Prompt C

I walked through what was now a barren city of broken buildings. Searching. Food, water, anything would be a blessing. After searching a while I finally found a can. It dawned on me, I had no way to open it. So the searching began again. I came across tools for a fire place. It took all my strength to pick the tools up, let alone try to open the can with them. I struck the lip of the can for a few minutes, slowly opening it. One wrong strike and the can was on the floor. It rolled away, leaking the contents of the can, but a far more frightening sight came to me as i looked up. A German soldier, standing on the stairs, watching me. My heart sank. "What do I do?" I thought to myself. We both stood in silence for a few moments, both astonished. He proceeded to question me about what I was doing, if I was Jewish, where I was hiding, and my occupation. I explained to him that I was a pianist and he made me play him something. I was nervous, but if I messed up I'm sure he wouldn't believe me, so I started off slow, it took me a while to get the hang of playing again because of how malnourished I had been. After a few minutes of warming up I began playing faster and faster. I was in my place of peace. It felt like it was just me and the piano, no one could ruin the peaceful state I was in. I played my heart out. After I was done playing the German soldier was amazed. He realized that the people they are killing are real people, they have jobs, they are real and amazing people. He felt as if I didn't deserve being killed, he knew it was the wrong thing to do, so he went against what his orders would be. He helped me. A German, helped a Jew. I was amazed as well as thankful. He brought me food to where I was hiding every once in a while until they had been pushed out by the Russians. A German soldier, helped a Jew. 

Prompt A.

There are many ways Elie Weisel, from Night and Wladyslaw Szpilman, from The Pianist compare and contrast. At the beginning of their stories both of the characters start out with their families and friends in their towns and houses. As the story progresses they are both separated from their families and friends. Elie and Wladek are alike in the way that they are both quiet and keep to themselves. Neither of the characters are very outgoing. Elie is very dependent of his father at the beginning but Wladek is very independent. Their families are both packed into the train and taken away, Elie was in the train but in The Pianist, Wladek's friend saved him and he did not get on the train. Both of the characters witnessed people being killed whether if they were shot or burned alive. Also, both of the characters were put in a ghetto. A ghetto is a place that is jam packed with people, it is highly over populated. Ghettos were filthy, unsanitary, cramped, and just overall cruel places. After leaving the ghettos the Jews were taken to concentration camps through trains in both stories, but Wladek did not get on the train, he stayed in the ghetto, but Elie was taken in the train to Auschwitz. Overall, the characters Elie Weisel and Wladek Szpilman are very similar in many ways. 

Night - Post 3

    In my opinion Night by Elie Weisel was a very good and interesting book. There are many lessons to take away from this book, one that stuck out to me was to never give up hope, because something good is always right around the corner even if it doesn't seem like it. The hardest part of the book for me is when his father dies, Elie feels great guilt but relieved at the same time. It also touched me when he looked in a mirror for the first time since leaving Sighet, he said it looked like a corpse was looking back at him, he no longer saw himself in the mirror. The reason he survived was because the camp was liberated, if the camp had not been liberated Elie would have died from his food poisoning. Overall I enjoyed this book a lot.

Night - Post 2

Part I.

       The relationship between Elie and his father change a lot throughout the book. At the beginning of the book they have a regular father-son relationship. His father gives him advice about things just like the average father does. But as the book progresses their relationship begins to change. At one point in the book they help each other sleep while one would watch over them. Also, Elie has to teach his dad how to march so he wouldn't get beaten.

Part II.

     One of the camps Elie went to was Auschwitz. Auschwitz was the most deadly of all the concentration camps in the holocaust. It was located in Poland and the conditions were horrible. For the prisoners they had to share a bunk with 2 other men usually, the toilet was a bucket, and it often was only changed once a day. The Jewish men had to work hard all day long, and the women were often killed as they arrived at the camp.

Night - Post 1

Part I.

      In the book Night by Elie Wiesel Mrs. Shacter is a very important character, even though she only says a few things. While they are riding the train Mrs. Shacter keeps yelling things such as, "Look! Look at this terrible fire! Have mercy on me!". She continues to scream things about a fire that she sees, but everyone thinks she is crazy and just ignores her. Mrs. Shacter symbolizes the fear and uncertainty that the Jews have about where they are going, what is going to happen, and the crematoria.

Part II.

      In the book, Elie has his gold crown ripped from his tooth. This represents the greediness of the Nazis. They went through the trouble to hold Elie down to get a tiny piece of gold from his mouth. They also did this to take every bit of wealth from the Jews as possible. They wanted them to have no wealth whatsoever. They wanted to make them less like humans and more like animals as much as possible.