Exile and the consequences of it has presented itself throughout this course as a central topic. This theme was experienced in one of the inaugural Jewish literary pieces, “Shem and Japeth on the Train” by Mendele Mochner Sfrorim. The story is set on a bustling train and focuses on a family forced into exile after, “Count Bismarck arose and decreed the expulsions of all the sons of Shem who were not of German nationality” (Sforim 26). The toll of exile can be perceived from the descriptions of the mother, “an unattractive-looking woman with a bleak nose faced me…Her eyes dry and compressed, and her whole countenance shrived like a baked apple (Sforim 22) , and equally the daughter, “[the] daughter would sigh from time to time and tremble convulsively …show more content…
Most of the characters spend much of there life in exile, the main character even ironically remarks to her lover, Ahmed, who also spend much of his life in exile, “’You’re lucky!’ I said ‘at least you’ve seen the town you came from’” (Badr 413). In fact, exile is present in four generations of Yursa’s family from her grandparents, parents, lover, and her soon-to-be-born child. This is emblematic of exile being a part of the identity of these Palestinians, similar to how Reb Moshe in “Shem and Japeth on the Train” describes exile as part of the Jewish identity. Also, comparable is the appalling nature of exile. The story details shortages of water, food, shelter, and first aid. Moreover, is that there is no sense of security- Yursa’s brother is even killed for saying he is Palestinian (Badr 408), and potentially even more chilling the claim, “Everyone expected death; no one in Tel al-Zaatar thought to live out his natural life” (Badr 406). However, the exile in “A Land Between Rock and Thyme” also differs from the other stories. Here the Palestinians are forced into exile primarily from religious tensions between Christian and Muslim factions in the Lebanese Civil War. The Christian faction, or the Phalange, are largely remnant of the French colonial occupation, while many of the Palestinians living in Lebanon at the time were displaced from Israel. Thus, the exile is arguably …show more content…
Two Arabs, a father and daughter are living in forest now in exile due to the afforestation efforts. However, the existence of the village is not evident to the main character- a student who is serving as a fire-watcher in the forest. Not until groups of hikers arrive is he clued in, “[the hikers] just want to ask [the fire-watcher] a question. They have argued, laid wagers, and he shall be their arbiter. Where exactly is this Arab village marked on the map” (Yehoshoa 375). This entails that clearly there was evidence beforehand that a village was there, but the forest was created regardless. When the fire-watcher speaks the name of the village to the Arab, the reaction is telling, ““he jumps up, stand there in his hairy nakedness and flings up a heavy arm in the direction of the window, pointing fervently, hopelessly, at the forest” (Yehoshua 375). Evidently, the Arab is deeply impact by the disappearance of the forest and what exile as lead his life to become. Since, the exile the Arab’s life has been rendered to marginalization- he lives aloof on the fringes of society, nameless, and speechless because his tongue was cut out. Ultimately, the Arab burns down the forest in an action of defiance. This exile shows the desperation and pain of losing your land and home, yet it’s also matchlessly different from the other exiles listed.
It is interesting to read the connections of Night, by Elie Wiesel because they include the experiences of the Holocaust from other people's’ points of views. In A Spring Morning, by Ida Fink, it is shocking that the innocence has been stripped away from the child as the speaker reveals, “Fire years old! The age for teddy bears and blocks” (Wiesel 129). This child is born innocent, she has not harmed anyone, yet she has to suffer. Reading about the Holocaust is difficult, I wonder how others had the motivation to live during it. The description of a little girl getting shot is heartbreaking as the speaker explains, “At the edge of the sidewalk lay a small, bloody rag…. He [Aron] had to keep on walking, carrying his dead child” (Wiesel 133).
A story of a young boy and his father as they are stolen from their home in Transylvania and taken through the most brutal event in human history describes the setting. This boy not only survived the tragedy, but went on to produce literature, in order to better educate society on the truth of the Holocaust. In Night, the author, Elie Wiesel, uses imagery, diction, and foreshadowing to describe and define the inhumanity he experienced during the Holocaust.
In Eliezer Wiesel’s novel “Night”, it depicts the life of a father and son going through the concentration camp of World War II. Both Eliezer and his father are taken from their home, where they would experience inhuman and harsh conditions in the camps. The harsh conditions cause Eliezer and his father’s relationship to change. During their time in the camps, Eliezer Wiesel and his father experience a reversal of their roles.
The Holocaust will forever be known as one of the largest genocides ever recorded in history. 11 million perished, and 6 million of the departed were Jewish. The concentration camps where the prisoners were held were considered to be the closest one could get to a living hell. There is no surprise that the men, women, and children there were afraid. One was considered blessed to have a family member alongside oneself. Elie Wiesel was considered to be one of those men, for he had his father working side by side with him. In the memoir Night, by Elie Wiesel, a young boy and his father were condemned to a concentration camp located in Poland. In the concentration camps, having family members along can be a great blessing, but also a burden. Elie Wiesel shows that the relationship with his father was the strength that kept the young boy alive, but was also the major weakness.
The Holocaust was a tragic event in history which instilled fear and sorrow in so many. This time can be seen as one without order, because the law at the time said the actions taken were just (epigraph translation). A poet was able, however, to take such a chaotic time in history in the poem The Book of Yolek, and create a more personal attachment (for the reader) to the topic. The poet Anthony Hecht has taken the Holocaust (more specifically the moving of Jewish orphans to a concentration camp) and made it simple and nostalgic, taking a more calm approach to the subject ("5th August 1942: Warsaw Orphans Leave for Treblinka"). By using the form of a Sestina (very precise form difficult to properly do), along with the images, rhetorical use of grammar, and the tone portrayed throughout the piece, Anthony Hecht demonstrates a peaceful outlook can be given to the most chaotic moments in human life (Strand et al. 20). However, he also demonstrates the need for emotional attachment when referring to an occurrence (in history) of the past.
Thousands of people were sent to concentration camps during World War Two, including Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel. Many who were sent to the concentration camps did not survive but those who did tried to either forgot the horrific events that took place or went on to tell their personal experiences to the rest of the world. Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi wrote memoirs on their time spent in the camps of Auschwitz; these memoirs are called ‘Night’ and ‘Survival in Auschwitz’. These memoirs contain similarities of what it was like for a Jew to be in a concentration camp but also portray differences in how each endured the daily atrocities of that around them. Similarities between Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi’s memoirs can be seen in the proceedings that
The mood of Night is harder to interpret. Many different responses have occurred in readers after their perusal of this novel. Those that doubt the stories of the holocaust’s reality see Night as lies and propaganda designed to further the myth of the holocaust. Yet, for those people believing in the reality, the feelings proffered by the book are quite different. Many feel outrage at the extent of human maliciousness towards other humans. Others experience pity for the loss of family, friends, and self that is felt by the holocaust victims. Some encounter disgust as the realization occurs that if any one opportunity had been utilized the horror could of been avoided. Those missed moments such as fleeing when first warned by Moshe the Beadle, or unblocking the window when the Hungarian officer had come to warn them, would have saved lives and pain.
“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed…“(Wiesel 32) Livia-Bitton Jackson wrote a novel based on her personal experience, I Have Lived a Thousand Years. Elli was a Holocaust victim and her only companion was her mother. Together they fought for hunger, mistreatment and more. By examining the themes carefully, the audience could comprehend how the author had a purpose when she wrote this novel. In addition, by seeing each theme, the audience could see what the author was attacking, and why. By illustrating a sense of the plight of millions of Holocaust victims, Livia-Bitton Jackson explores the powerful themes of one’s will to survive, faith, and racism.
"A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust-Victims." A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust-Victims. University of South Florida. Web. 19 May 2014.
The delineation of human life is perceiving existence through resolute contrasts. The difference between day and night is defined by an absolute line of division. For the Jewish culture in the twentieth century, the dissimilarity between life and death is bisected by a definitive line - the Holocaust. Accounts of life during the genocide of the Jewish culture emerged from within the considerable array of Holocaust survivors, among of which are Elie Wiesel’s Night and Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower. Both accounts of the Holocaust diverge in the main concepts in each work; Wiesel and Wiesenthal focus on different aspects of their survivals. Aside from the themes, various aspects, including perception, structure, organization, and flow of arguments in each work, also contrast from one another. Although both Night and The Sunflower are recollections of the persistence of life during the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel and Simon Wiesenthal focus on different aspects of their existence during the atrocity in their corresponding works.
Grenville, John A.S. “Neglected Holocaust Victims: the Mischlinge, the Judischversippte, and the Gypsies.” The Holocaust and History. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Abraham J. Peck. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1998. 315-326.
Wiesel utilizes metaphors to display the slow transformation of Jews into introverts as a result of discrimination. Although the German concentration camps were infamous for their conditions, the subjugation of Jews, including Wiesel, had begun as soon as the Germans arrived in his hometown, Sighet. Not only did the German troops force the Jews into ghettos, but they deported them in congested trains without any valuables. As Wiesel’s mother acclimatized to the bleak situation, a change in her nature could be seen when Wiesel described her face as, “a mask without a word, deep in thought” (Wiesel 19). Through the usage of a metaphor, Wiesel illustrated the social change his mother experienced after being stripped of her home, belongings
Their skepticism of the entire situation due to their modern thinking, their denial of the horrors occurring, and holding onto their religious beliefs caused them to react as passively as they did. Wiesel’s novel gives us examples of how skeptical the Jews were of the circumstances and how they tried to hold onto their religion in their worst hours. Browning’s novel also shows us the lack of resistance found during the deportations, and the rare cases in which Jews resisted. The Jews held onto their humanity and self-worth in their darkest moments, demonstrating that even in the most horrendous of circumstances we are still able to hold onto our humanity and identity to push forward to a better future. It is also a reminder that violence is not always the best way to fight
The Holocaust continues to exist as a black mark in the history of Germany; through the government supported torture and extermination of both men and women, more than 6 million lost their lives. As a consequence of the collective tragedy for both sexes, there has been much debate pertaining to the focus of gender specific suffering in Holocaust literature; for this reason, the Holocaust accounts of women writers were largely ignored prior to the 1970’s. Many historians still refute disparities existed between the male and female experience. However, it is worth noting that the social, familial, and cultural expectations of men and women, both prior to and during the war, varied greatly. Moreover, these diverging roles promoted distinctively different coping, processing, and accounting of the tragedies stemming from the Holocaust. By examining the unique experiences of women, both within and outside the concentration camps, one can logically conclude these remarkable accounts broaden the scope of Holocaust literature. Embedded gender roles helped the survival efforts of women, and these unique female perspectives are valuable in accurately portraying the Holocaust experience.
The setting is the Palestinian town of al-Ramla (Ramla in Hebrew) in the Khairi household. In 1948, the family fled their home when Israeli troops captured the town ahead of the Arab-Israeli War. Nineteen years later in 1967, Bashir Al-Khairi returns to the house he grew up in to discover that an Israeli named Dalia and her family has lived there since his family left. The book illustrates their unique friendship that forms over their differences.