Joe Shmoe
Mr. Dai
English 10H Period 5
17 February 2023 2 Body Paragraphs + Introduction
In her diary, Anne Frank wrote that “a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.” This powerful observation resonates with the darkness interwoven in Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, in which he recounts his experiences as a Jew who survived the Nazi concentration camps. Throughout the autobiography, Elie displays prominent psychological patterns to explain how Jews allowed human atrocities to occur, using characters such as Akiba Drummer to make the intent of Jewish genocide clear. In Night, Wiesel explains how learned helplessness and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can explain human atrocities, using Akiba Drummer’s death and Elie’s downfall as examples.
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In a study conducted by Salem Health, psychologists viewed how dogs reacted to various situations. As an experimental group, a group of dogs was given unpreventable shocks, and when “the dogs were given shocks in a situation where they could avoid them, most of them did not attempt to escape” (Sniezek). The dogs demonstrate a concept called learned helplessness: when an individual underestimates their influence on the outcome of an event. When someone experiences a similar situation to past events, they predict a similar outcome and doubt their abilities to change the result, thereby submitting to the expected outcome. In Night, many Jews pray to God for positive outcomes, instead of attempting to change the outcome themselves. When faced with certain death, Elie recites “Yitgadal veyitkadach shme raba…May His name be blessed and magnified… The moment had come. [Elie] was face to face with the Angel of Death….” until he was commanded to stop and enter a separate building (Weisel 43). The miracle should have reinforced Elie’s belief in God, but instead, he declares that he lost his faith, and he will remember the situation as long as God lies. As the Holocaust progresses, more Judaists lose their faith, believing that death is inevitable. Wiesel recalls the story of Akiba Drummer, a loyal follower of God. As someone who credited his achievements to God, after being deemed unfit to live by the Nazis he declares that “It’s over. God is no longer with us” (83). When Akiba believed God was alive, there was a direct correlation between his praying and positive outcomes, with Elie and his father praying successfully to God in the face of death. However, when Jews begin to die, despite praying, Akiba Drummer and other Jews
In this essay I am going to show evidence that he lost his faith, not only in his God, but in his leaders and his father. Elie lost faith in his leaders. The cruel actions the Nazis performed in the concentration camps says plenty about why. But when Elie's leg was still recovering in the infirmary, his neighbor said this, “ I have more faith in Hitler than anyone else. He alone has
Lane Morgan Mrs. Alea Literature Studies 14 February My theme are that you should never be afraid because it pays off in the end. Don't be because you will never be able to experience all the fun. In our first body symbol.
I’ll start by saying I mainly agree with your statement. However, you were very vague leaving your statement with only claims and no evidence or examples. In the future I would highly suggest using examples instead of just saying “language related to death, darkness, night, and decay”. Also I found your last sentence to be repetitive and odd in the sense that you didn’t mention any of the “themes” specifically that you were referring to in the memoir Night. It appears that instead of responding to the prompt you restated the first few sentences in your own words.
The intense story Night, written by Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, is an autobiography about a young Jewish boy’s survival of the Holocaust. Throughout this story, the main character, Elie, changes in many ways, but one of the most obvious would be his faith. At the beginning of the book, Elie is very strong in his faith and wants to spend his life studying and worshiping his God, but after spending time in the concentration camps, witnessing mass murder, and being on the brink of death, he begins to lose faith. Elie, like many of his fellow prisoners after experiencing these hardships, asks, “Where is merciful God, where is He?” (64).
I feel like the book “night” is similar to the other books I have read about the holocaust. So far, the mood is very depressing in the book it’s constantly talking about death and everyone in the camp sound very depressed. I mean, I would be too if I was in a concentration camp but I think the author is over exaggerating it and focussing on that mood too much. The feelings the character Elie has are hopeful like he expects something to suddenly happen and he's free.
Another poignant quote can also signify how and what the jews
" There seems to be no hope or even a semblance of comfort within that death factory. Nonetheless, some individuals seem to hold on to the sense of God’s power. For instance, Rabbi Eliahou (devoted Jewish religious leader), continues to pray and seek God’s guidance. Despite the difficulties that have befallen him, including the loss of his son on the death march, he remains loyal to God. Allowing himself to cling to the possibility of higher power provides solace by offering assurance that his suffering has a purpose or that justice will prevail.
As a triumphant survivor of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel once said, “Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?” (Wiesel, 33). The millions of Jews whose lives were shattered by the Holocaust were left asking themselves this question, struggling to reconcile their faith in the God they once treasured and loved.
In the Memoir “night” by Elie Wiesel, Wiesel describes his experiences of being stripped away from his home in Sighet. And the life of a concentration camp with his father. Because of all the experiences, Wiesel lost faith in God and created a very complex relationship with his father throughout the time living in a concentration camp. Prior to being in a concentration camp with his father, Wiesel was a very religious person. Studying his religion was his passion, and that’s all he would do in his free time But through the things he witnessed, Wiesel began to question his God.
Literature is like a gateway into the human experience, readers can learn more and relate to novels, memoirs, short stories, etc. Authors can transport readers into different times and places that allow the reader to develop a broader understanding of the topic being displayed. Literature can help allow readers to discover the thoughts, emotions, and experiences of others. Voice and perspective can help shape one’s understanding of the human experience in literature through themes of survival, arrogance, and regret. Voice and perspective can help shape one’s understanding of the human experience in literature through survival.
In the novel, “Night” Elie Wiesel communicates with the readers his thoughts and experiences during the Holocaust. Wiesel describes his fight for survival and journey questioning god’s justice, wanting an answer to why he would allow all these deaths to occur. His first time subjected into the concentration camp he felt fear, and was warned about the chimneys where the bodies were burned and turned into ashes. Despite being warned by an inmate about Auschwitz he stayed optimistic telling himself a human can’t possibly be that cruel to another human.
Why are are tone and mood important in a novel or story such as Night about the holocaust? The tone and mood help build up the characters, themes, and emotions and sometimes the setting. It adds an effect and enhances the text. The tone provides a steady building block for the reader. As you can say, it enhances the text with thoughts and emotion of the character.
Why do you go on troubling these poor people’s wounded minds, their ailing bodies?”(Wiesel 68) Wiesel clearly is losing faith in God because he has seen babies burned alive, families killed together. Wiesel blames God for what has happened. Additionally, Elie Wiesel is not thankful for God anymore because he is not in Auschwitz helping him and the rest of the Jews. Wiesel feels anger towards God.
As for me, I had ceased to pray... I was not denying His existence, but I doubted His absolute justice” (45). It is apparent here that the effect of the Holocaust on the Jewish people’s faith was delayed on some level. Elie refuses to pray to the God that apparently abandoned him. This is personified when he says he doubts that God has absolute justice.
He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed. Behind me, I heard the same man ask: ‘Where is god now?’”(Wiesel 42) Elie realized that God was hanging on a gallows, that he was no longer with them, that he had abandoned them.