In the novels Night and To Kill A Mockingbird there is a similar theme of the struggle between good and evil. This is shown through the persecution of innocent people because of their race. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Tom Robinson was killed after being convicted of a terrible crime that he did not commit. Bob Ewell accused Tom Robinson of raping his daughter to bring him to court, however Bob Ewell simply wanted another black man that he hated to die. The jury unanimously and easily decided for Tom to be put to death, not because they believed the Ewell’s, but because Tom was a man of colour which to them meant he was less than human and deserved to die. Atticus explained the jury to his children by stating, “ In our courts, when it's a white …show more content…
man's word against a black man's, the white man always wins.” (Lee Pg 224) This quote shows that Atticus is aware of the racial hatred that will decides Tom’s fate but there is nothing he can do about it. Similarly, in the novel Night thousands of innocent people died each day because they were Jewish. Elie is forced to watch thousands of people be treated disgustingly because Hitler and his Nazi’s decided that they did not like the Jewish people. Similar to Tom Robinson, most of the people who were killed in the Holocaust, had never done anything wrong, but the men in power decided they should all be dead and so they were put to death. In Night, even the most innocent people were brutally murdered without a second thought. Elie describes seeing this in Night as he says, “Not far from us, flames were leaping up from a ditch, gigantic flames. They were burning something. A lorry drew up at the pit and delivered its load-little children. Babies!” (Wiesel Pg __). This shows the ultimate hatred of even the most innocent human beings on our planet. In both Night and To Kill A Mockingbird, innocent people are forced to fight a losing battle against evil, hatred and racism. In both Night and To Kill A Mockingbird, the novels begin with young, naive children who are forced to grow up, however the characters find this maturity in much different ways.
In Night, the novel begins with Elie living happily learning about his faith and spending time with his family. As Elie spends most of his days praying and very strongly believes in his faith, his strong faith is the reason he believes nothing could ever be bad in the world with God watching over him. Elie is soon forced to learn about the harsh realities of his new life’s only purpose, surviving the Holocaust. Particularly, Elie is forced to mature as he watches countless people die, struggle, be beaten and starve to death. In the short time of one year, Elie goes from being the innocent child who believed that nothing in the world could be bad, to a man who was pleased when his father died because it increased his own chances of survival. In contrast, in To Kill A Mockingbird Scout is forced to mature as her view on the world changes throughout the novel. Much like Elie, Scout’s story begins when she is a young, naive child who believes there is only good in the world. However, as the novel progresses and Scout learns more about the unfair truth of Tom’s trial and how African Americans are forced to live in her town, she develops a realistic view of the world that she lives in. For example, Scout learns that not everything in the world is fair, but that there is also good in unexpected places as …show more content…
she learns about the Mockingbirds in her own town. Through her encounters with Boo Radley, Scout learns that the world is also full of wonderful people and experiences that need to be protected, as she says to Atticus “... it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?”(Lee __), when referring to Boo Radley. She learns that in the world evil has an ever existing presence in everyone’s lives, however, it is up to her to find the good that outweighs the evil and base her life on that. Elie Wiesel is forced to mature as he is put through a horrifying experience, whereas Scout matures naturally as she learns about the world around her and her place in it. The characters in both Night and To Kill A Mockingbird could not have survived their stories without one common characteristic that they all shared.
Courage was what kept Elie alive even when he wanted nothing more than to let himself die. Courage is also what allowed Atticus to fight so hard for Tom Robinson, even though he knew the terrible things people would think of him after. In Night, Elie thought of how easy death would be many times. Elie writes about how jumping into the electric fences would be an easy way to die when he first arrives at the concentration camps, he speaks of death like this again at the end of the novel when death would come easily if he were to just sit when told to stand or fall asleep in the cold snow to rest. Without courage, Elie would not have been able to walk past the young pipel who was hanged in front of the camp, pass selection, help his father even when it became hard to, and choose to live when so many others chose to die. More than all of this, it took Elie an extreme amount of courage to not let himself become an animal, and remember who he was. Similarly, in To Kill A Mockingbird it takes Atticus much of the same courage to stand up for not only his life, but Tom Robinson’s life as well. Atticus stood for what is right even after people start whispering behind his back, after kids started making fun of Scout and Jem, and even after the angry mob almost killed him to get to Tom and kill him as well. Although Atticus was not being
mistreated the same way that Elie was, it took the same courage for each of them to fight through their own battles. It took Atticus much courage to stand up for Tom Robinson and put his best foot forward for the community that was less privileged than he was. Both Atticus FInch in To Kill A Mockingbird and Eile Wiesel from Night would not have survived their battles without the hardest thing to find and easiest thing to lose, courage.
Night by Elie Wiesel was a memoir on one of the worst things to happen in human history, the Holocaust. A terrible time where the Nazi German empire started to take control of eastern Europe during WWII. This book tells of the terrible things that happened to the many Jewish people of that time. This time could easily change grown men, and just as easily a boy of 13. Elie’s relationship with God and his father have been changed forever thanks to the many atrocities committed at that time.
Night is an autobiography by a man named Eliezer Wiesel. The autobiography is a quite disturbing record of Elie’s childhood in the Nazi death camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald during world war two. While Night is Elie Wiesel’s testimony about his experiences in the Holocaust, Wiesel is not, precisely speaking, the story’s protagonist. Night is narrated by a boy named Eliezer who represents Elie, but details set apart the character Eliezer from the real life Elie. For instance, Eliezer wounds his foot in the concentration camps, while Elie actually wounded his knee. Wiesel fictionalizes seemingly unimportant details because he wants to distinguish his narrator from himself. It is almost impossibly painful for a survivor to write about his Holocaust experience, and the mechanism of a narrator allows Wiesel to distance himself somewhat from the experience, to look in from the outside.
The novel “Night” tells the story of Elie and his family in World War II. The family get separated and Elie is only left with his father. The reason Elie is affected so deeply by his father’s death is because his father is all he has left and he broke his promise to not follow the actions of the Rabbi’s son.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” is a novel by Harper Lee, that teaches many themes, one of which being very important is courage. Many people think that courage is a man with a gun in his hand, but Lee’s definition is much different. She thinks that courage is when you know that you’re beaten before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. The first quote I have to further explain this is early in the story when Atticus tells Jem and Scout about the court case he is handling. “Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win” (Lee 101). Atticus knows he won’t win the court case, but he still tries his best and doesn’t falter whatsoever. Many people scrutinize him for defending a negro, but he ignores them like he should, and shows maturity and courage.
Courage plays a big part in each book. Without the immense amount of courage shown by the main characters, they wouldn’t be such good role models. For example, when Scout asks Atticus why he defends Tom Robinson, a negro, he says, “If I didn’t I couldn’t hold my head up in town, I couldn’t represent this country in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again. “(75) Atticus doesn’t have to defend Tom Robinson, but in his heart he knows everyone should have a fair chance at this trial, so he does. Even though the entire community is against the support of Negroes, Atticus finds the courage to defend Tom Robinson anyway. Another good instance of Atticus’ courage is when Mrs. Dubose dies clean from the morphine addiction. Atticus says, “I wanted you to see what real courage was, instead of getting the idea courage comes from a man with a gun in his hand, It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you do it anyway and you’ll see through it no matter what” (112) Atticus teaches his kids that you have to overcome your fears. He knows many citizens of Macomb use violence and...
Atticus’s real courage drove him to put aside the criticism and risk, and take up and fight the Tom Robinson’s controversial case. It is evident that these three characters in To Kill a Mockingbird display acts of real courage, even when they know they are fighting a losing battle.
In the novel Night, Elie Wiesel faces the horrors of the Holocaust, where he loses many friends and family, and almost his life. He starts as a kind young boy, however, his environment influences many of the decisions he makes. Throughout the novel, Elie Wiesel changes into a selfish boy, thinks of his father as a liability and loses his faith in God as an outcome his surroundings.
The ground is frozen, parents sob over their children, stomachs growl, stiff bodies huddle together to stay slightly warm. This was a recurrent scene during World War II. Night is a literary memoir of Elie Wiesel’s tenure in the Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel created a character reminiscent of himself with Eliezer. Eliezer experienced cruelty, stress, fear, and inhumanity at a very young age, fifteen. Through this, he struggled to maintain his Jewish faith, survive with his father, and endure the hardships placed on his body and mind.
Courage is not something that we are born with, it is a skill that takes time to learn and only a few are lucky enough to have it. To Kill a Mockingbird is not only about life in a world full of hate, it is about standing up for anyone’s beliefs being brave enough to do it. In this story, Harper Lee says “Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand. It's knowing you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do” (Lee 112). In To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates courage through Atticus Finch, Mrs. Dubose, and Arthur Radley.
A simple act of kindness and support can possibly be the savior to someone else’s misery. In the novel, Night, written by Eliezer Wiesel, Elie portrays the daily lifestyle of the Jews during the Holocaust, and shares his personal experiences. He goes through hardships as he travels from the ghettos to the concentration camps with his one and only family member remaining, his father. The S.S. soldiers take the author’s mother and his two sisters away from him as they arrive at the ghetto because they separating women from men. Throughout the novel, Elie experiences personality adaptations and loses his faith in God all due to the loss of humanity in his world. With this in mind, he bases his survival on his determination and not his luck. Eliezer survives the Holocaust as a result to the hope he provides for his father and the support he receives from others throughout his journey.
“Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe” a quote by Elie Wiesel. Read and receive information in the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel about how the main character Elie survived and experienced the crucial torture the Holocaust had put them through. While reading the book, you will learn how Elie went through his very own journey through the Holocaust as a survivor and how he witnessed the nightmare himself. In the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel, the main character Elie, was affected by the events in the book including emotional changes, loss of attachment to faith, and how he lost himself while in the concentration camps. Throughout the book “Night” the main character, Elie, went through a tremendous emotional rollercoaster during his time in the forties.
Scout believes at the beginning of the book that courage is all to do with physical feats like fist fighting. Scout and Jem though Atticus was courageous when he shot the mad dog, but Atticus just shrugged it off telling his children that that is not ? real courage?. The children soon see that moral courage is more valuable after Miss Dubose said "Your father's no better than the niggers and trash he works for!" Chapter 11, Page 113 after they walked past her house.
Elie’s loss of innocence and childhood lifestyle is very pronounced within the book, Night. This book, written by the main character, Elie Wiesel, tells the readers about the experiences of Mr. Wiesel during the Holocaust. The book starts off by describing Elie’s life in his hometown, Sighet, with his family and friends. As fascism takes over Hungary, Elie and his family are sent north, to Auschwitz concentration camp. Elie stays with his father and speaks of his life during this time. Later, after many stories of the horrors and dehumanizing acts of the camp, Elie and his father make the treacherous march towards Gliewitz. Then they are hauled to Buchenwald by way of cattle cars in extremely deplorable conditions, even by Holocaust standards. The book ends as Elie’s father is now dead and the American army has liberated them. As Elie is recovering in the hospital he gazes at himself in a mirror, he subtly notes he much he has changed. In Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie loses his innocence and demeanour because he was traumatized by what he saw in the camps, his loss of faith in a God who stood idly by while his people suffered, and becoming selfish as he is forced to become selfish in the death camps to survive.
When people are placed in difficult, desolate situations, they often change in a substantial way. In Night by Elie Wiesel, the protagonist, Elie, is sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp where he undergoes many devastating experiences. Due to these traumatic events, Elie changes drastically, losing his passion in God, becoming disconnected with his father, and maturing when it matters most.
...e has to deal with the death of his family, the death of his innocence, and the death of his God at the very young age of fifteen. He retells the horrors of the concentration camp, of starvation, beatings, torture, illness, and hard labor. He comes to question how God could let this happen and to redefine the existence of God in the concentration camp. This book is also filled with acts of kindness and compassion amid the degradation and violence. It seems that for every act of violence that is committed, Elie counteracts with some act of compassion. Night is a reflection on goodness and evil, on responsibility to family and community, on the struggle to forge identity and to maintain faith. It shows one boy's transformation from spiritual idealism to spiritual death via his journey through the Nazi's failed attempt to conquer and erase a people and their faith.