It’s difficult to imagine the way humans brutally humiliate other humans based on their faith, looks, or mentality but somehow it happens. On the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel, he gives the reader a tour of World War Two through his own eyes , from the start of the ghettos all the way through the liberation of the prisoners of the concentration camps. This book has several themes that develop throughout its pages. There are three themes that outstand from all the rest, these themes are brutality, humiliation, and faith. They’re the three that give sense to the reading.
The character Antigone from the play Antigone best represents Stage 6th ,Universal Principles, of Kohlberg’s Stage Of Moral Development because she believes that individuals should have natural rights. In the play Antigone has a sister called Ismene and two brothers, Polynesis and Eteocles. Polynesis and Eteocles killed each other for the throne. Since Polynesis attacked Eteocles first Creon decided to leave Polynesis dead body in the street, so Antigone believed that Creon’s rule was unfair and it was against her natural rights so she decided to break the rule and bury her brother’s body.
For centuries mankind has faced injustice due to prejudice and hate. How we have dealt with unjust acts has shaped society and molded the way that we think, changing our very morals and values. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, millions of people in concentration camps, including Elie, endure the tyranny of Hitler’s rein in an unforgettable event known as the holocaust. The deplorable conditions and oppressive treatment emphasizes the injustice inflicted upon Elie and his comrades. Wiesel’s theme is to stand up against oppression and speak out against injustice.
During the early through mid 1940s an event called the Holocaust would plague the European nation where a group of called the “Nazis” would imprison six million Jews, 5 million of them being prisoners of War (The National World War Two Museum). One prisoner named Elie Wiesel would recount his experience going through the Holocaust in his book “Night.” In this book he would show a general theme of Under the most horrifying circumstances, human beings will show tremendous strength, courage, and compassion. The first aspect that supports the theme is humans will show tremendous strength under the most horrifying circumstances.
When looking at the Holocaust, most people agree that it was atrocious and one of the worst marks on the history of our planet. However, what they don’t realize is why people did not help those in need. As it turns out, there were valid reasons why change did not occur. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, these thoughts are explored as the main character, Liesel, learns about her country. Liesel and her foster family take in a Jew, something that shows their allegiance with the anti-Hitler cause.
Antigone’s Moral Development The play Antigone by Sophocles, is about a girl who faces a family conflict over her deceased brother. The protagonist is Antigone and she stays the same morally throughout the play. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development helps people understand the stages individuals morally move through as they mature more. Because of Antigone’s decisions and ideas at the beginning and the end of the play, she is a morally static character through the story.
Of all the terrible events in history, the Holocaust may be the worst of them all. This tragedy was so terrible, I cannot think of the ones who instigated it as human beings. It was against many morals and standards that the world views today as common ethics. The most terrible part of this is, perhaps, how today’s new and younger generations are not sufficiently educated about this disaster. Although many younger generations do not know about the Holocaust, it’s importance should be emphasised in today’s society to learn from it, to realize that every human life is important, and to appreciate the blessings of the present day.
To appreciate and comprehend the human beings that surround us will ensure a brighter future for us as a whole. It is also important as a person to stray from the direction of hatred and silence, in a difficult situation. As Elie Wiesel put it “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.” My earlier studies of the Holocaust did not contain the voice of a human, facts were listed, sifted through, and analyzed. And then, we met Anne Frank, a young girl living in the middle of a war torn era.
Many actions played out during the Holocaust and World War II were not humane, and still remind us like a scream behind closed doors: hidden but still heard. While hearing the horrid stories and seeing the ghoulish photos of times not to be forgotten, we see the tragedy that is the mistreatment of human lives. Our identities are lost little by little, but those victims had theirs ripped from their bodies. After losing everything and then becoming a nearly empty vessel, it is amazing that we attempt to comprehend the cruelty of the Holocaust. The loss of identity and self might have started with Adolf Hitler’s reign, for the Holocaust legacies, but we are all losing bits of ourselves constantly.
Antigone and her father Oedipus are very alike and different in a few ways. The things that occur to them both lead up to their deaths. For instance, Antigone defies the leader Creon which results in her death. Also, Oedipus and his wife Jocasta ignore the gods which causes Oedipus’s long life of suffering.
Antigone’s selfless sacrifice in which she surrendered her life for her brother’s burial portrays to the audience her allegiance to tradition; therefore, giving meaning to the work as a whole.
Antigone’s actions are motivated by her allegiance to her family, moral conscience, and religion amid Creon’s political injustice and tyranny. Antigone’s actions motivate her to demand Ismene to prove whether she is “a true sister or a traitor to your family” (26-27). Antigone maintains loyalty to her brother despite his actions which threatened Thebes. Her inability to bear the thought of her brother’s corpse being picked apart by animals and not being honored with proper funeral rites forces her to act. Antigone’s fierce allegiance to her family is laid bare as she is willing to sacrifice her life to honor her brother and defy the law in an act that she believes is morally just.
In the play Antigone by Sophocles, he demonstrates the many ways an unjust leader can overpower those who fight for what is right (Adams 1). In Antigone’s case, she fought for the just treatment of her brother in his afterlife and for giving him a proper burial. In her fight for justice, Antigone exhibits strong beliefs of fairness to her community regarding family, rights and morality in her battle against a seemingly unjust leader, Kreon. Sophocles’, in Antigone, displays the type of justice called fairness. He pulls the laws and unjust teachings of his time and puts them into a play for all to see and analyze.
Jaanvi Shah Mr. Eyre English 9 March, 2015 Literary Analysis of Antigone John Foster says, “pride comes before fall.” As the action of the Sophocles 's Antigone unfolds, it is clear that the protagonist Creon has all the six characteristics of a tragic hero. Teiresias interactions with Creon help to demonstrate three of those typical traits: Creon’s noble stature, his tragic flaw of having pride and arrogance, and his free choice that makes his downfall his own fault. Creon, the King of Thebes, accords with Aristotle’s theory of a tragic hero beginning as powerful distinguished and important person.
Tragedy is a part of life and most people will experience a tragedy in their lifetime. Tragedies are common enough to be presented to children through television shows and children’s books. Small tragedies occur in children’s entertainment. A children’s story may go like a kid loses an item he/she loves and then his/her friends or family help and find the lost item. Imagine if a kid had no support in finding whatever he/she has lost.
