Sarah's Key

The book Night is a story of family, religion, violence, and hope. This book tells the story of Elie Wiesel’s journey through the holocaust. During the novel, Wiesel writes with the purpose of teaching us several lessons. This lesson is conveyed through Wiesel’s actions, other character’s actions, as well as quotations. The lesson Wiesel taught in Night is to persevere and never lose hope up no matter how hopeless the situation may seem.

In modern day France, Julia Jarmond experiences and watches as dehumanization occurs at the hands of her husband and his family. Her husband, Bertrand, dehumanizes Julia by objectifying her. In the course of the novel, Julia becomes pregnant. Although Julia is ecstatic about this after having multiple miscarriages, Bertrand does not want the responsibility of another child. He gives Julia a harsh ultimatum: get an abortion or get a divorce. Bertrand controls and manipulates Julia, treating her like his property rather

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them”, says Maya Angelou, an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. This quote reflects to Sarah’s journey in the novel Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, since the main character, Sarah, faces events that affect her well being, as they make her both weaker and stronger. These events causes her to lose her innocence, makes her persistent, and then eventually drives her to be pessimistic. Sarah experiences traumatic events through her journey, which leads her to change both in a positive and negative way.

Night by Elie Wiesel is an autobiography about his experience during the Holocaust when he was fifteen years old. Elie is fifteen when the tragedy begins. He is taken with his family through many trials and then is separated from everyone besides his father. They are left with only each other, of which they are able to confide in and look to for support. The story is told through a series of creative writing practices. Mr. Wiesel uses strong diction, and syntax as well as a combination of stylistic devices. This autobiography allows the readers to understand a personal, first-hand account of the terrible events of the holocaust. The ways that diction is used in Night helps with this understanding.

The story focuses on how Chanda and the people around her are affected by AIDS. In the community that Chanda lives in, mentioning AIDS is taboo, and when Chanda felt the loss of her loved ones, she had difficulty finding anyone to talk to. When it was revealed that Chanda’s mother had AIDS, Chanda wanted to change what her community thought of the disease, “I’m tired of lies and hiding and being afraid. I’m not ashamed of AIDS! I’m ashamed of being ashamed” (Stratton 181). Rather than tolerating the truth and hiding from her community, Chanda wanted to teach people that AIDS should not be taboo. She wants them to accept that AIDS is a reality and it is a disease many are affected by. Chanda, Mrs. Tafa, and Esther, who were not afraid of the truth, inspired people to be less sensitive when bringing up the topic of AIDS. Personally, it is understandable why the people in Chanda’s community don’t want to bring up the topic of AIDS. It is human nature to avoid what we fear as our natural instincts tell us to flee from reality. This is related to our human condition, as all humans are terrified by death. Although, if one person bravely stands, many others are empowered to stand up and face their fear. Through her story, Chanda taught the readers that acceptance can be empowering and cause a positive chain reaction of

The Holocaust, a morbid atrocity that made people question humanity, was the cause of millions of deaths. One of those victims of this brutality was Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who hid from the Nazis along with her family. Although she was merely ordinary, Anne Frank kept a diary which became a significant, historical artifact in the modern world as it details her account of concealing her identity from the outside world. Her story, told in an innocent perspective, allows individuals to reflect the dreadful events of the Holocaust and acknowledge how far we have come since then. Even though she died along with millions of other victims from the Holocaust, her spirit still exists thanks to her articulately written words in her diary which is now considered one of the most famous works of literature. Anne Frank’s legacy still lives on today because her story provides a primary source of a dark period in history, insightful contemplation of humanity, and motivation for people to stand up against unjustified persecution.

Night tells of an unexplainable tragedy, known as the Holocaust, that affected many parts of Europe. Elie Wiesel’s view of the Holocaust, through his experiences, is able to show that the Holocaust had a strong affect on not just the people enduring it, but also the people that heard about or witnessed it. The readers are introduced to the new perspective of the Holocaust. It caused emotional and physical damage to many of its victims. There were dead bodies along the streets, and people were burned alive. Families were torn apart and friendships were ruined. None of the people had any idea of what was going to be on the road ahead of them, let alone what would happen when they turned the corner. During desperate times, some people seem to

Stigma is shown throughout many subjects; obesity, mental illness and the most powerful and worse stigma; the stigma of AIDS. The stigma of AIDS is clearly shown through a powerful story set in the middle of the African HIV and AIDS pandemic. The novel Chanda’s secrets accurately demonstrates the stigma of AIDS by portraying characters blinded by fear, being ashamed, feeling sinful, and living in denial. The stigma is shown through a maturing young girl’s point of view, seeing others and as well as herself confronting the different ‘symptoms’ of the stigma and what steps both she and the other characters took to overcome them.

Life is a precious thing, and it is so precious that some people will undergo severe anguish to hold on to it. During the 1930’s and 1940’s in Germany, people of the Jewish religion were diabolically oppressed and slaughtered, just for their beliefs. Some Jews went to extreme measures to evade capture by the German law enforcement, hoping to hold on to life. Krystyna Chiger was only a small child when her family, along with a group of other desperate Jews, descended into the malignant sewers to avoid the Germans. After living in the abysmal sewers for fourteen months, her group emerged, and when she became an adult, she authored a novel about her time in the sewer. When analyzing the literary elements utilized in her novel, The Girl in the Green Sweater, one can determine how tone and mood, point of view, and conflict convey the message of struggle and survival that was experienced during the Holocaust, and how they help the reader to understand and relate.

World War II is a very impactful point in history where the Holocaust is viewed as one of the worst acts of human genocide. Countless Jewish victims endured traumatizing amounts of suffering and pain that transformed their lives as these experiences deprived them of their humanity and trust in others. The novel ‘’Night’’ depicts the extraordinary and painful experiences that many Holocaust prisoners endured: portraying the traumatizing effects it had on the survivors. The novel is written by Eliezer’s perspective as a survivor whose faith in god, faith in humanity, and sense of justice in the world are affected by the impact of his experiences during the Holocaust. Eliezer lived in Sighet, a town in Hungarian Transylvania, growing up to study the Torah and the Kabala with the help of a friendly teacher named Moishe the Beadle. Eliezer receives lessons from Moishe the Beadle who instructs and teaches him about Jewish mysticism and about Jewish culture. Eliezer’s willingness and motivation to study his religion highlights his devotion and strong faith towards God in the beginning of the novel but later disintegrates as he experiences the process of selection and the Germans’ Final

The main character of the novel, Vladek Spiegelman, has almost two different complex personalities from before the war and after. Most of the actions young Vladek performs are on behalf of his beloved wife, Anja. Vladek deeply cares about Anja’s wellbeing; for

Sarah's Key contains some of the most powerful, heart-wrenching scenes ever filmed -- and this is not sensationalism, but truth. This film is important for making everyone aware of a particularly horrific episode in France during World War II and -- if you didn’t know -- what human beings are capable of, for ill as well as for good.

How does the character of Sarah develope due to those surrounding her in the film labyrinth?

It is my intention to compare the book, Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos, to its modern movie version, Cruel Intentions starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. I intend to examine how the original French text was modified in reference to plot, character, morals/values, and themes. I also plan to discuss how these transformations change the meaning of the story and reflect different cultural/historical contexts. There are some major differences between these two works, if only because of when they were written.

"On July 16 and 17, 1942, 13, 152 Jews were arrested in Paris and the suburbs, deported and assassinated at Auschwitz. In the Vélodrome d' Hiver that once stood on this spot, 1,129 men, 2,916 women, and 4,115 children were packed here in inhuman conditions by the government of the Vichy police, by order of the Nazi occupant. May those who tried to save them be thanked. Passerby, never forget” (De Rosnay 60). In the book Sarah’s Key, it begins with a young girl named Sarah Starzinsky, who is dealing with her family being removed by the French police and put into a camp. Before the family left, Sarah puts her brother into a closet and locks him in to where he will not come out until she comes back. However, Sarah and her family did not realize that they were not