A Memorable Passage
As we conclude our reading of Night, please respond thoughtfully to the final two-part writing prompt:
- What do you believe to be the most memorable passage in Night? As you respond, first quote and cite the text using MLA form; for example, (Wiesel 58). Next, explain the context of the selected quotation. What is happening at that time in the memoir? Please express your feelings and new understandings while relating your comments back to the passage with a brief summary statement.
- Writing Night earned Wiesel a Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Why? What have you learned throughout this unit that can help make you a better person and the world a better place?
Labels: peace, remembrance
posted by Moderator at 9:50 AM
45 Comments:
I think the most powerful passage i read in the book was when Elie watches a man get beat to death by his son for a piece of bread, then the son is killed by other men for the same piece of bread (Wiesel, 96). This all took place when all the Jews were forced into a freezing cold train car with nothing to eat except what the gaurds were throwing to them. This showed me just how hungry and mistreated the Jews were during the Holocaust, if someone is willing to kill there own father for a small piece of food then you know it must have been a terrible situation. I can't even imagine being forced to do what the Jews had to do in the freezing cold with people I know dieing all around me. I think the book Night won a nobel prize for showing people how cruel the Nazis were to the Jews and informing people on how inhumane people can become when they listen to authority without question. Informing people about the Holocaust is the only way we can prevent another one from happening.
The most important thing that hit me in this "unit" was the whole race issue. I learned that everyone truly is alike no matter size,color, religion. I cant imagine going thru the things they had to and the prosecution they took on. Im such a baby when i comes to pain,i cant even think of how it'd feel to get whipped and thrown around like animals.They have gained my respect and my sympathy. This book was very good, and touching. Thats why it earned the prize. Im sure many would feel the same way.
I think everyone knew what happened out there, but really didn't comprehend it. When you read this book, where an actual survivor is telling his tale it hits you alot harder.
I hope to god, nothing like this will ever happen again in this lifetime.
"He reached the first cauldron. Hearts raced: he had succeeded. Jealousy consumed us, burned us up like a straw. We never thought for a moment of admiring him. Poor hero, committing suicide for a ration of soup! In our thoughts we were murdering him," (Wiesel, p. 66). This passage is by far not my favorite, but it did leave an impression on me. In normal life no one would have gone outside to get a bowl of soup, they wouldn't have even thought about it. After all, it was just soup. But the fact that someone could get so desperate, so hungry, that it was worth it to basically commit suicide to maybe get some extra soup in their belly.
"'Where is God? Where is He?' someone behind me asked. At a sign from the head of the camp, the three chairs tipped over"(Wiesel, 71). This takes place in the camp of Buna. The prisoners are watching the ceremony of the young boy and other men being hung. I chose this passage because I believe it shows the real cruelity and hostility of this war. A young boy, who committed no crime except for refusing to speak, is hung. The SS was so heartless, even thought the executioner was unable to hang the boy, but the SS didn't care. To them, this boy was just another generation of plague to their perfect race. Children were killed all throughout the holocaust, but to kill a boy in front of a camp of Jewish prisoners was the most dehumanizing act I recall.
The most powerful passage I have read was when Elie's faith was consumed in smoke.
"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, when has turned my life into on a long night, seven times cursed and seven times scaled. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.
Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever" (Wiesel, 43).
This was my "favorite passage" because that is when we as readers realize that Elie has changed. He is not the boy he was back in his town. This is the most powerful message to me because from now on we see that he contradicts himself a few times in the book. He says he doesn't have faith anymore...so why does he carry on? This was just my favorite because it showed how Elie was going to change. How he overcame that night.
"I too had become a completely different person. The student of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me. A dark flame had entered into my soul and devoured it" (Wiesel, 46).
This is my most memorable passage in Night. I think about it all of the time, because I could never imagine to be changed so much and to have so much taken away, to have a "dark flame" enter into my sould and devour it!... about two paragraphs after this passage there is a line that says, "Surely it was a dream" (Wiesel, 46). The awful part is that everything that had happened was not a dream. Elie had changed so much, from a young boy of innocense and faith, to a young man of expierence and loss of faith... and now a strong older man of expierence and faith. He changed. But I could never imagine what awful changes he had to go through to be the person he is today.
i think the passage that stuck in my mind the most was, "yes, man is very strong, greater than God. When you were deceived by Adam and Eve, you drove them out of Paradise. When Noah's generation displeased you, you brought down the Flood. When Sodom no longer found favor in your eyes, you made the sky rain down fire and sulphur. but these men here, whom you have betrayed, whom you have allowed to be tortured, butchered, gassed, burned, what do they do? they pray before you! They praise your name. (Wiesel, 74)
this is right when Elie started realizing he was loosing his faith in God. i just thought it was strong because it showed that no matter how much these people were tortured, and still would hold up their hands to him, he was not going to let them out easily. It's like Elie is getting mad at all his people for still worshiping, like they dont realize what is happening to them.
""Once more the young men tied her up and gagged her. They even struck her. PEople encouraged them: "Make her be quiet! She's mad! Shut her up! She's not the only one. She can keep her mouth shut...." They struck her several times on the head- blows that might have killed her. Her little boy clung to her; he did not cry out; he did not say a work. He was not even weeping now. An endless night. Toward dawn, Madame Schachter calmed doown. Crouched in her corner, her bewildered gazescouring the emptiness, she could no longer see us"" (Wiesel, 35). This is one of the most memorable passages to me because it shows just how badly these people are suffering. Not only because they are trapped inside of a train car, but because they were becoming indifferent, losing their humanity.I also remember this because it is such a desperate scene. These people are desperate, they don't understand what is happening to them, they are trapped inside of a moving train car with a screaming women, and she is scaring them so they beat her. Not only do they just beat her, but they do it while her small child is watching still clinging to her. And even he was too afraid to try and stop them, to try and save his mother. That must have been traumatizing for him, watching his mother be beaten. Everyone on that train witnessed the death of humanity and the death of innocence. And what makes me really sad to think is that that little boy probably died as soon as the train stopped. Because children weren't worth keeping alive neither were crazy people. So in all likelihood, the second that the train stopped he and his mother were taken to be gased. So in the last hours of his life he had no hope, only desperation. He was probably dead even before he went into the gas chamber. I think that if i got to the point were my mother was beaten right before my very eyes by people i once knew and loved, that i too would die on the inside.
"Why, but why should I bless Him? In every fiber I rebelled. Because He had had thousands of children burned in His pits? Because He kept six crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days? Because in His great might He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many factories of death? How could I say to Him: "Blessed art Thou, Eternal, Master of the Universe, Who chose us from among the races to be tortured day and night, to see our fathers, our mothers, our brothers, end in the crematory? Praised be Thy Holy Name, Thou Who hast chosen us to be butchered on Thine altar?"" (Wiesel 74).
By this time in the story, Elie was no longer the young boy sitting in the Temple weeping when he prayed. His spiritual connection with God had been killed by the Nazi's when he was sent to the concentration camps. However, I believe that through this whole ordeal, he has brought himself closer to God because of the questions he asked. It's just like what Moche said, "Man raises himself toward God by the questions he asks Him." (Wiesel 15).
Keri! Your quote is amazing. I really like it. The smoke turning into a shape that looks like him is very moving. I definitely agree this is a very powerful passage.
I think a very important passage in Night was when Elie watches his own father being beaten.(wiesel,48). Elie's father is beaten by a gypsy anf Elie just stands there and watches. It was the gypsy's way to dehumanize Elie. He was desensitized to the horrors of their plight.
Elie got a peace prize for this book because he was not afraid. he did not think of himself as a victim. he had mad it through the war and wants to share all the horrifying things he went through.
by him sharing every memory, in the greatest detail he can it is making our world a better place. we learn about the terrors people have been through and we can try and resist anything like this happening again.
we can make this world better by standing up and saying something. by not being a coward because we dont want to be emberassed or afraid. everyone has a say in something.
In my opinion the most powerful passage that I have gotten to so far in Night is the passage where Elie discusses his loss of faith in God. Even if you really think about it I highly doubt you can even begin to imagine and have empathy for Elie in what he had to experience that night.
“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed, and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreathes of smoke beneath the silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never” (Wiesel, 43).
He uses the word “never” numerous times. It just really shows to me the impact of what Elie had to experience at such a young age. It makes me wonder how I would have dealt with things, and it makes me wonder what kind of person I would be today if I was unfortunate enough to have to experience it. When you see the things that Elie did, you don’t just go back living your everyday life, you are changed forever, and most likely that change isn’t going to be for the better. Suddenly your life would gain a whole new purpose. No one should have their life changed that drastically when it’s completely out of their control.
"...but the third rope was still moving; being so light, the child was still alive...for more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes... behind me, I heard the same man asking: 'where is God now?' and I heard a voice within me answer him: 'where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows...'" (Wiesel p. 71). The question Where was God? suddenly became a question of my own when I read this passage. How could God let a child, an innocent child be hanged under His sky? Why did He allow this to happen. Elie Wiesel gave such detail to this passage that if you actually take in the words instead of reading them you start to understand the thoughts that must have been going through Wiesels head. His question of Where is God, does not seem so questionable, so wrong to say after reading this passage. I have not read this passage for sometime now yet I still remember. Sometimes the this thought plays through my head and I can't help but ask the sky Why, why would you let this happen? Was God just on vacation during those years? No. We use God rarely do we truly appreciated Him. Was God punishing humans then? NO.God has given us all the tools needed to fight for humanity and against intolerance and indifference. We just don't use them.
The most memorable quote for me, from what I've read so far, is when they were on the train and Madame Schachter's son tries to calm her. "Her little boy was crying, hanging onto her skirt, trying to take hold of her hands. 'It's all right, Mummy! There's nothing there....Sit down....' This shook me even more than his mother's screams had done" (Wiesel, 34).
While they were in the train, the others didn't want to put up with Madame Schachter's noise. They wanted to shut her up, and they hit her to accomplish that. Her little boy couldn't stop them, but he tried with them to get her to quiet down. He begged and pleaded with her to be quiet, but she wouldn't. Elie says the boy attempting to calm his mother was the more shocking than the mother's screams. I think this passage will stay with me for quite some time. I know that my passage isn't the one that people would spend a lot of time on, discussing or even thinking about, but I'm sure I'll remember this passage longer than most others.
Elie Wiesel earned a Nobel Peace Prize for Night because it speaks out against the Holocaust. It shows people what it was like during the time period. I've learned that everything we do to help people shouldn't be for our personal gain. We don't know their lives, so we shouldn't play with them. If everybody treated each other with a friendliness, or maybe just simply an equality, there wouldn't be as much hate as there is now. Acting kinder to those who previously we wouldn't have should be the first step into making the world a better place.
There are many passages within Elies's book that are very memorable. Each one has a differant effect on a person and the ability to make a person go to the depths of their thoughts. A passage that stuck out in my mind would have to be the one on page 43 "Never shall i forget those flames whicy consumed my faith forever" This showed exactly how the Nazis' were dehumanizing these people. Elie witnesses things that we could not possibley start to comprehend. I think if we were able to see inside of the minds of the survivers we might begin to loose our faith in humanity. We need to hear their stories, but i dont think they would ever want us to see the things they had to.
On my perspective of the novel, one of the most disheartening and powerful quotes that I can recall happens to be, “Bela-Katz-son of a big tradesman from our town-had arrived at Birkenau with the first transport, a week before us. When he heard of our arrival, he managed to get word to us that, having been chosen for his strength, he had himself put his father's body into the crematory oven" (Wiesel 44). To be forced to have to take your own father and destroy every last possible remnant yourself would have to be excruciatingly horrific. Knowing that your hands were forced into bringing the end of your father’s physical existence on Earth would substantially have the ability to drive a man insane. The best thing that I can sum up from this unit on Night that has allowed myself to become a better person is obtaining a greater understanding of indifference and intolerance. These two simple words have had the ability to kill more lives than any bomb or weapon, and allow for humanity to spawn its own hell.
“I shall never forget Juliek. How could I forget that concert, given to an audience of dying and dead men! To this day, whenever I hear Beethoven played my eyes close and out of the dark rises the sad, pale face of my Polish friend, as he said farewell on his violin to an audience of dying men.
I do not know for how long he played. I was overcome by sleep. When I awoke, in the daylight, I could see Juliek, opposite me, slumped over, dead. Near him lay his violin, smashed, trampled, a strange overwhelming little corpse” (Wiesel, 101). What’s happening right here is Elie has just escaped death once again, this time almost suffocating to death by being buried by a pile of the dead and living? His friend who played the violin was by him. His main concern was that very instrument. What amazes me about this passage is how this man was able to play the song he loved one last time. He used the last of his strength to play for the souls who had left their bodies and for the people who were still hanging on. He played for his death.
The person before me had this passage too. LOL. Well the passage that struck me was also,“I shall never forget Juliek. How could I forget that concert, given to an audience of dying and dead men! To this day, whenever I hear Beethoven played my eyes close and out of the dark rises the sad, pale face of my Polish friend, as he said farewell on his violin to an audience of dying men.
I do not know for how long he played. I was overcome by sleep. When I awoke, in the daylight, I could see Juliek, opposite me, slumped over, dead. Near him lay his violin, smashed, trampled, a strange overwhelming little corpse” (Wiesel, 101). It is very powerful to me. This is wear Elie is buried in a pile of dead and dying men. He meets his old friend Juliek in the pile and Juliek is playing Beethoven on his violin. He gives a concert for thousands of corpses and nearly dead. I see think he saw this as his last time on earth and he wanted to do what he loves. This is also his last act of rebellion against the Nazis. He does what the Nazis had forbidden him to do.
This book earned a Nobel prize because it expertly conveyed the horrors of the Holocaust. This can make the world better by helping us keep history from repeating. This can help the world be tolerant of other cultures.
"Bela Katz, the son of an important merchant of my town, had arrived in Birkenau with the first transport, one week ahead of us. When he found out that we were there, he succeeded in slipping us a note. He told us that having been chosen because of his strength, he had been forced to place his own father's body into the furnace" (Wiesel, 35). This passage has stayed with me the entire book, simply because of its tone and topic. Elie mentions this quotation almost as an afterthought and makes it sound like such a daily occurrence to watch or help loved ones die. It seems so out of place in the novel – right after the men have taken showers at Auschwitz and right before they have their heads shaved (two acts that removed all chances of humanization among prisoners) – that makes it stand out. Its almost as though Elie considered removing it from the book but, at the last minute, he felt it should remain.
I think that “Night” won a Nobel Peace Prize because Elie told his story in such a way that he made it connect to all people in all situations. The author never carried his anger and discrimination of Nazis throughout the book, which made the reader look past the power battles of WWII and realize things more from an innocent Jewish bystander who was “caught up” in the war. Through his words, Elie made it seem that if only someone had helped them, the whole situation could have been prevented and he relates it to today – if only a few people stood up for the outcasts, then there would be no need for violence.
Hey Nolan, I was wondering about your comment on how educating people on the past will make the world a better place and will stop history form repeating itself. I know that it is important to learn about the past but I am not sure that it really helps stop history from repeating. It seems that in today’s world, we see plenty of wars, death, and destruction on the news every night, and even though we know it has happened in the past and that it’s a wrong deed, people still commit crimes. Actually, I think that one of the main reasons people commit crimes is so that they will get the credit of outdoing other past horrific events. For example, the main point of 9/11 was to gain the attention of the world and to show others how serous the matter was. And even though the attack came form a religious group against violence, they still did it anyways because they new it would get noticed. They knew it was wrong because, in the past, other acts like it had been morally wrong. I think that educating everyone about every evil deed helps fuel the minds of the world’s terrorists and help them formulate even more damaging plans. Don’t get me wrong – I think it’s important to know about past events like the Holocaust to try and avoid them, but I don’t think that it will necessarily stop history from repeating itself. So I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas about this and whether they thought that history will truly stop repeating itself one day. I am kind of confused on the whole matter, so any ideas a really welcome!
I think the most memorable passage I read in Night was when Pipel gets hanged. Everyone is asking where is god; why would he let this happen? And Elie answers: there is god. He is the sad faced angel Pipel being hanged. (Wiesel 60-62) It’s memorable because this is where Elie see’s God may not have given up on them, but rather he is suffering along with them. He remarks in one part of the book that man is stronger than He and that may be true but having seen Pipel hanged is a different story. Another thing that got me was that it took so long for Pipel to die because he was so light, he suffered more than the others, and for them to let this happen and for the Germans to does this is just incomprehensible to me. And that night, Elie noted that the soup tasted “like corpses.”
I think it earned him a Nobel Peace Prize because it shows what really happened. How the Jewish people were dehumanized and treated like dirt just because they were of a different religion. It showed how people went crazy with power and how if you’re willing to fight hard enough and not to give up, that you can live through the hardest times. This also shows what prejudice and ‘racial science’ does to us and I would never do that. Ever. And now that I have a moral foundation, I plan not to repeat the history we read before us.
Well, night everyone!! *yawn*
X)
"It was pitch dark. I could hear only the violin, and it was as though Juliek's soul were the bow. He was playing his life. The whole of his life was gliding on the strings-his lost hopes, his charred past, his extinguished future. He played as he would never play again", (Wiesel 90).
This passage was the most powerful passage as it sounded Juliek's acceptance of inevitable fate. He was one of the few who held on to what he could till the end, playing out his sorrow for all the world to hear it in one last, bittersweet melody. He knew this night would be his last, and he went out doing what he loved, and in a way, I think it brought a small beacon of hope to his dying people.
I think this book won a Nobel prize for the rich contribution to a touchy subject. In Night, Wiesel takes us all through his own personal nightmarish journey, opening our eyes to the cruelty and unjustness of the world around us in a way that only a survivor could possibly begin to comprehend.
The passage that stuck me the most was, when The SS had Elie and the others run in the pitch dark and while they were running they were being shot at.
“An endless road. Letting oneself be pushed by the mob; letting oneself be dragged along by a blind destiny. When the SS became tired, they were changed. But no one changed us. Our limbs numb with cold despite the running, our throats parched, famished, breathless, on we went.” (Wiesel 93)
This made me think of the fact that we will always be running away from our everyday pressures.
"The woman had broken loose from her bonds and was crying out more loudly than ever: 'Look at the fire! Flames, flames, everywhere...'
Once more the young men tied her up and gagged her. They even struck her. People encouraged them: 'Make her be quiet! She's mad! Shut her up! She's not the only one! She can keep her mouth shut...'
They struck her several times on the head--blows that might have killed her. Her little boy clung on to her; he did not even cry out; he did not say a word. He was not even weeping now." (Wiesel, pg35)
This passage in the book is a very powerful one to me because it shows us how strong the children must have been to see their parents treated this way. It proves how strong willed everyone must have been to survive everything they were exposed to during the Holocaust.
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Hanna,
I agree with you on the whole, he was mad at everyone. I also think that it’s really unbelievable that they still had their faith in God after everything that’s happened. Kind of like that one guy said, “At least Hitler keeps his promises.” I mean, Elie brought out every little thing about how when he was angry or displeased that God punished them. And I think Elie was wondering what did we do? I believe that’s a very strong passage. And I believe that those people probably didn’t realize God was not coming to help them but they still prayed for him. I think it’s kind of ironic actually.
"So that they'll realize there were men living here and not pigs." (Wiesel 80) The army was going to liberate their camp. This was before they had made the choice to march. They felt like pigs and were treated like pigs because they were dehumanized. They didnt know they would soon gain respect for the first time in years by the American army. Which is one thing they couldn't even grasp to reality right at this moment.
Hey Hanna and Nicole, I really loved that passage too! It is kind of amazing to think about how strong the Jew’s faith must have been among the prisoners, since they still prayed through time. I think what must have helped to keep them so faithful was the new Jews who were constantly coming into the camp. They still had their faith and kept trying to look for positives, instead of realizing they were doomed and hopeless. They must have at least tried to share their faith with the others, so I think that is kept their devotion to God in a type of cycle with the new prisoners sharing their faith and then becoming old prisoners without faith until other new prisoners came.
i find the later train scene to be one of the most memorable scenes in the whole book everything that happens to the men, the way they talk about death and how the death are treated if you can picture even half of it itll stick with you, i know ill remember that scene for a very long time.
"The Jews had to get out and climbinto lorries. The lorries drove toward a forest. The Jews were made to get out. They were made to dig huge graves. And when they had finished their work, the Gestapo began theirs. Without passion, without haste, they slaughtered their prisoners. Each one had to go up to the hole and present his neck. Babies were thrown into the air and the machine gunners used them as targets (Wiesel, 4)." I think this scene in the book is absolutely terrible. I couldn't believe that human beings could do things so cruel, with no remorse felt. The worst part is how they took inocent babies and used them for shooting practice. I also feel bad for Moshe because he had to witness such events, and then when he came back to warn the others, the Jews called him crazy.
Night was a really good book, and definetly deserved the Nobel Prize. You can tell that Elie really poured his heart into this book, and it was probally really hard for him to relive the worst event in his life.
I agree with Dan. The most powerful thing in there for me was when the son beat his father to death for crumbs of bread (Wiesel, 96). There were several men in a train cart that were being transported to a different camp, and the officers were throwing bread in the cars for their own "entertainment." Well, the man started to crawl away from the struggle, and he looked like he had been injured becuase he was holding his hand to his chest. But, he had a piece of bread. He quickly shoved it in his mouth. His joy was short lived, as his son and several other men saw him with the small ration of food and pounced on him. He shouted at his say telling him that he was his father and that he was killing him for crumbs of bread. Finally, the act of violence is over and the father is left dead. This really shows that they started to realize it was every man for himself. Elie was appauled by this action and he didnt really know how to take it. People were slowly and slowly growing apart from their old kind, considerate, and unselfish ways, and I could definitely see that the men were becoming dehumanized. I definitely see how this book won the Nobel Peace Prize. It opened our eyes to see how cruel human beings can be under the command of an authority, and the possession of power over other "lower" beings. I have learned that human beings should not be judged by family background, and their ethnic group. There is no such thing as race so no one being his higher or lower than the other. Humans havent been around long enough for there to be different species of us.
Rachel,
That would make sense, because if more Jews keep coming in, and they still have a strong faith with god then they will still pray in his name. Elie was just really angry that everything had been happening and so that’s why he questioned God. But as me and Rachel found out in the “A Prayer in the Day of Awe”, Elie never really lost his faith in God which was a good thing. He wrote that on the 50th aniversity of the end of the Holocaust asking for forgiveness.
Oh and I’m typing from my new laptop!!!
XD
"They disappeared. The doors were closed. We were caugh in a trap, right up to our necks. THe doors were nailed up; the way back was finally cut off. THe worls was a cattle wagon hermetically sealed." (Wiesel 22) I chose this quotation because it describes when the doors were closed off. All those people trapped inside, their days of life were numbered. It makes me feel as if I was thee. The wording just some how makes me feel as if I was there, right next to Elie. Seeing the nails. I think that Elie won a Nobel Peace Prize on this book because he made it relatable. When I read this book I could picture it in my head. I agree with Chelsea on this part, it is a touching book and that is why it won a Noble Peace Prize.
Nolan, my U.S. history teacher also says that about if we learn more about the past that we will be able to prevent it in the future. I feel as if that is false. You can't exactly stop everything from happeneing. This could happen any day again, maybe not with the same people, but it could happen. Knowing about it won't stop it from happening though. We can always try to stop it, but we may not always suceed.
That's valid, but I think that we may be able to spot something as big as this happening. You're right that we can't stop everything, but I don't know if something like this will happen again.
Quwenci, i agree with your choice of picking that quote. Having to run miles in the freezing cold with little to no clothes would be terrible. It gets even worse when you can't stop without the risk of being shot and killed.
rachel
you brought a veeery good point up, this whole entire holocaust unit, or everytime i read about it i wonder how they can keep their faith, but that is such a good point, its like a new generstion, every time a new box cart pulls up, that they can learn of the good things that happened on the outside of their hell and know that there still is god somewhere.
The piece of the story that touched me the most was when the patient in the hospital told Elie, " I've got more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He's the only one who's kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people"(Wiesel 77). This passage spoke to me because the man had pretty much had his faith crushed out of him. The Nazis had done so much to him that he completely gave up on everything and everyone he believed in. In my opinion, once you've lost your faith in everything except for the most negative aspect left in your life, you've pretty much given up on living, so his comment really let me know that as soon as his body let him, he was going to just give up and die. It's got to be horrible, knowing that you're going to die, but it must be a thousand times worse to have absolutely no hopes for salvation, no glimmer of hope, left in your life. I completely agree with the Nobel Prize Comittee for giving Elie Wiesel the Nobel Prize. His story was horrifying, but if people weren't made aware of exactly how bad the experiences in the Nazi camps were, why would we bother to stop other scenarios like this from rising up? If we were left in ignorance, another Holocaust might have started at a later date. Without knowing his story, and the story of the other Holocaust survivors, the Nazis might have risen again, or another power might have been allowed to replicate their activities.
Erika, Learning about the past wouldn't actually prevent ALL of the negative aspects of history from being repeated, true, but it at least gives us a fighting chance to prevent it. If we didn't know some of the horror stories about the past that we've been taught, then we won't have a reason to even be cautious about the future, which would allow a lot of easily preventable things to happen anyways
Hanna,
I like the passage you chose it explains alot of why many Holocaust victims turned away from God. I hope to never fully understand what the Holocaust but when I try to imagine myself in this situation I see myself asking God what I did wrong. However with your passage it describes that God's acts of "anger" were when people turned away from God. Yet an act of "anger" is going on and the victims still face God yet receive no help? Have you thought of a reason why this could be?
Jesse C.,
I too felt this was a powerful passage. The man who said those words had turned away from God and instead turned to Hitler his enemy, the man who put him in the state he was in. I don't understand how you could do this. He believe Hitler would wipe out the Jews how could he not hope that even if it couldn't save his life someone someday would stop the slaughter? How could he not hope that for the future of his religion that someone would bring Hitler down? I do not know how I would act in this situation but I pray I wouldn't act like that.
This blog is a great teaching tool.
I think the most memorable passage from "Night" is the Never passage. "Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky.
Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never" (Wiesel 32). This passage takes place right after the first selection in Birkenau. Elie and his father have both escaped the crematorium to face what is now to come in this horrible camp. As Elie reminisces about his first night in the concentration camp, we can also see how this experience has had a lasting impact on his life. This passage introduces one of the main themes of the novel which is the loss of Elie's faith in God and the beginning of his spiritual downfall. This quote really hits home to me in that it shows just how much agony and despair that Elie and his fellow prisoners went through. I can also see the horrors of this experience through Elie's loss of faith. He once had a strong faith, but now Elie can not see how God can let such a tragic event like this happen. This shows the severity of his hardships. Wiesel won the peace prize for sharing his own personal experience with the world. He has also worked to honor others who endured this period and prevent such an event from happening again. I have learned by reading this novel that we should take a stand, not only by reading this novel, but by acknowledging it as well. We should tell others about the novel and the things that occured. We must strive to protect other groups from discrimination and promote peace in society no matter where we live.
I think the most memorable passage from "Night" is the Never passage. "Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never" (Wiesel 32). This passage takes place right after the first selection in Birkenau. Elie and his father have both escaped the crematorium to face what is now to come in this horrible camp. As Elie reminisces about his first night in the concentration camp, we can also see how this experience has had a lasting impact on his life. This passage introduces one of the main themes of the novel which is the loss of Elie's faith in God and the beginning of his spiritual downfall. This quote really hits home to me in that it shows just how much agony and despair that Elie and his fellow prisoners went through. I can also see the horrors of this experience through Elie's loss of faith. He once had a strong faith, but now Elie can not see how God can let such a tragic event like this happen. This shows the severity of his hardships. Wiesel won the peace prize for sharing his own personal experience with the world. He has also worked to honor others who endured this period and prevent such an event from happening again. I have learned by reading this novel that we should take a stand, not only by reading this novel, but by acknowledging it as well. We should tell others about the novel and the things that occured. We must strive to protect other groups from discrimination and promote peace in society no matter where we live.
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