Ch.6

"My God, Lord of the Universe, give me strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son has done."
This phrase stood out to me because it made me think that maybe, just maybe, Elie is/was contemplating doing just as Rabbi Eliahu's son had. If this thought hadn't crossed Elie's mind, I don't think he would have felt the need to prayed to God to steer him from abandoning his father. Up to this point in the novel, we see that his father is the only thing he has to live for, and every decision that they make is for the both of them. Without the other, there would be no motive to survive. So this thought terrifies Elie. What would he possibly gain from abandoning his father?

Chapter 6 - Mind Over Matter

It is truly incredible what you can do when your life is in danger. I've always heard the saying "mind over matter" and I never thought it had any value, but this chapter has proven the true value of the mind. The Jewish people were forced to run for hours, nonstop. After I run the 400 I collapse at the finish line and crawl to get a cup of water because I'm just so exhausted. These people ran for HOURS without stopping, without food, without water, and why? Because their fears, their minds, were so strong that the fatigue and weakness of the body didn't even matter anymore. We've also all heard the saying "survival of the fittest" and this holds to be true throughout the novel so far. The need to survive, to see another day, is what pushes us, pushes them, to do the crazy things that we/they do. The mind is such an incredible tool and I think sometimes we forget that. It plays a large part in our lives, and really ties into the idea of choice or chance in the novel. It's their minds that make the choice to keep moving, keep running, to stay alive just one more day, and I believe that ultimately it will be those choices that get them to safety. I also believe your choices affect your chances so the more, I guess positive choices that Elie and his father make, the higher the chance they will come out of this alive.

Ch 6

I was very shocked when Elie said that he thought Rabbi Eliahu's son had purposely left his father because he thought he was just weight. He said he had to carry with his father and wanted to get rid of him because he was weak. I understand that it was a tough time, that they were going through a situation that no one can understand unless they went through it themselves but, he showed no humanity towards his father when he left him. His father searched for him, his father cared enough to look for him, and he didn't care about his father. Then I was shocked when Elie said he hoped he would not do the same but he did not confirm that he wouldn't.

Ch 6 - Death & Eli's father

       In this chapter it seems that the constant battle with death and the relationship with his father is more apparent than in the previous chapters. As they began to march/run, Eli witnesses Zalman break rank and assumes he got trampled by everyone and the idea of dying begins to fascinate him. It becomes a fantasy to Eli to no longer feel anything, to no longer exist, to let himself fall. However, he regains his senses when he remembers his father next to him and realized that he could not abandon him. His father constantly gives him reason to go on, just as Eli does for him. Death plagues him again as he's tempted to let death claim him in his sleep because of his fatigue, but his father wakes him and they agree to take turns sleeping

       All around him people were dead or dying and I found it heartbreaking how people were just accepting it when at first they were afraid of death, including Eli. The only thing that gave him hope was his father. I really find it surprising how Eli and his father have kept their relationship so strong despite the cruelty they've faced, because it must take a lot of energy in that situation to care for someone's else's well being along with yours. At times Eli's father had weighed him down because of his age. Yet they stuck together unlike Rabbi Eliahu's son, who had seen his father fall behind and continued to run ahead. It made me think of a quote from White Oleander by Janet Fitch, "I was always mortified. Didn't they know they were always tying their mothers to the ground? Weren't chains ashamed of their prisoners?"  

Ch 5

What stood out to me the most in this chapter was how the Nazi's/Hitler basically became the Jews' God/gods. After Rosh Hashanah it's ironic how the SS put the Jews through selection because the purpose of the holiday was divine judgement and the SS was doing the same in a way. However even in the absence of their God, as Eli frequently conveys in the chapter, they don't reject Him completely. Despite that the Jews see Hitler as more of a God than their own ("I have more faith in Hitler than anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people." - An inmate), I believe that the Jews as well as Eli still have some faith in God and in humanity. Otherwise I feel that they would just be indifferent.  

Chapter 6

Honestly, I feel as if with every chapter everything gets worse and more depressing. In this chapter, the Nazis are treating the people as horrible as always but with more emphasis. The Nazis call the people dogs and treat them horribly with “filthy dogs...flea-ridden dogs”. I also am amazed that Elie is still good to his father and had the courage to not betray or abandon his father like he rabbi’s son did earlier. It must have been so hard to not betray his father since a lot of the people changed and sometimes they changed in order to survive. Also, it was scary towards the end of the chapter when Elie’s father was to the left for being weak for the selection. Fora moment I thought that this was when his father would die. However, Elie somehow saved him him from the crematorium. But, at the same time he caused many to get shot.

CH 6 - Liberating Acts Before Death

I found this chapter very sad and somewhat disturbing because it seems as though people are embracing death. After being run all night, some of the prisoners fall to the ground and die because of exhaustion, but there were some that slowly sank to the floor and drifted to sleep and then drifted further, knowingly, to their death. The deaths of Zalman and Juliek, in particular, stood out to me.

Zalman undressed himself, completely stripped away his prison clothing, right before falling to the ground and dying. Juliek, before dying, played Beethoven on his violin -- something that the Germans didn't allow him to do. I think their actions were, in a way, acts of liberation -- a way for them to feel free and bring back some of the humanity they'd been stripped of in the camp. It shows that they still had a sense of who they were, who they were supposed to be. It shows they had not turned into the dehumanized persons that the Nazis had tried to make them.

Ch 5

Chapter 5 stresses the chances Elie had taken. First, Elie seemed to have lost religious spirit. He even described his (choice of) lack of fasting as a form of rebellion and as a way to  respond to what he perceives to be God's passivity when he took a few bites of bread. I think it's interesting how this was the start of the chapter and how evident their lack of faith was. 

Also his decision to leave was very ironic; he figured that if he left he would be safer, but soon after he left some people he left behind were liberated. It's like he was meant to emotionally regress as he continues to suffer more and more, yet empathize and trust a lot less.

First born and inheritance:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0007_0_06494.html

http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/inheritance.html

Chapter 5- choice and chance

The piece if the chapter that really struck me was the very ending, where Wiesel reveals that if he had stayed in the infirmary, he would have been liberated by the Russians. To me, this really emphasizes the themes of chance and choice. Wiesel and his father reasoned that the Germans would never let the sick be liberated, that they would not have the chance to live if they stayed. I was honestly shocked after reading that they had been liberate because I believed the same thing as them. They made the choice to leave, and that would eventually led to the next events to follow. This was a pivotal choice in their lives, and this choice caused every event afterwards.

The selection Ch. 5

  This chapter was the hardest for me to read by far. I believe that this chapter really reflected our choice versus chance discussion. I noticed that even during the the selection if you made the choice to act healthier than you were you would live. Even the prisoner that Elie was talking about made the choice to die and be taken during the selection. The largest example of choice versus chance was the opportunity to be moved to another camp during the Red invasion or to stay in the infirmary. Because they thought the would be killed if they stayed, they decided to march to the other camp. Later, they found out that the prisoners in the infirmary were liberated. 

Ch. 5 Thoughts

When Wiesel survives the selection he states, that at that point, no one else mattered. He didn’t care whether or not anybody else had survived or not because he did survive, and this is another part of his humanity he has lost. The camp has led Wiesel to only think about his and his father’s survival as he doesn’t care whether or not the others survive. But this hasn’t only happened to Wiesel, but also to the entire camp. When Akiba Drumer died, his only request was that the prisoners say Kaddish for him, but three days later they all did not do this due to the harshness of the camp.

Chapter 5

Something I found really astonishing when reading this chapter was the way Elie was acting towards God during the Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Most Jews on these holidays come together to celebrate by praying but Elie seems to have gathered up all this anger towards God because he has let for all of these atrocities to happen to the Jews at the camps. In rebellion towards this he refuses to pray and eat (on Yom Kippur when traditionally they Jews fast). Although Ellie has showed that he has anger about this towards God, since he believes God put the Jews on earth to be murdered, he still believes there is a God since he refers and addresses him even in the worst moments in the camp. 

Chapter 5

The most intriguing part of this chapter was Elie's treatment of Jewish holidays that he once held dear. Instead of praising God like he used to, he spends these holidays in rebellion against God. Instead of fasting he chooses to eat his bread as a sign of defiance. Elie has had enough of the idea of praising a God who has allowed atrocities such as the one his currently enduring come to pass. Many of the prisoners are wary of making the choices that Elie did because they still fear the wrath of God. This is interesting because Elie chooses to defy Jewish tradition in these instances, knowing that many of his fellow inmates believe this could lead to his death.

Chapter 5 - Faith

The thing that really caught my attention in this chapter was Elie's talk of religion and God. He questioned why his fellow inmates continued to pray to God and praise His name; everyone needs hope, and God was there. Then Elie begins to question how such an amazing God could let such horrendous things happen, and being a person who believes in God, when you believe in Him, you also believe in the devil. So personally, I think the devil played a hand in the Holocaust and since the Jews continued to cling to their faith in God, they still had the possibility of being saved.  "You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved." Mathew 10:22. Even God knew His people would always be persecuted and hated for believing in Him, and they stayed strong. I don't blame Elie for his faith withering though, because no man, especially a child, should endure such suffering. I'm just glad to see that both Elie and his father survived the selection despite the things they had been through.

Ch 5: Regretful Decision?

In chapter 5, one of the most obvious events that stand out is Elie's decision to move on with the camp instead of staying in the infirmary. His whole nightmare would have ended, as he bluntly reveals in a factual tone which actually emphasizes the irony of the situation, had he decided to stay in the infirmary, which was later liberated by the Russians. Instead, he presses onward with his father, staying with the camp and prolonging his torture. I think the most common reaction to this story is feeling a sense of extreme pity for Elie. However, I think he made the right decision. We all make decisions where, looking in hindsight, we realized what would have been the easier choice, but at the time when we make the choice we use rationale as our director. Elie's logic was simple: I have an unknown chance of dying or an unknown chance of living if I stay, or a definite (though not large) chance of living if I go. After surviving through the countless torments that he has already endured, I'm pretty sure Elie was not about to throw his life away to an unknown chance of life or death. He went with what he was sure of, and though it's almost torture in itself to realize the repercussions had he stayed with at the camp, I don't blame Elie for deciding to move on and continuing his dreadful journey.

Trust

One event that stood out to me in chapter five, was when Elie had gone to the infirmary. I noticed that as soon as Elie got there, he didn't know who to trust or what to believe. For example, when the "faceless neighbor" spoke to him. He kept insisting that the selection process with the sick/injured was much more worse. Elie didn't want to believe him and this just goes to show that he has lost trust in others by being in a concentration camp. This trust in others is further challenged when the doctor tries to reassure Elie that his leg hasn't been amputated and that he will be able to walk in two weeks. Even though the doctor appeared to be kind and trustworthy, it was difficult for him to believe him. While in the concentration camp, Elie's interaction with the people who have some sort of power has been negative. Elie has only encountered people who don't care about him and simply treat him cruelly. At this point, Elie has become sensitive to any nice gestures. So when the doctor asks him to trust him, Elie's reaction demonstrates fear and confusion. 

Ch 5

In this chapter when Elie said that he had chosen to leave the camp and found out that those in the infirmity had been liberated two days after they had left, I thought about the lesson of choice and chance. The choice that he made of leaving was his own. He had the chance to stay or leave and he left. That choice that he made lead him to the rest of his story. If he had chosen to stay it could have ended there but, his choice affected the rest of what would happen in those years of his life. However what were the chances that those in the infirmiry would be liberated?

Chapter 5

This chapter shows the importance of choice.  At the end of the chapter, Wiesel and his father had the choice to either stay in the infirmary or be evacuated with the others.  Wiesel decided that they would go along with the others.  He later learned after the war that this was a mistake, for if they had stayed they would have been liberated.  This is only one of many choices throughout the book, that may have given Wiesel and his family the opportunity to be free.  There were high possible risks with these choices of course, so one cannot blame Wiesel for his decisions.

This chapter also shows the humanity that is being restored within the Jews, especially Wiesel.  He again cares about his father, since he made what he thought was the best choice by going along with the evacuation.  Wiesel was also very concerned when he learned of the possibility that his father may be killed.  At the end of the chapter, the Jews were told to clean the block because they are "men and not pigs".  This one sentence may have a large affect on the Jews, and make them feel human again.

Thoughts on Chapter 5

Obviously the High Holidays of Judaism were very important in this chapter, helping to convey Elie's emotions and thoughts regarding his situation in the camp. These holidays are the time when God passes his judgement on the people, and decides who will die in the upcoming year. However, in the concentration camp, the soldiers are the ones who decide who is to live and who is to die. This helps to re-emphasize the loss of faith in divinity AND in humanity that Elie is experiencing. I thought it was especially significant that he chooses to eat on a day that Jews fast to atone for their sins, since this is a very radical thing to do and it shows how he feels about his relationship with God.
Another highly significant part of this chapter was the choice vs chance question, especially when it came to Eliezer and his father's fate at the end of the chapter. The "fates" of individuals based on their choices and just random occurrences makes me feel like everything is up to chance, but the choices you make can change the chances that you could possibly face. (I didn't articulate that very well but I hope the point I was trying to make is still discernible.)

Chapter 4 - The Hangings

I would like to note how the Jew's sense of humanity has been chipped away to where they value a life more than another. (Perhaps I missed a key detail, or I am not understanding the story completely.) Elie describes the hanging of a youth who was caught stealing during the air raid. He comments how this death upset him more than others he witnessed, but at the same time others around him are more interested in getting their next meal then watching this fellow Jew die. He then skips to the most traumatic hanging he witnessed when an "angel-like" pipel is sentenced to death. All around Elie, people are weeping and crying out to God, asking why this is happening. I understand the pipel was very well liked among everyone, but when contrasting the two hangings - the first and the pipel - I notice a large difference in emotion of the Jews. I guess the background of the hangings make a difference - one was hanged for stealing and the other for refusing to reveal information about firearms- as well as the character of the people hanged - the pipel was well liked - but I would like to think witnessing the death of any Jew, not just the well-liked ones, would cause other Jews around to mourn and grieve and cry out to God.

Evacuation

Why would the Nazis evacuated Auschwitz? To they really need the force labor at this point of the war. Honestly the German Army was in retreat in all fronts at this time. What was the strong   Axis Powers was not made up of Germany and Japan. I felt that the evacuation was unnecessary.

Hanging

There is a lot of irony during the hanging of the prisoners during chapter 4. The reason is that Auschwitz is a death camp where every day the Nazis where burning Jews alive in the crematorium and to killed 4 prisoners by hanging as a punishment of a crime was rather superfluou and unexpected. I would imagine that the Nazis would just executed the men by firing squad. I felt that at this point the camp was runned by the Blockälteste more than the Nazi Germans as it's something that they would not do. 

A matter of life or death

More people now die of suicide than in car accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet in this book the prisoners of the concentration camp fight so hard to keep their lives and avoid the crematorium even though they have a really good reason to give up on life. When selection time came everyone wanted to seem fit so that they did not have to die. Elie was even willing to walk toward an uncertain future rather than remain in a comfortable infirmary just to avoid the possibility of death. Maybe the reason they held on so dearly to life is because not to went against their culture and the way they were raised. If so maybe people in our time should respect life a little more instead of resorting to suicide.

Chapter 5- The Bell

Everyday at school we hear the bell ordering us to class and dismissing us from class. And even though we hear it everyday we don't hate it, and to us it's nothing but a simple reminder to stay on schedule. So when I first read that the narrator hated the bell I didnt really understand why. I questioned how could you have such an emotion towards a simple bell that just reminds you to stay on schedule. And then I thought for a second and realized that I too had such hate for a reminder, my alarm clock. However my alarm doesn't signal me to get up and do hard labor, or to come to a small dinner, and it definitely doesn't signal me the hours of a selection period that could potentially be the last minutes of my life. So then I realized that the bell was much more than a reminder to him, the bell controlled everything about his life and eventhough the bell never harmed anyone, it was a reminder that he was still being controlled.

Ch. 5: God

I find Elie's changing relationship with God throughout the book interesting. One thing that I found notable is that so far in the story, he has not questioned God's existence. He feels anger towards God, and refuses to pray as an act of rebellion towards Him, who he now doubts as a "merciful" divine entity. However, throughout all the suffering he witnesses and suffering he endures, he still does not question the existence of God. I don't know if this is because religion had such a big role in the Jewish culture, and specifically in Elie's life, and so Elie hasn't even thought of the possibility that God does not exist. Either way, I find his "faith" in God astonishing (I say "faith" in quotes because he has lost trust and confidence in God, which is the definition of faith in the non-biblical sense, but he still holds onto his "faith" in God in the sense that he still believes in His existence). You cannot be angry at someone or something that you do not believe is real, therefore Elie’s anger with God shows he still believes in His existence. This is what stood out to me in this chapter because I find it incredible that after everything he has gone through, the worst feeling he has towards his God is anger, rather than non-belief. 

Chapter 4

"'Are you in good health?'

Who would have dared to admit the opposite?"

Throughout the novel the author includes multiple examples of questions that the Jews would not dare to give the wrong answer to. The Germans ask if the Jews are in good health as if the Jews would dare say that they were not. If the Jews were to  say that they were not in good health they know that their life would be over and they would be sent off to the crematoria. It's kind of funny that the Germans ask the Jews these questions as if the Jews would give themselves up. The Jews are trying to stay alive and know not to give the wrong answer to any of these questions in fear that they would not see another day. 

Ch. 5 Choice

Towards the end of this chapter, Elie and his father were left to make a difficult decision for themselves as rumors swept across the camp regarding the advancement of the Red Army. Would they stay in the infirmary or would they march with the rest of the prisoners? It was their choice to make, and they chose to march with the rest of the prisoners, despite Elie's wounded foot. To think that if they chose to stay in the infirmary, they would've been liberated days later. They would no longer have to fight to survive. They would no longer have to live in fear. They would no longer have to hope. They would have been saved and this book could have ended right here. But regardless of what course of action they would have chosen, their fates were still uncertain.

Chapter 5: Anger

There was so much anger in the beginning of this chapter. I felt that Elie was angry towards not only God, but at the people who were praying as well. I remember that in chapter 3 I believe, when Elie was contemplating about running into the electrified barbed wire, that was the first time he felt anger towards God. But then he prayed anyways, much like a programmed machine he said the holy words even though he said "...against my will, I found myself whispering the words: Yisgadal, veyiskadash, shmey raba...". Now, now that he has witnessed so many horrendous things he no longer follows the other inmates when they pray. He now feels stronger for defying God and venting his anger in the questions he asked. "Why, but why would I bless Him? Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves?"

Unshakable

Why didn't they just give up? 

After enduring so much degradation and humiliation at the hands of the Nazis... after losing their homes, their families, and their livelihoods... after losing their faith in God and humanity, why better yet, how could these Jews possibly find a way to keep going? 

It would have been much easier to succumb to defeat as Akiba Drumer and the man in the infirmary had. Even Elie admitted feeling faithless and betrayed by God's apparent silence. But in spite of all of the infliction, Elie, and the other men had an unshakable will to survive. When faced with "the selection" they mustered every ounce of strength, and then some, to demonstrate their willingness and worthiness to survive, even though they knew survival only meant more back-breaking labor, meager portions, and brutal treatment. What kept them going?

The will to survive is part of our humanity. Sure, animals and other living things can survive harsh situations, but there's something... different about us. As the saying goes, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", and I'm not implying in any way that the Holocaust somehow benefited the victims by boosting their morale or teaching them endurance. Obviously it was a horrible situation... but it revealed a crucial aspect of our humanity. We possess some innate ability to transform our hardship into endurance, which helps us tackle even the most impossible situations. 

Chapter 5

I noticed that many of the Jews were beginning to lose their faith. They actually started doubting and losing their faith since they entered the concentration camp. Even a rabbi no longer believed that God was with them anyone. The rabbi was mad at God and even Elie became constantly mad at God because he wanted to know where God was and why he was letting so many people suffer. It is sad to know that these horrible things made people lose or doubt their faith.

    Another thing that I noticed was that Hitler’s name was finally mentioned (well it is the first time I heard it mentioned in the book at least). Also Elie being called “Eliezer” by his father really stood out to me since I have not read when his father ever did. I think this was about the time when Elie and his father had to decide whether to stay in the camp or be evacuated with the other people.

CH 5 - Free Will and Loss of Faith

In this chapter there is a big focus on Wiesel's struggle to keep his faith, especially at the beginning of the chapter during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I found the scene of Wiesel eating soup on Yom Kippur especially saddening because not only was he losing his faith in God but he was becoming spiteful towards God. Reading this makes me wonder if today Wiesel still has this struggle with his faith or if he has completely given up on God.

Towards the end of the chapter, when the camp was being evacuated, I knew, from reading the book before, that Wiesel and his father weren't going to stay in the infirmary and be liberated, but I was disappointed and saddened just as much as I was when reading this book the first time. But this time upon reading it, I wondered how this affected Wiesel's relationship with God. I'm not sure if Wiesel believes in the concept of free will, but at this time it seems like God presented him with the choice to be liberated or stay under the control of the Nazis. He chose not to stay. I wonder if after this Wiesel was more upset with himself and his father for not staying or if he blamed God and further lost his faith.

Thoughts on Chapter 4

This chapter, overall, was extremely difficult and upsetting to read, but the ending in particular stood out to me for the impact and symbolism of the hanging of the child. Obviously a child being hung is horrible enough, but many other people have been beaten and/or killed, yet for some reason this instance is implied by Eliezer to be the symbolic death of God. The text reads,
"For God's sake, where is God?" And from within me, I heard a voice answer:
"Where He is? This is where-- hanging here on this gallows..."
We've seen over the course of the book so far that Eliezer and others have had troubles with their faith since their world has turned into a hell, devoid of humanity almost entirely, but this specific moment in the book, we see Eliezer's faith completely crumble, as he describes the death of his God. I think this says a lot about what is to come in the book, possibly showing a complete turning/transition point, as we can see that Eliezer is a completely changed person, and not necessarily in a "positive" way.

Instinct vs. compassion Ch.4

  In this chapter Elie Weisel describes what it was like to be living in the camp and working for the Kappo. The things that stood out for me was how close to animals people were being treated and were acting. Throughout the chapter Weisel compares something's worth in rations and soup. All everyone seems to focus on is food and nothing else becomes important. Even the Kappos behaved like animals. A good example of this is when Elie catches their Kappo with the Polish girl. The Kappo is following a very animalistic desire and by beating the prisoners and making them afraid he exerts an almost alpha male complex. By taking away the hummanity of others the Kappo also lost his. This stood out to me in contrast with the French girl saying kind words to Elie after he was beaten. The stark difference in instinct versus compassion really stood out to me. 

Ch. 4- Death and Soup

I made a connection between Elie's description of the soup after the first execution by hanging he witnessed and his description of the soup after he witnessed the hanging of a young boy. He had said the soup tasted better than it ever had before after the first execution, but a couple pages later, after the angel-like boy was hung, he said the soup tasted like corpses. I think maybe he described the soup as tasting better to him the first time because after witnessing a strong boy who had survived three years in concentration camps get executed, Elie realized how lucky he was to still be alive, and was so thankful for the soup ration that kept him alive that it tasted better to him. In contrast, when the young boy was executed, he had the opposite reaction because the boy was so innocent and adored by everyone. Elie was not thankful to be alive after witnessing the boy's death, and he voiced his doubt in God. This is why I think the soup tasted to him like corpses-because of all the death that surrounded him and the likeliness that he wouldn't be able to escape it.

Chapter 4 Thoughts

In this chapter, Wiesel talks a bit about his shoes and gold tooth, and throughout the chapter he tries to keep both as he refuses a deal for his shoes and finds a way to avoid the dentist. Wiesel states that he wanted to keep the tooth in case he could use in an emergency for food, but along with the shoes, I feel like he tried so hard to keep both because they were some of the last items he still had from his previous life. They served as reminders of a time that was better, and by taking them away, Wiesel would be losing just that much more of his humanity because he would truly have almost nothing that belonged to him at that point.

Rationalize...or Empathize?

A recurring theme within this chapter focused on Elie's apparent loss of empathy. The idea is first introduced when he observes his father being beaten by Idek. Despite the harshness of the beating, Elie admits that in the moment he was angered by his father, not the Kapo who was beating him.

Again, Elie's apathy is demonstrated when he's illustrating the hanging of the young man who was accused of stealing during the air raid. Elie openly admits that "the thousands of people who died in Auschwitz and Birkenau...no longer troubled [him]." After witnessing and enduring so much brutality, it almost seems as if Elie's completely lost his ability to feel compassion towards his fellow inmates, let alone his own father. 

But that's where we see the complexities of Elie's character. Even as he admits to feeling contempt towards inmates who are being victimized by the SS soldiers, he still tries to teach his father how to march in step so that he can escape the beatings, and he still feels upset about the deaths of the falsely accused inmate and the "angelic" young pipel.

Though we may not be able to relate directly to Elie's situation, I think many of us can understand the conflicting emotions which dwell within him. A lot of times when a situation appears hopeless, it's easier, and perhaps even safer, to blame the victim. Some find it easier to blame the homeless for living on the streets, or to blame "promiscuous" women for being raped because in their minds, they must rationalize such irrational situations by forcing someone to be held accountable.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not implying that we're all heartless people, or even that Elie is heartless. Obviously many of us don't agree with those prior assertions, but I'm just using them to illustrate the conflict of emotions that I observe within Elie. Even when we may blame victims for their hardship, it's still our innate desire to feel compassion for others, as Elie did towards the young pipel. And the fact that Elie still is able to feel this compassion in spite of all that's happened truly attests to the idea that compassion is a quintessential aspect of our humanity. At the end of the day, even when our brains may tell us to rationalize, our hearts still insist that we empathize. 

Chap 4

When Eliezer gives up his gold tooth to help his dad from getting beat up it shows his priorities between life and money. This reminds me of the article we read in class "The Bet", a bit because they both choose life over material objects. Some may say Eliezer has a weakness towards his father, but I don't believe cherishing life is a weakness. Hitler was in power for so long because of how he killed tons of people,  historians seem to forget the  heroic stories that happened between the Jews and other groups too. Although before this Idek goes crazy and beats up his dad and Elizer gets mad at his dad for not avoiding Idek rather  than getting mad at him for hurting his father. This seems unlike Eliezer from the beginning of the book but reading through you notice how he responds to things differently. Eliezers rebelion against God is bad but also helping him because he is able to remain alive  due to the switch of his prioites which is  protecting himself. I feel as if this is a foreshadow to the future chapters on how these experiences have changed him as a person deep down inside.

Chap 3

In chapter three at the camps they take the men and strip off there cloths, shave there heads, and give them identical striped clothing all the same. Wiesel pronounced," We ceased to be men," this makes me thing of how the Germans believe they are more human than the Jews. They take away everything that symbolizes individualism and this gives Eliezer second thoughts about God. He beings to question everything, his own identity and being a child even though he's only 15. Eliezer's thoughts to commit suicide seem like a big step for some one so young. Although I feel like it was even a bigger step to stay alive because this way he could stay with his father.

Chapter 4

The part that stood out to me the most about this chapter was that Elie continued to see cruelty and inhumane actions done to others and him. In chapter one Elie was a devout Jew and had a lot of faith in his religion. In chapter three he seemed to start losing some of this faith but not all of it because he still prayed even in the worst moments. But finally in this fourth chapter he seems to completely lost faith in God when he saw a child being hanged. Not only Elie, but most Jews seemed to now believe that God doesn’t exist because he’d never let any of these atrocities happen. Apart from that change in Elie, he also seems to care more for himself rather than being with his father. Survival seems to be his priority. I believe that all these terrible events Elie has been viewing have been slowly dehumanizing him since now he cares more for himself than others. 

Pain

The concentration camp ha changed Elie. He sees pain and cruelty so often he's desensitized to it. it seems that one of his survival techniques is to remove himself from pain so it doesn't affect him or his ability to survive. This concept was first developed when Idek beat Elie and he held himself from crying out. It was further drawn out when Idek beat Elie father and Elie stayed quiet. When the first few hangings took place Elie still was able to eat well despite the cruelty of this act. Not until a child was hanged that Elie woke up and realized that there was more to the concentration camp than just surviving.

Chapter 4

     The last few pages of this chapter were the most important for me. When the Germans hung the child in the gallows and the Jews were forced to look him in the eye as he hung in limbo between life and death, that marked the complete loss of faith in humanity for many of the prisoners and for Elie as well. A man behind him remarks "For God's sake, where is God?" and another man replies that God is hanging here in the gallows. The Jews believe that God is dead, and this event marks the end of their attempt at holding out hope.
 
     This chapter also highlights the fact that Elie is becoming more detached from his father and more focused on survival. I think he is still very much attached to his father, but he is now able to watch him get beaten, and focus only on staying far away enough to avoid one himself. He also makes a point of highlighting hunger throughout the chapter, referring to soup constantly and noting the inmates complaints of always being hungry. They just want to survive, and that is no easy task.

Staying Alive

In chapter four, one thing I noticed was that the Jews were loosing empathy towards the other prisoners and were acting more like animals.  For example, when Elie witnessed his father being beaten, all he thinks about is getting farther away so he doesn't get beaten. This demonstrates the he is concentrated on his own survival rather than showing compassion for his father. Many of the prisoners also acted the same way. They cared only about themselves and ceased to care about others. They were obsessed with food and this became vital to their survival. Food had ultimately become the only thought of the prisoners and because of this, they became detached from feeling any other emotions. For example, when the Jews were about to witness the first execution of one of the prisoners, Juliek had said, "This ceremony, will it be over soon? I'm hungry..." In a moment were they were about to witness death, all Juliek cared about was food rather than feeling sad. This further shows their desire for food and longing to stay alive. 

Chapter 4

In this chapter, it is more obvious how the Jews were just simply trying to survive.  Wiesel seems to be mostly concerned with his survival, and not of others.  When he heard that the dentist who did not end up taking his gold cap was killed, Wiesel did not care.  He was only concerned with making it through another day by fighting off starvation.  He also was not concerned with his father's safety when he was being beat by Idek.  There are other times, however, when Wiesel does feel sympathy for others.  Wiesel gave in and gave up his gold cap when his father was being beaten by the foreman.  He also was extremely saddened when he saw the young boy hanged and slowly die.  This shows that despite the efforts of the Nazis, Wiesel has not been completely dehumanized and still shows emotion towards others.

Ch 3

I thought it was shocking how Eli didn't react when the kapo hit his father because he was/is so afraid of losing him, and I would assume that he wouldn't want anyone and anything to threaten their togetherness. It seems he is more afraid of the evil the kapos/Germans are capable of now. I think this provided as a reality check of how numb and detached they became from themselves. Also, I think Eli's silence ties into how the Germans have silenced the Jews' suffering from the world. 

Ch 4

I found it interesting how the soups taste different when different people were executed. First he said the soup tasted the best it had ever when the older man that did not show much emotion was killed but when the little boy was killed he said it tastes of corpse. I think the soup tasted of corpse to him because of the fact that the little boy struggles before he died. He was hanging for more time then the older men and when he looked him in the eyes he could see that he was alive. I also think that he saw himself in the little boy and thought how he would be suffering if it was him that had gotten hanged.

Chapter 3 Undescribable

For this chapter I would like to call attention to Elie's intentional style of writing. At the end of Chapter 3 some guards, while having the Jews walk or work or something, mess around with some German girls. They laugh, kiss, tickle, and tease them, obviously having a good time flirting with the young women. When reading this, I tried to imagine Elie's unimaginable torment at seeing his captors  leisurely enjoy the presence of women. While the guards are at ease casually having fun with these women, he's been forced by these guards to be separated from his family, watch his fellow Jews die, be treated inhumanely, and be forced to work against his will. The extreme injustice is unable to be captured in words; which is why I notice Elie said nothing about this cruel injustice. He simply said what happened, but offered no further commentary. Perhaps he understood he could not explain his emotion behind what he saw simply because he could not capture the full extent of what he felt through words, so he left it obvious enough for the readers to understand. By saying something he would've limited the definition of how he felt to what he said, and that definition would've probably not been an adequate reflection of his emotions. In addition, by saying what he felt, it would've isolated the rest of his fellow Jews who were also watching- I'm sure they felt the very same injustice Elie felt. (Thanks to my table group for helping me come up with this.)

Ch. 3 Writing style and meaning

Weisel wrote this chapter in a detached way to emphasize his loss of identity. And although he writes in a style that seems more like stating facts and retelling events as they happened, there is no need for added emotional words or any more description, because the reader gets the full affect from just reading what unfolds, as well as “reading between the lines”. An example of this is when Elie’s relative Stein is known to be dead by the reader (whether by suicide or some other means is not clear) although it is not explicitly stated that he is dead. It is inferred from the text because Stein had said “the only thing that keeps me alive is to know that Reizel and the little ones are still alive”. When he finds out the truth that they’re not (which is also not explicitly stated but can be inferred by what happens to Stein) he most likely gave up on life and killed himself or found some other way to death.

"'For God's sake, where is God?'"

As I read, it gets harder and harder to continue because I never know what cruel thing I will discover on the next page. "...there existed here a traffic of children among homosexuals..." "He threw himself on me...crushing me with ever more violent blows..." "He began beating him with an iron bar." It's hard to imagine that anyone is even capable of this behavior, this lack of humanity.

I think the thing that really got me though was the hanging of the pipel at the very end of the chapter. I think Wiesel packed that story full of emotion, I was on the verge of tears just reading it. It's hard for me to imagine any man, any human, being able to kill a small child, and yet, here it is, made into a show for the whole camp to endure. But the strange thing, almost beautiful, if there could be a beautiful moment in such a horrific event, was the slight glimpse into the small pieces of humanity still left in the Kapos and officers as one refused to be executioner and the other's voice cracked as he yelled the command. The innocence of a child brings out the best in most, and when that innocence is stolen from them, many people's humanity peeps through the cracks of their hardened hearts. But then you have to wonder, why do they continue to take part in the concentration camps? Why follow such inhumane, cruel, disgusting orders? Maybe they also have someone to fear. And fear is the most powerful emotion out there.

Ch. 3- A-7713

I found the whole notion of lost identity to be quite interesting. It's understandable that Eliezer would feel like he lost his identity after he was stripped, shaved, and branded, however I feel as though he lost it before then. Once he was separated from his family, I feel that he lost a part of himself, seeing that they were very close. Then when he was forced to lie about his age and profession, it was like another strike at his identity, especially since he was highly devoted to being a student of Talmud. Then the more physical things later on just topped it off, and sealed in the notion that Eliezer Wiesel was no longer young Elie, but rather, A-7713.

Ch. 4 Food is Lyfe

What caught my attention this chapter was how often food was mentioned. Everyone was fixated on obtaining more food.  Their food rations played a vital role in their survival in Buna. It served as a sort of currency amongst the prisoners. They were rewarded with extra rations, and punished with less. The prisoners' constant state of fear and malnourishment have made them take on a "survival of the fittest" mindset. The only thing keeping any of them alive was their daily soup and bread, so it makes sense that their lives revolve around it.

Chapter 4

I noticed that the tone for this chapter changed slowly. It was rather soft and calm in the beginning, nothing big was happening really, it even seemed that things would get smoother for Elie and his father. However as I continued to read the chapter, I noticed that slowly, things started to take a turn for the worst. I'm not sure where it started to really go down hill, some could argue around the time Elie was beaten by Idek, others might say when he witnessed his father being beaten. Then at the end, I'd say it ended with a sad tone because of the child's hanging. This chapter did not seemed rushed to me, and by that I am referring to the events of the day. The previous chapters seemed almost hurried in a sense, because so much was going on in a short time. But I personally felt that this chapter was a lot smoother with the transitions and events.

Chapter 4: Change

There are several things that I found interesting in this chapter. First, was the fact that Wiesel didn't immediately give away his golden tooth. Even when his father told him not to and was punished for two weeks. It seems that the situation that he and the rest of the people were in had forced them to change and survive. I also realized that Wiesel wanted to survive since he was hoping to buy food or survive in exchange for his golden tooth. Second, in some ways Wiesel also seemed to have lost respect for his father " I kept silent...I... not to suffer the blows...I felt anger at my father...that was what life in a concentration camp had made of me..." Earlier in the book Wiesel stated that he wanted to defend and felt upset that his father was slapped. But, the concentration camp really did change him and instilled great fear in him and in many people, except for the man who took the cauldron of soup. Third, Wiesel was among the people who envied the man who dared to risk his life for soup, because he couldn't do it, fear was greater than hunger. Lastly, towards the end of the chapter it also seemed like Wiesel gave up hope of surviving the Holocaust when the "America planes dissipated in the wind and there we were, in our cemetery."

CH 4 - Food's Symbolism

The thing that stood out to me in this chapter was how often food was mentioned. At the start of the chapter I thought that food was being used as a symbol to show the dehumanization of the Jews -- people "dreamed more of an extra portion of food than of liberty" and even Elie stated that all that began to matter to him was his daily soup and bread. Later in the chapter I realized that the food also stood for hope.

After the first hanging, the author said that the soup tasted better than ever. I think this was because of the shouting that occurred right before, "Long live liberty..."
I think that scene stirred up Elie and others and possibly gave them a sense that things were going to start changing. After the hanging with the pipel, it was said that the soup tasted of corpses. I think this may have meant something very dark considering the scene at the cauldron during the bombing, but I think it also shows a loss of hope. Things weren't getting any better and now children were being hung at the gallows, I think that Elie was starting to lose all hope and that's why the soup was suddenly so bad to him.

Chapter 4

This chapter was a much longer chapter, and I felt that it just gave small glimpses into spend of the most memorable hardships that Wiesel faces while inside Buna. However, the memory that struck me the most was the hanging of the young boy. The matter of which he died was just so horrible to think about, let alone watch this boy drift off slowly to death. The boy was killed through no direct fault if his own, and he was someone that a lot of the men enjoyed and were saddened with his death. I think that this haunts both the author and the reader because the boys balance between life an death is what every prisoner in that concentration camp were experiencing. The the German officers eyes and weapons were the "ropes" at the their neck and the more time that passed, the more they felt their lives drifting away.

Moral

The topic of humanity coincides with many arguments over moral. In this chapter the subject is touched on multiple times but the most puzzling challenge to morality came when Elie lied to his distant relative about the conditions of the rest of his family. He wanted to give false hope to his relative, this I understand, parents do this for their children out of love. I question if Elie's actions were out of love, or if he was really trying to convince himself of the state of his own siblings. I think he was really lying to himself, and if so would he forgive himself if the truth was that his mother and sisters perished? The theme of false hope continues. At the end of the chapter the author reverts back to a narrative tone as he describes the giggling German girls, as an audience this left me unsatisfied as I would like to know more of what he was feeling as he witnessed happiness, while he was discovering misery. Possibly the narrative tone is metaphorical for the nakedness and numbness he was experiencing.

"No. . . [You two are] eighteen and forty."

There seemed to be two polar sides of humanity defined in chapter 3. We know that the inhumane and grotesque scenes involved the "pit and its flames", and the other (small) scene included the person stood out to me the most--the inmate who interrogated Elie. I think the author intended on demonstrating a sharp contrast between the two to emphasize how precious/impactful that man was. 

His words were, "'No. You're eighteen . . . No. Not fifty. You're forty. Do you hear? Eighteen and forty.'" 

He defines the peak of humanity at this point in the chapter for his heroic advice. Age seemed to mean a difference between life and death, and he had determined the fate of Elie and his father, because immediately after they had given their "age" they were directed to barracks, and then the concentration camp rather than the furnace.

Also, (not related to the info above) it seems as if Elie's lies have naturally improved for the sake of protecting himself and his father, and with knowledge of what they'd be confined to if he tells the truth. This develops as he adjusted to this new way of living (transporting to a concentration camp.) He lies about the ages (which he was told to do), but after that he lies about his profession and other personal information without hesitation. 

Ch2- In their boots

One thing that stuck with me  from this chapter was the actions of the  German soldiers. I by no means believe that they did was okay but I think it is interesting to place ourselves in their situation. I think we all would like to assume we could never be convinced to commit such horrendous acts, but if we were honestly in that situation it might easily be a different story. It is very easy to criminalize the Nazi soldiers but you have to keep in mind not only were their lives in danger if they did not comply but their families back home. During this time the German economy was very low and inflation was high. Military service was one of the few jobs available.  The loss of this income could easily mean starvation for a soldier's family. Having read memoirs from the other side I know that some of the soldiers were horrified with the acts they were ordered to commit but afraid to step out of line. However, by no means did they have to be the level of harsh that they often were, such as immediately beating the Jews in the car to push them out rather than simply ordering them out.

Ch1 - Who are you fooling?

When tragedy strikes, people as a group typically have three ways of dealing with it: 1)ignore the issue all together pretending it never happened, 2) try to be strong and optimistic for each other saying things no one believes, 3) confine their fears in one another and band together in it for strength leaning on one another and working together to find a solution.

Throughout the chapter all the characters are too afraid to admit the truth out loud to voice their fears to one another.  People often justify this as "being strong" for others or protecting them. They were masks of fake optimism fooling no one for they are all are playing the same charade rendering it pointless. They isolated themselves with their fears leading their only solace to pretend. I wonder what could have happened if enough citizens had been brave enough to own up to their fears leading to real discussion of what was happening. If enough people had been willing to admit to reality, would they have worked harder to find an alternative solution besides waiting? Would they have escaped?

(And yes I finally managed to get this post published! :D)

Chapter 3

When reading chapter three, I was horrified at all the atrocities going on in the camps, such as a pit where babies where being burned and a pit for adults. Not only that, but families were torn apart. Elie was separated from his family and left with only his father. He lived with the fear that at one point he would be taken away from his dad too. This is heartbreaking not only because he was torn apart from his family, but because Elie finally seems to have lost hope in humanity. At the beginning of the book, Elie was a Jew who studied his religion and had faith but at this point in the book that seems to have changed. 

Death

Death was all around the remanding Jews of Sighet in Auschwitz as the option for them is work or get burned to death in the crematorium. This change all the remaining Jews as they started to realize that this is no dream. It made few pray but others like Elie lost their faith in god. All started to turn selfish as they only though of living not the conditions of the rest. This is scary as it just the first day in the concentration camp. This reminds me a little of how U.S Marine Corps Basic Training changes people.

Ch.3 Animals

In this chapter, I noticed a dramatic shift in character in the Jews from humans to animals. Everything going on around them-- the fires, the soldiers, the cries-- gives the Jews a reason to fear for their lives. And in this state of fear, they are compliant with the Nazi soldiers. The Jews do not hesitate when instructed to do something. They become dogs, loyal to their masters, fearful of being stricken for disobedience. 

Thoughts on Chapter 3 (I'll think of more precise titles later)

In this chapter, Wiesel very clearly discusses the idea of humanity, or the lack thereof, that he is introduced to in Auschwitz-Birkenau. One of the first images he has of this place is that of Nazis burning babies in a pit. All at once, he's torn apart from his mother and sister, sees unbelievable atrocities being committed, and learns he has only two paths-- work or death. He thinks it must not be possible, that there is no way humanity would sit back and allow this to happen, to remain silent in the face of evil. At only 16, his faith begins to fall apart, and this is very clearly linked to the lack of humanity that surrounds him. I thought it was interesting, though, that others see this lack of humanity as all the more reason to put their faith in God and in divine redemption. Whereas they see the atrocities being committed as separate from God, I think that Elie saw it as something God allowed to happen, something God didn't protect them from. Obviously they, and others weren't deserving of the violations they were submitted to by the Nazis, and that must've been immeasurably difficult to cope with.
At one point in particular, Elie's father is beaten by the Kapo for asking if he can use the bathroom. It's very clear that Elie was troubled by his silence and lack of action in response to this event. He believes that as recently as the day before, he wouldve done something, but Auschwitz changed him. This silence seems to mimic that of people to the inhumanity of the National Socialist party/Hitler's regime, and I think that the idea of sitting back and allowing bad things to happen will be a major theme of the book as a whole.

Chap 2

In chapter two I fell terrible for all the people who had to struggle through those conditions. I don't see how one person would be able to live with all this cruelty under there belt. I wonder in the back of my mind how the German officers felt inforcing these inhuman acts. I wonder if I was in this time how I would react, what side would I be on? Would I kill people for my own safety to stay alive or would I go through the torture just to know I didn't kill someone. I also ponder if in the ghettos if I would committ suicide. In chapter two, a woman by the name Mrs. Schächter was on the transportation train and losing her mind. By the third night she was screaming about a fire that did not exist. She was torn apart from her family and was hallucinating from her thirst. Men would gag her and struck her to keep her quiet. Her reaction to me seems completely normal so when they would blow her with lethal hits it seems unimaginable! And then all along she was right, there was a fire. They all judged her quickly to think she was sicopathic but I personally think her story is amazing because it's like she saw the future of what was bound to happen.

ch.3 thoughts

I find it admirable how even in the face of looming death, while some of the younger Jews were ready to start a rebellion, most of the older ones were able to stop them and hold on to their faith. Some may say that it was foolish for them to have just sat back and let all these terrible things happen to them without fighting back, but this was their way of still trying to retain that last part of them that they could still try and hold onto. Who knows what would have happened if they had started a rebellion within the camp, but attacking the ones who wronged them would have made them lose a part of their humanity as it would be against their faith.

Stein

In this chapter, I was shocked that Stein ended his life when he heard that his family was not alive but, I understand why he did it. Stein was given reassurance that his family was okay and that was his only motivation to keep enduring all the torment. He said it himself. I think that's what kept most of the Jews from both ending there own life and revolting. It was seen when the father asked his sons not to revolt in the beginning of the chapter and when Eliezer didn't run into the barbwire to end his life because his dad was still along is side.

Hope

Some of the Jews still said their prayers. Some still held out hope. "God is testing us" they said. How long could I have held out hope? How long until I let my circumstances make me into an unthinking unfeeling beast of burden? If my family had been taken, my clothes taken, my name taken, would I have let them take hope as well? Hope was the only thing left that they could keep. The one thing that could not be taken away from them. It seems easy to ask a million "what if's" but those questions cannot be answered so I think they are better left unasked. Instead I am going to be more thankful for the child hood I was able to enjoy.

Chapter 3

   This chapter really created a very detailed image of Auschwitz and Birknau. The author describes how the second they got off the train men and woman, whole families, were separated. Throughout the whole chapter Elie and his father kept getting seperated into groups praying that they wouldn't be in the wrong group that went to the crematorium. The constant fear that the people living in the camps had was probably the worst torture of all. People were worried that they may never see their families again but had to keep focusing on their own survival. Elie and his father had to keep making stories up about the mother and sister in order to stay focused on the day ahead of them. Imagine living in constant fear for your life and being completely helpless of your own fate.   

Chapter 3 - Auschwitz

When reading this chapter, I really tried to pay attention to Wiesel's struggle with his own religion and beliefs. Due to all the atrocities that he's witnessing while he and his father are going through the "selection" he admits he will "never forget those moments that murdered my God..." However, he still finds himself muttering a prayer to himself. I think that this attempts to show the reader the struggle that even the most pious Jew faced when they were forced to a concentration camp. The things that were occurring where so horrific and ungodly that it was hard for the majorities to remain hopefully.

Chapter 3 - A Transformation?

Having read this novel before, I know this is quite possibly the most painful chapter in the whole book to read. The part where Elie and his father are separated from his Mother and sister is particularly heartbreaking. That was one point that I distinctly remembered even 3 years after reading it. While this is difficult to read, I think the most painful part is watching Elie transform from a devout Jew who wants nothing more than to study his religion in the first chapter, into someone who has lost all faith in humanity and is now questioning why he should praise God after entering this Hell on Earth called Auschwitz. As they near the crematoria he even goes so far as debate committing suicide, something which would have been unheard of for him just days before. This transformation that Elie has gone through was the most difficult thing for me to read thus far.

When I read chapter three I noticed that there were a lot of ironies that Wiesel mentioned. Wiesel mentioned when he was marching he noticed an inscription that said " WARNING! DANGER OF DEATH. Was there a single place where one was not in danger of death? I felt like somehow the Nazis were just playing with the Wiesel and the rest of the people. Then when the Pole gave a speech " Comrades...don't lose hope. You have already eluded the worst danger...", I just thought that this speech was ironic because most of people have already lost hope and they have not yet eluded the worst danger since danger was implemented everywhere. Also which danger was worse: to survive he selection or to pass the selection and suffer a didn't punishment? Adding to this Wiesel also said that the Pole's words were the " first human words". I think that all those words in the Pole's speech were a slow conclusion of death, but Wiesel probably thought that these were the first decent words, because they were more decent and less cruel than he and rest of the people had received since they arrived to Auschwitz.

Loss of Faith

During chapter three, one thing that caught my attention was the fact that Ellie started to question God and loose his faith. "Why should I sanctify His name?... What was there to thank Him for?" He questioned as to how God could let inhumanity exist in the world. I believe he did this because he couldn't imagine how God could let innocent people be tortured and killed. I also found it interesting that at one point in the  chapter it is mentioned that the only way to survive the concentration camp was to have complete faith in God and to continue hoping that things will get better. But, it is especially hard to believe in God, when Ellie and the Jews are witnessing such attrocities occur to their loved ones. 

Chapter 3

In this chapter, we see the ways that Jews are treated like less than humans.  When they arrived at the concentration camp, they were shaved, disinfected, and branded.  All humans have names, and even animals have names. The way that the Nazis took their name away and replaced it with a number shows how inhumanely they were treated. They were also spoken to like animals by the guards.  Wiesel seemed to by very affected by this treatment.  He said that he did not feel anything when he saw his father hit in the face.   The way people are treated is the way they began to act and feel.

Chapter 3 - "Never Shall I Forget..."

"I didn't know that this was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever."This line appears on the very first page of the chapter, and although Wiesel does not go into detail about it, it really stood out to me. The line felt like it held so much meaning. There was no way he could have known he would never see his mother and sisters again, and I'm sure he still has no idea what exactly happened to them, but maybe it's better not to know. The one thing that I find odd is that he never mentions his other sisters leaving him, only his youngest sister Tzipora. I just wonder if they were not there with them in the first place or if he just shared a bigger connection and love for his youngest sister? I'm not sure we'll ever know the answer to that.

The other lines that really stood out to me was: "The student of Talmud, the child I was, had been consume by the flames....My soul had been invaded - and devoured - by a black flame." In my post for chapter two, I mentioned the symbolism of the fire and how it would consume them figuratively and literally, and it turns out Wiesel felt the same way. A flame truly had consumed the person he once was as the fear of death surrounded him, changing every aspect of the child he arrived as. He was now a whole new person faced with the truth and horrors that lay behind the walls of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Chapter 3

 I personally found the very first page for this chapter quite powerful. Because the author did not describe nor mention his family in the previous chapter, they are the first to be mentioned in chapter 3. Whether or not that was intentional, I don't know. However the way he described their separation was truly heartbreaking. I felt that his family was a close one, perhaps not all the time considering that his father wasn't aware of family matters, regardless there was respect and love. I believe that this sudden split, was the beginning of Elie's doubt towards not only God, but of humanity. Though this time I did take into consideration that he wrote this based on his memory, perhaps the small details involving "Mother was stroking my sister's blond hair, as if to protect her." were added to increase the intensity of what he felt that first night, or perhaps it's a faint final memory that he'd like to keep in a peaceful tone.

The Real News

Was it selflessness of was it cruelty for Elie to lie to Stein about the fate of his family? What would you have done in that situation?

We learned from Tim O'Brien in the The Things They Carried, that there are different perceptions of truth, however, in the case of Stein's family, Elie could be presumably discern that they were dead. I've yet to determine how I feel about Elie's decision because after all, it was a though predicament to be in. Here you are in this foreign and terribly bleak situation where you have no idea what will happen to you or when it will happen, or even why it will happen. You've already endured so much, the loss of your family, the death of your faith, the presence of the crematorium, and even now when it seems like things are finally settling down, you're forced to make an incredible decision.

I believe it was in Heart of Darkness where the narrator met the wife/girlfriend ( sorry, but I really don't recall much from this book) of that crazy adventurer guy who died of illness, and upon meeting her, he lied about the deceased man's last words to comfort her. I'm not completely sure, but perhaps  the situation with Elie and Stein and maybe Elie was simply lying to protect Stein. 

Even then, Stein still discovered the "real truth", however, so I wonder, was the lie truly worth it? 

CH 3 - Scenery

One thing that I noticed in this chapter as well as the first one was the way Wiesel describes the scenery as things are happening. When he talks about going to the camp and being treated so poorly, I imagine everything very dull and grey but then he mentions the bright sky and how nice the sunset is. This shocked me at first because I didn't think that there would be anything nice in a situation like this but I think he may have added these details to make a point. His point being that they were in this horrendous place but no one was coming to their rescue and life everywhere else was continuing as it normally would have. Life in the camp was awful but the weather was nice, just as it would have been if there wasn't a concentration camp.

Chapter 3- Irony

"Didn't you know what was in store for you here in Auschwitz? You didn't know?"

I find it kind of ironic how the Germans expected the Jews to know what was waiting for them once they reached the internment camps. It's ironic for two reasons. One, how could the Germans expect the Jews to know what treatment they would be receiving once they reached Auschwitz if the Germans held the Jews in the ghetto and regulated their lives? How could the Jews receive the information? And two, it's ironic how in reality the Jews did know what was waiting for them in Auschwitz. They received multiple warnings from Moishe but then dismissed his warnings. So in fact the Jews did know of the torment but they chose not to believe Moishe, and that resulted in them "not knowing".

Humanity

The cattle cars are a clear indication of how little the Germans are concerned for the Jewish peoples well-being. The Jews were no longer treated like human beings, nor did they behave as such. They were prisoners. Crammed within the dark confines of the cattle car with little food and water, they waited in fear. They didn't know what they were waiting for, nor where they were headed, but they held on to what little hope was left. There was no shame in beating Mrs. Schatcher, but rather encouragement to silence her, further proving how the once civil Jews were becoming undone by the inhuman environment. Upon their arrival at the camp, the Jews humanity was taken from them already.

Thoughts on Chapter 2

In this chapter, our attention was drawn largely, again, to the dehumanization the Jews of Sighet were subject to at the hands of the German soldiers. However, rather than just show the ways in which the Jews were dehumanized, Wiesel used this chapter to really highlight the effects of their experience on the group as a whole. Clearly, the entire group had just abut reached their breaking point, and when faced with even more stress, such as that inflicted by Mrs. Schächter's hysterical screams, they lashed out. Stress, even on a small scale or as a result of the motions of daily life, causes significant mental and emotional damage in people, and I can't even imagine having to face such a situation as the Jews of Sighet have up to this point in the book. Knowing that their situation will continue to worsen makes me wonder how the group will interact later on, how the effects of their increasingly traumatic experiences will change.
On another note, part of me believes that this breaking down of the Jews' sanity, for lack of a better word, was a deliberate facet of Nazis' overall mission. I noted this in a comment on another post, but I feel the German soldiers, under the National Socialist party, definitely acted in such ways so as to incrementally break downt the Jews and dehumanize them, to prolong and intensify their suffering. This probably also helped the Nazi party to become as horribly successful as they were, because it would delay  intervention by the Allied Powers.

Powerful phrases

In my mind I connect the cattle cars and the dehumanizations they represent to the slave trade, when thousands of slaves were subjected to small spaces filled with filth and squalor. "Our eyes opened. Too late". This phrased started the chapter in a powerful way because the author reflected on the events that metaphor and similes are the best way to not only draw the reader's attention and force them to empathize with the situation. When Elie Wiesal writes, "The world had be one a hermetically sealed cattle car," I can almost Imagine being there. "Look at the flames." This became the most powerful phrase of them all because what they believed as the consequence of madness turned into reality in the end and this simulated to the reader the blinding sense of ignorance that the Jews faced.

Division

One of the most destructive tools of the Holocaust was division. In chapter 1 we saw how United and cohesive the Jewish community in Hungary was; they weren't only United by their cultural and religious similarities, but they genuine cared for one another, even supporting a homeless man like Moishe. Even when they were forced into the ghettos, the Jews continued to retain their community and cohesion despite the increasing severity of their situation. 

But something about the cattle cars has begun to dissolve the ties which are so central to this Jewish community. Marian made a good observation in the last chapter about the cattle cars dehumanizing effects, and I think that his in fact is also the key to the devolution of the Jews unity. From the moment a fellow Jew is assigned to ensure that everyone remains in the cart, with the penalty of death if the orders aren't followed, the Germans begin to pit the Jews against one another. As opposed to the situation being an "us" against "them" scenario, it's now becoming a "me" against everyone else because now everyone has to protect their own skins. 

This is perhaps the most detrimental physical and psychological tactic of the Holocaust because it forces everyone to endure the pain and fear of their brutality alone.

Ch. 2 - "Fight Fire with Fire, Ending is Near"

I found the whole situation with Mrs. Schachter to be quite interesting. Her complaining at first is quite understandable considering she has been separated from her husband, however it is her later cries that are the most interesting. When Mrs. Schachter is screaming about fire, most people just write it off as her being crazy, and she may have been. However, the other people in the train car later realized that she was referring to the furnaces at Auschwitz-Birkenau, as indicated by the smokestacks they would later see. It is possible that Mrs. Schachter had been having visions, but it could also have just been a way for Wiesel to foreshadow the upcoming horror that they would experience at the camp.

   In the second chapter of this book there was an instant when I was moved by madame Schachter's little boy trying to console her and stop her hysteria. I realized that this little kid was quite mature and caring as he held onto his mother's hand. I also thought that even though I felt really bad for how Mrs. Schachter was feeling about the whole situation, and her 'spooky' (at least I think so, but if you know something more about this then post) knowledge of how fire would be involved in the massacre of the Jews and other people, I felt that she should have come back to her senses because her son was terrified and afraid and he needed her at that moment. She should have consoled him ( which might have been quite useless however it might have helped the little kid to feel better) or at least not have scared him even more since he was already scared. " It's nothing Mother! There's nothing there... Please sit down...he pained me even more than did his mother's cries."

The Train Ride

The train ride from Sighet to Auschwitz, the focus of the second chapter, demonstrates how the Nazi Germans where able to easily dehumanize other humans. In the ride, the Germans packed 80 Jews into each train car like if they where livestock being ship to a slaughterhouse. You can see that they don't think Jews are humans because they denied  all natural rights to the Jews throughout the ride. The welfare of the people is disregarded by them as only a ration of food is given to the group as a whole to last the entire ride.

A journey

  The thing that stood out to me most in this chapter was the Nazi's attempt to dehumanize the Jews. Throughout the chapter the Jews are being hearded from ghetto to ghetto and having all their belongings taken from them. The right to property is a basic human right and for all of their belongings to be taken away shows the extent to which the Nazi's would go to strip them of their humanity. Finally when they beat them and threatened them into the cattle car,they fit 80 people in one car. Even when they tried to get the woman into the hospital car a German officer said "she'll be there soon enough." implying her fate in the death camps. 

Ch 2 - Screams

I found it disturbing how they started to beat Madame Schächter until she would stop screaming because it showed how much the Nazis robbed the Jews of their humanity and their sense of morality. It was unsettling enough that she began screaming about seeing fires because in history we've learned how many Jews were often burned alive in furnaces or poisoned to death in gas chambers. So for me it ultimately called into question how she could've possibly had this premonition. They automatically thought  her to be insane but I think that when in the face of such cruelty, sanity and insanity become indistinguishable because our fear often takes control of us and it's as if our brain shuts down in order to cope. 

Chapter 2

From reading this second chapter, I wasn’t very surprised at how the Jews reacted towards Mrs. Schächter when she was screaming about a fire because of the way they reacted towards Moishe in chapter one (when he came back to Sighet and told them about how he escaped from all these atrocities the Nazis were doing to Jews). Although I wasn’t surprised at their actions towards Mrs. Schächter, I thought the Jews were in no position to hurt her. They should have understood that this was her way of getting through the terrible situation they were all put. Another thing that stood out to me was that maybe the fire Mrs. Schächter always screamed about was her gut feeling and anticipation about the Jews getting cremated at the concentration camps.

Beatings

One thing that stood out to me as I was reading chapter two, was the fact that Mrs. Schachter was beaten by young men when she screamed. I found this awful to read because she was an fifty year old women and was treated badly. No one even bothered to stop the beatings but rather many of the Jews "shouted their approval". This demonstrates that the Jews are beginning to become ruthless because of the way they were being treated. They were confined in a small space and left with very little food. It is as though they were being treated like animals. Because they are not respected and treated fairly, they begin to take this anger and frustration out on Mrs. Schacter. 

Screams

The screams of the women instilled fear into the Jews on the train. The women's screams echoed their own fear of the future. When they learned of their destination, their confidence soared. I wanted to yell out, "don't speak so soon," just like I had done in a movie theater on accident, but the scream stuck in my throat because I've read books similar to this one and most end in death. They could not see the foreshadowing of their future. These are the people who ripped you away from your home how could you not see the worst of humanity in them?

Chapter 2 - fire

To me, the fire and cattle car in this chapter were used as symbols to represent the  realization of the grave danger that these families are in. Due to be crammed in the cattle car, they have no where to run from the threat of the "fire" that Mrs. Schächter continues to scream about, and because of this they have to "open their eyes" to what they had refused to believe in the first chapter. I think that's why Wiesel feels the need to put such a short chapter in the book that doesn't mention anything of his family, because he wants to show the moment that all of the people he had known all his life realized that they were about to enter the hell that lies inside of Auschwitz.

Holding Out Hope

I am almost skeptical as to whether Mrs. Schachter really was screaming about a fire when they were in the cattle car because the foreshadowing is almost too accurate. With that being said, I closely followed the way Elie described Mrs. Schachter's son throughout her progression into insanity while they were on the train car. With her first few cries, he is very tearful and scared because of the way his mother is acting. As she continues, Elie notes that her son stops crying, but continues to cling to her. The son knows his mother has gone insane, but she is the only piece left of his broken world. His father and two older brothers are gone, and his mother is all he has left, insane or not. He continues to hold her and comfort her all the way through their journey, and Elie observes he is still clinging to her when they are forced to exit the car. I think these observations may mean that the boy is still clinging to the old life he had, whatever is left of it. He is clinging onto his mother the same way the Jews are clinging to the hope they will be okay, even though they know they are in too deep. The same way Mrs. Schachter is already too far gone.

ch.2

I was surprised when the man in charge of the wagon called for a German officer to help Mrs. Schachter but I realized why. When the German officer said she would be taken there soon he meant the fire. Mrs.Schachter realized it. From that point on she proves her point about the fire and becomes silent because she knows her fate. Sick or not she would see her death soon and her son would too. I think she took her sons hand because she understood that one way or another he wouldn't have the chance to live. If she died he wouldn't survive and if she was there because  he was to small he would be taken to the fire. I think she thought it was best for them to stick together whatever happened because of this.

Fire

A certain comment by Elie caught my attention when describing Mrs. Schachter's hallucination.

 " 'Jews, listen to me, ' she cried. ' I see a fire! I see flames, huge flames!'
It was as though she were possessed by some evil spirit. "

This is just a thought, and I realize it may be a stretch to say this, but perhaps Elie meant that has a double-entendre. This was definitely a rhetorical tactic to add to the horrific imagery and vivid detail in the reader's mind, but perhaps he also meant the reason behind the flames, the Germans, were possessed by an evil spirit as to explain why they were rounding up and slaughtering Jews. Their actions were too gross and too inhumane that an evil spirit's possession had to be the reason behind their actions.

I may be looking too much into it, but as I was reading this thought did come into my mind.

Fire

This woman, Mrs. Schachter, spent the entire train ride screaming about fire that she could see outside the train window and yet it was not there and no one else saw a thing. Knowing that the concentration camps had gas chambers and thousands of dead bodies were burned, I wonder if this event actually took place, or if the auther, Elie Wiesel, just wrote it to foreshadow the coming events. Fire can be used as a symbol and here, I do believe it represents the hell they are about to enter; the thing that will consume them figuratively and, for many, literally. It's hard for me to read this because I know exactly where they're are heading and the torment they are going to face there at Auschwitz, a name they had never heard but one they will soon never forget.

Chapter 2: Family?

I've already read this book many times in the past, but I've just noticed that during their trip in the cattle cars Elie did not mention his family. I did not read anything about what they did, how they were doing, what they did to cope with the changes. The chapter was mainly focused around Mrs. Schachter. I'm pretty sure they stayed together, he would have mentioned their separation if that was the case. However maybe he did this intentionally to focus on the aspects of their first survival trip before arriving at Auschwitz. Sort of to emphasize that this was like a first test of strength and endurance, and unfortunately Mrs. Schachter did not make the cut. Regardless I was disappointed and would have liked to have known what it was like to have spent their final moments together in that cramped cattle car.

Sticking Together

I used to have a soccer coach that told us, "When we're losing we can't blame each other and fight with each other. If we let the other team get inside our heads and pull ourselves apart for them, there is no way we have a chance of winning." When the Jews were on the train and Mrs. Schächter started going crazy, I thought of this. People on the train started gagging her and hitting her until she finally gave up, and I thought that they were in no position to hurt each other. If they turn on each other it only makes it easier for the Germans to pull them apart and destroy them. They, instead, should have been doing everything possible to stick together.

Ch. 1 - Should've Listened to Moishe

I found Moishe the Beadle's story to be quite interesting. After being forced to leave Sighet he was forced to dig his own grave, and was shot in the leg and left for dead. He then managed to survive and make his way back to Sighet. That alone was quite surprising, however I found the most surprising part to be when he warned the townfolk of what was to come. Even though he lived to tell the tale, most people didn't listen. The people of Sighet were quite ignorant to their quickly changing surroundings, and refused to believe something was wrong. Perhaps they knew it was coming, but did not want to accept it. Either way, it would come back to haunt them later on.

Chapter 2

I find the story of Mrs. Schächter sad, but very interesting.  She presents many similar traits to those of Moishe.  The town considered Moishe a lunatic, and those in the cattle car thought of Mrs. Schächter as a mad woman as well (although she may have been mad after being separated from her family).  Moishe had repeatedly warned the town of the atrocities that occurred, yet they did not believe them.  In the cattle car, Mrs. Schächter said that she could see fire and flames.  Although there were no flames there at those times, there was fire when they arrive at Birkenau, as well as the smell of burning flesh.

Chapter 1 Reasons Why

After reading chapter one, and reading everyone’s posts, I have concluded that there were many factors that resulted in the Jews not taking action or resisting the German officers. I think it was a combination of not knowing for sure what would really happen, not believing what would happen because they didn’t want to believe it.  In the beginning of the chapter, it is stated that there was always positive news that said the Red Army was on its way and the war wouldn’t last long, and people were so hopeful, they would even say it probably wouldn’t even reach them. I think due to this extra comfort from the radio and also due to not truly knowing what would happen if the war did reach them, the Jews remained confident that everything would blow over eventually and life would return to how it always was. Even with Moishe’s warning of terror and violence, the Jews didn’t react because they didn’t want to believe it. They were hearing on the radio that everything would be fine, and didn’t want to think about the possibility that they might be in danger.

Chapter 2- Sympathy

"She is mad, poor woman..." 

"Poor woman"... The fact that the Jews in the cattle car with Mrs. Schächter can find it in themselves to still feel bad for someone else after what has happened to them so far is beyond me. The Jews have been uprooted from not only their homes, but from their lives as a whole, and they still have yet to find out of all the torment they will soon receive. However, they set it all side and find it in themselves to sympathize for this woman who is going through the same circumstances. Instead of feeling bad for themselves for everything they have lost and wondering about what is to come, the Jews put their feelings aside and feel bad for Mrs. Schächter.

There is something that caught my attention In the beginning of the first chapter as Elie describes how Moishe was “expelled from Sighet” due to the fact that he was a foreign Jew. Then Elie conveys how “ days went by. Then weeks and months. Life was normal again. A calm...homes...good business...lived among books...children played…” His life once again became normal as Moishe’s life, as we soon find out, changes completely into a living nightmare. As I read this, I remember hearing and reading something similar and familiar to what Elie implied. Hopefully, many of you fellow readers can remember the famous statement “First they came for… then they came for me- and there was no one left to speak for me.” As Elie describes how life came back to normalcy after the foreign Jews were taken away, I realized that Elie and many other Jews did not care to the extent of taking action in order to help Moishe and the other foreign Jews. He even said that he cried as Moishe was taken away but his empathy only stretched to a certain length because he didn’t take an action to stop this expulsion. Then after days, weeks, and months he gradually forgot about it (to an extent) because he and the rest of his community went back to normalcy. However, when the Germans eventually came for him and the rest of his Jewish fellows that’s when he had hoped for a way to be saved and helped, but no came to help- not for a long time. You see when someone has never experienced a similar injustice in their lives it can become difficult for them to sometimes empathize with the other party, especially if they have never been in the similar situations. So, as I pondered even further into the famous statement and of how Elie felt in the beginning I came to realize that even though nothing can ever justify the atrocities that Hitler conducted towards millions of Jews and many other ethnicity. I have come to also realize that the Jews, who died and suffered, before all madness came down upon them, were once just like many other people: mean, cruel, and selfish too. My justification is because they (like all of us at one point in our life, I think) didn’t care about what happened to the other party just as long as they were well, they didn’t care to what happened to the foreign Jews since it did not affect them, however, things changed as the Germans came for them, therefore they too were imperfect.