Christine Bays
Mrs. Bosch
Honors English 10P
8 January 2008
Dehumanization of the Jews
In the 1940s, the Nazis took control over the Jews and put them in concentration camps. Little by little the Nazis dehumanized the Jews until they were just things that didn’t mean anything. Towns were turned into ghettos, families were split up; mothers and daughters were separated from their brothers and fathers. The Jew’s freedom was taken away. The Nazis told them what they had to do for work, what they could eat, and if they would live or die. In Night, Elie Wiesel, the author and protagonist of the book, has to live through all the pain and hardship of the concentration camps, and he’s only 15 years old. Wiesel moved from concentration camp to concentration camp, and the different things that he had went through dehumanized him until all he had left to live for was hope. Wiesel was luckier than most, part of the hope that he had had been his father’s support encouraging him to keep living. It may have given them some strength, but Wiesel’s first day that he spent in a concentration camp was a day he would never forget.
Wiesel had just gotten off a train and was walking into his first concentration camp. One of the first things he experienced (observed) was a huge fire and the smell of burning flesh, and when he got close enough to see it, he could see that people were in the midst of the fire. “Not far from us, flames were leaping up from a ditch, gigantic flames. They were burning something. A lorry drew up at the pit and delivered its load—little children. Babies! Yes I saw it with my own eyes…those children in the flames” (Wiesel 30). After seeing such cruelty and what could happen to him, he didn’t really want to live anymore. He didn’t want to go through the torturer of seeing people disappear one at a time and knowing where they would end up. He lost his faith in God. “Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust” (Wiesel 32). He didn’t understand how humans could be killed and nobody seemed to be concerned. Living in the concentration camps he realized that to the Nazis he was just another thing that was disposable worry about, not a person, more like trash.
The concentration camps were the Jews whole lives when the Nazis took over. While they were in the concentration camps, a German soldier was always watching them and checking on their work, telling them what to do and when to do it. At the concentration camps, nothing belonged to the prisoners unless it was secretly hidden away. “From this moment, you come under the authority of the German army. Those of you who still have gold, silver or watches in your possession must give them up now. Anyone who is later found to have kept anything will be shot on the spot” (Wiesel 21). The Nazis controlled if you lived or died, where you worked, what you worked on, they even took away the Jew’s freedom. The Jews were like slaves, they didn’t have a life or their own. They even told the Jews what to say, “‘Here, kid, how old are you?’ ‘I’m not quite fifteen yet.’ ‘No. Eighteen.’ ‘But I’m not.’ ‘Fool. Listen to what I say’ He questioned my father, who replied: ‘Fifty.’ ‘No, not fifty. Forty. Do you understand? Eighteen and forty’” (Wiesel 28). The Nazis were taking control of the Jews lives, they were making them become what they wanted them to become and do what they wanted them to do. Wiesel in the book also states how the camps were making him less humane, “He began to beat [my father] with an iron bar. I had watched the whole scene without moving. I kept quiet. In fact I was thinking of how to get farther away so that I would not be hit myself. What is more, any anger I felt at that moment was directed, not against the Kapo, but against my father. I was angry with him, for not knowing how to avoid Idek’s outbreak. That is what concentration camp life had made of me” (Wiesel 52). Being in a concentration camp so long had made him forget his morals and how to feel towards others. It had made him into a monster, but he realizes this and starts to undo it. When running or marching from camp to camp though, he still has to think of himself and how to survive.
When the Nazis needed to get the Jews from one camp to another or from the camp to where they worked, they would have them either march or run, depending on the situation or the weather. The Jews didn’t have a choice if they wanted to march or not, they had to obey the orders given by the Nazis. It didn’t matter if the day was hot or cold, the Nazis would make them march. Even when they were marching they could mess up by getting out of beat, and they would get punished for it. Whenever they marched, they had to march in time. “The band played a military march, always the same one. Dozens of units left for the workyards, in step. “The Kapos beat time: ‘Left, right, left, right.’ We left the camp without music, but in step: we still had the sound of the march in our ears. ‘Left, right! Left, right!’” (Wiesel 47). They must have had to listen to the music for a long time to have it stuck in their heads. Sometimes they wouldn’t have to march for very long, other times they would. When they wanted you to run, you ran, it didn’t matter if you stepped on anything. “Supporting me with his arm, he led me outside. It was far from easy. It was as difficult to go out as to get in. Under our feet were men crushed, trampled underfoot, dying. No one paid any attention” (Wiesel 84). The concentration camps had brainwashed them to where they didn’t even care when someone was dying and they were being stepped on. When they were told to move, they moved no matter what. When the Jews had to run in the snow to get to a new concentration camp, if they had to stop, they either fell behind and got shot by the Nazis, or they got crushed by the other Jews that were running with them. They didn’t have much to live for anymore, so they only did things to keep themselves alive. They lived only for themselves, unless they still cared for their father or son. Self-preservation was the main idea that they thought of.
When the Nazis took control of the Jews, there were so many horrible experiences that the Jews had, and none were good. The horrors and the atrocities of the Nazi behavior towards the Jews were just part of the dehumanization process that the Nazis used. More specifically, the dehumanized them by giving them a lack of possessions, forced them to watch and decide for self-preservation, and treated them like animals. The reason that the Jews had not fought back in the beginning is because they didn’t think that that someone could do the things that the Nazis ended up doing to them. The Jews didn’t think it could get any worse and it kept getting worse, so in the end they had to live with it or die. In choosing to live, it showed, that they had a thread of hope to hold on to. In the end, “the majority of Romanian Jews survived the war, although they were subject to a wide range of harsh conditions, including forced labor, financial penalties, and discriminatory laws” (“History of the Jews in Romania”). People must ask, if it is acceptable to stand by and allow the elevation of people to rule on top of the dead, maimed, abused and burned bodies of others?
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Night's Vocabulary
Christine Bays
Mrs. Bosch
Honors English 10P
8 January 2008
Night’s Vocabulary
1. Prostrate- 1. To make (oneself) bow or kneel down in humility or adoration. 2.To throw down flat. 3. To lay low: overcome.
2. Interlude- 1. An intervening episode, feature, or period of time. 2. A short farcical entertainment performed between the acts of a medieval mystery or morality play. 3. A short musical piece inserted between the parts of a longer composition.
3. Reprieve- 1. The postponement of a punishment. 2. Temporary relief, as from danger or pain.
4. Rations- 1. A fixed portion; especially, an amount of food allotted to persons in military service or to civilians in times of scarcity. 2. Food. 3. Ro restrict to limited allotments, as during wartime.
5. Dysentery- An infection of the lower intestinal tract producing pain, fever, and severe diarrhea, often with blood and mucus
6. Robust- 1. Full or health and strength; vigorous; hardy. 2. Powerfully built; sturdy; husky. 3. Requiring or suited to physical strength or endurance.
7. Quarantine- 1. A period of time originally lasting 40 days, during which a vehicle, a person, or goods suspected of carrying a contagious disease are detained at their port of entry under enforced isolation to prevent disease from entering a country. 2. Enforced isolation or restriction of free movement imposed to prevent a contagious disease from spreading. 3.Any enforced insulation.
8. Apathy- 1. Lack of emotion or feeling. 2. Lack of interest in things generally found exciting, interesting, or moving; indifference.
9. Humane- 1. Having the good qualities of human beings, as kindness, mercy, or compassion. 2. Tending to evoke or promote these qualities
10. Grimace- A sharp contortion of the face expressive of pain, contempt, or disgust.
11. Nocturnal- 1.Of, suitable to, or occurring at night. 2. Having flowers that open during the night. 3. Active by night, as certain animals.
12. Livid- 1. Having discoloration of the skin, as from a bruise. 2.Ashen or pallid, as with anger, rage, or illness. 3. Extremely angry; furious.
13. Pious- 1. Having or exhibiting reverence and earnest compliance in the observance of religion; devout. 2. Marked by conspicuous devoutness. 3. Devotional.
14. Interminable- Tiresomely protracted; endless
15. Wizened- Shriveled; wizen
16. Morale- 1. Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human action and character; pertaining to the discernment of good and evil. 2. Designed to teach goodness or correctness of character and behavior; instructive of what is good and bad. 3. Being or acting in accordance with standards and precepts of goodness or with established codes of behavior, especially with regard to sexual conduct.
17. Infernal- 1. Of or relating to the world of the dead in classical mythology. 2. Of or relating to hell. 3. Abominable; damnable.
18. Refuge- 1. Protection or shelter, as form danger or hardship. 2. A place providing protection or shelter; haven or sanctuary. 3. Anything to which one may turn for help, relief, or escape.
19. Oppressive- 1. Difficult to bear: harsh: tyrannical. 2. Causing a state of physical or mental distress
20. Expelled- 1. To put out or lay out; spend. 2. To use up; consume.
Mrs. Bosch
Honors English 10P
8 January 2008
Night’s Vocabulary
1. Prostrate- 1. To make (oneself) bow or kneel down in humility or adoration. 2.To throw down flat. 3. To lay low: overcome.
2. Interlude- 1. An intervening episode, feature, or period of time. 2. A short farcical entertainment performed between the acts of a medieval mystery or morality play. 3. A short musical piece inserted between the parts of a longer composition.
3. Reprieve- 1. The postponement of a punishment. 2. Temporary relief, as from danger or pain.
4. Rations- 1. A fixed portion; especially, an amount of food allotted to persons in military service or to civilians in times of scarcity. 2. Food. 3. Ro restrict to limited allotments, as during wartime.
5. Dysentery- An infection of the lower intestinal tract producing pain, fever, and severe diarrhea, often with blood and mucus
6. Robust- 1. Full or health and strength; vigorous; hardy. 2. Powerfully built; sturdy; husky. 3. Requiring or suited to physical strength or endurance.
7. Quarantine- 1. A period of time originally lasting 40 days, during which a vehicle, a person, or goods suspected of carrying a contagious disease are detained at their port of entry under enforced isolation to prevent disease from entering a country. 2. Enforced isolation or restriction of free movement imposed to prevent a contagious disease from spreading. 3.Any enforced insulation.
8. Apathy- 1. Lack of emotion or feeling. 2. Lack of interest in things generally found exciting, interesting, or moving; indifference.
9. Humane- 1. Having the good qualities of human beings, as kindness, mercy, or compassion. 2. Tending to evoke or promote these qualities
10. Grimace- A sharp contortion of the face expressive of pain, contempt, or disgust.
11. Nocturnal- 1.Of, suitable to, or occurring at night. 2. Having flowers that open during the night. 3. Active by night, as certain animals.
12. Livid- 1. Having discoloration of the skin, as from a bruise. 2.Ashen or pallid, as with anger, rage, or illness. 3. Extremely angry; furious.
13. Pious- 1. Having or exhibiting reverence and earnest compliance in the observance of religion; devout. 2. Marked by conspicuous devoutness. 3. Devotional.
14. Interminable- Tiresomely protracted; endless
15. Wizened- Shriveled; wizen
16. Morale- 1. Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human action and character; pertaining to the discernment of good and evil. 2. Designed to teach goodness or correctness of character and behavior; instructive of what is good and bad. 3. Being or acting in accordance with standards and precepts of goodness or with established codes of behavior, especially with regard to sexual conduct.
17. Infernal- 1. Of or relating to the world of the dead in classical mythology. 2. Of or relating to hell. 3. Abominable; damnable.
18. Refuge- 1. Protection or shelter, as form danger or hardship. 2. A place providing protection or shelter; haven or sanctuary. 3. Anything to which one may turn for help, relief, or escape.
19. Oppressive- 1. Difficult to bear: harsh: tyrannical. 2. Causing a state of physical or mental distress
20. Expelled- 1. To put out or lay out; spend. 2. To use up; consume.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Night Questions
Questions
5 January 2008
1. Wiesel’s childhood home is in Sighet, Transylvania. On a map it is in the country of Romania in the continent of Europe.
2.The cabala is a bible for the Jews. It tells them the word of God.
3. The truths of this world that Wiesel was referring to in the beginning of the book are the truths about God. The truths that Wiesel was ignorant of were the truths that people can kill and keep killing people and not care, and that there is bad in the world.
4.Moshe the Beadle is a significant character because he is trying to tell the people in the city of Sighet what is going to happen and what he has seen and lived through. Moshe talks about answers, questions, and the truth with Elie and says that man asks God questions, God will answer the question, but you can’t understand them because they come from the depths of our soul, to find the truth you have to look inside yourself. 5.Moshe was prescient in his admonition to Elie because Elie later in his life needed that information to hold on, to stay alive in a concentration camp. The people of Sighet ignore Moshe after he returns from his escape because they think that he just wants attention, they don’t think what he is saying is true because they have no reason to, they want to believe that everything is perfect, and nothing will happen to them, and they don’t listen to him because they don’t want to, they want to postpone the horrible truth as long as possible.
6.Madame Schachter is a mother that was separated from her husband and two eldest sons when they were transported too early by mistake. She is like Moshe the Beadle because she is trying to warn the people about what is coming and what is going to happen to them, but like with Moshe, they don’t listen to her.
7.Wiesel lost everything and it all happened on his first day at the concentration camp. He never before had realized that humans could be so cruel to other living human beings. The horror that he saw was so bad he will remember it forever, and with the lost lives of the bodies he saw, they took his will to live, his God, and his dreams.This marked the end of his innocence, it was night.
8.The context of this passage is very dark times. Elie is in a concentration camp during World War 2, he has just seen the crematory pits where he saw babies, children, and adults. His theology has changed because now he doesn’t want to believe in God like he used to, he has now seen that the world is not as happy go lucky as he used to know it.
9.Elie’s understanding of God’s presence continues to change throughout Night when he’s in the concentration camps from when he was going to school. When he was at school he would pray to God everyday, but once he went to the concentration camps he didn’t think that God was there anymore. He is most angry at God when he saw the boy getting hung, at the end of the book and the beginning of the book he is not angry with God.
10.The literal and figurative meanings that night has in Night are that literally throughout the book it mentions that it is nighttime and everything is quiet and figuratively it means the end, the end of hopes, dreams, life, etc.
11.Night is such a slim book because it is reality and to the point, if he would have made it longer it would have been like he was romanticizing it, but it wasn’t pretty, it was brutal and painful. All Wiesel wanted to do was get the truth out, for people to know what it was like.
12.Night is both a tragedy and a triumph because. It is a tragedy because Wiesel has his home, family, and freedom. It is a triumph though because he lived through it all and wrote a story about it.
5 January 2008
1. Wiesel’s childhood home is in Sighet, Transylvania. On a map it is in the country of Romania in the continent of Europe.
2.The cabala is a bible for the Jews. It tells them the word of God.
3. The truths of this world that Wiesel was referring to in the beginning of the book are the truths about God. The truths that Wiesel was ignorant of were the truths that people can kill and keep killing people and not care, and that there is bad in the world.
4.Moshe the Beadle is a significant character because he is trying to tell the people in the city of Sighet what is going to happen and what he has seen and lived through. Moshe talks about answers, questions, and the truth with Elie and says that man asks God questions, God will answer the question, but you can’t understand them because they come from the depths of our soul, to find the truth you have to look inside yourself. 5.Moshe was prescient in his admonition to Elie because Elie later in his life needed that information to hold on, to stay alive in a concentration camp. The people of Sighet ignore Moshe after he returns from his escape because they think that he just wants attention, they don’t think what he is saying is true because they have no reason to, they want to believe that everything is perfect, and nothing will happen to them, and they don’t listen to him because they don’t want to, they want to postpone the horrible truth as long as possible.
6.Madame Schachter is a mother that was separated from her husband and two eldest sons when they were transported too early by mistake. She is like Moshe the Beadle because she is trying to warn the people about what is coming and what is going to happen to them, but like with Moshe, they don’t listen to her.
7.Wiesel lost everything and it all happened on his first day at the concentration camp. He never before had realized that humans could be so cruel to other living human beings. The horror that he saw was so bad he will remember it forever, and with the lost lives of the bodies he saw, they took his will to live, his God, and his dreams.This marked the end of his innocence, it was night.
8.The context of this passage is very dark times. Elie is in a concentration camp during World War 2, he has just seen the crematory pits where he saw babies, children, and adults. His theology has changed because now he doesn’t want to believe in God like he used to, he has now seen that the world is not as happy go lucky as he used to know it.
9.Elie’s understanding of God’s presence continues to change throughout Night when he’s in the concentration camps from when he was going to school. When he was at school he would pray to God everyday, but once he went to the concentration camps he didn’t think that God was there anymore. He is most angry at God when he saw the boy getting hung, at the end of the book and the beginning of the book he is not angry with God.
10.The literal and figurative meanings that night has in Night are that literally throughout the book it mentions that it is nighttime and everything is quiet and figuratively it means the end, the end of hopes, dreams, life, etc.
11.Night is such a slim book because it is reality and to the point, if he would have made it longer it would have been like he was romanticizing it, but it wasn’t pretty, it was brutal and painful. All Wiesel wanted to do was get the truth out, for people to know what it was like.
12.Night is both a tragedy and a triumph because. It is a tragedy because Wiesel has his home, family, and freedom. It is a triumph though because he lived through it all and wrote a story about it.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Night: 11
Journal
#11
December 27, 2007
Page 109 paragraph 7
Quote:
"I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into my, has never left me."
To not see yourself for so long would make me unconcious of how I looked, I would start to not care because nobody else could have a mirror to look into. Not to look at yourself for a year would really bring changes, you would look older, and since Elie had to live through all kinds of weather and conditions he must have changed. I'm sure it would have been a shock to look at himself again. It's just a shock to look at myself when I wake up in the morning. He must have matured a lot.
#11
December 27, 2007
Page 109 paragraph 7
Quote:
"I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into my, has never left me."
To not see yourself for so long would make me unconcious of how I looked, I would start to not care because nobody else could have a mirror to look into. Not to look at yourself for a year would really bring changes, you would look older, and since Elie had to live through all kinds of weather and conditions he must have changed. I'm sure it would have been a shock to look at himself again. It's just a shock to look at myself when I wake up in the morning. He must have matured a lot.
Night: 10
Journal
#10
December 27, 2007
Page 96 paragraph 1-2
Quote:
"Not far away I noticed an old man dragging himself along on all fours...he had a bit of bread under his shirt. With remarkable speed he drew it out and put it to his mouth... A shadow had just loomed up near him. The shadow threw itself upon him...the old mad cried 'Meir. Meir my boy! Don't you recognize me? I'm your father...you're hurting me...you're killing your father! I've got some bread...for you too...for you too...' ...he died amid the general in difference. His son searched him, took the bread, and began to devour it...Two men had seen and hurled themselves upon him...When they withdrew, next to me were two corpses, side by side, the father and the son."
These people are savages now. They have been starved for so long and treated like dirt, that all they really care about now is themselves. As shown in the quote they would even kill their own father to get food to keep them alive. They have a one track mind, to keep themselves alive as long as possible, but also shown in the quote, the things you do may come back in your face. The son killed his father, but other people killed the son to get the bread that he had stolen from his father. It wasn't really worth it. Try to be nice to everyone and don't just look out for yourself.
#10
December 27, 2007
Page 96 paragraph 1-2
Quote:
"Not far away I noticed an old man dragging himself along on all fours...he had a bit of bread under his shirt. With remarkable speed he drew it out and put it to his mouth... A shadow had just loomed up near him. The shadow threw itself upon him...the old mad cried 'Meir. Meir my boy! Don't you recognize me? I'm your father...you're hurting me...you're killing your father! I've got some bread...for you too...for you too...' ...he died amid the general in difference. His son searched him, took the bread, and began to devour it...Two men had seen and hurled themselves upon him...When they withdrew, next to me were two corpses, side by side, the father and the son."
These people are savages now. They have been starved for so long and treated like dirt, that all they really care about now is themselves. As shown in the quote they would even kill their own father to get food to keep them alive. They have a one track mind, to keep themselves alive as long as possible, but also shown in the quote, the things you do may come back in your face. The son killed his father, but other people killed the son to get the bread that he had stolen from his father. It wasn't really worth it. Try to be nice to everyone and don't just look out for yourself.
Night: 9
Journal
#9
December 27, 2007
Page 82 paragraph 1
Quote:
"At my side marched a young Polish lad called Zalman...He was suddenly seized with cramp in the stomach. 'I've got stomach ache,' he whispered to me. He could not go on. He had to stop for a moment. I begged him: 'Wait a bit, Zalman. We shall all be stopping soon. We're not going to run like this till the end of the world.' But as he ran he began to undo his buttons, crying: 'I can't go on any longer. My stomach's bursting....' ...His trousers lowered, he let himself sink down. I do not hink it can have been the SS who finished him, because no one had noticed. He must have been trampled to death beneath the feet of the thousands of men who followed us."
When the Jews had to run from one camp to another, they had to keep going and not stop, or they would be trampled or shot. I don't know how they did it, I know I wouldn't and I am better fed than they are. All that must have kept them going was the though that if they stopped they would die, and if they couldn't take anymore of it, they had to face the fact that they were going to die. I would hate to have to run for so long and I would hate to die, they were treated so unfairly, its really sad to think that they had to go through all of this. Even if they went through all of this they may die from the cold.
#9
December 27, 2007
Page 82 paragraph 1
Quote:
"At my side marched a young Polish lad called Zalman...He was suddenly seized with cramp in the stomach. 'I've got stomach ache,' he whispered to me. He could not go on. He had to stop for a moment. I begged him: 'Wait a bit, Zalman. We shall all be stopping soon. We're not going to run like this till the end of the world.' But as he ran he began to undo his buttons, crying: 'I can't go on any longer. My stomach's bursting....' ...His trousers lowered, he let himself sink down. I do not hink it can have been the SS who finished him, because no one had noticed. He must have been trampled to death beneath the feet of the thousands of men who followed us."
When the Jews had to run from one camp to another, they had to keep going and not stop, or they would be trampled or shot. I don't know how they did it, I know I wouldn't and I am better fed than they are. All that must have kept them going was the though that if they stopped they would die, and if they couldn't take anymore of it, they had to face the fact that they were going to die. I would hate to have to run for so long and I would hate to die, they were treated so unfairly, its really sad to think that they had to go through all of this. Even if they went through all of this they may die from the cold.
Night: 8
Journal
#8
December 27, 2007
Page 73 paragraph 3
Quote:
"Poor Akiba Drumer, if he could have gone on believing in God, if he could have seen a proof of God in this Calvary, he would not have been taken by the selection. But as soon as he felt the first cracks forming in his faith, he had lost his reason for struggling and had begun to die."
When you go through hard times, you need something to believe in, you need something that will help you hold on to your life. For most religions they believe in God, or some other high being. When you lose your faith in them, you start to lose your hope they they will help you like people always say they will. When you start questioning your God, you start to believe less and less in them, till you don't believe in them, and lose all hope and will to live. His life revolved around God, and when he didn't believe in him, then he had no life anymore worth living. You have to be strong in your faith.
#8
December 27, 2007
Page 73 paragraph 3
Quote:
"Poor Akiba Drumer, if he could have gone on believing in God, if he could have seen a proof of God in this Calvary, he would not have been taken by the selection. But as soon as he felt the first cracks forming in his faith, he had lost his reason for struggling and had begun to die."
When you go through hard times, you need something to believe in, you need something that will help you hold on to your life. For most religions they believe in God, or some other high being. When you lose your faith in them, you start to lose your hope they they will help you like people always say they will. When you start questioning your God, you start to believe less and less in them, till you don't believe in them, and lose all hope and will to live. His life revolved around God, and when he didn't believe in him, then he had no life anymore worth living. You have to be strong in your faith.
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