Choose two of the following quotes and respond BY COMMENTING TO THIS BLOG and using insightful, thoughtful response. Make sure you note which quotes you have chosen. And be sure to put your first name, so I know who you are!
Quote 1
"And he began beating him with an iron bar. At first, my father simply doubled over under the blows, but then he seemed to break in two like an old tree struck by lightning. I had watched it all happening without moving. I kept silent. In fact, I thought of stealing away in order not to suffer the blows. What's more, if I felt anger at that moment, it was not directed at the Kapo but at my father. Why couldn't he have avoided Idek's wrath? That was what life in a concentration camp had made of me..." (54)
Quote 2
"And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished. Behind me, I heard the same man asking:
'For God's sake, where is God?'
And from within me, I heard a voice answer:
'Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows...'
That night, the soup tasted of corpses." (65)
Quote 3
But now, I no longer pleaded for anything. I was no longer able to lament. On the contrary, I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man. Without love or mercy. I was nothing but ashes now, but I felt myself to be stronger than this Almighty to whom my life had been bound for so long. In the midst of these men assembled for prayer, I felt like an observer, a stranger." (68)
Quote 4
It was cold. We got into our bunks. The last night in Buna. Once more, the last night. The last night at home, the last night in the ghetto, the last night in the cattle car, and, now, the last night in Buna. How much longer would our lives be lived from one 'last night' to the next?" (83)
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ReplyDeleteQuote 3: In qoute three, Elie is describing the full extent of his loss of faith in God. When he says "God the accused", he means that he no longer looks to God for spiritual guidance or answers about their faith, instead he accuses him for allowing such miseries to happen to his people and to the world as a whole. He tries to say that if there were a God who were merciful and pure, as they say, he would not allow such hatred and violence to befall his people, the very beings that he created with his two hands. When he says that he feels like a stranger to the religious ritual, he is trying to say that his fiath in God having left him, has left him devoid of that hope of rescue and wanting to celebrate. He is trying to show us how secluded he feels now that his love for the Almighty has left his soul, leaving a gap in the process.
ReplyDeleteGreat comment, Dilian. Now give us another!
ReplyDeleteMs. A.
Quote four: In this quote, Elie is expressing his lack of willingness to believe in future rescue and and ending to their misery. When he asks "How much longer would our lives be lived from 'one last night' to the next?", he is saying that his beilef in the day after tomorrow has left him devoid of hope and determination to live. His soul has been deprived of the spirit of belief in an end to the war. The sinificance in this quote is to outline the general view that Elie has now gained of life, when once he was a determined young man who wished and dreamed of rescue, he now dreams of just staying close to his father and having a thicker and bigger portion of soup and bread. Elie has reached the breaking point and his aspect on life has changed, he no longer dares to want rescue, instead he seems to just go ahead with the flow of events and let them happen, as if he had no say in them (which he really does not). The tables have turned on Elie Wiesel's understanding of life, he has developed a new sense of importance, rather than wanting to defy the SS and go around Buna with determination, he seems to want to hide from it all and avoid being ssen as a living being... he just wants to survive one more night.
ReplyDeleteI think that about covers the subject...lol :)
ReplyDeleteQuote 1: This quote represents the dehumanization of relationships. At the beginning of the book, Elie and his father were close and never showed hatred towards one another. When the Germans stripped them of their faith in the last few chapters, his relationship with his father was lost. When Elie says, "What's more, if I felt anger at that moment, it was not directed at the Kapo, but at my father." The concentration has not only stripped him of his faith, but the relationship between him and his father has now been dehumanized.
ReplyDeleteQuote 4:
This quote relates to what has happened in the past. The Jews keep moving and Elie just feels that he cannot take the moving. The night is not the time of being ignorant to what is happening around them, night is now the time when all of the worst things happen. The repetition of "the last night" is significant in the fact that it really is not the last night of their endurance of their long war against the Germans. To the Jews, this war has no satisfaction unless a German working station in the camp is burned down.
Quote 1: Elie is transformed as a person. He is a machine now. He is just doing what it takes to live. He is almost soulless, but I think there is a positive way to read this (I have to find one or else the story is too depressing to read). Human will to live is great. All visible reasons to live have been taken away. Elie is worn away to his very base, all his emotions and feelings lost, and the only thing left is his will to live. The human spirit is amazingly resilient, and no one can take another person's spirit.
ReplyDeleteQuote 2: The destruction of human lives is unbearable to read about. How people could do such things is beyond me. This was the one time Elie's mood went from the regular depressed to even lower. He was accustomed to the suffering, and it was life, and this was further suffering that brought him lower than that. Elie saying that God is hanging from the gallows is showing that he has not yet lost his fate. He doesn't feel that God caused his suffering, but that God is on his side, and battling the Germans, being oppressed too.
quote 1 : Elie become angry at his father instead of the Kapo because he always saw his father as a man who stands up for him self and Elie watches this take place without moving because he fears persecution and he has seen worse at the concentration camp so far.
ReplyDeleteQuote 4:How much longer would our lives be lived from one 'last night' to the next?" this means how much longer will they have to guess which night will be their last because death comes swiftly and almost randomly. It also means that when will they find a place where they will settle so they can live their lives. "The last night" is kinda ironic because to some its just the beginning to the horrors and torture that are sure to come.
Qoute 2: In this qoute when Elie says "Where is he? This is where hanging from the gallows..." I believe he is trying to show that he no longer believes that god has the power, but that people are the ones who run the world. Showing this boy no mercy was to Elie the begining of his non belife in god. That when he looked at this boy the only thing he could believe was that there was no god, at least no merciful one. One of the turniong points in this book.
ReplyDeleteQoute 1: This qoute shows us how when faced with life threatening situatioins it is every man for himself, even when it is someone very close being hurt. When he directs his anger at his father it is because he doesnt know who else to blame. His father has been responsible for caring for him his whole life so when everything goes wrong he feels alone and needs somebody to blame, he chooses his father in this part of the book
Quote 3: This quote explains Elie's loss of faith which was caused by his life in the concentration camp. His fear of the camp and his fear for the other Jews in the camp caused this loss of faith in Elie. When he says he no longer asks for anything shows how he no longer asks God for anything and doesn't seek His help. Rather, he feels that the things brought upon him are caused by God. This is an example of how Elie has changed since the beginning of the book where he was spiritual and sought God for help.
ReplyDeleteQuote 1: This quote is rather depressing and shows how Elie has no power at the camp. He watches his father get beaten and does nothing about it. Their relationship has diminished and are now not as close as they once where. Elie felt anger towards his father instead of the camp officers, however, he had just as much a right to be mad at them. Elie's life at the camp has dehumanized the relationships, mainly with his father.
Quote 1: This quote is depressing and depicts Elie's father getting beat. Elie is powerless to assist his father, showing how little power Elie has at the camp. The relationship between Elie and his father has been dehumanized and broken up. Elie actually feels anger towards his father, rather than the officers of the concentration camp. Elie's time in the camp has dehumanized him and his relationships with others.
ReplyDeleteQuote 3: In this quote Elie has lost all faith in God. The horrors that Elie experiences in the camp causes him to ris himself of the faith that he had known his entire life. Elie remarks that he felt strong as he was accusing God for what has happen to him. This is ironic as when Elie has faith in God, it gave him strength and hope. Now that he is accusing God, he still feels strong, God, again being the main cause. This is an excellent example of how Elie has changed from the faithful Jew from Sighet.
Quote 1: Elie is mad at his father because he believes his father should know better than to anger the Kapo. Bieng in his situation, his ideas and beliefs have been contorted and twisted into the idea that being beaten is the victim's fault and not the accusers. He believes that his father should have known better than to anger the Kapo.
ReplyDeleteQuote 2: The death of the little boy symbolizes the tortuer and murder of all faith in the camp. How everyone is pained to have their faith taken from them, but they can do nothing about it except watch it die in front of them. No one can bear to see it happen, yet they are all forced to watch it be taken from them ever so slowly.
Quote one clearly shows that Elie is angry with his father's behaviors and choices. At first thought, you would think that Elie would direct his anger at the Kapo. However, due to everything that has taken place, in his mind, Elie thinks that being beaten is okay. All of his former beliefs have been completely erased which is blinding him from seeing what is actually right. In Elie's point of view, his father could have made a "better" choice and the situation with the Kapo could have been avoided.
ReplyDeleteIn quote three, without much thought, you are able to tell that Elie has lost all faith and hope in God. From everything that has taken place, he is feeling quite discouraged and has lost all hope that his living conditions will improve. Elie says,"I was the accuser, God the accused." By this he means that he no longer believes in the word that was delivered to him as a young pulpit. If God is as merciful as the bible says then why is such harsh things happening to good people? This alone leaves Elie feeling distrayed. His former faith in God has been completely banished.
Quote three is about Elie's loss of faith. He has witnessed so many things that most people couldn't even dream of, things that don't seem possible, things that their God should have prevented. Elie sees these things, and recognizes the disconnect between his former idea of God and the acts of evil being committed. Elie says, "In the midst of these men assembled for prayer, I felt like an observer, a stranger," and by saying this, he is acknowledging that he is no longer among the men of prayer. That world doesn't exist for him anymore.
ReplyDeleteIn quote four, Elie voices his despair, born from being unsure of his fate. By living from one "last night" to the next, he can't tell what will happen once he gets to wherever he is being taken, and his whole life is just getting to that "last night." He has no idea when he will be murdered, or possibly set free. He has no security.
Quote 1:Elie shows disregard towards the Kapo, but shows his true feelings of anger toward his father. It is almost as if Elie has mixed emotions about the Kapo and his father. By saying "Why couldn't he have avoided Idek's wrath? That was what life in a concentration camp had made of me..." (54) makes him sound like a traitor to his jewish brethern.
ReplyDeleteQuote 2:The lynching of the small child symbolized the death of all jewish belief. Everyone in the camp saw that child as the hope that they all we one day be free. When that child was murdered all forms of hope had vanished.
In quote one, Elie seems to want to be upset with the Kapo but instead he seems to be upset at his father. Elie’s father is being beaten and he is not doing anything about it. Elie compares his father being beaten to “an old tree struck by lightning” (54). Elie just doesn’t seem to understand why his father is not taking up for himself. But maybe his father is not doing anything so as to make sure Elie does not get hurt. I am sure Elie’s father has seen a lot of death and suffering in the concentration camp and maybe he’s praying that they will not kill himself and his son, Elie. I believe Elie really wants to hurt these people. Maybe this is the time when he is starting to doubt God’s existence because of all of the suffering his father is enduring.
ReplyDeleteIn quote three, Elie is saying that he does not believe God is there anymore. He is saying that he feels strong living in a lonely world without God and without man. He is saying that he no longer felt comfortable praying with the other men because he felt like he did not even know who God was. He felt like a “stranger” (68). In a world of evil, people often believe there is no God but actually that is how we know there is a God. Elie was very insightful in learning new things about his religion in the beginning of the book and now he is saying that he does not believe there is a God at all in this world. He is showing mixed feelings because he says that he was alone yet he had become strong.
In quote one, Elie's father is being beaten. And even though he should have felt anger towards the officers, he felt anger towards his father. The life at the camp dehumanized relationships, especially the relationship between Elie and his father. Life at the camp for Elie numbed all emotions he had for himself and his family.
ReplyDeleteIn quote four, the word "night" is repeated, indicating a metaphorical darkness. Night symbolizes the loss of faith throughout the novel by the burning of Jews which takes place at night. When he says "last night," he's implying that he is waiting until the night he will be burned.