Chattahoochee River
Monday, February 9, 2015
Ch. 8/9: The End
These last two chapters of the book were strange to me because they didn't seem to be wrapping up the story or concluding it in any way. After Elie's father died in chapter 8, there wasn't any closure for Elie and the story never seemed to move on. It abruptly ended Elie looking at his reflection, describing it as something separate from himself. I didn't like this ending because it felt so abrupt. I wished for more details about his life after the war ended and how he turned out. I wanted some type of closure or happy ending. But I realized that perhaps Elie ended the book this way because he, and the Jewish people, never got a happy ending.
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I agree with you Cami. I think that Elie had ended the book the way he did because the Jews themselves never got a happy ending. Although the ending may not be satisfying to you, I do feel as though it were effective. It got Elie's point across.
ReplyDeleteIn agreement with what Celina commented, I think that fact that the ending was dissatisfying was truly the most powerful feature of the story because it reminds of the suddenness and irrational effects of the Holocaust. Just like the ending of the book, the Holocaust was unforeseen; it literally occurred out of nowhere. Though I agree with your dissatisfaction Cami, I think that the way we feel right now is exactly what Elie was gearing towards because he's trying to highlight the fact that in a world where we instinctively seek to rationalize, we could allow something as irrational as the Holocaust to occur, and somehow that doesn't quite fit into our idea of the happy ending.
ReplyDeleteI think the ending also signifies that there hasn't been closure in the world as even to this day there are still millions around the world that suffer from cruelty and violence, and so even though the holocaust is over, evil has not abandoned the world.
ReplyDeleteI also commented on how the novel just ended. I saw it as the right way to end the novel. I feel like Eli wanted to get over that part of his life and just ended the novel to end that time of his life.
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