Night
Please leave your thoughts about Elie Wiesel’s Night. How does it compare to Maus in its effect on you? What do you think Elie Wiesel’s goal is?
Please leave your thoughts about Elie Wiesel’s Night. How does it compare to Maus in its effect on you? What do you think Elie Wiesel’s goal is?
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Elie Weisel was a living witness to the Holocaust. He wrote “Night” as a memorial and testament to those who died but also as a reminder and warning for future generations. One must never forget what happened lest it happen again.
This book had a very profound effect on me. I couldn’t put it down once I started to read it and yet at the same time I felt a sense of loss and depression. No words can describe what Elie, his father, family and everyone at Auschwitz went through. The love between father and son was so strong that I believe it kept them alive longer than possible. The march to Germany was especially sad and heart-wrenching. How could one ever lead a normal life after the Holocaust?
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Two characters in particular, namely Moche the Beadle and Madame Schachter are prominent. Both characters heeded a warning and both were dismissed as insane. The reasoning behind this response was because fellow Jews could not comprehend the extreme cruelty they were about to face. The Beadle claims to have witnessed Jews digging their own grave pits but the narrator himself states that it was just too unbelievable. In Schacter’s case, it seemed justifiable for her fellow victims to consider her mad, for no one else saw the flames that she predicted. How frightening it must have been to see what was about to unfold, and no one to believe you, or to suffer cruelty at the hands of your own people.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 pm
I think it is very interesting to compare Night with Maus. While Night deals with the memories of one survivor and the people he encounters along the way, Maus goes even further and explores relationships with the survivors and their families in the decades following the Holocaust. Considering that the protagonist of Maus managed to find his wife and escape to freedom together, I find it hard to fathom how Wiesel managed to piece his life together when he was left all alone at such a young age. I wonder how different his book would have been if he had included some pages to account for his life in the months and years following his release.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I think one of Elie Wiesel’s goals in writing this book is to convey that every individual is capable of losing their humanity. There were a couple parts in the book the conveyed this very powerfully - when the SS hung the boy from the gallows and then made all the prisoners march by and look into his eyes. Afterwards, Elie says “I remember I found the soup excellent that evening…”
In another scene when they in the shed after the long march, Eli comes across Rabbi Eliahou who is looking for his son. Eli remembers that the Rabbi’s son had seen the Rabbi falling behind in the march and he continued to run ahead, letting his father fall behind so he could be rid of him and increase his chance for survival.
This is a very disturbing book to read, but I think these types of first-hand accounts are necessary in order for us to even begin to understand what these people endured. Still, the horror we feel when reading this account does not even approach the horror and suffering these people endured. I am still finding it difficult to comprehend.
March 9th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I am really disappointed about missing class last week. I was so into this book and I was really looking forward to the class discussion.
I agree with Patty about Elie’s goal of showing how the treatment the Jews received were capable of causing anyone to lose their humanity. Even Elie himself who showed disgust in others actions in this manner had fallen prey to the same thoughts.
Before we judge a persons actions, we need to have walked a mile in their shoes. In the case of night, with the forced marches they endured, we need to do this literally.
Another major theme to Night is loss of faith. Elie was a young man who was totally devout in his studies of the Jewish religion. He seemed to be on his way to becoming a Rabbi himself when the Holocaust took his home, his family and his faith. As Jeff mentioned, I would like to know about his life in the aftermath of the Holocaust. I would like to know what his stance on God is today.
Anyway, in addition to these two themes, I was again blown away by the inhuman brutality the Nazi’s inflicted upon the Jews. As Elie and His father were marching towards the fire pit, and saw babies being thrown in, I wanted to get into a time machine and go back to 1939 and kill a bunch of Nazi’s. The story of the guy who had thrown his own fathers body into the furnace was rather upsetting as well.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
NPR just had a piece by Elie Wiesel on today. He was on for the “This I Believe” segment and read a brief essay he wrote called, ” A God Who Remembers.” You can check it out on their website, the audio is a little over 5 minutes.