This essay discusses the plight of the Jews. The two texts used are ‘The Last Night’ written by Sebastian Faulks and the poem ‘Refugee Blues’ which is written by W. H. Auden. Both the texts talk about misery of the Jewish people being persecuted for their beliefs, due to Hitler’s regime. ‘Refugee Blues’ mainly focuses on the hardship of being Jewish and have been displaced, which provokes sympathy. Similarly, ‘The Last Night’ also focuses on the innocence of the Jewish people: it shows two young boys in their last few moments of freedom and how they suffer from being in the wrong place at the wrong time potentially leading to their deaths. I intend to demonstrate that both the texts employ a range of various language devices; some are similar …show more content…
For example, in the 5th stanza, the narrator is offered a chair, “Went to a committee; they offered me a chair.” This manifests the hospitality towards the Jew and presents a slight ray of hope. Although, he is asked politely to return next year and this means that they had a false hope which ended up in despair. Auden uses irony to illustrate the helplessness and the harsh attitude towards the Jews without any concern. This creates a strong understanding and makes the reader benevolent. In addition to this, the phrase “asked me politely to return next year” is juxtaposed as two opposing ideas are next to each other to emphasize on the cruelty and austerity. Similarly in ‘The Last Night’, Faulks uses alliteration and creates tension, “sat slumped against the wall” and this connotes that the adults know what is going to happen and that there is no point fighting back. Tension is also portrayed in Line 23, “sudden ripple, a quickening of a muscle and nerve”. The body’s reaction tells us that they are stressed and this creates suspense, making the passage more dramatic for the reader. Faulks lists things and mentions the familiar sound of the Parisian bus. The phrase “familiar sound… homely thudding” highlights that it is a common mode of transportation that these people used in their daily life. Although, they never thought that it could be used in a different manner, leading to their deaths. The irony is …show more content…
In comparison to ‘The Last Night’, Faulks displays grieve by emphasizing the innocence of the two boys’ hardship of being Jewish. The texts proposes that they would die in the concentration camp, “they might write a final message”, the adjective ‘final’ highlights on how death is very close to these people, despite the fact they are innocent, they are about to get killed for their beliefs. This has an effect on the reader as it is disappointing seeing the cruelty towards the Jews and how death is taken so casually. Innocence is also demonstrated when the children fall asleep in transit camp, dreaming of other places. The adults have a good understanding of situation in the upcoming moments but on the other hand the children are naïve and don’t realise what it happening which allows them to escape reality. The young dream of other places and this hints the reader, explaining that no one is spared in the end no matter of age or gender. Auden’s method of displaying innocence contradicts with Faulk’s method. The poet uses the repetition of “my dear” which shows that the refugee’s wife is innocent and this suggests that the refugee is speaking to his wife about the situation, explaining or consoling them. “Old passports can’t do that, my dear, old passports can’t do that”; “But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive”; “Looking for you and me, my dear, looking for you and me”.
Over 5 million people died between 1933 and 1945. Additionally, around half of these deaths happened in a concentration camp. This point in time is commonly referred to as the Holocaust. In Elie Wiesel’s book "Night” that documents Elie Wiesel’s struggles in a ghetto and then being transported throughout Germany to these awful places that are made for death. However, in the novel “Night,” Elie Wiesel uses dialog, ellipses, and symbolism to show the bond he has with his father. (73)
The memoir,”Night”, shows the perspective of Elie Wiesel, a young boy that was sent to a concentration camp alongside hundreds of other Jews, that lost their valuables , faith and family.The terror within the concentration camp slowly deteriorate the Jews ,physically and mentally.The jews had a choice to be selfish or selfless,given the jews’ situation it is best to do what was in their best interest. Throughout Elie Wiesel’s memoir, “Night”; many individuals had a hard time navigating the brutality within the concentration camps.Through these times of brutality, many people in the camp had to choose to either be selfish or altruistic. Given the jew’s situation, it is better to act selfish than to be altruistic.
Imagine, losing the part of you that makes you unique, or being treated like you were worth absolutely nothing. Think about losing all that you hold on to: your family, friends, everything that you had. Imagine, being treated like an animal, or barely receiving enough food to live. All of these situations and more is what the Jews went through during the Holocaust. During the period of 1944 - 1945, a man by the name of Elie Wiesel was one of the millions of Jews that were experiencing the wrath of Hitler’s destruction in the form of intense labor and starvation. The novel Night written by the same man, Elie Wiesel, highlights the constant struggle they faced every single day during the war. From the first acts of throwing the Jews into
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.
Language has the ability to impact the mood and tone of a piece in literature. In Night, Wiesel uses imagery, symbolism, diction and foreshadowing to illustrate dehumanization. The deeper true horror of the Holocaust is not what they Nazi’s did, but the behavior they legitimized as human beings being dehumanized by one another through silence and apathy.
The Holocaust, yet another unpleasant time in history tainted with the blood and suffering of man. Human beings tortured, executed and starved for hatred and radical ideas. Yet with many tragedies there are survivors, those who refused to die on another man’s command. These victims showed enormous willpower, they overcame human degradation and tragedies that not only pushed their beliefs in god, but their trust in fellow people. It was people like Elie Wiesel author of “Night”, Eva Galler,Sima Gleichgevicht-Wasser, and Solomon Radasky that survived, whose’ mental and physical capabilities were pushed to limits that are difficult to conceive. Each individual experiences were different, but their survival tales not so far-reaching to where the fundamental themes of fear, family, religion and self-preservation played a part in surviving. Although some of these themes weren’t always so useful for survival.
In the American memoir, Night, Nobel Peace Prize-winning author Elie Wiesel constructs a story about the horrific events he endured during the Holocaust. In the pages of this memoir, he portrays the life of Eliezer, a child born Jewish. In the later chapters of the book, Eliezer endures the tragic hanging of a pipel who lost his life for not giving up the names of the inmates that worked to sabotage the power plant at Buna, a forced labor camp in Germany. The guards forced Eliezer and his father to walk past the child as he hung from the gallows stuck between life and death. The death of the child signifies the death of Eliezer’s faith. The author used this position in the memoir to signify the end of the main character’s religious views, which makes this the climax of the book. The climax fits into the structure of the memoir at this point by staying consistent in word choice and advancing the plot further. The use of the appeals and tone also ties this scene into the plot. However, each translation utilizes these devices differently. The scholar’s translation focuses on ethos, logos, and a helpless tone. Marion’s translation uses pathos and a bitter tone. Marion’s version more effectively uses the appeals and tone because it conveys more emotion to the reader.
Cruelty surrounds the world constantly, and is used frequently in works of literature to reveal certain things about the theme. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, acts of cruelty are used to express the theme and enhance its message. One of the largest themes revealed by these acts is “man’s inhumanity to man,” which includes mistreatment of Jews by the Nazis, the common people, and other Jews. Watching the large amounts of violence, abuse, and discrimination that occur in this memoir show us the horrors of the Holocaust and how it transformed the men and women who it experienced it, as well as those who caused it.
At first glance, Night, by Eliezer Wiesel does not seem to be an example of deep or emotionally complex literature. It is a tiny book, one hundred pages at the most with a lot of dialogue and short choppy sentences. But in this memoir, Wiesel strings along the events that took him through the Holocaust until they form one of the most riveting, shocking, and grimly realistic tales ever told of history’s most famous horror story. In Night, Wiesel reveals the intense impact that concentration camps had on his life, not through grisly details but in correlation with his lost faith in God and the human conscience.
Many themes exist in Night, Elie Wiesel’s nightmarish story of his Holocaust experience. From normal life in a small town to physical abuse in concentration camps, Night chronicles the journey of Wiesel’s teenage years. Neither Wiesel nor any of the Jews in Sighet could have imagined the horrors that would befall them as their lived changed under the Nazi regime. The Jews all lived peaceful, civilized lives before German occupation. Eliezer Wiesel was concerned with mysticism and his father was “more involved with the welfare of others than with that of his own kin” (4). This would change in the coming weeks, as Jews are segregated, sent to camps, and both physically and emotionally abused. These changes and abuse would dehumanize
The holocaust was a tragic time which involved the killing of Jews to create a ‘pure race’ in Germany. Jacob Boas analyzes the stories of five young Jewish children through the book “We Are Witnesses,” who were forced through the hardships of war. Through the perspectives of David Rubinowicz, Yitzhak Rudashevski, Moshe Flinker, Éva Heyman, and Anne Frank, the struggles of the five children are clear as they try to hold on to their ideals while still fighting for their lives. “We Are Witnesses,” by Jacob Boas adopts repetition and diction through the eyes of David Rubinowicz, imagery using Yitzhak Rudashevski, repetition and imagery via Moshe Flinker, repetition with Éva Heyman, and repetition and syntax by Anne Frank to brandish how Jewish
The holocaust can be regarded as one of the most awful events in history and the swastika continues to be a constant reminder of the horrendous acts of hate that were bestowed onto human lives. More than 1 million people were brutally murdered at the hands of an evil dictator named Adolf Hitler. Some of the vivid events and actions that took place during this time have been highlighted in the poem “The Trains” written by William Heyen. Heyen discusses the trains of Treblinka which carried the prized possessions of the many people who had been dropped off to death and/or concentration camps. In the poem, the author attempts to appeal to audiences of the 21st century around the world who do not fully understand the horrific incidents that occurred during the holocaust and the tragedy inflicted on its victims.
The Holocaust was a time of great suffering and inhumanity. The novel Night, which took place during this time, was written by Elie Wiesel and talks about his teen self-experiencing the concentration camps of Auschwitz. This is related to the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas which is the story of a young German boy named Bruno who befriends a Jewish boy in a concentration camp. The many similarities and differences between the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and the novel Night include their many themes of “inhumanity” and “guilt and inaction”, and the two also share and differ in the loss of innocence of the characters and how they develop in each medium.
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
By analyzing the deeper level meaning in the images presented, the reader’s sympathy increases. Primarily, Decaul uses the beginning of his poem to grasp the reader’s attention by explaining the tragic activity occurring on his birthday. In doing this he uses traumatic imagery, such as “black smoke rising” and “artillery strikes” to further describe the scenery upon his “birthday.” These meaningful descriptive images bring the reader in creating a connection between us and the inner feelings of the soldier. The idea of providing mental images, supports the distressing activities encountered on the soldier’s birthday. Even though the poem does not bluntly tell us Decaul is frightened at the setting, words, such as “tapping” and “reminds”, inform us of how he has taught himself to stay “safe.” Decaul has to