Blog Post #1, Haley

Elie Wiesel’s writing in the novel, Night, affected me in many different ways. As I read through the sections of the novel, I became more and more furious about what the Nazi’s did to the Jewish people. Elie decides to discuss with his father about whether or not to kill himself by running into the wires rather than suffering. "Father" I said, "If that is true, then I don't want to wait. I'll run into the electrified barbed wire. That would be easier than a slow death in the flames” (33). I was furious that the Nazi’s thought it was ok to make someone think of suicide by treating them terribly. I was also furious when I first saw the burning pits in the novel. “And as the train stopped, this time we saw flames rising from a tall chimney into a black sky” (28). Again, I was furious because of the fact that anyone would burn someone else alive and think that it was right. Another reason I was furious was because of the fact Jewish people were being killed painfully and slowly by other humans. For example, “Yes, I did see this, with my own e y e s … c h i l - dren thrown into the flames. (Is it any wonder that ever since then, sleep tends to elude me?)” (32).

During the novel, I also felt a lot of grief from all the deaths and the ways people were dying. “Infants were tossed into the air and used as targets for the machine guns” (6). When Moishe talks to Elie about the story of the Nazi’s throwing up babies and using them for target practice I wanted to cry. I was very upset that the children's lives had been taken away so early and violently because of something they could not control - their family's religion. I was also upset when Elie and his family were torn apart, like many of the other jewish families. “And I walked on with my father, with the men. I didn't know that this was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever” (29). I knew that they would never see each other again, Elie however, never had the certainty of knowing what happened to them. The fact that millions of families were torn apart by Nazi’s is extremely upsetting for me. I can not imagine my family being torn apart or knowing that I would never see them again.

Elie Wiesel’s writing in the novel, Night, is done in first person. Elie speaks from his experiences and points of view from when he was living in the concentration camps. He provides both historical knowledge as well as emotional ties to how he felt during the time period. In the beginning of the novel, Elie, reviewed the years before he was captured in a quick manner, but once he reached the point in his story when he was captured, he slows down the amount time which is passing. To me, Elie’s writing is simple but not to vague. His simple style consists of frank statements and not many long, in depth sentences. Also, most of Elie's sentences do not use the words and or so to combine two sentences. Instead, he just uses a period to make two separate sentences. Elie uses clear, powerful and simple ideas in his writing. Reading the novel, Elie's writing always made me feel as though I too was there in the situation and experiencing it a long with the characters. the images Elie creates are very visual and cause me to experience many different emotions. So far, I have really enjoyed reading about Elie’s story about his experience in the holocaust.