The Berlin Boxing Club
Clayton, Dawson, Juliette, Jaden
Summary Part 1
The Berlin Boxing Club starts out with Karl not being able to defend himself against a group called the Wolf Pack. This causes suspicion with his family when he shows up to his father’s art gallery with a busted lip and bruised face. While serving refreshments, Karl gets the opportunity to meet Max Schmeling, a famous boxer who was old friends with his father. At this meeting, Max offers to teach Karl how to box in order to protect him from future encounters. Max gives him some basic training instructions to prepare him for the actual boxing techniques when he gets back from a fight in the United States. Karl takes the advice and starts the training that Max specified. After training for a year and a half, Karl gets the chance to see Max again. When they meet, Max takes Karl to the boxing club. While at the boxing club, Karl gets the chance to finally figure out his skills and see his strong points in boxing. He continues to come to the club and test himself with older boxers.
Summary Part 2
A while after Max leaves again, people find out that Karl is a Jew and he gets kicked out of school. After he gets kicked out he meets with a girl he really likes, Greta Hauser, and their building manager finds them and tells Greta’s father about their meeting. Because of this, Karl’s family gets kicked out of the building. He also gets kicked out because it is against the law for a Jew to be with an Aryan. Things get tough for Karl’s family and they have to move into the gallery and have makeshift rooms. After, Karl is depending more and more on boxing to keep himself sane with all of the Jew problems.
Summary Part 3
Karl gets a spot to play at the Youth Boxing Championship. He does great until former classmates, the Wolf Pack, come. He fights the leader and gets disqualified because he was a Jew. After being disqualified, the gallery gets raided by “brown shirts” and his dad gets stabbed while fighting, and Karl gets a concussion because he fought. His mother and father go to a hospital to get him fixed up. Karl and his sister go to stay with one of his father’s war buddies, the Countess, while Karl insists to go find his parents. After he stays in the Countess’s place, he goes to find Max and asks him for help to find his parents. Karl finds his mother and finds out his father has been arrested. Karl’s mother makes the decision to send him and his sister to America to keep them safe, while she tries to find her husband. Karl gets a new chance to be a new person, and have a new life with a fresh reputation. He waits for his parents, with the hope of becoming a boxer.
Reflection
We used S’more to portray the tone and mood of the book The Berlin Boxing Club because we could incorporate many different ideas and have many different options to show the moods that would best state the book.
Character Analysis
Karl is a very strong willed young man who fought to keep everything he had. Even though so many bed things were happening to him he kept hope that things would get better for his family and that he will be free of the sadness and discrimination of being a Jew. He got a second chance and now he’s using it to be happier.
Plot
Exposition-Page 3 "As Herr Boch finished the last lecture of the year," When Herr Boch is finishing his lecture.
Rising Action-Page 4 "I'd like you to help alphabetize the essay books for me." When Karl Gets asked for help.
Climax-Page 329 "Max Schmeling is beaten!" When Max was beaten
Falling Action-Page 388 "You and your brother are going to America" When Karl and Hildy get told they're going to America.
Resolution-Page 396 "We stood there holding hands on the deck as tugboats slowly guided us out to sea." When Karl and Hildy are leaving for America.