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.
I like that you decided to right about something so simple from this chapter. I mean, why would the Germans ask them that? There's no way the Jews would ever say they're in bad health because they would be sent straight to their deaths. I just wonder if the German soldiers really expected them to tell the truth.
ReplyDeleteI feel like as we move through the book, they are forced to lie more and more just to save their own skin and it's really starting to change Elie Wiesel, which he has even mentioned himself.
This observation is definitely ironic. It's an excellent example of choice as well. They had to continuously make the conscious choice to lie in order to stay alive. Many of their lies were very petty, but if they hadn't lied, they would be dead.
ReplyDeleteLike Andrew pointed out, this really does go along with the overall theme if choice throughout the book. I didn't really notice the irony in the questions that the Germans asked, but I'm glad you pointed it out because it really does show how lying just became second nature to the Jews inside the concentration camps.
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