Luck is such an important theme in Night because it plays a vast part in the story of Elie’s fight for survival. With some good luck in all the horrible luck that has enveloped him, he has made his way to the concentration camp alive. Elie's luck sustains by being at the right place at the right time or being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Some of the people at the camp have been gracious to him like the soldiers who let him be with his father: “ ‘Please sir,...I’d like to be near my father’ ‘alright. Your father will work here, next to you.’ We were lucky”(50). This is very good luck for Elie because he was not split up from his father like the rest of his family, and in addition, Elie got his request granted by the Germans to let him work near his father. Elie has experienced a lot of bad luck throughout the book especially with being in the wrong place at the wrong time: “Idek was venting his fury, I happened to cross his path. He threw himself on me like a wild beast, beating me in the chest, on my head, throwing me to the ground and picking me up again, crushing me with ever more violent blows, until I was covered in blood. As I bit my lips in order not to howl with pain, he must have mistaken my silence for defiance and so he continued to hit me harder and harder”(53). This Elie has had a rough time at the camp and being at the wrong place at the wrong time further jeopardizes his rations, time with his father and his life but he is very lucky to be with his father and be alive, even though he is miserable and in physical, emotional, and mental pain.
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....
Hi Grace,
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a really good job providing examples that supported your theme. What is your view on luck, in terms of so many surviving through so much just to die shortly after?
Grace,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your theme, for I did the same theme. Elie and his father really do have much good and bad luck at this time. Your blog is very well written. Great job!