Night Blog

Focus Question: How do Elie's experiences during the Holocaust change him as a person?

Throughout your reading of Night, you have witnessed many significant changes that Wiesel experiences as a result of his time in the concentration camps. I encourage you to delve deeply into his character and focus on important aspects, such as: his personality, morality, beliefs or values.

Your goal is to identify at least two major changes, and 'prove' using textual evidence and interpretation, how Eliezer transforms by the end of his memoir. Please use TIQA as your tool for organization.

Blog minimum: 3 paragraphs

    In the beginning of the book Elie is very religious mainly because that was how he was raised. Also he was a determined kid and always had faith in what he believed in. "There it was now, very close to us, the pit and its flames. I gathered all that remained of my strength in order to throw myself onto the barbed wire. Deep down, I was saying good-bye to my father, to the whole universe, and against my will I found myself whispering the words: "Yisgadal, veyiskadash, shmey raba … May his name be exalted and sanctified …" My heart was about to burst. There, I was face to face with the Angel of Death." This shows his belief in God still but you can tell it's beginning to fade away. Then he begins to have his doubts in God later on in the concentration camps because he isn't there for him.

Elie's mentality also change on the world and he realized how messed up society was. He didn't even know who he was anymore or what his point in life was. He knows that he needs to loose his so called "innocence" and become a man to survive. This was what needed to be done for him to survive the concentration camps. This was when he just completely gave up on his religion because it simply wasn't there when he needed it most. I honestly think that was the thing that allowed him to survive. He only worried about himself and did his own thing. He stopped relying on others and just did everything on his own which made him a powerful individual. 

Elie Wiesel changed his beliefs because his religion wasn't really there for him. He began to question God because he thought if he truly existed he wouldn't allow him to go into the concentration camps in the first place. "For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?" (Pg. 33). That quote was Elie questioning his God, I could understand his frustration. The person he turned to for help wasn't able to be there for him when he needed him most. 

I honestly don't know how he was able to make a book on his life because it must've been rough to relive all these moments. However, he helped a lot of people by writing this book to show that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." This is the quote that he said that really woke me up and made me think if he can do it so can I. Although, I'll never really experience anything as bad as he did, he just amazed me. I don't really even know what to say but wow. Honestly, I get emotional when I think about what he went through because no one deserves it. Wiesel was able to have the courage and bravery to incorporate all this into a book, I give him all my respect.

Night Blog

Compare

When comparing things, look closely to find all things that are alike between them.

• Compare what is happening to a character in the book with your own or a

friend’s life.

• Compare the plot of what you are reading with your favorite book.

• Compare where you live to the setting described in what you are reading.

          Elie Wiesel's life is the definition of struggle, he has been through it all. Growing up he has been always on the move, has been split up by his family and has seen several tramatizing things. It's just amazing how someone can go through all of that and have the ability to write it all in a book. I don't think I would be able to do that after all he went through. Then, there is a friend of mine who's life who has went through many things but not as bad as this. I mean you could've gone through something bad but not as bad. However, I'm not sure how my friend will grow up to be but I do know how Wiesel turned out. 

           In this book Night Elie is stuck in a concentration camp with many restrictions. He also was really young and kind of unaware of what was going on and the worst part was that he soon became aware. Once he became aware of what was going on he did his best to survive. In order to do that he had to keep his spirit high regardless of what was happening which allowed him to survive. In my favorite book Of Mice and Men on the other hand is about two people who are trying to find a job and live their dream of getting a house together. The plot is that one or the characters doesn't really want that dream anymore and the other character is stuck on it. My I mind you that this other character Lenny is mentally ill and has a lot of strength that he can't control. He then kills someone in the book and the other character try's to protect him but he just simply kills him on his own. These plots are similar because they are resolved with the best solution possible and that is just to get it over and done with. It may take some time but it'll be worth it. 

The setting of which that I live in and the setting in book I'm reading are hard to compare but their are some similarities. For example, Berwyn and the concentration camp in Night are similar because we have a lot of people who work hard in both settings. If you don't work you don't necessarily survive because hard work pays off. Like in the concentration camps if you worked hard you were able to keep your life. In Berwyn if you work hard you get money to pay for food in shelter which is essential to our lives. Another comparison we have is schedules that we used in our everyday lives. We have to do what we need to do to live our lives to the fullest.

          

T

Aow Impressions Blog

          During this gallery walk I learned several different things that were connected to the Holocaust. From Holocaust survivors to Syrian a Refugees they were somehow tied together. For example in James's article it talked about Holocaust survivors siding with the Refugees. The reason why they did this was because they felt like history was repeating itself and they didn't want the refugees to go through what they did. They remembered what it was like for them and they believe know one should ever go through that, it's just unfair. This really opened up my eyes and helped me to notice that history really is repeating itself which in my opinion is scary.

          In Joeseph's blog I also learned that 1,200 Jews denigrated to the Philipeins. The nazis atta led the philpeins because the Jews were there. They found out that they were there when they went when it was the right time. I think it's not right for them to attack the Jews in a different country cause then it can lead to more problems with different countries. On another note, I find it messed up that the Jews had a sense of hope when they emigrated to the Philipeins but they didn't know it was an ambush. The more I think about this the more I feel really melancholy towards this. Also I learned how relevant the Holocaust still is to today which is pretty amazing. The Holocaust was a dreadful time that'll never be forgotten.