Choose one passage that wasn't presented in class--make sure it is a passage that is rich and deeply connected to important themes/motifs/issues in the book. Follow the same process that you did in groups to think through and analyze the passage:
* Identify the important themes/motifs/issues you see in the passage.
* Analyze what you see Wiesel doing as a writer -- look at words choices, phrasing of sentences, and the use of figurative language, repetition, or other literary devices. Talk about specific pieces of text within the passage
* What ideas/perspectives/understandings or even questions is Wiesel trying to instill in the reader? What is his purpose?
You can also include your own reflections and responses -- what you noticed about your own experience reading this part of the book.
Write about 250 - 400 words.
**Try not to pick a passage that someone else already did! Show that you can think for yourself!
Dwindling Faith
ReplyDeleteEmil Friedman
Passage: pages 67-68, “Some ten thousand men [...] I felt like an observer, a stranger.”
In this religiously charged, rebellious, and internally revolutionary passage, Eliezer comprehensively describes how and why his faith in prayer and God is diminishing. In a broader sense, the situation ties into some of the larger themes that are consistent throughout Eliezer’s experience. First, hopelessness and losing faith itself is prevalent. Throughout his time in the concentration camps, Eliezer’s hope and faith in just about everything -- his father, the fundamental goodness in humanity, and God -- is reduced. In this example of increasing hopelessness, in order to better understand just how changed Eliezer became, it is important to look back before Eliezer was taken under Nazi rule. Eliezer was not only a compliant Jew, but he was a passionate Jew: it was him, as a young child, who wanted to study Kabbalah, and him who even went so far as to find himself a teacher, against his father’s wishes. It was Eliezer who wanted to “discover within [the Kabbalah] the very essence of divinity” (Wiesel 5). So it is reasonably safe to assume that Eliezer began with a strong, fundamental faith in God. In accordance with the theme of losing faith and developing hopelessness, this passage, which comes much later in the book, represents a completely shifted viewpoint towards God by Eliezer.
Another major theme that is indicated in the passage is the concept of rebellion. Rebellion is something that is seen throughout the book: attempting to get to the bubbling pot of soup during an air raid, cursing Germany directly before being killed, and even Eliezer himself going against his father in studying Kabbalah. But here, Eliezer is rebelling against God. And why shouldn’t he? Like Eliezer says, “He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves,” and “He chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night.” In other words, in an environment where living babies are literally being murdered every day, how could Eliezer possibly believe that God is looking out for him and that his faith and prayer is even doing any good? In a sense, this example of rebellion is the most crucial in the book simply because of how changed Eliezer is. It is a shift from believing that God is watching over and looking after Eliezer to a mindset that believes that man is, in fact, stronger than God. And this shift is what introduces a turning point in that from this point on, Eliezer no longer turns to God in his weakest moments; when it comes to survival, there is no praying to God. Everything merely rests on Eliezer’s passion for living now.
CONTINUED BELOW
CONTINUED FROM ABOVE
ReplyDeleteThis lengthy passage is filled with a variety of rhetorical technique, with all of them serving to more comprehensively convey the powerful feelings and emotions of Eliezer to the reader. First, in describing the way that the group Eliezer was with preys, Wiesel writes that “thousands of lips repeated the benediction, bent over like trees in a storm.” This simile indicates to the reader that Eliezer’s feelings of rebellion are actually not that unique; “bent over like trees in a storm” suggests that everybody’s faith in what they are saying is being compromised. Taking the simile literally, imagine trees in a storm: the wind keeps getting stronger and stronger until trees start to break. Eliezer may have been one of the first trees to snap, but the others aren’t far off.
Another technique that Wiesel tends to utilize is repetition. During Eliezer’s heartfelt crescendo to fury, which seems to occur parallel to “as the inmate’s voice rose,” Eliezer asks himself some rhetorical questions: “Why, but why would I bless Him? [...] Because He kept six crematoria working day and night? [...] Because in His great might, He had created Auschwitz [...]?” Repeating “because” conveys a sense of exasperation and doneness. Eliezer is clawing for reasons to continue his faith in God, against all odds. And he simply can’t find them. There’s absolutely, positively nothing left.
I would imagine that this passage was one of the more important ones for Wiesel to write, because considering the way it is crafted, it would seem like something that deeply resonates with Wiesel and represents a personal experience of his. Indeed, the feelings that Eliezer was dealing with are probably consistent with those that Wiesel himself was struggling with during his time in the concentration camps. How far can faith in God go before it becomes absolutely hopeless? Is there a point when praying loses significance, or should one continue against all odds? Can praying actually become ridiculous or useless after a certain limit? Clearly, Eliezer (and Wiesel) felt betrayed by God. So after someone feels this way, does praying even have a purpose? Overall, though, this passage serves to instill one of Wiesel’s larger points, which is simply that the Holocaust made people lose important things. And these things can be more than a violin or a gold crown. They can be one’s entire identity, one’s entire faith. Faith was a huge part of Eliezer’s identity. After this experience, that faith was lost.
Sorry I know I used a portion of Emil's passage. I assumed that, since he was the only one to have put up a blog before me, it wasn't the same one. I guessed wrong, and realized this shortly before I posted mine. However I think I said enough things that I think it will complement Emil's well rather than having our viewpoints subtracting from each other, so I chose to put this up as well.
ReplyDeletepg. 67 “Why, but why would I bless him?... slaughtered on Thine altar.”
Motifs/themes; loss of faith, hopelessness, anger/hate, religion
Writer’s choices;
Repetition; “Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna” as well as “Blessed be Thou, Almighty, Master of the Universe.” It seems that Wiesel is being a little mocking, as well as having extra emphasis of what he says. It’s sort of like the older brother who will torment his brother by saying in a mocking voice, “Stop hitting me!” or something similar. Trust me, I’ve been down that road before.
Opposites; “Day and night.” The use of opposites shows something similar to him abandoning any hope. It makes it seem as if no matter what happens, the crematoriums will keep firing. If he had said something like “24 hours a day” it wouldn’t have had a similar effect. However his careful choice of words makes it seem more like the crematoriums are almost immortal.
Phrasing; “Our fathers, our mothers, our brothers, etc.” It turns the whole situation into a battle, everybody versus the Nazis. In class, we talked about how it was more like every man for himself. However it makes a better story if everybody was together, and it shows more that the Nazis were out to completely destroy a single group of people, rather than a large number of individuals. It makes the Nazis seem even less humane.
Author’s message;
I think everybody came up with this in class. Wiesel is trying to teach the world about the atrocities committed by the Germans, hopefully with the aim of showing the world about the evil that it was. And even if that failed, he tried to assure that the world would not stand silent like it did in 1943.
How does Wiesel’s religion play in? I don’t think it does at all. He is not departing from his faith like some might think, since Judaism does not separate believers and nonbelievers like Christianity does, ie you can be a good Jew without believing in God. I think that Wiesel is merely looking for an outlet to unleash his frustration on and that’s the only one he could find.
Jonathan Rettig
ReplyDeleteFinal Acts of Defiance
“’This ceremony, will it be over soon? I’m hungry…’ whispered Juliek.
At a sign of the Lageräteste, the Lagerkapo stepped up to the condemned youth. He was assisted by two prisoners. In exchange for two bowls of soup.
The Kapo wanted to blindfold the youth, but he refused.
After what seemed like a long moment, the hangman put the rope around his neck. He was about to signal his aides to pull the chair from under the young man’s feet when the latter shouted, in a strong and calm voice:
‘Long live liberty! My curse on Germany! My curse! My-‘” (Wiesel 62).
I believe that this quote contains a lot of important ideas that deserve to be analyzed. Many of these ideas are very similar to some of the ideas that the class discovered in other quotes. This shows that throughout Night by Ellie Wiesel, there are many reoccurring themes, motifs and ideas.
A few of these ideas are represented in the passage above. These ideas include dehumanization, lack of sensitivity to death, primary instinct for survival, and last minute rebellion. I find that the way Juliek is impatiently waiting for the end of the ceremony represents many of these ideas in one short sentence. That short question shows just how dehumanized and desensitized to death Juliek and many holocaust victims became through witnessing and living through this tragedy. Even though a young man is about to be executed right in front of Juliek’s eyes, Juliek seems not to care. Juliek just impatiently waits for his food. This clearly shows the selfish perception that many of these struggling people were brought to. Juliek only cares that he gets his food soon; he could care less about this fellow Jew being wrongly executed. This selfish perception is also displayed when in exchange for soup, two fellow prisoners willingly assisted in this youth’s execution. This theme of a selfish instinct to survive is also displayed in many other quotes throughout the book, some of which, we talked about.
This young man’s last words are also very significant to me along with the young man’s refusal to be blindfolded. It is these words and this act of defiance that represent a small glimpse of hope for the Jewish people. Although no one seemed to follow this rebellion (most likely because they feared they would be condemned to the same fate), I’m sure this man’s final act of defiance sparked some hope, and some comfort in knowing that there were still Jewish people rebelling against this cruelty. This is why I believe that the soup tasted good to Ellie that night. I believe the young man’s refusal to be blindfolded is due to the fact that he wants the entire crowd to fully witness the atrocity that the Nazi’s have witnessed. He wants even the Nazis to realize their own wrongdoings. He wants to be uncensored and he wants everyone to know that there are still people rebelling. This gives the young man hope that maybe this final act of defiance will inspire some other prisoner or even some other outsider to realize the wrongdoings of Hitler and possibly do something to defy it.
Emilie Ravena
ReplyDeletePg. 85 – “I was putting one foot in front of the other, like a machine. I was dragging this emaciated body that was still such a weight. If only I could have shed it! Though I tried to put it out of my mind, I couldn’t help thinking that there were two of us: my body and I. And I hated that body. I kept repeating to myself: Don’t think, don’t stop, run!”
Motifs: Numbness, mind over body, fatigue, survival
This quote displays how listless and exhausted all of the camp prisoners were, running for one reason only: to stay alive for a couple moments longer. The word choices that were used show how fatigued Elie was as he continued to run for miles on a lame foot. Wiesel chose the words “dragging this emaciated body that was still such a weight,” using imagery to show how weakened he was, having trouble carrying his own body like it was an irritating unnecessary weight, even though he was virtually weightless due to his starvation. The way he talked about thinking his mind and body were separate beings shows how numb his mind had become from having to watch all of the atrocities happening in the camp. This enabled him to feel nothing, and continue on like a machine. His body, however, became weaker from the cold and absence of food. This led to his mind wanting him to push on and keep running, but his body being physically unable to withstand that kind of activity.
I think the main theme of this passage is numbness. Elie was too fatigued to think about anything other than becoming a machine that just continued to run. He had only two choices, which were to keep putting one foot in front of the other, or to stop and be shot. He was only running to stay alive for his father, which brings up a question: If Elie’s father had already died, would Elie have stopped running and given up? It seems like he would have, especially considering how emotionally and physically exhausted he was. Elie also talked about wanting to shed his body, because of the weight it gave him, which also can be interpreted as him wanting to be free of the physical remnants of what he had become. This freedom he craved could only be attained if he was dead, and if he had no one to live for, he probably would have given up.
This passage reminded me of page 33, when Elie and his father were walking towards the crematoriums, and taking those slow steps to what he thought was his death. “Ten more steps. Eight. Seven. We were walking slowly, as one follows a hearse, our own funeral procession. Only four more steps. Three.” Back on page 85, when all the prisoners were forced to run, Elie once again was running towards death, waiting until his body gave out on him. The only big difference between the two passages is that in the one on page 85, Elie was also running from death as well, because stopping meant he would have been trampled or shot.
Ignorance To The Oncoming Slaughter
ReplyDeleteMoshie was not the same. The joy in his eyes was gone. He no longer sang. He no longer mentioned God or Kabbalah. He spoke only of what he had seen. But people not only refused to believe his tales, they refused to listen. Some even insinuated that he only wanted their pity, that he was imagining things. Others flatly said he had gone mad”(Wiesel 7).
This passage has a strong connection to the motifs and themes of this book. The strongest motif is truth and knowledge, and how the world needs to know what happened. How Moshie tries to explain what will happen to the Jews and how no one listens. Also, there is an underlying theme of suffering and inhumanity. Wiesel explains how Moshie has changed, from a happy pius man to a blubbering cynical one who knows what will happen if the Jews do not heed his words. To portray these motifs to the reader, Wiesel uses a number of literary devices. First, when explaining post-concentration camp Moshie, he uses very short spares sentences and phrasing. This conveys to the reader how just like the text, Moshie has been stripped down to his core and without any emotion. Repetition is also used to show this message. “He no longer sang,” “He no longer mentioned,” He spoke.” The repetition shows how moshie has been left with nothing and is suffering. The plainness of Wiesel’s writing works very well since because when talking about such a grave topic like the holocaust, that sort of writing can help the reader understand what happened. Sometimes overly emotional language might confuse the reader or give the wrong impression.
When I read this passage I was confused. Why didn’t anyone heed Moshie’s warning? Surely one person must have realized that what he was saying was true. To understand why the Jews did not I had to step into their shoes. If I had been in Wiesel’s village in 1942 I too would have been skeptical of Moshie as well. I would not believe the inhumane things that he spoke of. I would have held on to the last possible hope he was lying and that humans are generally good and can not perform such atrocities. I think that Wiesel was trying to convey the thoughts of the Jews in 1942. How they chose not to believe the rumors that surrounded the treatment of Jews under the Germans. He does this well. His writing explains how he was surprised even when he was forced into ghetto and then Auschwitz. Wiesel’s book clearly explains what happened to him and the Jewish population under the Nazis.
Melissa Stuart
ReplyDeletePage 89-90
"I stretched out and tried to sleep, to doze a little....in vain. Defeated, he lay down too, next to the corpse, and also fell asleep"
I thought this passage was really interesting because it takes a simple thing like sleep and connects it to death, which is a major motif in this novel. We don't associate sleep with death today, we may associate hunger, thirst, disease or injury with death but in today's world, sleep is something that everyone gets. I also noticed Wiesel's use of juxtaposition. In two sentences right next to each other, he describes death in two very different ways. The first one, "death was settling in all around me, silently gently" makes death seem quiet, calm and peaceful as people just lay down to go to sleep and never wake up. It falls over them gently like the snow covering them and in a way it is peaceful and probably comforting to some knowing that their long, painful journey can end in the serenity that only sleep can bring us. The next sentence takes a sudden turn and death is depicted as a thief that "would seize upon a sleeping person, steal into him" and as a monster who "devours him, bit by bit". I think Wiesel wrote it this way because he wanted the reader to see that as sad as it may sound, death was a savior to some as they no longer had to endure the horrors of the Holocaust. On the other hand he doesn't want to distract the reader and let them forget what death really is and how the death these people have to endure is a slow, painful one. We see this juxtaposition in the two sentences right before this as well. At first, Wiesel mentions how much he wants to sleep and that he would have given anything to close his eyes for a few minutes, then he, himself snaps back into reality and realizes that he can not do that because "to sleep meant to die". This passage makes the reader realize how hopeless and exhausted these people are because they simply give up and they close their eyes and accept the fact that they will die but they aren't going to do it directly at the hands of the Nazis. They are going to die because they have accepted their fate, and I wonder if some felt that it would be better to die because of the cold and therefore it is indirectly because of the Nazis. The Germans are making them stand in the cold but it is the harsh winter conditions that is really taking people's lives.Some such as the boy next to them try their hardest to keep each other alive but decide they are ready to give up too. There's definitely a sense of hopelessness and despair as the person next to Elie "lay down, defeated,next to the corpse and also fell asleep". It's simple. They couldn't take it anymore. Their bodies were exhausted. They were mentally drained. They were just done.
There is one line in the passage that gives a sense of empowerment to Elie. He decided he was going to live. He had the mental strength to overcome death. He talks about it though as if death is the enemy and not the Nazis. This shows that he is so numbed to the torture that the Nazis have put him through that now, death is is the only thing he really needs to be afraid of but he wants to "rebel against that death". It is like a glimmer of hope that despite everything they went through, there were still some victims who had the strength to overcome the biggest obstacle they will ever have faced.
Lesley Yan Santos
ReplyDelete“Some prisoners, who didn’t have the strength to jostle, or even to stand, sat down in the snow. […] I knew that I was no longer arguing with him but with Death itself, with death that he had already chosen.” (Wiesel 105)
When I first read this, I was surprised at how much Elie’s father had changed. Once a source of optimism among the prisoners, he was now giving up after a long time of suffering. His exhaustion and weakness was clear in how everything he said was segmented, with “…” separating every couple of words. This greatly contrasted with Elie’s manner of speech, who out of his frustration, “howled” and “screamed in anger”. He even described his father as “childlike: weak, frightened, and vulnerable”. This description had a particular impact as both children and the elderly were subject to an immediate death during the Holocaust. It was almost as if he were saying that, no matter what, his father was bound to die along with all the other innocent Holocaust victims. At the same time, his persistence and anger showed his will to survive, as was common for many other prisoners.
For most, I would imagine it to be difficult to read this passage as we all have that special connection to someone (whether it be a family member, best friend, etc.). Reading this, I couldn’t imagine how helpless Elie probably felt at that moment, reaching out to something that was forever lost. It was almost as if his father were already dead. To further clarify his despair he personified “death” saying that he was “no longer arguing with [his father] but with Death itself, with Death that he had already chosen.” Through his writing, Elie really makes you thankful for the health and wellbeing of your own loved ones. I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t describe anything after the death of his father (aside from a short description of the liberation) as felt that life without his father “no longer mattered”.
As I read this, I couldn’t help but think about the passage on page 96 when Elie’s father was initially sent to die. It was the actions of his son that had given him the blessing to keep living. However, life for him was almost a curse as it meant that he had to continue suffering only to die again later. It makes me wonder which scenario would have been a more preferable death.
“Forced Apathy”
ReplyDelete“Listen to me, kid. Don’t forget that you are in a concentration camp. In this place, it is every man for himself, and you cannot think of others. Not even your father. In this place, there is no such thing as father, brother, friend. Each of us lives and dies alone. Let me give you good advice: stop giving your ration of bread and soup to your old father. You cannot help him anymore. And you are hurting yourself. In fact, you should be getting his rations…” (Wiesel 110-11)
This passage is important because, although it is not the first time that someone has told/suggested to Elie that he shouldn’t pity his father so much, it is certainly the first time that he really starts to believe it. Up until now, Elie’s father has been his absolute top priority, and vice versa, but now that his father is becoming weaker and weaker, certain doubts have begun cropping up in his mind in regards to his sympathy. The indifference with which this person tells Elie that he should, essentially, just let his father die, is astounding, and furthers the complete numbness to all pain that the people in these concentration camps have developed, and that is what Elie is trying to demonstrate through this passage; that it doesn’t matter who they are, you can’t be bothered to worry about someone else in these camps, because one or both of you will end up dying.
This quote from Night touches on many themes which appear repeatedly throughout the book, such as the theme of apathy. Everything in the concentration camps is a game of where to put your cards, and using precious energy to help someone else out just isn’t something that you can be putting energy into. In addition, this passage illustrates the guilt that Elie feels. Up until recently in the book, Elie hadn’t felt guilt about anything- not the babies dying, not the likely death of his mother and sisters, nothing. But when it comes to his father, he can’t help but feel slightly guilty at first about these feelings of annoyance towards his father’s “burden.” And this part kind of lessens that guilt, in that someone else agrees with him that his father really isn’t a worthwhile cause.
Lastly, in terms of word choice, Elie, in writing this passage, made sure to accentuate the casual-ness of the man talking to him. Whoever it is saying this to Elie really thinks he is doing Elie a favor, especially when he says stuff like “let me give you good advice.” He truly believes that he is relieving Elie of a burden, and the way that this quote was worded just goes to show how twisted the people in the concentration camps had become. The fact that basically abandoning your own family and letting your father die appears to be the only logical idea to this man really says something about what the concentration camps had done to these people- it corrupted them in every sense of the word.
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ReplyDeleteAlanna Deery
ReplyDeletePage 45-"And he himself was so withered[...]The real news."
When I first read this passage I learned just how important family was during the Holocaust. In fact, it seems that family was more important than anything else. Stein, a relative of Elie and his father, was thin, withered and weak. But he searched for Elie’s father and kept himself going for hope that his family was still alive. He even stated that “Were it not for them [his family], I would give up.” And the false hope that Elie gave him was very touching, but was it the right thing to do? I believe that it was, seeing that he cried out of joy and his face was radiant with happiness. Even though this did not save his life in the end, it did give him what little joy was possible to have at such a time. And many others, through denial and wishful thinking, thought in the very same way that Stein did; keeping themselves going day-to-day for their loved ones. And this was the difference between life, death and happiness for many. When people began discarding their family members and fighting only for themselves they lost the drive that comes with staying alive for someone else. This drive can be incredibly powerful as we saw with Stein. On page 101, a father fights with his own son over a piece of bread, crying out for him to stop. This hopeless scene depicts what can happen when you only think for yourself, and disown your own father. The old man dies as a result and the son has likely no better prognosis. And Elie himself admits that if it were not for his father; he would not be alive today.
I believe that Elie wanted to show that through all the despair that people felt in the Holocaust, family was able to keep them going. Stein explains how he is not hungry, although he talks of the importance of eating as much as you can. He also is described as being in a very poor physical state at the same time. I realized at this point that not only was his family keeping Stein filled with hope and even happiness but he was feeding and living off of the very thought as though it were food. It was a very interesting contrast to the scene between the father and son mentioned above, and one which I know Elie had meant to have for this purpose of showing people today just how important family was back then. And just how much more upsetting it was that families had to be ripped apart and murdered than you first begin to think.
The Holocaust forced many to lose their homes, possessions and very lives to live in a seemingly perpetual hell. If they lost their family, they would lose hope, simply because their family was all they had left. Without their cherished loved ones by their side, there would be nothing to live for anymore. There current existence would be unbearably lonely, sad, and unpromising; their future looking just as bleak. Under such circumstances many gave up hope, but a lucky few, with a brother by their side, were able to survive. And with this passage, I was truly able to understand this.
Page 85: "The SS made us increase our pace. "Faster, you tramps, you flea-ridden dogs!" Why not? Moving fast made us a little warmer. The blood flowed more readily in our veins. We had the feeling of being alive.
ReplyDelete"Faster, you filthy dogs!""
This passage takes place as the SS begin to march the prisoners away from Buna. What I found so interesting about this passage was the juxtaposition of the hateful orders of the SS officers and the feeling of warmth given to Elie because of the running. The SS refers to Elie and the others as nothing but animals, being herded like wild dogs to another camp. At this point, they are barely more than what the SS call them; they’ve been so stripped of their humanity because of their time in the camps that they have been reduced to nothing but a body. These atrocities, however horrible they may be, are not anything new in the camps. What is new is the idea of something giving Elie any sort of feeling at all, besides sadness or fear. Of all things, running is what gives him warmth and pleasure. According to Elie, running is all he’s done since he’s been in the camp; you have to move quickly to stay alive. What has become a necessity to his life in the camps is one of the few things he feels makes him feel “alive.” Without his faith, he does not have anything to drive him besides a pure will to live. Within all the atrocities that he has become a victim to, the only things that give him any kind of feeling at all besides loss and emptiness are the things that are essential to his survival. I think that the ideas put forward in this passage are very summative of the book in general, that the only way you could survive in a concentration camp was by doing only what you absolutely had to do.
Night Blog
ReplyDeleteNoah Daviero
Pg 59.
This quote from the book clearly shows many of the motifs that exist throughout the book. For all of the people that are too scared to go out to the soup, this quote represents the overwhelming fear that the people in the concentration camps felt. This fear was so strong and lasting that even the hope of 2 full cauldrons of soup, which would be a feast for them, normally living off meager rations of bread and thin soup, could not make them leave their barracks and go to the soup. The other motif that this passage clearly shows is the hunger that the people felt and the desperation that it could drive them to. The concentration camps made people so hungry that a person went to get food, even though they knew that they would almost undoubtedly die doing it.
In this passage, some of the words that Elie Wiesel uses shows the true desperation of the man that dared to venture out to the cauldron. The way he first describes the man in the passage was by saying, “A man appeared, crawling snakelike in the direction of the cauldrons.” The use of the word snakelike in this quote shows that the man is too weak to do anything but crawl slowly towards the food and shows how weak his hunger has made him. Another thing that Elie Wiesel does use repetition with the watching of the man that is going to the food. “Hundreds of eyes were watching his every move. Hundreds of men were crawling with him”. This repetition shows the importance of this to the reader because it shows that everyone wishes they could be the person that got the extra food, but also sad for him as well.
Elie Wiesel is trying to show the dehumanization that the Holocaust causes throughout his book, and in this quote the clear reason for this is the lack of food that causes the man to commit suicide just to satisfy his hunger. Elie uses the “crawling snakelike” word to also show how the man’s hunger has caused him to become a “snake” and lose his humanization.
Page 82: "After the war... two days after the evacuations."
ReplyDeleteThis passage is right after Elie and his father decide to leave the camp with the other evacuees instead of staying in the infirmary as patients. They choose to do this out of sheer fear that they will not survive if they choose to stay. They assume that the Germans will cover up any evidence, including the people who they were unable to evacuate, and that everyone who remains will be killed. The thing that stuck out to me in this passage was how afraid they were when they made their decision. It was a choice that they had no real knowledge to back up and it was almost complete blind luck. In this case they chose completely wrong, because if they had chosen to stay, they would have been liberated two days later and Elie's father could have survived. Instead they choose to leave which leads to years more of suffering and eventually his father's death. This was so unbelievably frustrating for me to read because Elie makes you feel such strong emotion towards him and his father, and to see the uneducated decision they made and the consequence it bears is almost unthinkable. This ties in to the theme of consequence and randomness. Not only this but it just shows how little the people in these camps actually knew about what was going on. Their first assumption is simply that if they stay they will die, and this isn't really second guessed because death seems to be the German's solution to everything at the time. All the Jewish people knew at that point was death and all they wanted was to avoid it. Everything they did, every decision, was motivated by the blind terror of what the next days, even the next hours might bring for them. I think Elie uses this factor of frustration and dramatic irony to move the reader even further. By telling the reader about something he could never have known at the time, it shows how completely helpless these people were to what was going on around them.
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ReplyDeleteDilip Aaron
ReplyDeleteThe Feeling of Losing Everyone and Everything
Page 17: “They passed me by, one after the other, my teachers, my friends, the others, some of whom I had once feared, some of whom I had found ridiculous, all those whose lives I had shared for years. There they went, defeated, their bundles, their lives in tow, having left behind their homes, their childhood. They passed me by, like beaten dogs, with never a glance in my direction. They must have envied me.”
In this passage you get the feeling of the losses that people had during the Holocaust. The feeling of loss was a big part during the Holocaust; many people lost their loved ones and the people closest to them. I felt very sentimental when I read this passage, I was thinking, what would happen if I lost all the people closest to me. Even Elie said that people he once “feared… and found ridiculous… whose lives I had shared for years.” Meaning that he may have not loved all these people but he shared his life with them for all his years that he had feeling for each and every one of them. The use of listing and repetition is commonly used in this passage, in the examples of the ones “I had once feared… I had found ridiculous… I had shared for years.” It is also used in “their bundles, their lives, their homes, and their childhood.” The use of repetition and listing gives the feeling of everything that they lost, going from their lives to their homes. Hardship is also a message that Wiesel is trying to express in this passage. The people during the Holocaust had lost all their possessions and all their special belongings. As it says they lost all “their bundles, their lives, their homes, and their childhood.” They lost everything they had and were forced to move everything they had and were given just enough hope to keep living. They were promised that when moving they would be brought to another place that would provide for them and just be another place to start their life over. The overall main purpose of this passage is to get the feeling of what the people during the Holocaust went through when they were forced to move from their homes. They were forced to lose their freedom and their lives when they were forced to move from the comforts of their homes. Which unfortunately without knowing they would be losing their lives.
Losing control and identity
ReplyDelete“The bell regulated everything. It gave me orders and I executed them blindly. I hated that bell. Whenever I happened to dream of a better world, I imagined a universe without a bell.”(Wiesel 73)
When I read this passage in Night, I found it particularly moving and quite metaphorical. It also fits some very major themes of this book. I found themes and motifs such as: Loss of Identity, darkness, disbelief, horror, and becoming dehumanized. The bell was the noise the people in Auschwitz would hear when it was time for selection, time to eat, time to sleep, time to wake up, and when it was time to do work in the factories. In the line, “It gave me orders and I executed them blindly”, Wiesel shows imagery, in that you can truly feel and see what it was like for those in the camp when the were told to do things. People were horrified of the repercussions that would come from not following orders so they did everything in their power to follow them. The rule following became so secondary to them that they would do it “blindly”. The “bell”could also mean something else in the way Elie uses the word. Wiesel says that “the bell regulated everything”, which reminds me of Hitler in the way that he controlled literally everything that would happen to the Jews, from mass murder and genocide to excruciating torture in the concentration camps. Elie goes on to further support the idea of the “bell” being metaphorical when he says, “Whenever I happened to dream of a better world, I imagined a universe without a bell”. A Universe without Hitler is world without pain and suffering, therefore a better world. The fact that Wiesel says that the whole “universe” must be rid of the bell in order for the “world” to be better really fascinates me. He is saying that there shouldn’t even be an opportunity for this kind of evil to emerge in the world, therefore it should not even exist in a far away planet or galaxy because even there, there is a miniscule chance of re-emergence. I was able to connect this passage to page 69 where Elie says, “The sound of the bell brought us back to reality”. I found this interesting because the same idea of the bell being evil and signifying something greater is shown. The sound of the bell was the reminder of the hell they were living through and it was now their reality, not just the nightmare they never fathomed living in.
Matt Ziegler
ReplyDeletep.7: "'You don't understand', he said in despair. You cannot understand. I was saved miraculously. I succeeded in coming back. Where did I get my strength? I wanted to return to Sighet to describe to you my death so that you might ready yourselves while there is still time. Life? I no longer care to live. I am alone. But I wanted to come back to warn you. Only no one is listening to me..."
In this part of the book, Moishe was trying to warn the Jews of the struggled he went through with the Gestapos. However, none of the Jews were listening him, everyone claiming he was crazy. Even Elie Wiesel didn't believe him, and they had become very close friends. After reading the book, this passage struck me because of the severe overshadowing Wiesel uses. Of course, less than 2 years later their village was seized by the Germans, and Wiesel realized that they should have listened to Moishe. The problem was that the people had a very false sense of security. One example of this was when the people were saying "'The Red Army is advancing with giant strides...Hitler will not be able to harm us, even if he wants to..."'(Wiesel, 8). The important part of that quote is the end: "even if he wants to..." This implies that they feel like Hitler currently has no intent of harming them.
Another part of this quote I found interesting was when Moishe said "I no longer care to live. I am alone. But I wanted to come back to warn you." I find it amazing that no one bothered to listen to him. But again, this traced back to their false sense of security.
Wiesel's placement of this passage is also interesting. He very well could have placed this right in front of where his father tells him of the Germans planning to transport Jews. However, he let a couple pages pass before he revealed what all of the readers knew was coming. This is interesting because he was clearly trying to bring out how secure the people in their village felt in regards to the Nazis.
Julia Wagner
ReplyDeleteLosing Faith
Page 69
“Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement. Should we fast symbol of rebellion, of protest against Him….And I nibbled on my crust of bread. Deep inside me, I felt a great void opening.”
This passage connects back to some of the themes and motifs that we discussed in class on Friday. It obviously deals with the motif of life versus death but the theme of loss of faith is also present.
Whether to fast or not during Yom Kippur in the concentration camp is obviously a tough decision for the Jews. They can either starve and stay true to God, or live but not show their faith in God. Wiesel describes how this decision was “hotly debated.” The use of the word “hotly” shows how much of a conflict there was. People were getting very frustrated because they knew they would die if the fasted but they did want to practice their own religion and the Holocaust kept them from doing so. Wiesel’s word choice when describing the conflict shows this aggravation. Wiesel goes on to explain how some people wanted to fast because of just how dangerous it was. He says “We needed to show God that even here, locked in hell, we were capable of singing His praises.” He uses figurative language to describe the conditions they are in, how they are “locked in hell.” This figurative language shows how important God is to the Jews. It shows the lengths that these people are willing to go for their God. Wiesel did not fast for Yom Kippur. As said in the passage, he did it for his dad but he also didn’t see the point in fasting because he was losing faith in God. But as he lost faith he felt a “great void opening” in him. The use of the word “void” is very important to this passage because it shows how much God means to Elie himself and how losing his faith because of the Holocaust is affecting him, so much. Some synonyms for “void” are abandoned and empty. This is how Elie feels when he sees that God is no longer there for him.
The purpose of this passage, I think, is for Wiesel to convey his feeling about God to the reader. He wants the reader to understand why he is losing faith and what affect it is having on him. Elie is realizing how God is no longer here for him, his father or for any of the Jews. So many people have died, yet God has done nothing and Elie is losing his faith because of it. He “no longer accept[s] God’s silence.” Even though he is frustrated with God and willingly doesn’t fast for Yom Kippur as “a symbol of rebellion”, he feels vacant without God.
Joy Keat
ReplyDelete“Suddenly, a cry rose in the wagon, the cry of a wounded animal. Someone had just died. Others, close to death, imitated his cry. And their cries seemed to come from beyond the grave. Soon everybody was crying. Groaning. Moaning. Cries of distress hurled into the wind and the snow.—All boundaries had been crossed. Nobody had any strength left. And the night seemed endless.” (Wiesel Pg. 103)
I found this passage especially eerie and haunting; it is almost decisive for Elie in the sense that it is the breaking point. There is a profound sense of hopelessness; the cries represent their defeat, surrendering to death. The passage also conveys Elie’s transformation of gradually losing his faith in god and his belief in hope. The endless night signifies the infinite death that surrounds them and looms ahead, only death is the way to escape this slow torturous murder, their cries are the only thing that unites them.
Wiesel repeatedly uses “cries”, and the numerous times it is used add emphasis to the growing masses of the cries within the cattle car. The metaphor, “The cry of a wounded animal” continues to add to growing theme of dehumanization and transformation of becoming beasts. Wiesel also crafts the passage with short, blunt sentences: “Groaning. Moaning.” So that each word sticks with the audience so you can almost hear the ghastly sounds.
I believe Elie wanted the audience to truly understand the despair and anguish of the victims, their outward cry for death for there was no avoidance of it. The passage keeps a lasting impression on the reader because it represents their final acceptance and almost longing of death.
Ethan Schalekamp
ReplyDeleteFaring Well to One's Own Self
Page 37: "The night had passed completely...Surely it was a dream."
Wiesel's writing in this passage illustrates for the reader his astonishment with the rapidity of the change which had occurred in his life at that point, as well as driving the point home as to how extreme the change was. He uses language easily used as descriptions of destruction, hell, and despair with phrases such as consumed, devoured, black flame, lost, making the feelings of fear are very real to the reader. He repeats the the beginnings of several phrases with "only" or "one" to emphasize the swiftness of his misfortune. By authoring these phrases to the reader, Wiesel is most likely trying to share his own shock or perhaps fish for a bit of sympathy. Then again, the whole novel is arguably doing just that. One might ask when reading this passage how they themselves would feel or react to such a situation or whether they would experience the same emptiness and fear which Wiesel does during this time. This exert allows us, the audience, to see Wiesel's own point of view. I myself recall feeling sad for Wiesel, not because of the experiences that still lied ahead of him or even because of the trauma he'd already been through, but specifically due to the detail which he includes about his old self having disappeared, devoured by flames. Pain and suffering exist in each and every living thing's life, it is like a prerequisite to learning and growth, but when it becomes so extreme that one feels that their own sense of self has gone from them, that is a truly horrifying notion, and for this I sympathize with Elie Wiesel.
Sarah Cook
ReplyDeletePage: 30
“Shut up, you moron, or I’ll tear you to pieces! You should have hanged yourselves rather than come here. Didn’t you know what was in store for you here in Auschwitz? You didn’t know? In 1944? True. We didn’t know. Nobody had told us. He couldn’t believe his ears. His tone became even harsher.”
Motifs: cluelessness, denial, helplessness
I found this passage quite interesting for a number of reasons. One part that stood out to me was when Ellie was describing how they didn’t know what was going on or that something so horrific could ever happen. This shows how clueless the people or Jews were about the world around them. When Ellie says “nobody had told us” I couldn’t understand how they didn’t know what was going on. I thought it was clear that Hitler did not like the Jews and he would take steps to control the lives of the Jews. It’s also strange because people did try to warn people what was happening. For example Mioshe the Beadle tried to tell others what he experienced he was viewed as crazy or insane. Moishe the Beadle said “they think I’m mad” and Ellie replies asking him “why do you want people to believe you so much?” I think Ellie is wrong in the sense that nobody told them, yes nobody came straight out and said millions of Jewish people are going to be murdered but there were people who warned others that something horrible was going to happen. I think some people knew that Hitler was up to know good but like many others they turned their backs and were in denial about what others were telling them what was going on. When the man is telling Ellie how he should have hung himself then to come here I was thinking how sad that is but it made me think about whether or not I would have killed myself before I went to the camp. He makes a good point, would you rather end your life before all the pain and suffering or do you try and push through all of it and try to survive? Honestly I am not sure what I would’ve done of I was put in that situation. This passage states how survival isn’t a top priority, how many rather die than face what was ahead of them. This passage gives and image how everything was going to get a lot worse. The man said they rather hang themselves than face the terror that was ahead of them.
Ashley Groesbeck
ReplyDelete"There was a woman among us, a certain Mrs. Schachter..."Fire! I see a fire! I see a fire!"...In front of us, those flames. In the air, the smell of burning flesh. It must have been around midnight. We arrived. In Birkenau." (Page 24-28).
Some of the important themes, motifs, and issues in this passage include flames, fire, silence, uncertainty, fear, and night.
There was repetition in Mrs. Schachter's outbursts, she cried out about seeing a fire and flames eight times during the journey to the camp. The word "fire" was repeated twelve times in the passage and the word "flames" was repeated ten times. Mrs. Schachter was foreshadowing what the Jews were about to see at the camp, "I squeezed my father's hand. He said: "Do you remember Mrs. Schachter in the train?"..." (Page 34). The author used personification when people were talking about Mrs. Schachter's cries, "That's why she speaks of flames devouring her..." (Page 25). By personifying the flames, it creates a powerful image of the idea of the fire. The idea of the flames devouring and destroying people is so unrealistic to the other people of the train which is why they assume Mrs. Schachter had gone mad and was hallucinating because they don't believe her. This is the reason that once the passengers arrive at the camp and stand before the crematoria which contains of flames turning bodies into ashes they are completely shocked. The fear of the Jews was described by the use of strong word choice in the lines, "We were still trembling, and with every screech of the wheels, we felt the abyss opening beneath us. Unable to still our anguish, we tried to reassure each other," (page 25). The mystery of how Mrs. Schachter knew what they were about to see; the flames and fire at Birkenau and the question of if she really was going mad contributes to making this passage so powerful. It also shows how naive the Jewish people on the train were and how they really had no idea what to expect nor could they even image what they were about to witness. Silence was mentioned a few times in the passage. At first in the train, everyone wanted Mrs. Schachter to be quiet, some men even beat her until she fell silent. People didn't want to listen to the moans and cries because they still had hope and couldn't bear the startling outbursts. However, when people fell silent as arriving to the camp, they were in complete shock. The silence symbolized the inhumanity being taken place at the concentration camp and the terror which became the prisoner's living nightmare. Wiesel's use of imagery in the lines, "We stared at the flames in the darkness. A wretched stench floated in the air. Abruptly, our doors opened. Strange-looking creatures, dressed in striped jackets and black pants jumped into the wagon." (Page 28) help the reader to imagine what it was like arriving in this strange camp and being filled with fear and uncertainty. Wiesel also used imagery in the lines, "And as the train stopped, this time we saw flames rising from a tall chimney into a black sky." (Page 28). The words "night" and "darkness" were mentioned eight times throughout the passage. Night is a theme and motif that appears throughout the book as well as the title of the book which reveals it's importance. The night is filled with darkness,where evil can be hidden and it is hard to see your way in the darkness of night which causes fear and uncertainty. The night often has an eerie silence and it's darkness is vast.
CONTINUED:
ReplyDeleteThe author's purpose of this passage was to let the reader understand the horrible experience that he and other Jewish people had to live through. Wiesel was forced on a journey, unknowing if he would survive or ever see his family again. He had to witness horrible sights and at such a young age be exposed to such evilness. Also, Wiesel is able to send a message of how inhumane the holocaust was and how unimaginable it was.
Patrick Chi
ReplyDeleteNight Passage Analysis
Pg. 29:
“Every few yards, there stood an SS man, his machine gun trained on us. Hand in hand we followed the throng. An SS came toward us wielding a club. He commanded:
‘Men to the left! Women to the right!’
Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion… I didn’t know that this was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever.”
The first emotions that come to the reader after reading this passage are obviously the thoughts of what it would be like if one of your loved ones was suddenly taken away from you and that you would never see them again. This passage is probably one of the most moving parts in the book because every person in the world has a family, and any person could only imagine the pain in not being able to see your loved ones ever again. However, the main factor that makes this passage so touching is the fact that Wiesel had no idea that this would be the last time he would see his mother and sister ever. The idea that a member of your family was taken away from you without even letting you say goodbye and not letting you know is shocking and deeply impacts the reader.
What makes this passage especially powerful is Wiesel’s word choice when describing the emotions he was feeling at that moment, and the amount of detail that Wiesel puts into description. The first sentence in this passage describes the atmosphere of the situation and immediately builds up the tension of the situation: “Every few yards, there stood an SS man, his machine gun trained on us.” One can only imagine how hopeless and insignificant one would feel if they knew that one of the SS men could just pull the trigger whenever they wanted. Wiesel then describes the way that the SS man spoke the words “Men to the left! Women to the right,” describing them as “quiet, indifferent, and without emotion.” This description reinforces the reoccurring motif that Wiesel and the other Jews are clearly regarded as insignificant, as well as the fact that the treatment of Jews as objects was regarded as a routine thing.
The most important part of this passage is probably the imagery that Wiesel uses after he is separated from his mother and sister, and the way that he describes what they were doing when they were separated. “There was no time to think,” Wiesel writes. This shows how fast all those events must have taken place, and also how numb Wiesel must have been feeling, probably out of shock and disbelief of where he was. In addition to this, Wiesel writes “I saw [Mother and Tzipora] walking further and further; Mother was stroking my sister’s blond hair, as if to protect her.” The key word here is the fact that Wiesel says “as if.” This proves that everybody in that group knew that there was no hope left, and that there was nothing for them to do. Wiesel was being separated from part of his family and there was nothing to do.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBitter memories.
ReplyDelete"One day I was able to get up, after gathering all my strength. I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto.
From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me.
The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me."
Night was written to give the reader an insight to Holocaust survivors life.This books was personalized and put the reader in Elie Wiesel's shoes. It showed one of the many millions whose identity was left to nothing but mere statistics. As Eliezer wraps up this book, he ends it with this final passage, nothing more, nothing less. He doesn't tell us about what happened after the war, where he went and so on, but he specifically chose to end it this way. He begins by mentioning the fact that he gets up everyday regardless of what he's been through, he has to 'look at himself in the mirror", which could be interpreted as the fact that he still has to face the reality of it all, no matter how cruel or torturous it is." From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me." This part of the passage is very significant in my opinion because he says that there is a part of him that is dead and still within him, a part of him that recognizes all that has happened him, the tragedy of losing family, seeing murder and torture but in the midst of all that there is the person who is looking in the mirror, the little sane part of Eliezer that is still alive and has a little hope for his life, but regardless of the fact that he has come this far, he will never forget as that Holocaust survivor is still in him. He uses two different identities to specifically show this as a sane human being would not be able to bear the weight of all that he/she would see in the Holocaust and be able to look themselves in the mirror. This passage might be perceived as hopeful or bitter sweet even as it shows that Eliezer has found his identity after the Holocaust and the tragedies of his life are not restraining him. This passage is strangely powerful yet dark, it shows that regardless of all the hardships we endure, we often keep living an have to overcome them to grow as a person. It may seem impossible and is often very difficult for us to put aside painful memories but often keeping them as remembrance pushes us to move away from them and progress. As insignificant as our problems may seem compared to Eliezer's, I think this was the message that he was trying to instil in the reader.
Pg. 37 "The night had passed completely...by a black flame"
ReplyDeleteWiesel uses many motifs in this small passage. He makes two allusions to the flames as well as a reference to a shining star. The motifs exist throughout the book as a constant reminder of death and mass murder. The chilling image of the flames and the smoke rising through the sky are the motifs he uses to portray his loss of innocence. He makes a small mention of his loss of faith saying how he used to be a student of Talmud and now his soul and "the child I was," had been consumed. Throughout the book, Weisel makes many references to loss of innocence, watching his people burn, and watching children being tossed into the fire. In this passage, he specifically refers to the loss of an opportunity to education and then goes on to say how he is like the children being tossed into the fire and how they have taken everything from him.
He also has these references to eating saying how the flames devoured and consumed his childhood and his soul. These references to greed are a reminder of the nazis attacks on Europe and on the Jewish people. The nazis chewed a huge portion off of Europe and Weisel uses these references to eating to show how the nazis were greedy and how the literally chewed away at his body taking away all that was left of him until there was nothing but a shape of himself left. The use of the word "invaded" leaves me with no doubt he was trying to represent the nazis and how they interfered with his life and faith. Also the use of the word black is a clear indicator Weisel was trying to express the evilness of the nazis actions.
Weisel was trying to express how the Nazis have taken everything from him, his education, his childhood and even his body. His body had become a withered husk due to starvation and an incapable amount of work. The Nazis even had taken his soul, which had been absorbed by their evil. Weisel was trying to show that there was nearly nothing left of his former self. He says how his soul and childhood had been consumed by the fire and even though he didn't die, it's as if there was nothing but ash left.
Page 63: “I watched other hangings. I never saw a single victim weep. These withered bodies had long forgotten the bitter taste of tears.”
ReplyDeleteI feel this passage really captures the aspect of dehumanization during the Holocaust. How can you not think about what could have been had you run away before it was too late? How can you not think about your loved ones, who either will never see you again, or have already been relinquished by the Holocaust? How can someone, with the end of their life staring them down in the form of a rope, not shed a tear or feel any kind of sadness or despair? But, these victims of the Holocaust were not humans; they had been stripped of any human characteristics that they had entered with. Joy, fear, disgust, pity, enthusiasm. These were designed to be removed when they entered these death camps. These victims were nothing but withered bodies fighting for survival.
As a writer, Wiesel used bluntness to clearly show the reader how withered these victims had become. Instead of going into the abstract, Wiesel describes what he saw and why it happened. Wiesel uses words such as “withered” and “bitter taste” to give the reader a sense of disgust about the hangings. He doesn't linger on any idea or ramble on about his feelings now or at the time. He wants to give the reader an account of what truly happened during the Holocaust, and let the reader realise how terrifying it was.
In this passage, Wiesel was trying to give the reader insight as to the feeling of helplessness that the victims of the Holocaust felt. It was no use putting up a fight or protesting with tears, as death was assured to those “sentenced” within the death camps. When you have become completely accustomed to mass death, not even your death own death can stir you.
Danielle Duguid
ReplyDeleteThe Wolves and The Lamb
“In no time, the camp had the look of and abandoned ship. No living soul in the alleys. Next to the kitchen, two cauldrons of hot, steaming soup had been left untended. Two cauldrons of soup! Smack in the middle of the road, two cauldrons of soup with no one to guard them. A royal feast going to waste! Supreme temptation! Hundreds of eyes were looking at them, shining with desire. Two lambs with hundreds of wolves lying in wait for them. Two lambs without a shepherd, free for the taking. But who would dare?” (Wiesel, 59)
In this part of the book, Elie and his father were at Buna. The alarms started to go off and all the officers left the area to go see the threat, leaving the inmates in their blocks with 2 cauldrons of soup in the middle of the road. One man is finally courageous enough to attempt to steal some soup and is then shot.
Some of the themes in this passage are the huge fear, desperation, predator and prey, and temptation.
Again the soup is seen as an object of worth or currency in this passage. A man was willing to risk his life just to have a small portion of soup and ended up dying because of his decision. In the middle of the quote the saying “Two cauldrons of soups!” is repeated a few times. This is because Wiesel wanted to show the reader just how important this meal was to the inmates, who were on the verge of starvation all the time. A common theme in this quote seems to be the lamb vs. the wolves. Elie personifies the soup and calls it a lamb, stating that he and the other inmates are the wolves. It is interesting how he gives the feeling of needing to catch the soup in order for survival. Soup is something we all take for granted but Elie makes the average reader realize how important it is here. Elie also compares the SS officers and guards to a shepherd. They watch over the soup and they could also easily kill a wolf if it tries to kill a lamb. It almost seems like irony that all of the inmates desperately wanted to steal the soup, and when one finally does, he was shot immediately. Even when the guards aren’t watching you, they are still watching you.
Page 39
ReplyDelete"We had already lived through a lot that night.... All I could think was: I shall never forgive them for this."
Motifs: Smoke, night, fear, destitution, decline in relationship with his father
In this passage, fears are uncovered due to the menacing behavior of the infamous Dr. Mengele. These fears involve the smoke and the crematorium which are mentioned as "the only word(s) that (have) a real meaning" within the camps. “We have already lived through a lot that night,” after such a short period of time shows, by the end of the book, how much Eli lived through when the camp was finally liberated. When his father asks where the toilets are located, and the gypsy slaps him, this shows people the destitution of the camps (there are no toilets) as well as displaying the anger of the people there. The decline in relationship with his father is shown at Eli’s dismay at his own inaction. He says “What had happened to me? My father had been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked… Only yesterday I would have dug my nails into this criminal’s flesh.” Already, after such a short time, Eli is already changing to survive in the diseased and malnourished concentration camps.
When I first read this passage I was very taken aback by the gypsy’s behavior. After reading it several times, I still cannot comprehend what must have angered him so much about Eli’s father’s question although if I had to guess, the camps were probably so terrible for anyone there that to ask for such a normal thing would be seen as an extremely stupid question. Perhaps the gypsy was angry that Eli’s father had only just gotten to the camp, and envied him for still remembering the outside world and it’s other “privileges”. Eli’s description of the gypsy before the slap shows his disbelief at the question, depicting him “As if he wished to ascertain that the person addressing him was a creature of flesh and bone, a human being with a body and a belly. Then, as if waking from a deep sleep, he slapped my father with such force that he fell down…” Clearly he is incredulous to his question, which further shows that no one outside the camps who lived in Europe at the time believed or even knew about the camps and their terrible conditions.
Another powerful sentence in this sentence was “I shall never forgive them for this.” While it was the gypsy who slapped his father, Eli recognizes that it is the Nazi’s and the likes of Dr. Mengele who have forced people into becoming these violent people who are full of hate.
page 91
ReplyDelete"A terrible thought crossed my mind: What if he had wanted to be rid of his father?… 'Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son has done.'"
This passage connects to the book’s main theme of humanity. There are many cases where characters abandon their humanity and morals, and this is a passage where the opposite is shown. Here, Eli hopes he will never be like the son who abandons his father for himself. Throughout the book, until the very end, Eli is shown to care about his father and make sure to look out for him. The Rabbi who is looking for his son is also shown here to be looking for his son and that the human ties of relationships are still present, even under such adverse conditions. However, it is shown in this passage that there are also people desperate enough that they have abandoned all social constructs and are merely focused on surviving. The Rabbi’s son was one of those people. This is shown many times throughout the book. I believe that Wiesel uses this story to show his own eventual loss of humanity, and points out this story to parallel his own relationship with his father.
It is an example that I believe Wiesel put into the story to show that although many people gave up their morals and humanity, many people still preserved their values and looked out for each other while they could. He says that though he had given up his faith in God, he still found himself praying out of habit. However, at the end of the book, when Eli does leave his father, it seems like yet another example of how his god has abandoned him. I think he puts this in to show that the Jewish people are not people who would drop their morals during adversity. His writing style here is simple, and he does not use ornate words to embellish his message. Wiesel’s intention of this book is to reach out and record his experience during the holocaust so that people become aware of it.