May 31, 2013
Language Arts
“Night” Journal Entry 4
Elie Wiesel
writes “Night” in a very “controlled” way. This is such a serious topic and
very out of control. The whole concept that thousands of Jewish people were
being killed every day and in the long run 6 million died is very hard to
grasp. Many people think why did this happen? Didn’t people see Hitler’s plans?
The pictures online and the description that is told in the book are horrifying
and sad. How could babies be used as throwing targets? Didn’t anyone feel
guilty killing the Jewish people? Wiesel writes his book so people can grasp it
all in and not lose it.
I think the
main reason why readers who read “Night” can understand the topic is because it
is told through a boy named Eliezer’s life. We can connect to the character
because it talks about his insights and religion and life. For me, instead of
getting all the facts and seeing pictures of the Holocaust, it’s easier if I
have a real life story that tells about the topic. I really like how “Night”
starts off with the very day life of a Jewish boy who is clueless about what is
happening to Jews in Europe and when he is warned because he has so much faith
like everyone else they don’t believe Moshe the Beadle. I know that I have seen
this in movies and in life. Like when someone is told that a loved one is dead
they refuse to hear it and try to find their loved one. In the end when you
find out they are dead you lose faith. That is exactly what a writer should do;
bring the reader to a point where they can make their own opinions and
insights. Many Jewish people felt the same way as someone who just lost a loved
one, but theirs is more serious because they lost God. Why had God abandoned
them? Eliezer talks about how he used to be very faithful and always strived to
be the best at his religion, but even he slowly turns away because of all the
events that happen in Auschwitz. See I can connect to that and question all the
events that have happened because of the Holocaust. It’s special and honorable
to be able to read a real life story about Auschwitz that Elie Wiesel wrote. In
a way it’s like I am connected to Wiesel because he has written a story so
everyone knows about what happened in his life. It was written for me. It was
written for you. It was written for all who come across this magnificent book.
This book has definitely changed my life because like I said in my letter to Mr. Wiesel I used to be immature and not think about what I said. The jokes I laughed at were funny at the time. They wouldn’t hurt anybody. I have come to learn that two single words in the joke, Holocaust and Jew, have a whole history behind it. The jokes hurt people and I am sad to even have been part of the laughing. I am so grateful that I learned about this topic. Whenever I see the perfect night sky with a spectacle of brilliant stars I will look back I will think of the millions lost and say, “It’s no longer night, because you have learned to make your night a bright day.”
Journal Entry 3 Elie Wiesel Letter
May 29, 2013
Dear Elie Wiesel,
I want to
start out by telling you how much I appreciate what you have taught me by
writing “Night.” It has touched my heart and during this reading it brought
forth some mature discussions that were thought about thoroughly in my eighth
grade class. The holocaust is an important
part of history that kids should be made aware of because in the long run it
could prevent this tragedy from never happening again. You really paint the
picture of what it was like to be a Jewish person experiencing these horrors
while in Auschwitz.
Before I
read this book I would her all kind of jokes about the holocaust and the scary
part was that I wasn’t well informed about this time in history that I would actually
laugh at the jokes. I’ve matured over the years and it has been a life lesson
learning about the holocaust. Seeing the videos and pictures almost brings me
to tears. How could this have happened? How did it go on for about five years? These
are the questions I ponder about while reading all sorts of stories about the holocaust.
I look at the kid at the beginning without knowledge and think how could I have
been so clueless? But I am happier than before because I know now that I will
always think before I say or act about a topic I don’t know about.
Compared to
what has happened in Auschwitz I have never seen violence near as bad. I’ve
seen the occasional punching, but never have I seen people getting shot, people
getting thrown in fire, or young children getting killed in terrible ways. To
me it seems like I would lose all faith forever. Was their ever a time where
you directed your anger toward the Nazis? Well, I can’t know for sure because I
wasn’t in your shoes, but I tend to blame the people who are doing the physical
things to me. Did you believe in God as your savior? How had you made a
collection with God like he was your friend? A living person.
It’s funny
how I complain about being cold outside in a tent when I should really be
thinking about how lucky I am. It was very surprising to hear how bad the
treatment was in Auschwitz. You talk about how the camp has changed you. You
would normally fight someone if they were beating up your dad. In a way the
camp took away courage and faith. Did you ever have moments when you just felt
like fighting your way out of the camp? Were there such groups that brained
stormed ways to start a resistance? Is there a reason why they didn’t get far
if there was? Did you ever look up at the stars and get a spark of hope that
someday you will be reunited with your mom and get a sense of love? Thank you
again for writing this book. It really touched my heart. I will never forget
your story.
May 22, 2013
Language
Arts
“Night”
Journal Entry
“Never shall I forget
that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night
seven times sealed.
Never shall I forget
that smoke.
Never shall I forget
the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under
a silent sky.
Never shall I forget
those flames that consumed my faith forever.
Never shall I forget
nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.
Never shall I forget
those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
Never shall I forget
those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.
Never.” (Pg. 34)
Never, never shall I forget sounds
like an eternity to have this weight on your shoulder. To have to remember
flames. To have to remember screams. To have to remember having an empty stomach.
To remember when you lost hope. And above all remembering a place with no love.
Night seems to wrap all this horror together. People in Auschwitz, for most
remained in terror never to see the crack of dawn, daytime when camps were
liberated. As soon as you get onto the train all light is consumed by darkness,
cramped into a cattle cart like cattle themselves. About eighty people in an
area so small people are breathing down your back. Night symbolizes dread and
loss of hope without any light.
“Jews look! Look at the fire! Look
at the flames! As the train stopped, this time we saw flames rising from a tall
chimney into a black sky…We stared at the flames in the darkness. A wretched
stench floated in the air. Abruptly, our doors opened.” (Pg. 28) The irony Jews
experienced when they first saw the entrance of Auschwitz must have been
terrible. This is where all hope and faith was lost knowing that they were in
for a long terrible journey. A journey that turns the rest of your days, “into
one long night.” I find it very cruel how the first words that are spoken to
you are, “Men to the left! Women to the right.” The suspense must make people
crazy with questions. Why are we being separated? Will I ever see my family
again? Will I die? To make matters a man with dirty hands points at you and
selects you. Two groups are made walking toward the crematorium, but at the
last second one group turns. The humanity if you see that you are not the one
that has turned. I really wonder what people were thinking if they were in the
lines that weren’t so lucky. To be the group who turned and looking upon the
faces that were not so lucky must have made people so guilty with the one
question in their mind. The question that many survivors ask themselves today.
Two simple words, “Why me?” Elie Wiesel asks himself these same questions. Even
though I was not there I even question why these certain people lived what
about them allowed them to stay alive? It’s not that you were the strongest if
you survived or that you were the luckiest. You survived for a reason and that
was to tell your story to the world, so the world knows never to repeat this
part of history ever again. I am very fortunate that I never lived in such a
time that my family or I could be in danger due to the way we look or the way
we believe.
The way Auschwitz shaped people is something
Eliezer experienced and questioned himself. The lost of hope and what you stood
for. All the running, yelling, and beating made Jews worn out and scared to
question the way things ran. Its way the first time Eliezer’s dad got beat up
he just stood there in shock. “I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My
father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. I had
watched and kept silent. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this
criminal’s flesh. Had I changed that much.” (Pg. 39) What Jews experienced and
saw on the first day crushed their spirits and courage. Any inequality would
now become life because people feared being killed or worse tortured beyond
belief. I am very shocked that even a group that was being executed and worked
to death could still keep hope even when they lost it somehow they were able to
gain it back. Beat and starved to death I would crumble under the pain that was
caused. I really liked reading how when the camp was being bombed people gained
hope and confidence back.
Why did the prisoners yell at the
new comers? Did they know that the new comers didn’t know about the fate that
await the? Was it an act, so they could save people from being killed? Like
when an inmate told Eliezer and his dad that they were now eighteen and forty.
Has anyone ever escaped the camp and if so did they tell about the camp?
It’s hard to come to realize how big
this event in our history was and how no one saw it happen for five years.
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