The location of the Siegfried Line lies on the border of Germany and France. Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. Ouvrage Rochonvillers was retained by the French Army as a command centre into the 1990s but was deactivated following the disappearance of the Soviet threat. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Of the roughly 8.5 million French soldiers mobilized in 1914 to fight Germany and the other Central Powers, more than 6 million became casualties, either killed, wounded or declared missing during four years of grueling trench warfare. Her desire to disavow her daughter is proved when the white girl asks who the black children were and Mrs. Breedlove avoids answering her. The design of the casemates is similar to the ones found in the southern part of the Maginot Line, and photographs of them are often confused with Maginot forts. But when Hitler and the Nazis rose to power in the early 1930s, they quickly backed out of the Treaty of Versailles and began equipping for a much different kind of war. High-voltage Transmission Lines, initially above-ground but then buried, and connected to the civil power grid, provided electric power to the many fortifications and fortresses. This points toward a source of Pecola's suffering: she cannot see herself, because she is invisible to so many. 19 January 2021. If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. [27] For economic reasons, the success of the strategy of la guerre de longue dure would at the very least require Britain to maintain a benevolent neutrality, preferably to enter the war as an ally as British sea power could protect French imports while depriving Germany of hers. Teachers and parents! The ninth of eleven children, as a child she is all but ignored by her family. . The theme of love's scarcity can be seen in the treatment of Marie and the other prostitutes, whose names recall their vulnerable status. On the balcony above the door, Marie (the Maginot Line) is having a drink of root-beer. They go to Pecolas house, but no one is home. From front to rear (east to west), the line was composed of: 1. Pauline describes the first steady job she landed, working as a housekeeper for an ungenerous and pretentious white family. [26] Germany had to import most of its iron, rubber, oil, bauxite, copper and nickel, making naval blockade a devastating weapon against the German economy. Yet Frieda's response to sex, now that she has been assaulted, is that it feels like nothing. The little white girl is dressed in delicate pink and has yellow hair. All cloches were made of alloy steel. Refine any search. Frieda and Claudia are confused about what ruined means and worry that Frieda will become fat like the Maginot Line. [33] A number of old fortifications have now been turned into wine cellars, a mushroom farm, and even a disco. A light-skinned, wealthy Black girl who is new at the local school. This logical but mistaken chain of reasoning adds a rare note of humor to the story that is unfolding. This moment is something to bear in mind later on, when we learn what happens to Pecola under similar circumstances. The Maginot Line is upstairs on the porch drinking root beer, and she tells the children that Pecola is helping her mother at her workplace. Maginot was another veteran of World War I; he became the French Minister of Veteran Affairs and then Minister of War (19281932). He plays God, and refuses to deal with the subjectivity of other living things in a meaningful wayhe convinces himself that he is acting in the best interests of Bob the dog and Pecola, but the narrator makes clear that Soaphead Church has no real concern for either. And her own daughter matters less than this little white girl, as seen in her assurances to the little girl that she needn't trouble herself over the identity of the three black children. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. [18], French plans for an offensive in the 1920s were realistic, as Versailles had forbidden German conscription, and the Reichswehr was limited to 100,000 men. [clarification needed] The line stretched from Switzerland to Luxembourg and a much lighter extension was extended to the Strait of Dover after 1934. The specification of the defences was very high, with extensive and interconnected bunker complexes for thousands of men; there were 45 main forts (grands ouvrages) at intervals of 15km (9.3mi), 97 smaller forts (petits ouvrages) and 352 casemates between, with over 100km (62mi) of tunnels. He shot at Henry and Henry ran away. Subsequently the Line was of minimal military importance, and many of the fortress divisions surrendered without even fighting. Continue to start your free trial. As a young boy, Cholly has a great friend in old Blue Jack, an older black man who works at the feed store. Frieda's parents believe her without question, and their reaction is to protect their daughter. [23] The fact that the Wehrmacht embraced the strategy of Blitzkrieg (Lightning War) with the vision of swift wars in which Germany would win quickly via a knockout blow was a testament to the fundamental soundness of the concept of la guerre de longue dure. Following the Munich Agreement and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, the Germans were able to use the Czech fortifications to plan attacks that proved successful against the western fortifications (the Belgian Fort Eben-Emael is the best-known example). $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% Consequently, the Germans invaded through the Low Countries in 1940, passing it to the north. She has a deformed foot and sees herself as the martyr of a terrible marriage. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Pecola is confused and talks about how nice Miss Marie (that is, the Maginot Line) and her friends are. Their father's reaction, while violent, demonstrates the love he has for his family, which is contrasted later when Cholly rapes Pecola, simultaneously failing to protect her and acting as the aggressor. [13] From 1871 forward, French elites had concluded that France had no hope of defeating Germany on its own, and France would need an alliance with another great power to defeat the Reich. The thinness of her companions is then connected to whisky (again based on something that they have heard their mother say, but which they misunderstood), and so they undertake a quest to procure whisky for Frieda. The moment with the doctors is crucial, and is yet another scene in which we can study the gaze and how it functions. We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. Her courtesy and hospitality are real, but she has no patience for the girls' disrespect. She depends upon their interpretation of what has taken place in order to understand it herself. The final line was strongest around the industrial regions of Metz, Lauter and Alsace, while other areas were, in comparison, only weakly guarded. Soaphead Church is self-deluding, unhappy, and megalomaniacal. Feester: To worsen, especially due to lack of attention. France quickly extended the Maginot Line along the Franco-Belgian border, but not to the standard of the rest of the line. The third-person narrator returns to fill in details about Pauline Breedlove's life, in a section that also has passages narrated first-person by Pauline. | One attack broke through a weak section of the line in the Vosges Mountains, but the French defenders stopped a second attack near Wissembourg. Why does Maureen have a privilege status in the school community? From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Renews March 8, 2023 4. When Joffre, Maginot and others conceived of the Maginot Line, Germany was under tight military restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. (one code per order). Pecolas fourteen-year-old brother, who copeswith his familys problems by running away fromhome. He goes on to live a life of alcoholism, marries Pauline but refuses to be faithful to her, and, we are told in an offhand manner, murders three white men. 8. When the little white girl asks Mrs. Breedlove who the black girls were, Mrs. Breedlove assures her that she doesn't need to know: "Hush. Based on France's experience with trench warfare during World War I, the massive Maginot Line was built in the run-up to World War II, after the Locarno Conference in 1925 gave rise to a fanciful and optimistic "Locarno spirit". [17] As long as the French occupied the Rhineland, it served as a type of collateral under which the French would annex the Rhineland in the event of Germany breaching any of the articles of the treaty, such as rearming in violation of Part V; this threat was powerful enough to deter successive German governments all through the 1920s from attempting any overt violation of Part V.[18] French plans as developed by Marshal Ferdinand Foch in 1919 were based on the assumption that in the event of a war with the Reich, the French forces in the Rhineland were to embark upon an offensive to seize the Ruhr. The strategy was that the Maginot Line would blunt any invasion and allow time for mobilisation and counterattack by allied forces. "The Maginot Line fit perfectly with this kind of thinking." The protagonist of the novel, an eleven-year-old Black girl who believes that she is ugly and that having blue eyes would make her beautiful. However, he noted that the French failed to use the line as the basis for an offensive. Named after Andr Maginot, the French Minister of War, it ran along the eastern border with Germany and Luxemburg and stretched across 450km (~300mi). The third person narrator points out that for the cavity to have grown, the conditions for it to fester must have been in placea clear metaphor for the social forces that have trapped Pauline in a hard and joyless life. It is the Maginot Line. Breedlove. From upstairs, the little girl calls for Polly, and Pecola accidentally pulls a freshly baked berry cobbler off the counter. In contrast, the opposing German Army Group C only contained 19 divisions, fewer than a seventh of the force committed in the Manstein Plan for the invasion of France. French military experts believed the line would deter German aggression because it would slow an invasion force long enough for French forces to mobilise and counterattack. [25] Besides the demographic reasons, a defensive strategy served the needs of French diplomacy towards Great Britain. For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more! Please wait while we process your payment. He has a gruff manner toward little Black girls. Belgium was overrun, and British and French forces evacuated at Dunkirk. Please wait while we process your payment. "Why the Massive Maginot Line Failed to Stop Hitler" Principal line of resistance: This line began 10km (6mi) behind the border. The Question and Answer section for Bluest Eye is a great Mr. Yacobowski The local grocer, a middle-aged white immigrant. Built between 1930 and 1940, France 's Maginot Line was a massive system of defenses that became famous for failing to stop a German invasion. Frieda equates being "ruined" to being like the Maginot Line, because she heard her mother say that the Maginot Line was a "ruined" woman. Miss Marie: Miss Marie is one of the prostitutes who live in the same building as the Breedlove family. "That's just what the French did," says Kirchubel. Mr. MacTeer chased Mr. Henry off, beating him first and then firing a gun at him. 3. [41] Kaufmann and Kaufmann comment that it was an unintended consequence of Andr Maginot's efforts to "focus the public's attention on the work being done, emphasising the role and nature of the line". The line wasn't Maginot's idea alone, but he helped push the ambitious, multimillion-franc project through parliament. The passage is written with poetic tone, turning Blue Jack into something like a figure of myth, male and strong and holding up the watermelon so that it blocks out the sun. [18] French decision-makers knew that the victory of 1918 had been achieved because the British Empire and the United States were allies in the war and that the French would have been defeated on their own. Here the Line ran east-west, around the villages of Rittershoffen and Hatten, south of Wissembourg. She becomes pregnant. [10], The training was carried out at a fortress near the town of Bitche in Moselle in Lorraine, built in a military training area and so capable of live fire exercises. Dunion. By the end of the novel, through Pecola's experience, the MacTeer sisters will have a much better understanding of ruin. SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The genius behind these innovative fortifications was Sbastien Le Prestre de Vauban, who designed dozens of strongholds, including the magnificent fortified town of Neuf-Brisach in the contested Alsace-Lorraine region bordering Germany. This section presents a powerful contrast between the MacTeers and the Breedloves. While most of the giant underground fortresses of the Maginot Line were abandoned or destroyed, you can visit a few of them, still in working order. [35] The idea was shelved. [55] It was also frequently referenced in wartime films, notably Thunder Rock, The Major and the Minor (albeit as a comedic metaphor) and Passage to Marseille. Safety Quarters were built near the major fortifications so fortress (ouvrage) crews could reach their battle stations in the shortest possible time in the event of a surprise attack during peacetime. Her jealousy shows her inability to conceptualize the trauma incurred during such an experience. He is a pedophile who loves to touch little girls. Borey, Eddie. Cloches are non-retractable turrets. These impressive fortifications 142 large artillery forts called ouvrages or "works," 352 fortified gun emplacements called "casemates," and 5,000 smaller bunkers and pillboxes became known as the Maginot Line, named after the French politician Andr Maginot (pronounced Mah-ji-noh). He is fiercely protective of his daughters. He has also acquired the nickname Soaphead Church. She returned with her parents to the house, but Henry was gone. . Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. After a humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the French built a ring of 19 heavily fortified military bases around the ancient city of Verdun in northeastern France near the borders with Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium. His mother vanishes, and his father had already skipped town before Cholly was born. The line, which was supposed to be fully extended further towards the west to avoid such an occurrence, was finally scaled back in response to demands from Belgium. The prejudice and treatment that Pecola receives because of her skin color is called "colorism," a sister type of discrimination that has only recently been studied and researched. on 50-99 accounts. It is also possible that Miss Mary Mack comes from the slang meaning of mack for a "pimp" or "flirting," dating back to the late 1800s. Subscribe now. Kaufmann and H.W. The hot pie filling burns Pecola's legs painfully, but when Mrs. Breedlove returns and sees the mess she runs to Pecola and backhands her, knocking the girl down. As the water table in this region is high, there was the danger of underground passages getting flooded, which the line designers knew would be difficult and expensive to overcome. [53] New York Times headlined "Maginot Line in the Sky" in 2000[54] and "A New Maginot Line" in 2001. The girls admire her light skin and social status, and they are jealous of both. They could be single (with a firing room in one direction) or double (two firing rooms in opposite directions). [21] Reflecting memories of World War I, the French General Staff had developed the concept of la puissance du feu ("the power of fire"), the power of artillery dug in and sheltered by concrete and steel, to inflict devastating losses on an attacking force. Claudia does not yet know that her mother here is reacting to Frieda's assault by Mr. Henry. After that, her marriage with Cholly deteriorates rapidly. [23] Germany had the largest economy in Europe but lacked many of the raw materials necessary for a modern industrial economy (making the Reich vulnerable to a blockade) and the ability to feed its population. Their crews ranged from 500 to more than 1,000 men. The serpent is the largest remaining artifact from World War II. $18.74/subscription + tax, Save 25% This section is arguably the most successful part of the novel. While the Germans built a fleet of bombers and armored vehicles for their mobile blitzkrieg strategy, the French were putting the finishing touches on their very large and static underground fortresses. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. In the 17th century, from his luxurious palace at Versailles, Louis XIV oversaw the construction of citadels and fortresses meant to mark and protect the Sun King's territory. The moment is painfully evoked: "There I was five months pregnant, trying to look like Jean Harlow, and a front tooth gone. "That's the part that fell apart for the Allies.". Czechoslovakia also feared Hitler and began building its own defences. 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