Reflection About Memory

Elie Wiesel is one of the few to survive the Holocaust. At the age of 15, young Elie Wiesel and his family were deported to Auschwitz, where the lives of millions of Jews were taken. The years Elie spent at the camp, he witnessed many deaths and also the lives of innocent children being taken. These memories will forever stay with him as he expresses in the seven books he has written. The Holocaust had an environment that was crucial to live in and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, wants the history of the Holocaust to live on because he doesn’t want anyone to live through the living hell he had to go through.

The Wiesel family had been deported from Sighet and taken to the Auschwitz-Birkeanu camp, where all deportees were put into two different lines, males and females. This is where Elie and his father were separated from the rest of their family. It is after they realized that they had survived the first selection that Elie, looking back, says: "Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never" (P34). In this quote, the author applies visual, auditive and olfactory imagery to portray the theme of the horrors of war. Here, Elie reflects upon his experiences and how these have permanently marked him, making him feel haunted by such memories. On the other hand, the reader feels heartbroken and hopeless, seeing as Wiesel will have to shape his life around the impact that the camps had on

As seen through the speech, Elie Wiesel is a strong believer of individual experiences; however, his questions arise about people’s indifference once his audience has heard of Wiesel’s traumatic experience. Often time, Wiesel uses rhetorical questions as a way to emphasize and sir thought. When asking, “Does it mean that we have learned from our past? Does it mean that society has changed? Has the human being become less indifferent and more human?” (Paragraph 21). Elie Wiesel demonstrates a self evaluation on the audience. The intended purpose, indifference within people, is openly enforced through self evaluation.

The two texts, "Excerpt from Martin Sloane: A Novel", by Michael Redhill and "Ode to a Box of Tea" by Pablo Neruda have several things in common. These things relate to how the authors of each text talk about their memories and the objects that go along with those memories.

As with all human beings, there are happy memories and bad memories. Some have no effect, and others can change someone’s life completely. Elie Wiesel’s autobiography, Night, writes about Elie’s external conflict of the horrors of the Holocaust’s violent concentration camps. Elie resolves this conflict by having all the hope of the world in him and enduring the evident deaths of his family members; however, Elie’s trek also illustrates his character as both enduring and dependent. Elie’s decision to staying hopeful and stay enduring also reveals the universal theme of, “The toughest and darkest of times and experience can test your hope”

As said by Audrey Hepburn; “Living is like tearing through a museum, not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering - because you can’t take it in all at once.” In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, the Holocaust took place in an order of layers. As time passed, the extremity was increased each chapter he succumbed to. Elie expresses raw emotion in his memoir, Night, and leaves you in a complete, utter state of wonder and sadness. Not only this, but remembering and cherishing the importance of all the emotions from this time in history. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, the theme of remembering is present before the Holocaust and in today’s society.

The two poems “Never Shall I Forget” and “We Remember Them”, written by Elie Wiesel and Rabbi Sylvan Kamens, have their fair share of similarities and differences. These poems are both highly influenced by the Holocaust, the genocide of over 11 million people, 6 million of them being Jews, during World War II. In “Never Shall I Forget”, Elie Wiesel talks of his sufferings in a concentration camp and “We Remember Them” pass on the memory of those who died during the Holocaust. “Never Shall I Forget” and “We Remember Them” both have a shared theme of remembrance, but Elie Wiesel wrote of what he would rather forget than remember, whereas Rabbi Sylvan Kamens wrote of what he wishes to never forget.

One of the first impactful quotes is when Wiesel writes about his first night in Auschwitz, stating “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes,” (34). He’s speaking about how everything changed when he arrived at the camp. Where he was once carefree, he now had a burden. Where he once had faith, he now had a God who didn’t care whether Wiesel and his people lived or died. He’s not only speaking for every person, every man and woman and child who went through the concentration camps. Everyone went through an enormous

Wiesel gave this speech with a purpose to challenge perspectives of inattention towards other’s suffering to maintain sanity and inspire others to instead avoid the temptation of indifference. He argued that “to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes human being inhuman”(Wiesel 311). Although his speech may have been hard to hear, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel used his speech to create an “opportune moment in time” (Longaker and Walker 9) to persuade the American audience to make a change through the use of the events of his past. In doing so, he evoked strong responses from the audience through rhetorical appeals as an attempt to encourage them to reflect upon the difficult questions he poses throughout the speech and make more of a conscious effort not to be indifferent.

Eliezer Wiesel suffered greatly during the Holocaust. Many people were treated terribly and they couldn’t do anything. The Holocaust lasted for many years, but for some it will remain with them for the rest of their life.

Although Elie Wiesel's experience has affected him, it has had a negative effect on him. As he says”Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.”(Wiesel 34) This shows that Eliezer will never forget the troubles, and horrors that he experienced in the concentration camp. Another thing that Eliezer says is,”I shall never forgive them for this.”(Wiesel 39) This

Summary Activity Directions: Use your Guided Notes to create a summary of Elie Wiesel’s speech “Hope, Despair, and Memory.” Your summary should be one paragraph of 6-10 sentences. Here are some things to remember as you write your summary paragraph: 1. The summary should be a condensed version of the material and should be written in your own words. 2.

Salvador Dali’s 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory is a hallmark of the surrealist movement. Dali famously described his paintings as “hand-painted dream photographs” and The Persistence of Memory is a prime example of that description. The Persistence of Memory depicts striking and confusing images of melting pocket watches and a mysterious fetus-like structure all sprawled over the dreamscape representation of Dali’s home of Port Lligat, Spain. Dali uses strange images, color, and shadows in The Persistence of Memory to convey an abstract view on dreams, time, and reality.

Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” The repetition of the phrase “Never shall I forget” really emphasises on and illustrated that what Wiesel is describing will be engraved in his memory forever, that it is impossible to forget. I also think that he wants to spread the word about what happened in the holocaust, raise awareness and make sure that nothing even remotely like it ever happens again.

Past, present and future are all important to keep in perspective. Looking back and not having regrets is extremely satisfying. Your current situation and your contentment with it are also very important, and having goals and milestones to work toward in the future keeps you motivated and keeps life interesting and challenging.