Chattahoochee River
Thursday, January 15, 2015
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.
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I thought the same too Celina! The fact that they were starting to unfold as a group and treat each other without care or at least respect, which I imagine they did when living comfortably in Sighet, startled me. I was hoping they would endure together through their tribulations, but this obviously wasn't so. It's sad to see them act with such cruelty and brutality similar to their prosecutors, almost as if the acts of inhumanity against them turned them inhumane.
ReplyDeleteI think you guys have brought up good points about the inhumane actions against the Jews causing them to act inhumanely. But I kind of feel like this should be a some what expected reaction to the things that are happening...things like this happen all of the time. For instance, if a child is bullied or abused they can become defensive and lash out at others, and people who face abuse or are treated poorly often aren't the same people they once were. The Jews are being treated inhumanely and I think it would only be a matter of time until they started to act inhumanely themselves.
ReplyDeleteCelina, you are pretty much right. I also found it disturbing how the young men when hitting her in order for her to be quite. It was inhumane,however, when I think about it I think that they were all exhausted and frustrated and scared by the situation that they were in. I think that they just didn't want any noise since well when someone shouts in front of so many people who are all crowded together can become a bit annoying. So, they probably wanted Schachter to stop and even the women tried calm her down but she continued to be frenzied, and after that time they tried to stop to console her and help her.
ReplyDeleteDo you think Elie identifies with the little boy holding Mrs. Schacter's hand (and that is perhaps why he included him in his novel)?
ReplyDeleteI read the preface after this chapter and your question makes me think that he possibly could relate to the boy because of the scene he describes of him and his father in the preface. They both have a parent that they can't help, and--I don't know if this is too much of a stretch--maybe looking back on this boy and his mother even relieves Wiesel of some of the guilt from the scene with his father because he isn't the only one that experienced something like that.
DeleteCelina, I would not say that the Jew are becoming ruthless instead frustrated as they been in the train cart for a day or two and they are tired, hungry, & cold. I feel that most approved as they wanted peace in the cart so they can rest.
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