When Professor McCloud handed out small pieces of chocolate out a few weeks ago, many thoughts crossed my mind. The chocolate was a small, gold-foil wrapped treasure. It was self-described as “extra creamy milk chocolate with toffee & almonds”. This narrative perked the interest of my Id. I bet this candy tastes as good as it sounds, let’s eat it. As I contemplated if I should consume this chocolate immediately or at least wait until I get in the car, Professor McCloud announced that this exact piece of chocolate must be returned on the last day of class. Well, now my ego is intrigued. Perhaps we could eat it on the sly, and just replace it with an identical one. Then professor says, “If you eat it and replace it with another, I won’t know, but I can promise you’ll feel guilty about it …show more content…
when you find out what the real meaning is all about. Like most things in this class, nothing is what it seems.” My superego takes over. Don’t even think about eating that chocolate! Your final grade depends on it. Let’s eat a different piece of chocolate instead. Oh look, a KitKat! As professor gives more details on our paper, I decide to tuck my chocolate safely away, and think about where to keep it for the next few weeks. When I listen to Francine Christophe recount a particular memory from her time at Auschwitz, her tone is captivating.
She speaks how the child detainees were “privileged”. They were permitted to bring a small item or two with them from France. Christophe’s mother brought two small pieces of chocolate. She told her daughter she would save them for when “you’ve collapsed completely, and really need help. I’ll give you this chocolate and you’ll feel better”. Christophe then tells of a particular day when a pregnant detainee, a woman named Hélène, was giving birth. Her mother explained that Hélène was weak and may not survive the delivery, so she asked Christophe’s permission to give the chocolate to the woman so she and the baby would survive. Christophe agreed; the mother and child survived the delivery. Six months later, the camp was liberated. This personal history depicts chocolate as a source of life. My view of chocolate has now changed. Before learning about Francine and her experience, I saw it as an insignificant piece of candy. Now, knowing how much a single piece of chocolate changed the life of Holocaust prisoners of war, chocolate is weighted with hope and
survival. I imagine Francine’s mother was very conflicted. None of the prisoners knew how long they would be there. Now a frail pregnant woman, about to give birth, may die without the chocolate. I can only imagine her internal conflict. The sequence begins with her Id. Keep the chocolate for yourself and Francine. Francine could become ill tomorrow. Her Ego soon follows. Maybe someone else has something. What if we collect a little bit from the others, then we wouldn’t have to give up all of our chocolate. Finally, the Superego steps in. This chocolate could mean this woman’s life. Both you and Francine are healthy enough. If she does not have it, she will die and her child will have no mother. She needs it more than you. You and Francine will be fine. As mother, I can sympathize with the possible reasoning between the mother’s Id and Ego. A mother puts her child before all else. We work hard and plan for our children to want for nothing. In my journey to be a nurse, I also relate to the logic of the Superego. Having the ability to maintain a level head in dire situations; you can assess who needs immediate attention, and who is strong enough to hold on.
When in America, Helen found that it was hard not to talk about past and the stories of her imprisonment. “Some survivors found it impossible to talk about their pasts. By staying silent, they hoped to bury the horrible nightmares of the last few years. They wanted to spare their children and those who knew little about the holocaust from listening to their terrible stories.” In the efforts to save people from having to hear about the gruesome past, the survivors also lacked the resources to mentally recovery from the tragedy.
Zak, L. (2009, 04). Not all's fair in love of chocolate. Food Magazine, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/198287549?accountid=12964
Food in Elie Wiesel’s Night is of the upmost importance. The starved Jews become animals for even the smallest crumb. For many people today, this animalistic hunger is never something commonly experienced. A cup of black coffee meant the world to them, but is now overlooked by many. However, in the beginning, Elie had the same thought of food as we do. This difference in appreciation of small things shows how belittled the Jews were.
Chris McCandless lived a life in which he disgusted by human civilization, and left it, eventually being led to his death in Alaska. McCandless entered the Alaskan wilderness severely unprepared, a brutal error that cost him his life. In the novel, Into the Wild by John Krakauer, Chris glances into his mindset by they way of his journal, history, and analysis of his life reveals that Chris McCandless as an arrogant and judgemental narcissist, while not mentally unstable, had a condescending attitude towards society and perished not only from his reckless stupidity but also from his unparalleled ego. Chris McCandless was immune to love and had an obsession with nature and society, him showing characteristics that created the appearance of McCandless
Life is a form of progress- from one stage to another, from one responsibility to another. Studying, getting good grades, and starting the family are common expectations of human life. In the novel Into the Wild, author Jon Krakauer introduced the tragic story of Christopher Johnson McCandless. After graduating from Emory University, McCandless sold of his possessions and ultimately became a wanderer. He hitchhiked to Alaska and walked into the wilderness for nearly 4 months. This journey to the 49th state proved fatal for him, and he lost his life while fulfilling his dream. After reading this novel, some readers admired the boy for his courage and noble ideas, while others fulminated that he was an idiot who perished out of arrogance and
Throughout the Nobel Peace Prize award winner Night, a common theme is established around dehumanization. Elie Wiesel, the author, writes of his self-account within the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. Being notoriously famed for its unethical methods of punishment, and the concept of laboring Jews in order to follow a regime, was disgusting for the wide public due to the psychotic ideology behind the concept. In the Autobiography we are introduced to Wiesel who is a twelve year old child who formerly lived in the small village of Sighet, Romania. Wiesel and his family are taken by the Nazi aggressors to the Concentration camp Auschwitz were they are treated like dogs by the guards. Throughout the Autobiography the guards use their authoritative
Food is essential to basic life. It provides people with the energy to think, speak, walk, talk, and breathe. In preparation for the Jews deportation from the ghettos of Transylvania, “the (Jewish) women were busy cooking eggs, roasting meat, and baking cakes”(Wiesel, 13). The Jewish families realized how crucial food was to their lives even before they were faced with the daily condition of famine and death in the concentration camps. The need for food was increased dramatically with the introduction of the famine-like conditions of the camps. Wiesel admitted that, although he was incredibly hungry, he had refused to eat the plate of thick soup they served to the prisoners on the first day of camp because of his nature of being a “spoiled child”. But his attitude changed rapidly as he began to realize that his life span was going to be cut short if he continued to refuse to eat the food they served him. “By the third day, I (Elie Wiesel) was eating any kind of soup hungrily” (Wiesel, 40). His desire to live superseded his social characteristic of being “pampered”. Remarque also uses his characters to show to how a balanced diet promotes a person’s good health. Paul Bäumer uses food to encourage Franz Kemmerich, his sick friend, “eat decently and you’ll soon be well again…Eating is the main thing” (Remarque, 30). Paul Bäumer feels that good food can heal all afflictions. The bread supply of the soldiers in All Quiet on the Western Front was severely threatened when the rats became more and more numerous.
A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal is a memoir about his time as a Jewish child in multiple ghettos and death camps in and around Germany during World War II. The author shares about his reunions with family and acquaintances from the war in the years between then and now. Buergenthal wished to share his Holocaust story for a number of reasons: to prevent himself from just being another number, to contribute to history, to show the power and necessity of forgiveness, the will to not give up, and to question how people change in war allowing them to do unspeakable things. The memoir is not a cry for private attention, but a call to break the cycle of hatred and violence to end mass crimes.
It is a miracle that Lobel and her brother survived on their own in this world that any adult would find unbearable. Indeed, and appropriately, there are no pretty pictures here, and adults choosing to share this story with younger readers should make themselves readily available for explanations and comforting words. (The camps are full of excrement and death, all faithfully recorded in direct, unsparing language.) But this is a story that must be told, from the shocking beginning when a young girl watches the Nazis march into Krakow, to the final words of Lobel's epilogue: "My life has been good. I want more." (Ages 10 to 16) --Brangien Davis
A fifteen-year old boy, Elie Wiesel, and his family are overwhelmed by the thought of uncertainty when they are forced out of their home; as a result, the family would be forced into a cattle car and shipped to Auschwitz. At first, the Jews have a very optimistic outlook while in
Mr. Wiesel had intended this book to describe a period of time in his life that had been dark and sorrowful. This novel is based on a survivor of the greatest Holocaust in history, Eliezer Wiesel and his journey of being a Jew in 1944. The journey had started in Sighet, Transylvania, where Elie spent his childhood. During the Second World War, Germans came to Elie and his family’s home town. They brought with them unnecessary evil and despair to mankind. Shortly after young Elie and thousands of other Jews were forced from their habitats and torn from their rights of being human. They were sent to different concentration camps. Elie and his family were sent to Auschwitz, a concentration and extermination camp. It would be the last time Elie sees his mother and little sister, Tzipora. The first sights of Auschwitz were terrifying. There were big flames coming from the burning of bodies and the crematoriums. The Jews had no idea of what to expect. They were not told what was about to happen to them. During the concentration camp, there was endless death and torture. The Jews were starved and were treated worse than cattle. The prisoners began to question their faith in God, wondering why God himself would
In The Jewish Women of Ravenbrück Concentration Camp the author, Rochelle Saidel discusses how gender plays a large role in the identity of the camp survivors, along with how
The children during the holocaust had many struggles with their physical health. They were forced to stay in very small places and were unable to have contact with a doctor if they had gotten sick. Also they had a lack of food and some children in their host homes would get abused and mistreated. At least a little over one million children were murdered during the holocaust (“Children’s diaries”). Out of all the Jewish children who had suffered because of the Nazis and their axis partners, only a small number of surviving children actually had wrote diaries and journals (“Children’s diaries”). Miriam Wattenberg is one out of the hundreds of children who wrote about their life story during the time of the holocaust (“Children’s Diaries”). She was born October 10, 1924 (“Children’s Diaries”). Miriam started writing her diary in October 1939, after Poland surrendered to the German forces (“Children’s Diaries”). The Wattenberg family fled to Warsaw in November 1940 (“Children’s Diaries”). At that time she was with her parents and younger sister (“Children’s Diaries”). They all had to live in the Warsaw ghetto (“Children’s Diaries”). Halina, another child survivor, tells what happened to her while in hiding. Halina and her family went into hiding ...
Buergenthal, Thomas. A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy. New York: Little, Brown, 2009.
The imagination and the ability to empathize with others is the key to living a wider life, a key to escaping the prison of a limited self. But, imagination and identification are also menacing. As we read and listen to the words of survivors, as we study the Holocaust from all points of view, our imaginations threaten us. As I pick up Elie Wiesel's novel Night, I take the Holocaust in my hands, and I hear children's' voices in the dark. I am afraid for them and for myself. First, I am afraid my imagination will fail me, and I will be overwhelmed. The terror and humiliation of the Holocaust may so numb me that I will go into "shock." I will isolate myself, deny everything -- suffering, empathy, mercy, family, God. I will experience what Wiesel experienced when his father was struck and he did nothing (36-37), or, in the end, I will abandon my father. Wiesel says to me, "I awoke on January 29 at dawn. In my father's place lay another invalid. They must have taken him away before dawn an...