The Jews seemed to immerse themselves in the dreamland of "hope." It’s straightforward to us as we look through perspectives of what’s now history, but they (at the time) preserved that last bit of hope that left them holding on a thin thread.
They were evacuated and moved to the ghettos (and much more) but to [over]compensate for their physical losses, they either forged optimism for themselves or held onto infeasible thoughts of reverting back to a perfect living condition because they had to preserve their faith in humanity and their culture somehow, at least mentally. To them, their people and humanity in general could not--well, should not--reach an all-time-low that was concise in factual, third-person or secondary source reports of the Holocaust.
A lot of minor events seemed to trigger ideas of cultural extinction:
For example, Moishe introduces the depth of Kabbalah (which means “to receive [fulfillment]” and describes how life works by Jewish mysticism) to Elie. He progresses in his studies, but they were cut off when Moishe was evacuated and nearly killed. I thought this could’ve symbolized how Elie could not receive fulfillment because he was cut off from preserving/learning the depth of Jewish wisdom due to the atrocities.
Also in the midst of his traditional story, Elie’s father was interrupted with bad news from the Hungarian police on current events--as if their cultural preservation was cut off by the events of cold, hard reality that was then present.
Diana, I never thought about does two minor events like you did. That is good analyzes of the chapter. Now on the topic of hope, do you think the Jews of Sighet should have been more pragmatic and realistic when it came to their situation. Did their sense of hope and optimism detached them from the reality of war and lead to their downfall?
ReplyDeleteDiana, I like your attention to detail. Hitler tried to wipe out the Jewish people and their culture. I wonder if the cultural extinctions you mention are placed in the book as a reminder that there are some things that humans cannot take away.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Priscilla, I think it shouldn't be something that they could take away, but because of the disintegrating unity (this goes to Alex, too, I suppose) that certain Germans indirectly caused for them, some Jews lost their rich, preserved, cultural identity, something that they could no longer revert to because it has been lost in the midst of the Holocaust
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