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.
Lizette, I agree that Elie was caring more for himself. I'm sure he knew that he had to survive in order to be with his father but I'm not so sure that he didn't exactly want to be with his father. It's just that during these rough times he had to watch out for himself first and then think about the well being of others.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the efforts of the Nazis seem to be affecting Elie. He has continued to show less compassion toward others, especially his father. Even if he thought it was better to stand back and not intervene, he should not feel anger toward his father if he really cared about him, since he is the only family he has at this point.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your point about Elie loosing his religion. I believe that almost part of being human is to have hope about something whether it's religious or scientific. As humans we like to believe that there will always be something better out there. Part of the Dehumanization that Elie is encountering is starting to break down his religious hope. It's almost like he's starting to feel like death is inevitable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kingsly, since his father is the last thing that he truly has in that camp. Keeping both of them alive has been his priority this whole time, and without his father, I feel like he would lose his drive to survive.
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