Night Topic #2
One of the most important themes in Night is the way in which exposure to inhuman cruelty can deprive even victims of their sense of morality and humanity. Describe how Wiesel demonstrates in the book that cruelty and then think about situations in your life where people have turned others into unkind people. Discuss at least one situation.
Sarah said,
October 10, 2007 at 5:54 pm
It was basically an every man for himself situation that they were in. If you werent strong enough, or mean enough then you got shot. If you were too nice or too careing then you got shot. So many people, germans and jews changed personalitys just to remain alive. Such as the gypies being forced to punish the father because he asked to go to the bathroom, for if he had gone then the gyspe would have been shot for being nice.
Dylan said,
October 10, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Elizer started to wonder where god is and whether god existed. He also started to wonder what had happened to him when people were cruel to his father because in the past, he would have said or done something about someone acting that way, but now, he does nothing. I have seen people turn other into unkind people. One of the situations in when someone was cruel to someone else long enough to make the person angry at him and never trusted anyone else so he was an unkind person.
Katelyn said,
October 25, 2007 at 2:48 am
Some of the prisoners who were head of the blocks are a good example of this. When Eliezer’s father asked to go to the restroom, the man hit him in the face. This man was so scared for his own life, and so afraid of what the people running the camp might do, that he showed inhuman cruelty to a man because of Hitler’s and his followers’ inhuman cruelty. Many times, especially in high school, people are cruel to other people. This makes them to be cruel to other people because of the cruelty that they are always shown on a daily basis. This isn’t just one situation, but many that take place every day. There is one girl at my school who gets picked on a lot, and in turn, she is mean to other people. It’s not because she is a cruel person, it’s the cruelty she receives from others. It’s her way of defending herself, and I’m sure it would be mine, too.
rosie said,
October 25, 2007 at 4:46 pm
There are so many different scenarios in the book Night that will demonstrate the inhumanity and horrors of the holocaust. One example is when they are in the train cars and they were at a train stop when there were people staring at them. Then they started to throw bread at them, the poor starving Jews were literally killing people for a crust of bread. While they were at the camp, they were given a cup of coffee, a piece of bread and a bowl of soup. The SS soldiers messed with their minds, and were horrible to them and treated worse than wild beasts. There have been times in my life when I have had to deal injustice, but nothing as bad as what happened in the holocaust. People call me names all the time. Also, when things happen people will not talk to me, and because of this one time, I got ISS because a now ex friend would not listen to me or try to reason to find out how to work out a situation that has nothing to do with that friend. That to me, is injustice, when people will not let you have a say in anything, and always think there right, when they are not.