- What do many of Elie Wiesel's stories about camp life reveal about man's nature in the face of such overwhelming horror? You may discuss the positive and/or the negative.
- Discuss the symbolism and significance of the title, Night.
Be sure to respond to at least two classmates' posts with a thoughtful and intelligent question or comment.
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Wiesel's stories reveal how much people change. At the beginning he was very happy and strong in his faith. By Chapter 5, he had almost completely given up his faith. He was angry with God. He was angry that God had let this happen to him. He was no longer happy and he lived in fear. I think in the beginning he was trying to be strong for his father, but in fact all along he was terrified. I think by telling us his own feelings, he is telling us that anyone else would have felt the same way. He is constantly living in fear of being sent to the crematory. People begin to lose hope and give up, because they don't know when help will come or if it'll come at all. So I think Wiesel's story is explaining how people "wither up", they become shells of who they used to be.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly amazing how much people can change over time. Circumstances can quickly change people. Fear has a great impact on people.
DeleteI agree with you, I think after a while, Wiesel didn't know any other way to feel after living in fear for so long.
DeleteI agree with you.
DeleteI also believe that he is angry at God that he has let this happen to him and that he lived in fear now.
DeleteI agree, Elie has lost all of his faith, in both humanity and in God.
DeleteThe title Night is a symbol of fear, darkness, and a never ending nightmare. during this entire experience I'm sure he never noticed the different days or whether or not it was day or night. It was all just a long nightmare that he couldn't get away from. Once, ou start reading the book, you will understand the title perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely. His life was a living nightmare.
DeleteNight does refer to the awful experiences that the Jews were facing. The title refers to the endless "Nights" that the Jews face.
Deletei agree with you, i couldn't imagine living a life like that.
DeleteI agree that he didn't notice the changes in weather because he was in fear all the time.
DeleteI agree the title night does refer to bad things to come and what cant be seen
DeleteI agree that Night means darkness, but i also think it means death
DeleteA lot happens to the jews when its night. thats when they came and took Elie and his family away. i think when he is referring to night he is referring to the hardship and troubles that they all have to face. Jews weren't aloud to go out after a certain time of night. most of their journeys were in long horrible night.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this because most of the bad stuff happened to them at night.
DeleteI agree. Most of the hardships they experienced occurred during the night. His first night at the concentration camp was also significant. It represented all of the darkness and evil of night time.
DeleteYou explained that very thoroughly. Great job. I agree with your opinion.
DeleteI think Wiesel’s stories reveal that when most people are put into situations like these they will do what they can to survive as long as they have hope. When Akiba Drumer got selected for the selection he began to question his faith and started to give up. Wiesel has also changed since the beginning of the story he had a very strong to now having very little faith.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Wiesel has changed a lot. He had very strong faith at the beginning but as time went on his faith began to dwindle.
DeleteNot only for Jews, but everyone.. When you're put in situations, you have to adjust to it. & sometimes, losing faith and becoming dark is the only way to bare away from the pain and hopelessness.
DeleteI agree with you, he did change a lot from being strong willed to almost having no faith in anything.
DeleteThe title "Night" symbolizes the days of the concentration camps. For the jews, it was a scary time because NO one knew if they would live or die in the the concentration camps. It is significant because it shows how the jews lives were and how it change over the years of being captives of Hitler. To me it showed how much they lived in the dark about Hitler's ideas. In the beginning of the book, the jews didn't want to believe Moche the Beadle about what was to happen, so basically from then on they lived in the dark about information from the Germans hence the title "Night".
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Even though I never thought about night symbolizing the Jews being in the dark about the ideas of the Germans, that is a great way to look at their situation. When I thought about night, I thought about darkness and evil. I really liked your post because it was a different take on the situation. Nice job.
DeleteI don't disagree with you, but I agree more with what Lisa says. I think that the darkness is supposed to represent the fear the Jew's have throughout their experience.
DeleteI like what you said about night meaning they were in the dark about Hitlers ideas. I never thought about that. It's a good point.
DeleteElie's stories show that in terrible situations, people do what is best for themselves. They are selfish and they lack compassion towards others. An example of this is when Elie talks about the man that tried to drink all of the abandoned soup while the prisoners were inside of the blocks during the alert. This man was willing to risk his life to eat all of the soup. Another example is when Akiba Drumer asked his friends to recite the Kaddish three days after he left. The people that were supposedly his friends completely forgot about him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this because its true. When facing the these types of situation its basically "battle of the fittest" and do what you have to at the time to make it through one more day. Which means who can come out as a victor because they knew how to survive and play the game right.
DeleteI agree with you that Elie portrays the feeling of an unsympathetic man who is angry at the wrong people. He allows himself to be swallowed by his anger too often when he should help other. Like with his father, when he was beaten Elie became angry with him, he should have been more kindhearted and tried to help him more.
Deletei agree, that when people are put in that kind of situation, they fend for themselves basically.
DeleteI agree people CAN BE HARSH AND MEAN TO OTHER PEOPLE WITHOUT THINKING IN THIS STORY ALONG WITH THE RISK THEY WILL TAKE
DeleteI agree that it does change people when they are put in circumstances especially like this.
DeleteI agree that when no matter who t is put in these situations they will do drastic things.
DeleteThe stories that Elie tells the reader, help to evoke the feelings he had gone through. Allowing the reader to understand what all those people had endured. At first he let the reader feel the love of a boy of twelve toward his family and friends. As the story progresses the reader feels the different emotions, like the anger he felt when trying to confront this horrible ordeal, and find reasons why this would happen to him. We, as readers, go through the changes of emotion with him from that of an innocent boy to a young man who shuts himself off from the world.
ReplyDeleteThe title of the book night refers to many things. It refers to the actual terrible nights the Elie and the other Jews face. But, it also refers to the horrendous aspects of night that are associated with the novel. Night has a bad reputation for being scary and all of the bad things take place at night. Every kid has been afraid of the dark and the monsters that hide there. It was like that for the Jews. It was like horrendous monsters (the Nazis) hiding in the darkness waiting to destroy the Jews. The nights were torture for the Jews. They were beaten and hurt worse during the nights. But they also were allowed to think about all the horrible things that awaited during the night.
ReplyDeletei agree, all the terrible things that happened to the Jews, happened at night. there experiences were scary, just like the night.
DeleteI agree that the title night refers to terrible things but I think it also refers to what cant be seen that is about to happen in the future.
DeleteYou made a good point, they were always wary once the night came. It was understandable that they would lie in wait with anticipation for the new day.
DeleteI agree that night refers to the terrible things like in nightmares.
DeleteWiesel’s stories tell how people can change over a period of time. During the beginning of the story, everyone was semi happy. Then toward chapter 4, people started to loose hope, and faith, especially Elie. The title of the book symbolizes how dark the holocaust was. Most of the terrible things that happened to the Jews also happened at night.
ReplyDeleteI think the overall experiences the Jewish people face cause them to change. With having to go through all of these cruel experiences, they became tougher people and acceptable of death.
DeleteI agree, people did start to loose hope and faith. I think this happened because they saw no way of getting out of the situation they were in. They thought they would all die.
DeleteThese stories reveal that it is in man’s nature to always try to survive and never lose faith even when faced with overwhelming horror. They also show that even when they are put into situations that they are most likely to die they never lose hope and do everything they can to stay alive. The title night symbolizes bad or terrible things because night is thought of as a time when things are not good and bad things are going to happen. This also symbolizes the unseen because you cant see at night as good as you can during the day just like the Jews couldn’t see what was about to happen to them in the future.
ReplyDeleteHis stories tell you about the horrible things they went through. Some people show no compassion to others and how terrible people can be to other humans. It also shows the risk not normal people would take to just get extra food or rations. The title Night would be symboled by darkness, fear, and death
ReplyDeleteI agree that the things they were put through were horrible.
DeleteI agree, no one should be treated that way.
DeleteThe title "Night" symbolizes the fear and the depression of the horrible things that happen in this story. This story is full of nightmares. Everything is dark and nobody wants to believe that this is really happening. I think "Night" refers to all the nightmares and all the images that people have to deal with.
ReplyDeleteI agree that "Night" does refer to the nightmares.
Deletei completely agree with you. The images were horrific.
DeleteElie's stories about camp reveal a lot about a person's fight or flight response to harsh situations. In the concentration camps, they are faced with the choice to either fight or just give up as there is not "flight" option. They are fighting for their lives until they reach their breaking point. Once their breaking point is reached, they give up all hope. They may feel like they have nothing left to live for and that death would be less painful than the suffering of living in the camps everyday.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Everyone in that concentration camp, including all the other camps went through so much pain and suffering that no one should ever go through. It is truly sad that someone basically has to choose their own faith at times. To either give up or keep going. I'm sure many of them felt that they had no point in living because they probably felt that that was all that was going to be there and that they would not really be able to be free. They would be prisoners in that camp for the rest of their lives.
DeleteI believe that the title “Night” is referring to all of the terrible things that happen when it turns dark. At night they have way more to worry about, like curfew and burnings. All they think about is most likely fear when It gets dark. It has to be terrifying for them.
ReplyDeleteWeisel's stories show how much himself and others have changed. At the beginning everything was normal and they was thinking optimistic because they didn't think the German's would come to them but they did and took out all of the Jews. Thinking back from the beginning of the story to chapter 5 the camps really changed people. A lot of people stopped working hard and freaking out and losing their faith and also stopped believing in God and became angry with God because he let such terrible things happen.
ReplyDeleteI agree, People stopped believing in god cause of such horrible things were happening.
DeleteI agree, Wiesel's stories did show how much people could change. Some people changed their entire lives and others changed their beliefs in God.
DeleteElie’s stories reveal how much people change in the time of cruelty and sorrow. People change during these times; some grow to be tougher and cold-hearted, while others grow weak and give up hope. For example, Elie became a tougher person. If you referred back to chapter two when Elie’s father was first struck across the face, Elie was furious at the Nazi and would stand up for his father, but in chapter four Elie acted completely different. Instead of being upset with the guard, he became upset with his father. Also in these dark times, the Jew’s faith is being tested. While some continue to believe and have full faith in God, others (like Elie) grew distant from God. In chapter five Elie claims that he is stronger than God, he compares himself to ash but says he is still stronger than the “great and mighty”.
ReplyDeleteThe title "Night" symbolizes the book because of the terrible nights the Jews had to go through during the book, also because the book is very gloomy and not cheerful at all and that describes night very well. And since the entire book is very sad and gloomy night fits it perfectly. The significance of the title night is that just the title tells an over view of what the books theme is dark and gloomy, it is also significant because a lot of time the nights were horrifying for the Jews since in the winter they had no real clothing or blankets at most.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. It is very sad and depressing that these people had to go through all this pain and suffering for nothing. They went through the worst of times mainly at night but, it was also very horrible in the day as well. Someone has to have a very sick mind to make people go through this.
DeleteI agree, "Night" is dark and depressing.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the title "Night" symbolizes how dark, depressing, gruesome, and sick the things that the Jews went through, day and night. A lot of the very gruesome things happened more at night and I think that is why the title is called "Night". it is very sad and depressing and sick that someone could do this too so many people and not think anything about it. It is truly sad that every person there basically had to choose their own fate. Either die or be tortured every day by those soldiers. No one could sometimes determine if they would live or die. It was bad enough starving them and keeping them from water but to burn babies is VERY extreme. It is also very sad because the concentration camps really tested everyones' faith. Especially Elie, he was such a believer in God in the first couple of chapters then soon after arriving at the concentration camp he completely changed and felt that there was no God. Elie felt that he was stronger than any God there was which is truly sad.
ReplyDeleteI think in the beginning he was trying to be strong and positive. They were all trying to be optimistic. Although as time went on and he saw what was really happening he began to doubt his fate. He began to question God and everything he believed in. the people in the book started to find outlets to distract them from what was going on. I think we also find things to escape fro reality.
ReplyDeleteI agree, his faith at the beginning of the story his faith was strong. At the middle of the story his faith starts to go away
DeleteElie Wiesel's stories about camp life revealed that man's nature in the face of overwhelming horror is life changing. The stories reveal that he is becoming a stronger person. Examples of him becoming stronger is when:
ReplyDelete• His father gave him “The Inheritance” and he accepted it without crying, even though he wanted to,
• When he had to run all night long,
• When he went 3 days without food and drink and
• When he had to stay up and look after his father when he slept.
i agree every minuet the were scared to almost breath.
DeleteThe symbolism and significance for the title of this book “Night” is that it defines the fear, torture, and many obstacles they had to got through. It represents how they felt throughout the camps. The night was no different than the day to come. They had to go through many situations both day and night. So it really didn’t matter the period/time.
ReplyDeleteDiscuss the symbolism and significance of the title, Night.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion night stands for not only the title. to me i interpret it as the darkness and fear they lived in every day. i mean this by the fear of starving the fear of illness the fear of speaking. they are truly terrified to do anything. that is how i interpret the title night!
I think Elie explains how he fells and how everyone changes. At the beginning of the story his faith is very strong. Later on in the story his faith starts to go away. He gets mad and wonders why he is going through all the suffering
ReplyDelete