Night by Elie Weisel Chapters 3 through 4...
Jon, I totally agree with you that hate is a major theme in this book, especially since its story is based off of an event caused by discrimination. It never really occured to me before that the Jewish people hated each other during the time of the Holocaust bacause of the fact that they couldn't do anything for each other without endangering themselves. It is hard to imagine wanting to help someone but not being able to because of the danger it put one in, and in turn not only gaining guilt from that, but also the hatred of the person one let suffer. Hate is one of the many sad truths of life, and a person has to eventually except that it happens, but it is also something that only blossoms if given the opportunity to do so.
A theme seen very much in this book that can be associated with hatred and discrimination is that of judging a book by its cover, especially within the context of killing those that don't look handy. Upon entering the Nazi camps, many Jewish people were sent away and separated from family just because they appeared to be weak and of no use to the officials there. Eliminating the most frail looking people was a way to narrow down the population of the camps to the toughest ones that wouldn't need as much to live off of while at the same time could get a lot of labor work done. The theme stated comes into play here since the officials of the camps don't really even have time to associate with the prisoners, or in that case couldn't care less, and so appearance is all they can judge by, even though there may be many prisoners killed that could have performed better quality work than those who were spared. It is still very bad to kill anyone nonetheless, but to get rid of one because of the body is not only a loss to the person pushed out of the way, but can be very costly to the one that got rid of him or her in the first place since intelligence, compassion, or physical strength could be at stake for both parties.
Usually, the theme of judging a book by its cover is so that it makes the life of the one with the bad appearance easier, but accepting this theme is significantly important in this situation since both the judge and the judged loose something, especially when it comes to life or esteem. Women are thought to be weak just because of gender, and this theme applies here because taking the life of someone because gender would make her useless is plain wrong. Inequality because of gender is something that can be seen when the men and women of the Nazi camps are separated from one another, and this week's theme applies directly to this situation, the situation in which young Elie had to loose his mom because she was a woman. "'Men to the left! Women to the right!' Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight short, simple words. Yet that was the moment when I parted from my mother." (pg. 27).
Jon, I totally agree with you that hate is a major theme in this book, especially since its story is based off of an event caused by discrimination. It never really occured to me before that the Jewish people hated each other during the time of the Holocaust bacause of the fact that they couldn't do anything for each other without endangering themselves. It is hard to imagine wanting to help someone but not being able to because of the danger it put one in, and in turn not only gaining guilt from that, but also the hatred of the person one let suffer. Hate is one of the many sad truths of life, and a person has to eventually except that it happens, but it is also something that only blossoms if given the opportunity to do so.
A theme seen very much in this book that can be associated with hatred and discrimination is that of judging a book by its cover, especially within the context of killing those that don't look handy. Upon entering the Nazi camps, many Jewish people were sent away and separated from family just because they appeared to be weak and of no use to the officials there. Eliminating the most frail looking people was a way to narrow down the population of the camps to the toughest ones that wouldn't need as much to live off of while at the same time could get a lot of labor work done. The theme stated comes into play here since the officials of the camps don't really even have time to associate with the prisoners, or in that case couldn't care less, and so appearance is all they can judge by, even though there may be many prisoners killed that could have performed better quality work than those who were spared. It is still very bad to kill anyone nonetheless, but to get rid of one because of the body is not only a loss to the person pushed out of the way, but can be very costly to the one that got rid of him or her in the first place since intelligence, compassion, or physical strength could be at stake for both parties.
Usually, the theme of judging a book by its cover is so that it makes the life of the one with the bad appearance easier, but accepting this theme is significantly important in this situation since both the judge and the judged loose something, especially when it comes to life or esteem. Women are thought to be weak just because of gender, and this theme applies here because taking the life of someone because gender would make her useless is plain wrong. Inequality because of gender is something that can be seen when the men and women of the Nazi camps are separated from one another, and this week's theme applies directly to this situation, the situation in which young Elie had to loose his mom because she was a woman. "'Men to the left! Women to the right!' Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion. Eight short, simple words. Yet that was the moment when I parted from my mother." (pg. 27).
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