Annihilation

Quote
"Don't let yourself be fooled with illusion. Hitler has made it very clear that he will annihilate all the Jews before the clock strikes twelve, before they can hear the last stroke"(76).

Response
Historical Evidence:
Just to think about what the Jews went through in the Holocaust and that it actually happened is very sad. This quote shows that it was all real and the struggles people went through.

One Man for Himself

Quote
"These were terrible days. We received more blows than food; we were crushed with work. And three days after he had gone we forgot to say the Kaddish.

Response
Choice of Detail:
After Akiba Drumer found out that he was going to be sent to the crematory he asked Elie and his dad after he passed if they could say the Kaddish for him. But after three days had passed Elie realized that they never said it for him. The camp had consumed peoples ability to have feeling for other people and all people worried about was their own survival.

All Faith Gone

Quote
"Blessed be the name of the Eternal! Why, but why should i bless Him? In every fiber I rebelled"(64).

Response
Authors Identity:
All through his life (Elie) he  had always had God, it was a part of him. His religion was a part of him that was important. But here in the camp he has lost faith and feels like Man is greater than God. He feels like God is supposed to be such high in power nut he is letting all these thing happen to him and the Jews and all they have done is warship and pray to God. A part of him has ben taken away that will never be the same.

Nothing in Return

Chapter 4 - Struggle for Survival

Quote
"I'll give you an extra ration of bread and margarine. He was very keen on my shoes; but i did not give them up to him. (Later on they were taken from me just the same. But in exchange for nothing this time)"(46).

Response
Choice of Detail:
Elie didn't want to trade his shoes for bread because they were new and he liked them. But somebody else ended up taking them from him but they did no give him anything in return. Its ironic because he had a chance to give them away or extra food but instead decided not to and the still got taken away.

No Emotion

Chapter 4 - Struggle for Survival


Quote
"That same evening in the lavatory(bathroom), the dentist from Warsaw pulled out my crowned tooth, with the aid of a rusty spoon"(53).

Response
Voice:
As the book progresses you can tell that when Elie writes he shows no emotion. In the quote above Elie describes how he a man pulls out his tooth in a bathroom, which is probably very dirty, with a spoon. He uses no emotion to describe the event.

No Body

Chapter 4 - Struggle for Survival

Quote

"I had watched the whole scene without moving. I kept quiet. In fact i was thinking of how to get my father away so that i would not be hit myself. What is more, any anger i felt at that moment was directed, not against the Kapo, but against my father "(52).

Response

Authors Identity:

Elie's character has changed so much since before coming to Auschwitz. It's as if he has no feelings but anger and he was mad at his father for getting beat up instead of feeling scared. He wants to stay under the radar so he can survive, but he doesn't want his father to die either.

Night

Chapter 3 - First Night

Quote
" Never shall i forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night"(32).

Response
Symbolism:
This detail that Elie adds to his book shows how the first night that he went to Auschwitz has scared him for his life. Night doesn't have the same meaning for him as it does to us. Its a symbol for the day he got everything taken away.

Parting Ways

Chapter 3 - First Night

Quote
" Yet that was the moment when I parted from my mother." " I was parting from my mother and Tzipora forever"(27).

Response
Authors Identity:
Elie got his family taken away from him, the most important thing in his life. Its as if a part of him was torn away.

Eight Word

Chapter 3 - First Night

Quote
" Men to the left! Women to the right! Eight words spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotion"(27).

Response
Symbolism:
This quote symbolizes how the Germans had no feeling for the Jews. They treated them like animals.

Bad Lies

Chapter 2 - Traveling


Quote
" There was a labor camp. Conditions were good. Families would not be split up, only young people would go to work in the factories. The old men and individuals would be kept occupied in the fields"(24).

Response
Symbolism:
Elie includes this statement that someone said and it symbolizes hope. All the Jews have been brainwashed with these lies and they hope they can soon be rescued and return to their normal lives but they are in denial and once things are bad they start to perish and reality sets in.

Prophet

Chapter 2 - Traveling


Quote
" Fire! Fire! Her little boy was crying, hanging onto her skirt trying to take hold of her hands. Its alright, mummy! There is nothing there.... sit down.."(23).

Response
Choice of Detail:
This event that Elie Wiesel decided to put in his book shows how people were scared and going crazy. They finally realized that things weren't going to be good and they were in danger. 

Fire

Chapter 2 - Traveling

Quote
" In front of us flames. In the air that smell of burning flesh"(26).

Response
Historic Evidence:
Burning humans was a way that the Germans killed the Jews so when he says that he smelt the burning flesh it was real. The Germans tried to deny what they did to the Jews but there is evidence right in this book.

Denied Fredom

Chapter 1 - The Beginning


Quote
"Our old servant Martha, came to us. Weeping bitterly she begged us to come to her village, where she could give us safe refuge. My father did not want to hear of it. You can go if you want to, he said to me and my older sisters. I shall stay here with your mother and the child.... naturally we refused to be separated"(18).

Response
Choice of Detail:
Their friend was going to help them escape but they refused. They had no idea that they were going to be shipped to concentration camps and denied their only chance of staying alive.

Great Illusion

Chapter 1 - The Beginning


Quote
"It was neither German nor Jew who ruled the ghetto- it was illusion"(10).

Response
Symbolic:
To me this quote is symbolic because it shows how people were feeling. They thought they were just going to stay in the ghettos until the war was over and the Soviet Union would come free them. Illusion was their hope to keep them going.

Yellow Star

Chapter 1 - The Beginning


Qoute
" The yellow star? Oh well what of it? You don't die from  it...."(9).

Response
Choice of Detail:
Elie includes this statement from his dad because it shows how the Jews did not pay attention to the signs. They still tried to doubt their reality. Unfortunately, the ironic reality is that the star labels them for death. You do die from the star.