Dark Night Of The Soul: A Literary Analysis

Over 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust, 1.1 million were children and 6 million were Jewish. In the novel titled Night by Elie Wiesel, it tells about a kid name Elie Wiesel and his experience during the Holocaust. This novel will will also explain his thoughts/feelings during this tragic event. During the tragic event, Elie Wiesel lost his mother when the Holocaust started and lost his father at the end of the Holocaust. Three qualities that contributed to Wiesel’s survival was his intelligence, when he hid his left arm, his bravery, when he refused to separate from his father during the selection, and his determination, when he decided to not stop running during the flee.

Miller asked a question in his text, The Dark Night of the Soul, which is asked on numerous occasions. ‘What might the Literate Arts be good for?’ Miller gives situations and reasons why we could say the Literate Arts are useless in today’s world. What might the Literate Arts be good for? I ask this question a lot nowadays too. When I go for an English class or see literary books, the question creeps into my mind unconsciously. In this modern world ‘reading and writing’ have gone downhill and yet people do not seem bothered or affected by it which makes the doubt in literary power even stronger. But after a lot of thinking and research, I have come to realize that literate arts are still needed in

The Dark Night of the Soul, an essay, written by Richard E. Miller eerily expresses the importance of literature in a society refraining from writing. In the twenty-first century, the emphasis on reading and writing has declined, whereas, the focus on technology has increased. Miller argues that the world has fallen into darkness without literature because the art of writing yields so much power for healing and mediating. Miller also acknowledges the dangers of literature including: reading can not save humanity from school ground shooters, and writing can lead one to an early demise as illustrated through the story of Chris McCandless. Miller constructs an enduring argument, of the importance of the literature arts, by providing a multitude of examples to defend his and claims throughout the essay.

‘The Darkness Out There’ and ‘The Withered Arm’ are both short stories. The characterization techniques they use are contrasting and similar. Each story is from a different time; ‘The Withered Arm’ being 19th century and ‘The Darkness Out There’ being 20th century. Thomas Hardy writes ‘The Withered Arm’ as a 3rd person narrative whereas Penelope Lively uses a mixture between 3rd and 1st person.

The novel “Night” is a vivid representation of a man’s loss of faith from the beginning to the end of the catastrophic era in which this book takes place. As a young boy Elie’s inquisitive mind directed him to the synagogue where he would study the Kabbalah’s revelations and mysteries. Here is where “Moishe the beadle,” a friend to Elie, would sit with him in the synagogue and they would talk for hours about the intriguing secrets of Jewish mysticism. One important piece of advice that Moishe told Elie was, “There are a thousand and one gates allowing entry into the orchard of the mystical truth.” This simply meant he would need to pursue these answers on his own. However, Elie believed Moishe would help him bind his questions and answers as well, into one. These meetings were interrupted when Moishe was extracted from the Sighet where he experienced malice.

Throughout Miller’s essay, he follows a similar format in the way he states his opinion about the connection between reading and writing to his readers. With every subheading, he tells a story of the influence of reading and writing on the protagonist of each story. Every subheading begins with the introduction of the protagonists through the final outcome of their actions. For example, the first story of the two boys, Harris and Klebold begins with the revelation of what they have done—murdering fifteen people with weapons they created on their own. This knowledge to create such weapons and to follow through with such an act is all blamed upon technology

Miller writes the story in a very unique way. He gives his readers a chance to explore the words written on his pages, with the hope that the reader is able to draw their own conclusions from his work. His unparalleled approach to the essay forces the reader to use critical thinking in order to make since of the essay. Miller’s feelings about reading, writing and the

Literate Arts are Replaced and so Our Personal Thoughts What might the literate arts be good for? In Miller’s writing “The Dark Night of the Soul” he opens with fatalities and questions to educators, such as: Who is to blame for the shootings? Is it because teachers are just passing on information to the students without having them understand the questions, think about them and connect the information with a real world problems? Are literate arts important?

Richard E. Miller essay “The Dark Night of the Soul” to be an interesting way to think about reading and writing in today’s world. Richard uses the violence in the world to question if our educational system is relevant to keeping us safe and whether the power literature can be used to change the tragic event that happen around us every day.

What did mankind do before the internet? Educational technologies are changing the lives of current and future generations. For years, technology has been flooding into the classrooms of youngsters. On an average, a student uses up to three devices daily. Teenagers count on a cell phone to do things, from waking them up in the morning to giving them any information needed during the day. The incredible World Wide Web saves many hours of research for a paper compared to three decades ago when days were spent looking up research that is now available almost instantly. The floppy discs of a few decades back cannot compare to digital textbooks on mobile devices, e readers, laptops, or tablets of the day. Technology plays a huge role in today’s world impacting education on major levels in regards to accessibility, communication, and opportunity. Education will continue to be part of people’s lives, regardless of age or lifestyle.

Despite beginning the essay on a negative and sorrowful note, Miller ends with a reassuring and almost hopeful sentence, he says, “The only way out is through” (Miller 442). This can be interpreted as a sign that perhaps Miller thinks that there is hope for the future, not only the literate arts but for their impact on humans and role in society. Ultimately, there is significant use for the literate arts in todays society and it is “good for” almost everyone and everything. The literate arts diversities a persons education because they demonstrate different types of views for all different subjects and although the means of information are rapidly changing, there is still power behind reading and writing. Miller is correct we he argues that

It can be a reliable form of communication to pass down information and knowledge from generation to generation, but alas it is only a tool for education. It could be said that writing has helped to keep creation myths alive by making a permanent record of societies myths but myths were around thousands of years before any writing began. Metallurgy emerged about the same time as writing but was not as beneficial as creation myth (Fiero, 2015). Moreover, humans had tools and weapons already.

Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind. Through his multiple case studies, Freud managed to find convincing evidence that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very limited control (Guerin 127). One of Freud’s most important contributions to the study of the psyche is his theory of repression: the unconscious mind is a repository of repressed desires,

Since the primordial era of man’s inception, there has been an inherent ambition that pushes humans to learn and grow exponentially. The most potent way of facilitating this kind of growth has been discovered through the advent of literature, allowing for a steady record of history and an abundant source of information concerning all aspects of humanity’s existence. Many challenges come with this level of power that the written word provides: several people throughout history have suffered ravenous pandemics like the Black Plague, bore all-consuming poverty, and have been scathed if not killed by the brutality of war. These maladies coupled with destructive events like book burnings and mass censorship have done a significant amount to hamper

Although, as a society, we discourage the process of not judging a book by its cover, we have all been guilty of doing it at some point. The first item we look at when we pick up a new book is the title and the cover as a whole. These are two key components when it comes to using our heuristics to decide if a book is worthwhile reading or not. With only two items to judge by, each has to hold significant importance in order to draw a reader into reading the novel. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad represents a mysterious title to draw readers into reading the novel, but hold a much more significant underlying meaning which represents many elements in the novel, while also symbolizing external concepts in the overall plot. The title represents many important elements such as the character of Mr. Kurtz and others, to the setting of Africa in the novel, and to the concept of the evil nature of imperialism outside of the novel. Through the title, Conrad has created significance for elements of the novel creating a very large impact on readers of the book.