Journals

Janeen Palmiotto Prof. Molinari Journals “Night” by Elie Wiesel Before I begin reading the novel I just want to document what I think this book is going to be about. By looking at the illustration on the cover I think that this book is going to be rather powerful. The cover doesn’t seem to show an actual image of an object but rather a dark stature in the background. The New York Times says, “A slim volume of terrifying power” thus, it could be about a real event that occurred in history that was frightening or chilling. I am very excited to open this book right now and begin reading. Whether or not it is about what I predicted, we will find out. Chapter 1: The novel opens up in Sighet, a small town in Transylvania, with giving a description about a man named Moshe the Beadle who is young Eliezers tutor. Moché is generally liked and a humble man. He works in the Hasidic synagogue, and is a very meek. Eliezer is a strong believer in his faith, he is an Orthodox Jew. In this passage we learn that Eliezer's father is very high in power in the Jewish community and pays more attention to outside matters rather than his own family. We also learn that Eliezer has 3 sisters, Hilda, Béa, and Tzipora. Next, all foreign Jews are expelled and Moshe is deported. When Moshe returns to Sighet with horrifying stories, no one believes him. Fascists soon gain control in Hungary and allow a local Nazi invasion. Still, the Jews of Sighet deny the fact that anything bad will happen to them, even with proof of these terrible events surrounding them. A few days later the small town is forced to evacuate the area in which Eliezers family is included in the last group. They come in contact with their previous gentile servant named Martha who warns them of danger that is to come. Martha offers them a place to go to be safe but the family easily refuses. -Personally, if I was in young Eliezers position in this novel I would be conscious of what I am hearing. I would be very worried of course, but the family should have been taking action as soon as they heard the dreadful news. It is always better to be safe then sorry. Right now, I am thinking that something terrible is going to happen to Elie or his family, I feel these people were mentioned for a reason. Maybe foreshadowing' I don’t really know right now, I am going to keep reading. Chapter 2: Elie and his fellow townsmen, including his family, friends, and close neighbors are all packed in a cattle car and suffer terribly. They are treated like caged animals. German officials order them to pack up their valuables and says if anyone is missing they will all be shot like dogs. For 3 days they do not know what they are doing and where they are headed. "The doors were nailed up; the way back was finally cut off. The world was a cattle wagon hermetically sealed." Pg. 22 One woman, Madame Schacter, continually screams of a fire. Men aboard the car try to silence her and it takes awhile before she is finally soundless. As the train arrives are Birkeneu, they see smoke rising from the chimneys and the only thing they smell is burning flesh. They come to realize that they just arrived at a labor camp. - When reading this chapter Wiesel gave real life examples that made me feel like I was in the cattle car suffering with all of those people. For example “Bodies close together we could barely breathe.”I could only imagine being treated so terribly by people who simply thought they were better then I was, I would just cry. I think Elie handled it very well and he did not really let the confined space and apprehensive people get into his head. Seeing people panic like Madame Schacter did would not keep me calm, I would be right next to her screaming the same thing! Chapter 3: As soon as they depart from the train the German officials say, “Men to the left! Women to the right!”pg. 27 Elie then is forced to separate from his mother and his sisters. As the new arrivals show up an older prisoner advises Elie and his father to lie about their ages to avoid being burned to death. The men are then separated into groups of men who can work and those who cannot. They begin witnessing live bodies, including that of a baby being thrown into a pit of fire. To the Jews, it was a living nightmare. The men began to recite prayers to save the souls of which were once their friends’. The prisoners are then escorted into a work camp four hours away. Wiesel explains how the first night he spent in camp is forever engraved into his memory : "Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never." pg. 32 - It must have been really upsetting for Elie to have to leave him mother and sisters. He says, "Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight short, simple words. Yet that was the moment when I parted from my mother."pg. 27 I would never have been able to leave my mother not knowing what is going to happen to her. Fortunately, Elie and his father took the advice from the older prisoner because they were able to survive being cremated. I can only imagine how young Elie is feeling when he sees his friends and neighbors being killed. Even pure and harmless babies were being thrown into the fire without even given a possibility at life. I think that might have effected me the most, because they are just babies, they did not deserve to die, especially the way they did. Chapter 4: The prisoners are taken to Buna, another labor camp. Prisoner veterans being teaching Elie and his father that there is a way of survival at the camp. For the first three days, the prisoners are held in a cell and on the fourth day the overseers of the units select a few men to work in the electrical equipment warehouse- which apparently was “not difficult.”Elie is sent to the dentist for removal of his gold crown but gets out of it by feigning an illness. The most important aspect of Elies survival is food. "I was a body. Perhaps less than that even: a starved stomach. The stomach alone was aware of the passage of time." Pg. 50 Elie finally received his first piece of bread from a young French girl who aids him with his bloody lip. She says to him, “Bite your lip, little brother....Keep your anger and hatred for another day, for later on. The day will come, but not now....Wait. Grit your teeth and wait....”pg. 51. Elie could not wait, his hatred towards others was increasing slowly. Elies father was the target of rage by one of the German officers who beat him with an iron bar, and all Elie could do was watch, in fear that he too would get hit. - Despite a dreadful situation Elie seems to be lucking out a lot and getting the better outcome in this tough case. He already escaped death twice and he was not sentenced to work at one of the dangerous camps that could kill him. It must have been really tough trying to keep his mouth shut and just let this happen to him, but he had no choice. If he would of said anything at all, he would have been tortured and killed, he felt like he was worth nothing. "That is what concentration camp life had made of me," recalls Elie. If I was put into this scenario I would feel worthless too. It is extremely difficult having your life dictated by others who only want to do you harm.