Chattahoochee River
Thursday, January 22, 2015
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.
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Yvonne, I really like how you made that connection between Eli's silence and the silencing of the Holocaust. The Germans found a way to practically silence the brutality that they were inflicting on the Jews to a point where some might be led to even question whether or not other nations knew was occurring and turned a blind eye toward it, or if they were completely oblivious to the situation altogether.
ReplyDeleteThough I was bit frustrated to see Eli standby silent while his father was abused, I do agree with you that the Germans use of fear was a powerful tactic, and perhaps Eli recognized that going to his father's aid could have brought on even greater harm to the both of them.
When I think about this situation, I think back to the little boy and his mom in the cattle carts, and how he stood by silently crying while the young men beat her into submission. Like Eli, the boy probably felt terribly about what he was witnessing, yet he was basically helpless, and ultimately didn't want to lose his mother.
I agree with you and Chinyere. I want to add that maybe a reason why Eli stood silently watching his father being abused was not only because he feared the Germans and not only because he had become nearly numb to the cruelty that happened around him on a daily basis, but also because I think he realizes the hopelessness of fighting back or defending his father. It would surely only make things worse for his father and him, and he knows that. He states that that is how life was in the concentration camps, and he has accepted it.
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