Journal #1: Authors Purpose “‘Men to the left! Women to the right! ’ Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight simple short words. Yet that was the moment when I left me mother. There was no time to think, and I already felt my father’s hand press against mine: we were alone. In a fraction of a second I could see my mother, my sisters moving to the right (29). ” I find that this is Wiesel’s purpose for writing Night because this quote starts his journey in the Holocaust. This is the selection process in which Wiesel and his father are separated from their family; his mother and his sisters.
It’s the last time that they would ever see each other. Another reason this describes the purpose is because the Nazi soldiers that are separating the males from the females have no emotion at all. They sound like they don’t care about splitting up families that 9 times out of 10, will not see each other again. The only thing that happens from there on is suffering and hunger. The only food that they get fed is bread and water and sometimes some kind of soup stuff. Wiesel describes it in Night as “…. They brought us bread- the usual ration. We threw ouselves upon it.
Someone had the idea of appeasing his thirst by eating the snow. As we were not allowed to bend down, everyone took out his spoon and ate the accumulated snow off his neighbor’s back. A mouthful of bread and a spoonful of snow. The SS who were watching laughed at the spectacle (92). ” Journal #2: Conflict There were many types of conflict in Night. Person vs. Person, Person vs. Nature, and Person vs. Self. Person vs. Person shows when Wiesel’s father asked a guard “Excuse me, could you tell me where the lavatories are? ”, and the guard hit him with the butt of his gun.
I could only imagine how Wiesel felt when he saw the butt of the gun crack down on his father. It probably took everything he had to restrain himself. Person vs. Nature is when Wiesel and his father were running nonstop until they got to the next concentration camp. And if you stopped during the run they shoot you on the spot. Person vs. Self comes when Wiesel was debating to go with his father or stay at the hospital because of his foot surgery. Another Person vs. Self conflict is when Wiesel was asking himself why he should bless God. He said, “Why, but why should I bless Him? In every fiber, I rebelled.
Because He had had thousands of children burned in his pits? Because He kept six crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days? Because on His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Bierkenau, Buna, and so many factories of death (64)? ” Wiesel’s emotional conflict comes in when he first loses his mother and his sister during the selection when they were being separated by gender, and then afterwards, he loses his father. There is no telling what emotions were running through him when he lost his father because he was the only person in his family left, surviving.
So after he lost his father he says, “After my fathers death, nothing could touch me anymore (109). ” So he basically didn’t care anymore for life, and didn’t care what happened to him. Journal #3: Technical Climax “It was a beautiful day in May. The fragrances of spring were in the air. The sun was setting. But no sooner had we taken a few more steps than we saw the barbed wire of another camp. This one had an iron gate with the overhead inscription: ARBEIT MACHT FREI. Work makes you free. Auschwitz (40). ” This quote describes the technical climax because Auschwitz is the concentration camp that was the worst.
Its there where Wiesel’s father started to get sick. Another reason is because they had to fight for food there and stick up for themselves. What is most ironic about this quote is the inscription on the iron gate; ARBEIT MACHT FREI, work makes you free. Well the people worked and worked, and worked, but did not get free from Auschwitz. The technical climax is also a part of this passage because it is where all of Wiesel’s troubles began. His father becomes ill and he contemplates whether he should help him or let him die.
Another point where the climax is when Wiesel starts to lose faith in God and his religion. He becomes so dismayed that he starts to question if God exists and refuses to pray to him on Rosh Hashanah. This conflict starts when he says, “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams into dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never (32). ” Wiesel also said that “I did not fast, mainly to please my father, who had forbidden me to do so. But further, there was no longer any reason why I should fast.
I no longer accepted God’s silence. As I swallowed my bowl of soup, I saw in the gesture an act of rebellion and protest against Him” (66). So he didn’t fast because he did not like how God was ignoring him during that time. Journal #4: Authors Style “Why, but why would I bless him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because he causes thousands of children to burn in his mass graves? Because he kept six crematoria working day and night, including Sabbath and the Holy Days? Because in this great might, He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death?
How could I say to him: Blesses be thou, Almighty, Mater of the Universe, who chose us among all nations to be tortured day and night, to watch as our fathers, our mothers, our brothers end up in the furnaces? Praised be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine altar (67)? ” This passage shows the authors style because he really expresses himself and how angry he is. The style of this passage is very sarcastic and harsh. Wiesel writes as though he takes his religion as a joke and not as seriously as he should. What is most ironic about this is that Wiesel is questioning God as if he has no faith or doesn’t believe.
The most ironic part is that Wiesel is questioning God, but he wants to get out of the situation he is in. His tone is angry and hurt all at the same time. He sounds like he can’t believe what God has done to him and what He is putting him though. All the blame is put on God. There are alson arcaic words and phrases such as thou, thine, and praised be thy Holy Name. The sentences are mostly structured as questions; as if he is not only questioning God, but questioning every one else. When a little boy is hung from the gallows, he is described as “…. ividly pale, almost calm, biting his lips. The gallows threw its shadow over him (61). ” After Wiesel witnesses the hanging of the young boy there is a man behind him that says “‘For God’s sake, God? ’” This is where he loses what little faith that he has left. Wiesel’s style is mostly about him losing his faith in God and his religion. He uses sarcasm and questioning at the same time. I like i Journal #5: Favorite Passage “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 that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blur sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that 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 into dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never (32). ”
This is my favorite quote because Wiesel describes the horrible experience that he endured during his time at the concentration camp. The part of this quote that really spoke to me is when he says “…. Never shall I forget these things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself… (32)”, because there are some things that I have endured also that nothing could ever erase from my mind. I also like this quote because I can feel how angry the Wiesel feels about being in the situation that he is in. Another part of this quote that I really like was when Wiesel says “….
Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever…. (32)”. When I read this I felt like as soon as Wiesel saw the smoke from other people being burned, he felt as though there is no reason to believe in a religion or a god because nothing can save him from the predicament that he is in now. He will just live life as the concentration camp allows him. One thing that I realized about this passage was that Wiesel had to have done some long and hard thinking to come up with such a passage that spoke to me in many ways. Works Cited Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York, N. Y. : Avon Books, 1958
