Chattahoochee River
Thursday, January 22, 2015
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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Cielo, I agree that throughout the chapter Elie exhibited conflicting emotions, demonstrating compassion in some instances and apathy in others. Due to the fact that he's still very young and being forced to endure the terrors of the concentration camp, he's had to find methods of survival which allow him to keep moving forward mentally and physically. However, I'd like to offer another perspective on how he reacted to his father's beating.
ReplyDeleteTrue, it's possible that he'd been so desensitized that he simply didn't care that his father was being abused, but it's also possible that Elie was so fearful for his father that he recognized that interference could potentially worsen the abuse. With regards to the young boy who was hanged, I definitely do agree that his death had a traumatic effect on Elie, and did demonstrate as you said that he was not yet dehumanized. I think that seeing someone who appeared so innocent and defenseless, perhaps how Elie once was himself, really scarred Elie.
I agree with you Cielo, it is very confusing how Elie is sometimes compassionate and sometimes not but I think that it shows that even though they are trying to dehumanize him he is still fighting for his emotions and he still loves his father and family but he is very hurt with everything that has happened to him.
ReplyDeleteI think he was sort of forced to tolerate the suffering around him that inevitably takes place. He might've even done so by placing more emphasis on what possibly the victims could have done wrong to receive such cruelties--not that he believed that any of them deserved death, but his mentality needs to deal with stuff this way in order to maintain stability...he hasn't completely become apathetic as evident in his response to the hanged boy, like you said.
ReplyDeleteI feel as if it depends on the day to see how he will react. As you pointed out Cielo, there are times when he feels sympathy and there are other times when he does not. I think that it might depend on how Wiesel evaluates the sistiation. If he thinks the person is a good and innocent he feels for the person but if they do not meet the qualifications he does not seem to care.
ReplyDeleteFor the point about the child being hanged, I don't think anyone was dehumanized to the extent where they would not have felt remorse. Even the SS officers were affected by it. The camp had desensitized many people, but I feel that no one could go so far as to not feel pain witnessing an act like that.
ReplyDelete