Different Views of the Holocaust Portrayed Through Various Literary Elements “Life is a matter of perspective. It can be amazing or wonderful, or it can be depressing and worthless” (Gray, n.d.). This quote from Stephen Gray exemplifies both aspects of life in according to how one perceives it. As a result, some people choose to see life negatively instead of focusing on the positive aspects that make life great. In Elie Wiesel’s (2006) book Night and the movie “Life is Beautiful” (2000), there are two different aspects of how life is viewed while enduring struggling circumstances. Both of the circumstances feature a father and a son who experience life in a Holocaust concentration camp. Even though both situations are similar, the perspective …show more content…
Father-Son Relationship Although both Night and “Life is Beautiful” are centered around a relationship between a father and son, the dynamic of each relationship alters how the characters perceive the circumstances that surround them. While Guido and Joshua’s relationship is not affected by the Holocaust, Elie and his father’s relationship is strengthened by the Holocaust and are forced to rely on each other for strength. For example, Elie’s father did not care for his children, but when he is separated from all his children except for Elie he starts to show affection towards him: “I didn't know this was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever. I kept walking, my father holding my hand” (Wiesel, 2006, p.29). Because of the …show more content…
After being liberated, both Elie and Joshua recognize specific experiences of God’s provision in the midst of the horrifying experiences of the concentration camp. For example, Joshua recognizes that although it was very childish, his father making the camp into a game protected his innocence and allowed for him to have a positive experience at the concentration camp instead of the experience that the hoi polloi jews were receiving (“Life is Beautiful”, 2000).. Guido made Joshua think that every prisoner was competing for points that were earned by completing various tasks. Each prisoner was competing for a tank, which they would receive if they reached one thousand points. Joshua’s constant competition and the pursuit of the tank kept him oblivious to the harsh realities of Auschwitz. On the other hand, Elie saw God’s provisions in a simpler way, one example being the French girl who showed him kindness at the camp:”I dragged myself to my corner. I was aching all over. I felt a cool hand wiping the blood from my forehead. It was the French girl. She was smiling her mournful smile as she slipped me a crust of bread” (Wiesel, 2006, p.53). This french girl showed Elie kindness, which was very hard to show, in the midst of the grueling conditions of the working camp. The French girl, Elie later learned was a Jew that had false papers and passed as an Aryan. This secret allowed
The novel ‘Night’ written by Elie Wiesel and the film ‘Schindlers List’ directed by Steven Spielberg, are both based in World War 2 and more specifically the holocaust and the attempted cleanse of the Jewish race. These two texts both heavily demonstrate the horrors and brutalities that the Jewish people had faced during the holocaust. The two depictions of these events have many similarities although one being word and the other being film, however they differ in perspective, Schindlers List showing an outside look at the events where Night is a first person experience. The two representations of the holocaust, although are opposites of perspective both do not shy away from showing the brutalities and the wickedness that took
In the book Night, we the readers witness the hardships and struggles in Elie’s life during the traumatic holocaust. The events that take place in this story are unbearable and are thought to be demented in modern times. In the beginning Elie is shown as a normal teenage Jewish boy, but the events are so drastic that we the readers forget how he was like in the beginning. Changes were made to Elie during the book, whether they were minor or major. The changes generated from himself, the journey, and other people.
In Elie Wiesel's novel Night (2006) and the movie “Life is Beautiful” (2000), the Holocaust is portrayed both similarly and differently through father-son relationships, perspective during the Holocaust, and God’s
Night and Day In the great history of man, there is no event committed as gut-wrenchingly ignoble as the Holocaust. Therefore, conveying the devastation and emotional trauma on a believable and personal level is a sign of fantastic writing, which can be seen in Elie Wiesel’s Night. Moreover, to take this awful situation and put an almost light-hearted twist on it is also increasable, which is seen in the film “Life is Beautiful.” Accordingly, both of these mediums portray main characters that are in concentration camps, but present them in varying ways that create stories that feel completely different.
The relationship of a father and son during the struggle of the Holocaust. As well as the experience of the prisoners in the camps. In the novel Night and the movie “Life is Beautiful,” the Holocasut is was experienced both similarly and differently through the father/son relationship, the tone of the piece, and the experiences of the Jewish prisoners. Father/Son Relationship While both Night and “Life is Beautiful” center around a father and son’s plight through the Holocaust, each differ in the relational aspect of the bond therefore altering the way the
That nigh the soup tasted of corpses”. Elie Wiesel used to be a vivacious person- always seeking God’s presence- but from the commence of this genocide he has been negatively impacted. God used to be his everything; his strength and his mellifluous song that comforted his very soul. However, all that he is dependent on now is bread and water-
Think of a circumstance where you were so hungry and thirsty, that you did not even care to think about your father anymore. That circumstance goes against common father-son relationships. The common father-son motif is where the father looks out and cares for the son. In the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel, he explains why the circumstances around a father-son relationship can change their relationship, whether it 's for the better or the worse. Since the book is about the life of Elie in a Nazi concentration camp, the circumstances were harsh and took a toll on multiple father-son relationships.
The Holocaust was one of the most tragic events in history. It just so happened to be the cause of six million deaths. While there are countless beings who experienced such trauma, it is impossible to hear everyone's side of the story. However, one man, in particular, allowed himself to speak of the tragedies. Elie Wiesel addressed the transformation he underwent during the Holocaust in his memoir, Night.
The cruelty of the German officers at the concentration camps change Elie’s personality throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel, Elie is deeply religious and spends most of his time studying Judaism. However, by the end of the novel, Elie believes that God has been unjust to him and all the other Jews, and has lost most of his faith. The cruelty of the German officers also changed the other Jews as well. The events of the Holocaust forces the prisoners to fend for themselves, and not help others.
He no longer had hope in God, in others, nor himself. Elie has said in later years ” During, there was nothing--not even a plea to or a bargain with God. God, he feels, had nothing to do with his survival. "If God was
The novel Night by Elie Wiesel, which was first published in 1958, tells a great first-hand account of a terrible event named the Holocaust. In this story, it gives a detailed memoir of a young kid named Eliezar who has to endure this appalling crisis. As the Holocaust continues to go on around them, he and his family remain optimistic about their future. Even though they were optimistic, the Holocaust finally closes in on them. Once this occurs they were pulled away from their homeland and relocated to their designated site where they were split by gender.
Family is essential when going through an extremely dark, depressing, lonely period of time, like the Wiesel's did. Elie and his father experienced things that are unimaginable and couldn’t have made it as far as they did without each other. Throughout the book Night the author Elie Wiesel is trying to accomplish the goal of making people understand that there will be difficulty throughout life and family will be there to make the hard times easier. Elie uses imagery, symbolism, and flashbacks to explain the importance of family after his tragic trauma.
“I realized that he did not want to see what they were going to do to me. He did not want to see the burning of his only son”(42). When Eliezer arrives at Auschwitz, the separation of his family puts an emotional toll on his father since he realizes that only him and Eliezer are still alive. This will be a catalyst to their relationship becoming stronger as they endure more together. Elie Wiesel, the author of the novel Night writes his own personal accounts of experiencing the Holocaust through the character Eliezer.
Wiesel addresses not only his own situation, but also the effect survival had inwards other fathers and sons in the camp. The memoir
The Holocaust was a horrible event in history that will scar humanity forever. With the events of the Holocaust being experienced by millions there are many different perspectives of said events. One such perspective is presented in Night, a memoir written by Elie Wiesel about his experiences as a young Jewish boy during the Holocaust. Another perspective is presented in Schindler’s List, a film directed by Steven Spielberg (based on the novel Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally) about Oskar Schindler, a gentile who saves over one thousand Jewish lives during the Holocaust. Both pieces show heart wrenching stories of the abuse of a group of people in different ways, each using different mediums to convey their points.