I found the topic Irony to be one of the most poignant because the Jews are clueless to the fact the Nazis are doing horrible things, just because they think that the Nazis are not different from them. And they think that they are ordinary people and that they would not do something horrible like genocide and enslavement. Even though it has happened before in history just like how the Africans were taken from their country and forced to work in Europe and the Americas. Also like the Native Americans who were stripped from their homeland and murdered because they were in the way European works. What's most ironical to me is that in their own religion, a story in their past was that their people were enslaved in Egypt, and they were forced to be slaves, and were murdered. Im assuming they really don't think that this could happen again even though it's happened in their past. Wiesel even mentions in his book on page (40) “What irony.” That passages affects my way of thinking about the Jews, Im very confused why they did not believe Moishe the beadle. They had no reason not to believe him except for “gut feeling” but the strange thing is there were many reasons to believe to believe him.
Another poignant theme was hope. It appears throughout the pages 3 and 46. It first starts out when the people cling to hope when even though Moishe the Beadle has claimed that the Germans are evil, they cling to the fact that they might not be though hope. Also Stein still maintains hope that his family survived the Holocaust, so far at least. Wiesel even mentions that hope is a theme on page (15) when he quotes “To the last moment, people clung to hope.” Honestly that passage affected the most because everything was going wrong and yet the people never lossed hope. That is a strong example of the Jewish will.
Wiesel’s language choices in this book are very interesting. They're not really words that say american 8th grader necessarily here's everyday. Like on page (15) Wiesel uses the word “rescinded”. A daily basis 8th graders to not to hear that term rescinded, they would usually they're here to cancel, or to revoke. This example is just one of many of Wiesel’s choices of words.
I think so far and Elie Wiesel’s novel Night is a very interesting and with lots of culture and I think it deserves The Nobel Peace Prize it's been given.
This experience of the Holocaust affect me on an emotional level. Before this experience I did not know much about the Holocaust I just had heard of horrible man named Adolf Hitler and the genocide he had created. After reading the book Night and after the documentaries and films that we watched I've been slapped by reality. I've been dwelling a lot on my own as well, about how people could have so much hatred on the people who are their neighbors. Just ordinary people that have so much hatred. I'm just so confused how people could just back stab their neighbors as soon as a new political party rose. Ordinary people turning into monsters you don't see that everyday. I've taken away so many things from this unit. I think the thing that just draws me the most from in this unit is to never forget. So many innocent people died just because of what they practiced and what they look like. So the least I can do is memorialize them by never forgetting what happened to them....
Lachlan,
ReplyDeleteHow do these sections of the book and the book in general make YOU feel? Also, I would like to respectfully disagree with your thought that Wiesel uses words that people our age might not use, because certain grammer choices can be affected by the situation like who you're talking to, or who's going to read your post/paper. Finally, on my point of disagreement; you actually help me by your use of the word poignant twice.
Lachlan,
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that stands out to me in your post is that you were able to point out events in history that were similar to the Holocaust in that other groups of people from different times and places were taken from their happy lives and tortured because of their differences in belief and looks. I appreciate that you brought up the concept of hope and the fact that the Jewish people kept hoping even when tragedy happened. Even when they witnessed these events with their own eyes they couldn't believe someone who they thought was like them could do that.