Reading further into "Night", we are getting deeper into the darkness of Elizer's experiences. We are introduced to the setting where he spent his childhood. A small ghetto, in a small house. They weren't wealthy but they managed and they were happy. The lack of communication and help from the outer world let the Holocaust happen, just like the Rwandan genocide. When the Jews were evacuated, a lot of them did not expect it. Elie did because of Moshie the Beatle and his stories. “I wanted to come back to Sighet to tell you the story of my death. So that you could prepare yourselves while there was still time. To live? I don't attach any importance to my life any more. I'm alone. No, I wanted to come back, and to warn you. And see how it is, no one will listen to me....” said Moshie. (p. 5) I believe that he kept calm because Moshie had prepared him, but stupid because he could have avoided being sent to the camps. In our lit group we talked about pain, and if it was avoidable. I do not believe pain is avoidable. I also believe that severe emotional pain always leads to future 'life damage', same way that physical pain/injuries occur. For example, if a child is abused by their alcoholic mother, the child will grow up to be an alcoholic/abuser/murderer/suicide victim. I don't believe that is controllable due to their history of being abused. “Children exposed to violence have been significantly linked with increased depression, anxiety, anger, and alcohol and drug abuse, and with decreased academic achievement.” -http://www.nccev.org/violence/index.html. Elie Wiesel still holds himself liable for his father’s death, his family’s death, and even the Holocaust itself. He has troubles sleeping at night and his memory is still so vivid. The family got separated, Elie and his father, his mother and his sister. “Men to the left! Women to the right!” (p. 27) At this point I don't think that Elie will see his mother or sister again. They were separated into women & men, then to old, weak, young, or sick, and strong, middle aged (18-40). I inferred that they were killing the useless group, and keeping the strong men to work. Elie and his father were put in the same line headed for the crematorium. Why were they headed into the fire if they were going to keep working? Elie has been inside the camps, working everyday, eating, and sleeping. I am surprised that they feed the slaves so well. Our lit group noticed that Elie has started to change his views, values, and beliefs, especially his belief in God. When Elie was headed to the crematorium, he was praying to God, while he was watching people and young children being thrown into the flames. At that point I think Elie slowly started to doubt God’s power. His many months spent in Auschwitz had desensitized him. He was getting used to being beaten, hungry, tired, in pain, and watching people die. “The student of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me. A dark flame had entered into my soul and devoured it.” (p. 34) In this quote he describes the boy he was before the hatred and abuse had entered his life and what he has turned into. “I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His absolute justice." (p. 42). While Elie was walking to work he saw a sign in the camp, WARNING: Danger of Death on an electric wire fence. This is an oxymoron because being in the camp was a danger of death. “Was there a single place here where you were not in danger of death?" (p. 37)
My group worked well and brought some interesting insight to the questions we asked each other. Overall we had a good discussion with lots of T-T and T-W connections. I connected my relationship with my father to Elie’s relationship with his. We are both very close and he helps me to learn and be a better person.
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