. (19)

This alone his parents should’ve locked him away forever keeping him away from everything and everyone so he couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. It goes on to say that pretty much any animal within arms reach wasn’t safe including his favorite cat, who was later smothered to death by Marcel. He was evil, but also very smart and intelligent. His reading level was impeccable despite the infatuations of the sexual lifestyles of  then celebrities including Alexander the Great. Marcel was an unusual child who later turned into a murdering psychopath.

Victor Massu wanted to get this menace off the streets as much as I want a tart every day of my life, which is very bad. He wanted to catch this vile murderer but didn’t know it was him the first time they had met. Marcel had introduced himself as his brother not Marcel, and sadly Massu believed him, he had the murderer right there in front of him, but just didn’t know.  The constant back and forth with police and Marcel was intense all the way til the ending when they’re finally able to save one victim of Marcel figuring out how he killed his victims since after killing them he would burn the bodies.

Senior 1: This Book Doesn’t Have A Mood it Has Moods!

Question: What is the setting of the story?  How does this setting create a mood or atmosphere for the story?  Describe the mood, using evidence from the text to support your answer.

The setting of the story physically is in Reston, Virginia, but mode wise, it starts out normal, but turns to utter chaos within days. The atmosphere and mood are set by the setting since the original setting is definitely a mystery tragedy. This book played with my mind a lot when it came to setting, mood, and atmosphere since the author of the book decided to put in many different moods from mystery to fear of death to the limitation of humans. It all started in New Year’s Day, from that day til they were able to kill all the monkeys, put them in an enclosed building and chemically cleanse the entire building, sadly few people were re-exposed but luckily survived.

A virus does not “want” to kill its host. That is not in the best interest of the virus, because then the virus may also die, unless it can jump fast enough out of the dying host into a new host. (84)

This virus shows that this virus doesn’t want to actually kill the human population and destroy it, it just simply is too strong for the host, so the host dies and the virus sometimes dies with the body since it can’t feed anymore. But sometimes it’s able to change hosts before the original dies so the virus can keep living and thriving on. But this virus was very very strong, so it was actually able to jump human to human very easily and wipe out 90% of the people infected. This virus was and is incredibly strong, probably one of the strongest viruses to exist in the U.S. back then and now, luckily it isn’t in the U.S. anymore but at the time when it was here it was a very publicized thing and people who were infected and people who had contact with the infected were immediately closed off and quarantined to make sure they weren’t infected or non-contagious any longer.

Senior 1: Here’s A Little Background

Question: What is the theme of your book?  (How do you know?)  Before you read the book, what did you think about this subject? Did reading this book give you a new insight or deepen what you already know about this theme?

Before I read the book I wasn’t quite sure what it was about, my teacher had gone over what the just of it was but I was still kind of confused. I knew it was about a virus that was infected and killing off people in  a certain area, but I wasn’t expecting to read about an actual event (even though it says on the front of the book ‘a terrifying true story) that had happened in the 1980’s in Washington D.C., specifically in Reston, Virginia. The theme that this book gave off the most other than mystery was definitely fear, specifically the fear of dying. This stuck out the most to me because of how once the outbreak happened there was almost immediate chaos and panic about being unsure of what was going to happen.

The doctors remember the clinical signs, because no one who has seen the effects of a Biosafety Level 4 hot agent on a human can forget them, but the effects pile up, one after the other, until they obliterate the person beneath them. (4)

The quote is showing how this doctor remembers all the beginning signs but no one else could since they had never seen the symptoms and signs. The quote also states that the symptoms count just keeps rising and rising and rising until its un-treatable and because an un-curable outbreak destroying mankind. Reading with book definitely gave me a much better insight as to what really happened and what the entire full story. The book makes me want to read more about the first Ebola outbreak in the U.S. because honestly, I thought the Ebola outbreak that happened in like 2014-2015 was the first time Ebola was even in the United States, not the second. This book is perfect for people who like mystery, nonfiction, and slightly scaring themselves about the past of the United States. The Hot Zone is the book you want to read if you like history and/or tragic historical events like an outbreak or some sort of tragedy that may or may not have a positive ending.

Senior 1: This…Is….A…Creepy Setting…

Question: What is the setting of the story?  How does this setting create a mood or atmosphere for the story?  Describe the mood, using evidence from the text to support your answer.

Another setting in this book other than fear of dying was definitely mystery. I mean think about it somehow a monkey from Africa carrying this deadly virus, makes its way into the United States, not only into the U.S. but Washington D.C., our nation’s capital. Now for me, in that situation, I would be judging our nation’s security. But back in the 80’s national security may not have been that intense for animals, I mean back then there were so many famous ANIMAL actors and actresses that they could’ve just said it was Bubbles the monkey.

They were two human primates carrying another primate. One was the master of the earth, or at least believed himself to be, and the other was a nimble dweller in trees, a cousin of the master of the earth. Both species, the human and the monkey, were in the presence of another life form, which was older and more powerful than either of them, and was a dweller in blood. (81)

This quote obviously shows the one major connection between man and monkey, which is this virus. It even states “another life form” as if the virus itself was a link between the two, it then states that the virus was older and more powerful than man and monkey, but they only way it was stronger is because it can kill both of them, honestly it could eradicate the entire human civilization. But luckily, they were able to contain it to just the infected area instead of the entire state and maybe even eventually the entire nation. This virus could’ve easily turned from a virus into a plague and we’d have a situation where every single person is slowly dying off, like the black plague, where it was so uncontrolled 50 percent of the people infected had died. This entire book was just a giant frightening mystery book, but about something that actually happened and could’ve ended like the black plague, bu it didn’t it ended up killing 90 percent of the people infected.

Senior 1: Why the ‘Hot Zone’?

Question: What is the significance of the title of your book?  What does the title mean? Does it mean more than one thing?  How do you understand your book better because of the title?

The significance of the title of the book I read is very important. The book was called “The Hot Zone” for a reason, the ‘hot zone’ was Reston, Virginia during the 1980’s. I am able to understand the book more because of how they call it the hot zone and how the front of the book have an animated version of the Ebola virus. The term ‘hot zone’ means that one particular place is the big popular spot of whatever it may be, like the big popular restaurant in the city, or the spot to go swimming, or to see a sunset on the beach etc. But for this book it was NOT a happy, beautiful, or fun spot. Instead, it’s a horrific and depressing hot spot. I mean could you imagine? Waking up one day and you’re in a disease ridden “hot zone”? Unsure if you’re gonna wake up and one of your family members are sick or you end up sick and have the strong possibility of never seeing you friends and family ever again? And even if you weren’t infected you still would have to be tested and monitored, talk about paranoia. If you don’t like people in your business imagine being tested and monitored all day and night, I would snap and lose it, you’d think I was infected but with the crazy bug, not Ebola.

People performed all kinds of small rituals before they walked through that steel door. Some people crossed themselves. Others carried amulets or charms inside their space suits, even though it was technically against the rules to bring anything inside the suit except your body and the surgical scrubs. They hoped the amulets might help ward off the hot agent if there was a major break in the suit. (74)

This quote is showing that even though they were the top people and some of the smartest people, they still retreated back to their religions and their lucky charms and other superstitions. This just proves how scary and intense this disease is, and they’re about to walk into the danger zone of this infectious and murderous disease.

3. The Title…It’s His Nickname…How Sweet

Question: What is the significance of the title of your book? What does the title mean? Does it mean more than one thing? In what ways do you understand your book better because of the title?

The obvious significance is that the nickname of the serial killer was “The Monster” since there was no one actually caught he will forever remain “The Monster”. The title is his nickname so the nickname is showing exactly how gruesome he was in his murders where he wouldn’t be a human doing it it would be a monster of some sort committing these murders. The way he would mutilate the victims were horrible. Everyone one thought that no human on earth could possibly do something so horrific and gruesome.

It was clear then-as it is today-that Rotella and the carabinieri, despite all their missteps, were in fact on the right trail. The monster of Florence was very likely a member of that Sardinian clan. The official closing of the Sardinian Trail meant that the Monster investigation could now proceed in any direction but the right one. (126)

The murderer in these cases was strongly believed to be in some sort of satanic cult and was killing these couples just to gain power, what power? I’m not sure, but either way it’s a very gruesome way to murder someone and to after kill them to go through afterwards and mutilate the female victims only. The murderer has not been caught yet, Is he alive? there’s a strong possibility, but he could also be dead, no one knows the exact age of the Monster. Will we ever truly find out who the Monster was? I can’t tell you but time can.

3. Are the Murders Developing?

Question: Are any of the characters a developing character, changing over time? If so, is the change a large change or small one? Is the change believable for the character in his/her situations?

No, sadly the murders aren’t developing, but there slowly was more and more murders from 1968 through 1985. The “Monster” developed more and more throughout the years with every murder, at first, they thought it was just some random act of murder but once more had happened the police decided it’s a serial killer.

When Pacciani was interrogated, he responded very differently from the cool and collected Vinci brothers. He loudly denied everything, told lies even about things of no importance, contradicted himself continually, broke down sobbing, and wailed that he was a poor innocent, unjustly persecuted. The more Pacciani lied and bawled, the more Perugini became convinced of his guilt. (128)

I know what you’re thinking “OBVIOUSLY it’s this guy I mean he’s a rapist and a murderer it’s GOT to be him!!” But it’s not! it could be anyone! it’s crazy guys! there’s so much showing that he could be the serial killer who’s going around killing these couples, but he has no ties to the victims so it isn’t him. The situation for the Monster changes by him still being able to out and kill more couples. I mean 16 murders within 17 years is a lot, almost one per year. To the way he was feeling was all they needed to convict him for the murders. Even though Pacciani had claimed repeatedly that he was innocent the fact he was upset over them not believing him it eventually wore him down and had made it seem like he was in fact guilty of the crimes. He was charged with 14 of the 16 crimes and plead guilty in this famous trial but was later on dropped of the charges for the investigators having lack of evidence  against him.