Skip to main content

Blog Post #3-Lachlan

Hope

The most important theme I have identified is loss and gain of hope. It is repetitively brought up throughout the memoir in every stage of Elie’s life throughout the Holocaust. Eliezer recalls the Jews kept hope on the death marches. They kept hope that the Russians would come soon and end the pain “There was whispering from one bunk to the other; with a little luck, the Russians would be here before the evacuation. Hope was still alive.” (83). Elie also says that the overseers of Auschwitz tell the Jews not to lose hope. Elie recounts the overseer saying this on page (41) “ "Comrades, you are now in the concentration camp Auschwitz. Ahead of you lies a long road paved with suffering. Don't lose hope. You have already eluded the worst danger: the selection. Therefore, muster your strength and keep your faith. We shall all see the day of liberation…”  Even in the hardest situations Elie had hope. Hope is also mentioned when Elie discusses the matter of food. Eliezer has free time in his commando when he chooses it to find food. Elie writes, “Tired of huddling on the ground, we each took turns strolling through the warehouse, in the hope of finding something, a piece of bread, perhaps, that a civilian might have forgotten there” (56). Every spare second they had was filled with hope in trying to get or obtain something whether it was the satisfaction of eating or the satisfaction and need of rest.

Unfortunately I cannot think of one way to connect Elie's experiences with my own. At least not an extreme way. Elie went through more pain than anyone should have ever had to go through. I think it would be selfish to mention or compare my life to Elie's. All I can say is the idea of hope is shared with everyone. Everyone hopes for something, perhaps for a job or for a spouse. It can be anywhere, and to everybody. I think hope is the ultimate influence and motivation for all things. In conclusion I think the big theme that Eliezer tries to convey whether on purpose or on accident is hope!

Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 22, 2018 at 7:12 PM

    Lachlan,

    I agree completely about what you said about loss and gain of hope and I think your examples from the book were chosen well, especially about not losing hope. I also agree with not being able to connect any of Elie's experiences in a major way with any of my own. Elie's experiences are just to terrible and traumatizing. Overall, I think this is a very strong blog post. Good work!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Post #5 - Ever

Learning about the Holocaust has had a great impact on me. Previously I had little knowledge of its existence, now I know of its horrific impact on our past and present. It's difficult to comprehend the suffering these people went through. Even though it's devastating to process we have to understand so that we don't make the same mistakes. Nadia Murad’s article filled me with empathy as well as anger. Our world is still infected with thriving hatred, people are truly suffering. As citizens of a free country, we must take action, support survivors and give them justice. We need to stop squabbling over the small things and fight for human rights.
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog Post #5-Lachlan.A

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....
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog Post 1- Aliya

The way Wiesel writes his memoir is almost like it’s written in prose, he is extremely descriptive with his writing, and his sentences flow, but he keeps the plot fast-paced and moving like the greatest poems are. There was one part I read that almost brought me to tears: the uncertainty of it, the questions it left, and the horrifying thought that it was pure hope that was keeping these people alive when there truly was nothing to hope for. “Take care of your son. He is very weak, very dehydrated. Take care of yourselves, you must avoid selections. Eat! Anything. Anytime. Eat all you can. The weak don’t last very long around here”… And he himself was so thin, so withered, so weak… “The only thing that keeps me alive,” he kept saying, “is to know that Reizel and the little ones are still alive. Were it not for them, I would give up.”  One evening, he came to see us, his face radiant. “A transport just arrived from Antwerp. I shall go to see them tomorrow. Surely they will hav...
2 comments
Read more