This novel was very emotional and eye opening. It’s often hard to truly imagine what went on in camps like Birkenau. But reading this man’s actual experience and feeling some of his pain, it’s almost unreal. I was not surprised that his father dies, since he was old and sick. But I was intrigued that Ellie did cry for his father. It said that he had no tears left, I infer that, after so many tears lose their effect, they lose their meaning. Even though I knew that Elie obviously lives I was wondering how he would manage not get shot by the Germans. My final thoughts on this was that this was an awful, unimaginable time for the Holocaust victims to endure. If I were to pick one theme for the entire novel it would be hopelessness. Elie felt hopeless often in the book. He felt like his life no longer mattered after the death of his father, and he felt hopeless so many times after seeing so much death all around him. When others felt hopeless, the quickly died. One quote I have seen was from the hunger games “Hope is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous.”
This novel taught me about hope, the effects of losing hope, faith, our own limits, and why not to be a bystander. Blogging showed me that so many people care, and it taught me it can be easy to get your opinion out and to other people. I think it’s a very important topic for everyone to know about, especially teenagers because we are the youth of the nation, and the future is up to us. We can’t let history keep repeating itself. We cannot be bystanders, we should never just stand aside and let things like this happen. Thank you to everyone who contributed.
I have to agree with you hope does keep a person going and Ellie should have had some hope because with him crying and being hopeless was not going to get him anywhere. I can imagine losing a dad or any other relative must be horrible. There is no place on this planet for any horrible people like the ones that did that to them. I can relate to this situation because I also studied about Genocide and my topic was on Darfur. In the Darfur genocide many people lost family members due to evil cruel people who wanted to see them burn. In Ellie's case his father was his only family member left which could have been the cause of his deep depression. I hope history never repeats its self because this isn't the greatest thing to experience especially in a child's eyes. I leave my respects to those who went through it and for those who survived.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you Vicki that Ellie had to see some kind of hope in herself because when her father died she wasn't going to be able to sit their, and cry when she knows their is no way he is ever coming back. I think that she must of known that her father was going to die because he was very sick and couldn't recover at all. I also think she had the ability and the strength to fight through all the issues with the Holocaust because knowing that she was either going to get killed or die on her own she stood up for what she believed in and thought was right for her in order to survive. Also Ellie was very brave because nothing stopped her from moving along with her life even though she knew she was alone. I can also relate this to my project about Darfur because all the innocent farmers who were poor and were trying to move somewhere new to live in were getting killed by soldiers and other people who had more power. I think that the situations between the Holocaust and my project about Darfur relate a lot to power and land because everyone wants to seem bigger and stronger as a whole. Overall, I agreed with you Vicki because Ellie was always moving on and staying strong with a little bit of hope which worked out for her and helped her survive through the Holocaust.It almost seemed impossible for some Jews to survive but they made it through seeing all the deaths of innocent people. In which Mexicans are now also experiencing through deportations which is very unfair because a lot and a huge portion of Mexicans come to the U.S to make a better living for their families and to find better jobs. Life is very unfair and their is no way it is going to change. Hopefully all the deportations can stop someday so all those innocent immigrants can make a better living for themselves and can see some kind of hope in them as well.
ReplyDeleteWhen you said that Elie no longer cared for his life after his father died, I somewhat agreed with you, but I also disagreed. Earlier in the book, he thinks about leaving his father and how his father was just a dead weight on his shoulders. I think Elie did care for his father because he is family and he seemed like the only family he had left, but deep down, he was grateful that he now only had to care for himself. I think no one knows how this feels and nothing could ever compare to how these Holocaust victims felt. The only thing we can do is pass these stories along and hope that no person ever has to go through this again.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this book was eye-opening. I think that after enduring and experiencing so much tears just wouldn't mean as much as before. Elie had so many feelings during this time and he couldn't express them all. He was definitely impacted after the Holocaust, and it changed him in the way where he just kept all his emotions and feelings to himself. He also was confused on his belief and he didn't see much hope considering the situation. I guess it is true that too much hope can be your downfall because in the end if what your hoping will happen doesn't happen, you will be crushed. In this book Elie did lose a lot of hope and faith in someone saving him but in the end he persevered. I think throughout the story you can see how strong of a person he is, because he made it through this without much hope. I think after reading this book many people gained insight on what actually happened and how it affected your emotions daily. Since we now know how bad everything really was and how people were affected we will be able to tell the signs so that it doesn't happen over again. All in all, Night was the type of book with clear images and insight as to what happened during the Holocaust. I believe that if you read this book you won't be able to be a bystander if something like this happens again.
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