What does a girl ripped from her home and placed into seclusion and a boy seperated from most of his family and faced with death every day have in common? The answer lies not with their experiences, but within the emotional effects of the aftermath of their traumatic experiences. Jeanne Houston writes about her life in a Japanese-American in her autobiography Farewell to Manzanar, and Elie Wiesel shares his story of the Jewish concentration camps in his autobiography Night. Both of these intimate books reveal truly horrific events and details about the crimes against humanity that went on during WWII, although one author clearly had experienced more appalling episodes. While both Jeannie and Elie suffered heavily and lost family connections …show more content…
“Papa’s life ended at Manzanar,” (Houston 175). Before being confined in internment camps, Jeanne’s father was the tried and true leader of her family and guided her and her relatives through life. Once he was separated from the family and sent to another internment camp, the family descended into chaos and a state of decadence. Without a true leader, the disorganized family failed to retain their once affectionate attitudes toward each other. Even when Jeanne’s father was reunited with the family, he had changed and ended up being more of a burden that pushed the family apart than the glue that held it together. “And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: free at last!...” (Weisel 112). When the Jewish people of Sighet, Transylvania were first being transported to concentration camps, Elie and his father were separated from the rest of his family, never to see eachother again over the course of the book. Elie’s strained connection is exemplified when his father, his only family member remaining with him, dies. Instead of feeling depressed, or even the tiniest bit of sadness, Elie does not feel at all. And as shown with the quote, if he was able to feel, he would have felt free from the burden of his father, of all things. Although both children were placed in drastically different situations, the malignant effects on their families both remained
The concentration camps took all of this away from him. The will to survive overshadowed everything else, pitting man against man, and father against son. Everyday was a fight for survival, and the only person Elie could rely on was himself.
A boy and a girl, unalike in appearance, nationality, and creed, united under the oppression of powerful governments. In Farewell to Manzanar, by author Jeanne Wakatsuki, and Night, a novel by Elie Wiesel, the experiences of the interned and imprisoned are shared with the masses. Elie, just fifteen years old, was led to the rod iron gates of Auschwitz and left everything he knew behind. Jeanne, a young Japanese American, bid her life goodbye and hopped on a Greyhound bus bound for dehumanizing internment. Though Elie, who spent the defining years of his life watching mankind destroy everything he knew, ultimately lost more faith in humanity than Jeanne.
The memoir Night by Elie Wiesel remains a constant reminder of the horrors that happened to him and many others during the Holocaust in 1930’s through the 1940’s. The Holocaust was a tragedy that resulted in millions of Jews being murdered. One of these unlucky people who experienced this was Elie Wiesel. While in the camps, he experienced beatings and defeat daily. The torture he endured changed both his relationships with close family and friends and his faith.
You experience the worst young. In Elie Wiesel “Night” Teenage Elie is Jewish and was sent to the concentration camp with his family and struggled to maintain his identity in the society he’s in. In this memoir Elie tries to stay strong and survive living in the concentration camp during 1941-1945. Living in an oppressive society impacts Elie’s identity by shaping his views about the hungarian police, people in the camp, and himself.
When Elie was thinking back to his concentration camp days, he states, “Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live” (Wiesel 37). This quote shows how Elie was affected after he was kidnapped and was enslaved by the Nazis. In doing so, he lost
People in our society face experiences and deal with problems that make them lose their sense of innocence. Once their innocence is gone they forget how to act according to society and start to act wild. The loss of innocence is seen all throughout Night and Lord of the Flies. Elie and Ralph face a series of unfortunate events that can break someone and their ideas of civilization. The life experiences they were thrown changed the way they acted and felt towards the end.
“Out of suffering, have emerged the strongest souls,” (Gibran). Pain is inevitable whether it is suffering, sorrow, or stress; a compilation of these memories and experiences is what defines the journey of an individual. Night, a memoir, by a young Jewish boy named Elie Wiesel, is his firsthand experience in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. During this time, Elie questions his faith in God and struggles with his morals and beliefs as his journey progresses towards death. From his first night at Auschwitz to the death of his father, the amount of suffering Elie faces plays a major role of transforming his ideals and perspective on life.
Elie is a jew that gets sent off to a concentration came with his family. Elie loses contact with his mother and his siblings. Elie hits a lot of rough patches while he is in the concentration camp. Elie wants nothing more than to give up, but he knows that he cannot because of his father. Elie knows he cannot die, because if he does his father will follow right in his footsteps.
When Elie considers his father’s last words, “A summons, to which I did not respond,” this displays that the deaths of all his family members have made him stone-hearted. Despite that, he has faced so much sorrow, his carelessness does not weep a single tear even once in his father’s remembrance. He is no longer the boy who only wanted to live for the sake of his father. The Nazi’s
Screams of anguish, the smell of burning flesh, corpses lining the crimson soil—these are only a few of the horrors one would face as a Jewish prisoner in a concentration camp at the time of the Holocaust. Eliezer Wiesel, author of the memoir Night, has witnessed all of this, at the young age of 15. Over the course of the catastrophe, Eliezer shows drastic signs of spiritual change before, during, and after being held prisoner at the camps of death. Prior to the incident, Elie’s faith in his God was very strong. He describes bringing his needs to his father as, “One day I asked my father to find me a master who could guide me in my studies of Kabbalah,” (page 4).
To illustrate, a change of identity occurs, “If only [Eliezer] were relieved of this responsibility… Instantly, [he] felt ashamed, ashamed of [himself] forever,” when he almost tried to leave his father alone (106). Elie faces a permanent change of identity when he strays away from his old educated habits and becomes a selfish creature when going through pain. Another example of a change of identity within Elie is when his father dies, “And deep inside [him], if [he] could have searched the recesses of [his] feeble conscience, [he] might have found something like: Free at Last!” expressing that his father’s death finally freed him, out of the misery, out of the agony (112). Eliezer’s journey with his father through the excruciating concentration camps developed him from an innocent teenager to a mature man with the capabilities to succeed in unbearable situations.
But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!” This story told by Elie demonstrates how though Elie was somewhat upset, the first thought that occupied his mind was that there would be one less hungry stomach, and one less mouth to feed. This greatly shows that although Elie wanted to mourn over his father, his current mindset of self preservation and instinct would not allow
“A dad is someone who wants to catch you before you fall but instead picks you up, brushes you off, and lets you try again”. So when Elie was working he would quit but Elie’s father won’t let him do that. His father would give him extra food and starve himself. And he showed Elie that being kind and strong for the ones who loves you.
Elie was held captive in concentration camps from 1944-1945. During his time in the concentration camps, he became grateful for what he had, overcame countless obstacles, and more importantly kept fighting until he was free. [The Holocaust is very important to learn about because it can teach you some important life lessons.] You should always be grateful for what you have, no matter what the circumstances are. This lesson can be learned when Elie says, “After my father’s death, nothing could touch me any more”(109).
The Holocaust, a deadly event that killed a large number of Jews, an event that killed innocent people. The suffering the Jews endure is deadly and cruel, but do the suffering bring meaning into their lives? Do the pain they endure bring purpose into their painful lives? Victor E. Frankl once said, “The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails… even under the most difficult circumstances -to add a deeper meaning to his life” (Frankl). Night, a memoir written by Elie Wiesel describes his life during the Holocaust.