20 December 2006

Night Journal

12/30/06
Pg. 109
“At about six o’clock in the evening, the first American tank stood at the gates of Buchenwald.”I think it is incredibly lucky that Elie just happened to be one of the people who were part of the last evacuation group. I wonder what happened to the people who were evacuated before him, did they go to another camp to wait out their deaths, or did they get freed as well? Also if Elie’s father had survived would he have gone out with one of the earlier evacuation groups and would Elie had found a way to sneak out with him and then causing a total change in the story. Also at this point I find myself wondering about all the women. I know they didn’t kill they right off the bat because there was one working with Elie in one of the old camps. What tasks did they have the women doing, how many of them actually survived, and how come Elie doesn’t mention seeing any women after that one girl at the camp? Did he go to camps that were womanless?
12/30/06
Pg. 96
“On the third night of our journey I woke up suddenly and felt two hands on my throat, trying to strangle me.”This was just pretty strange to me. I know that everyone is weak and tired so who has the will to get up and go strangle somebody. Also who would want to strangle Elie or anyone else really, unless of course the person had gone crazy. But what are the chances of this crazy person going after Elie unless he some how had a reason for it. I just find this whole occurrence really strange also the fact that it took three men to fend off this one attacker. I wonder if Elie knew the person somehow or had reminded the attacker of someone else, it’s just a little too bizarre for me.
12/30/06
Pg. 87
“He had felt that his father was growing weak, he had believed that the end was near and had sought this separation in order to get rid of the burden, to free himself from an encumbrance which could lessen his own chances of survival.”The fact that this man would rather live without family than die with family is really quite sad and pathetic. I makes me think about Elie and how he made sure all along that he would stay with his father, or at least most of the time. Elie had never wished his father was dead for his own freedom, which shows how selfish people get in these types of situations and inhumane. I’m glad that the father doesn’t know that the son has purposefully left him, because if I had been the father and had learned that my son had left me for dead I would have lost will to go on. I would have let myself die at that point, because I would know that I was no longer wanted in the world and that I would not be missed, so why go through so much suffering when you could just let go.
12/29/06
Pg. 73
“And three days after he had gone we forgot to say the Kaddish.”This is a bit upsetting for me when I think about it. I believe strongly in letting people have their last wish be it respectable and this one was indeed reputable. The fact that this good man who was simply tired of being treated as an animal wanted for his last wish, for the prayer to be made for him and for his “friends” to simply forget that was really quite horrific. I clearly understand that the work was hard and so that they might have been tired but one simple prayer could have been made I am sure of it and the fact that they did not honor this poor mans wishes is not something that I would want to live with.
12/28/06
Pg. 62
“Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows”This line was shocking for me, I think back to the beginning of the story and remember a young boy so alive and so in tune with his spirituality and I see what has become of him. He might still believe in a god but to him god is dead, God has done nothing to stop the suffering of hundreds of people. The fact that he was so spiritual and now has lost all will to believe while others around him still try kind of confuses me it would seem to me that he would be the last one to hold onto faith and yet he’s one of the first to stop believing. I would have probably stopped trusting god quickly too but I do not go to a temple to pray every day and so it seems inevitable to me but this boy seemed so strong in his faith that I thought nothing could brake it, and yet I was wrong.
12/28/06
Pg. 59
“ Do you think this ceremony’ll be over soon? I’m hungry “When Juliek, a prisoner, said this during a hanging ceremony I found it somewhat disturbing. If he asked if it’d be over soon because he did not wish to see such a horrible thing occur and he just wanted for it to end then I would understand where he was coming from as I’m sure plenty of other people would too. But the fact that he wants the hanging to end quickly so he can eat is just horribly unpleasant. I couldn’t think of a single person who would want to eat after seeing such a thing but all he is worried about is eating even if it means this boy has to die quickly in order for him to get his meal. It just shows that there is no humanity left, it’s really quite horrible.
12/27/06
Pg. 49
“All right, son. When you feel better, come back and see me. But don’t wait till I send for you!”
I think this shows the reality of how low people got. When this dentist ends up in trouble he doesn’t even feel pity for the man who let him get away with having his crown out two times. So the dentist must have known that Elie was lying about being sick, also he could have reported him as being sick and I’m sure he could have been sent to the giant oven just like the others. But that fact this he showed no pity for this man who let him get away with a few things shows that you start to only care about your self in these types of situations and you no longer feel sympathy even for people who give you favors. He also shows an example of this when his father got beaten and he was mad at him for not staying out of the way, instead of having sympathy for him.
12/23/06
Pg. 39
“ He must have been lying, that SS officer in the muddy barracks. Auschwitz was in fact a rest home.”This quote is interesting because for the rest of the chapter it seems to be incredibly true. Even though Elie had been warned that they were not going to a rest home this is basically what he does. He moves into barracks where he basically just eats and sleeps, this is kind of confusing, because I’m sure they kept them alive because they are still young and strong, but they are not using them at all. Is this just for the time being because they have nothing for them to do yet or is this how it will be for the rest of the time they are at Auschwitz, and if it is then what is the point of keeping them alive or keeping them hostage.
12/22/06
Pg. 25
“Jew, look! Look through the window! Flames! Look! And as the train stopped, we saw this time that flames were gushing out of a tall chimney into the black sky.”This quote is very interesting to me because it seems that the whole time even though she seemed mad Madame Schachter had been right about the flames and fire. This makes me wonder if she just by chance happened to see flames and fire through her madness, or if they souls of her beloved were actually reaching out to her to warn her of what is to come. What I mean is that her husband and sons had been shipped out earlier as a mistake but could their spirits possibly be reaching out to their wife, and mother to warn her of her impending doom? Maybe her and her husband were indeed soul mates and so were connected at the soul. This would probably mean she would be able to feel that something was wrong even though her husband wasn’t near, such as a parent knows that something is wrong even when they aren’t with their child. So whether her knowing about the flames was just by chance or by some strange connection between her beloved, this I find interesting.
12/21/06
Pg. 18
“Our old servant, Martha, came to see us. Weeping bitterly, she begged us to come to her village, where she could give us a safe refuge. My father did not want to hear of it”I think it’s very sad and foolish of the father to deny this chance of possible safety. I understand that pride was most likely an issue but more important than pride is family, which I believe should always come first. The fact that the father allowed the children to leave was somewhat decent I should say but he should have known that young kids would not want to be separated from their families and taken to some strange place, they would rather go to a strange unknown place with the people they love. What is the worst part of it all is that If the father had swallowed his pride and had told the whole family to go then maybe their fates would have been different, maybe they would live out a good life together. But this one decision he made out of what I see as stubbornness and pride changed their entire destiny.
12/20/06
Pg.1
"During the day I studied the Talmud, and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the Temple"
I find it interesting that this twelve year old boy is so in tune with his spirituality that he weeps over the destruction of the temple. Also I find it strange that later when Moshe the Beadle asks him why he cries when he prays that he doesn't know why and is disturbed by this. I think that if you cry you would know the reason why and that if you cry at a holy place it is most likely because you are in tune with your spirituality or faith, just like how some people cry or pass out when the priest or pastor touches their head in the name of the holy spirit. The people cry or pass out, not for any unknown reason, everyone knows that it is from the holy spirit touching their soul. I don't understand how he didn't know why he was crying.

Posted by Sharon_Lizotte @ 1:22 PM