Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Chapter 3 (pages 29-46) -- Sleep . . .

Wiesel writes in parentheses: (Is it any wonder that ever since then, sleep tends to elude me?)

To what is he referring? Why can't he sleep? What is he telling us about his life since Auschwitz?

4 comments:

  1. Wiesel refers to what he has just seen. He saw "a lory draw up at the pit and deliver its load- little children. Babies! [He] saw it... with his own eyes... those children in the flames." Overall, he really talks about his experience in Auschwitz and how everything that he has went through in that concentration camp still haunts him today. He can not sleep because he could not believe what he just saw. In a way he was surprised and appalled by the image of children burning. But who would not be surprised or frightened by that horrid sight? Wiesel tells us that his life before Auschwitz is nothing compared to it now. He misses his home. His room. His books. He was "still the spoiled child [he] had always been." Wiesel thought it was impossible for people to burn other people, especially children. And for the world to keep quiet? That is why he refers to it all as a nightmare... he just could not believe it all. So when he arrives at Auschwitz... when they all arrive at Auschwitz, they all fear their lives, their fate.

    -Jessica C.

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  2. When Wiesel makes this statement he is trying to explain to us how harsh and life changing Auschwitz was. It was so awful and so terrible, that the images and scenes he saw will haunt him for the rest of his life. He is trying to tell us that now, years after he has gotten out of Auschwitz he sees life in a completely different way than he did before he entered the gates of inferno. He is mainly referring to when he first entered and he saw them burning the babies in the chimney. He had to stand there and watch as their faces turned into smoke. He also had to see people being beaten until they had no feeling left. In my opinion one that struck him the hardest was seeing his father getting slapped in the face. These events that he has experienced were so gruesome and so terrifying that no matter how hard he tries to, he will NEVER forget them.
    -Emily

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  3. When Elie arrived at Auschwitz was sent to the left; work, salvation. As he was walking he saw small children be throw into fire and being consumed by flames, and that is the even he refers to when he says sleep eludes him. What he is saying is that that one experience was traumatizing to him, to see that hatred could go so far as to kill thousands of children just because they were a certain way or belonged to a certain group. Why couldn’t he sleep? Because those images of those tiny little bodies being tossed like garbage came to haunt him, came to make him remember.

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  4. Since Elie was, send to Auschwitz thanks to his good luck he turns left that actually is the labor camp. While he is walking he watches how they through innocent little kids to the fire until their fragile little body’s convert into ash. When Elie speaks about them, he refers to them as the sleep eludes, really what Elie saw was something to be traumatize forever. What would you do if you were in the shoes of Elie, watching poor innocent little kid die in a bad way. The religion is just a believe its not something that can kill many of people.

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