Night by Elie Wiesel
The book Night is nothing but a novel composed of emotional and physical conflicts for the main protagonist, Eliezer. Set in World War II Europe, this semi-autobiography covers several internal struggles for not only Eliezer but his fellow prisoners of the Holocaust; dwindling faith in God, loss of hope and preserving parental bonds are among many problems encountered throughout the book. The book explains a whole new side of the Holocaust: the mental side, what the victims were thinking during the genocide and how they themselves were being eaten alive by fear, detached from the individuals they were before their time in the concentration camps.
A major conflict for Eliezer is maintaining his faith and loyalty towards God. You can note the dramatic change in his level of religion throughout the book, he starts as a devote student of the Jewish faith but it slowly fades away as he experiences more and more abuse. He had spent his life prior to his encampment believing that the world revolved around the magnificent power and divinity of God. However all these optimistic ideals are violently shaken out of place with the arrival of the Nazis and their ghettos. He began to question the benevolence of God once he witnesses the horror that a human can perform towards another with the justification of racial superiority.
That leads to the second struggle of Eliezer, survival. He would not only focus on finding food and avoiding the gas chambers, but he had to be weary of his fellow prisoners for once inside the camps, survival of the fittest was the highest virtue among those imprisoned. In the first arrival of the Nazis, Wiesel depicts them as a military power, containing the Jewish people, yet they are still written down as human beings. That changes by the end of the novel, they become violent demons, bringers of death and despair. All of the struggles that Eliezer confronts correlate and tie together as well as affect each other. This factor of human cruelty towards one another promotes his decaying faith, which only increases the depression that gnaws at his consciousness. He witnesses his fellow man rip each other to pieces over a small wedge of bread, friends taken by the hand of Adolf Hitler and even watch as sons abandon their elderly fathers to ensure their own survival.
Eliezer’s father – Chlomo - is the only reoccurring character within the story that plays a major role in keeping Eliezer alive. From the beginning you can tell that Eliezer has a very deep connection with his father and he would do anything to make sure that he stays with him during this entire ordeal. He watches as other sons beat their fathers to death and desert their father because they believe the he is holding them down. Eliezer has several instances where he contemplates these horrible deeds, but he remains strong in preserving the bond he and his father have. Even up to his father’s death, Eliezer remains by his side. But after the passing of his father, he can see a confrontation that had been present all along that would destroy the hearts of the faithful: silence and neglect from their God.
Having been spiritually devoted for his entire childhood, Eliezer saw the world as a beautiful place filled with the voice and love of God. Again his theories on the interaction of God and Earth would be stricken down by a harsh reality. He would come to question the existence of the Almighty numerous times in his sentence in the concentration camps. When a young boy was hanged, he cried out to God asking “why?” and the answer would be silence. That silence would be a key element in the destruction of faith in the interment of the Jewish people. They saw it as God was quite content with the genocide of innocent people.
Through it all, Eliezer manages somehow to survive his long trials with the Nazis. His horrific journey across Europe left him scarred and battered, his family was damaged but not as much as his remaining mind. The time spent in the concentration camps destroyed almost every aspect of his life, yet it seemed to open his eyes and allowed to see the world more clearly. The world is not the perfect little place without any flaws and humanity still has great control of its primitive side. We has human beings have the ability to create vast amounts of destruction and chaos, however love and compassion are the little lights at the end of the tunnel for those who follow the right paths.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The end has finally come to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Return of the King is the final installment of this legendary series and honestly I found it to be the best book out of the other Lord of the Rings books. It is full of unexpected twists on top of the impending question “how is it going to end?”
Tolkien did an excellent job with The Return of the King, but of course he did not change his writing at all. Ms. Khawaja, you are probably convinced that my mind is set primarily on criticizing his formal writing technique, but I cannot help it because his style just perturbs my brain. It is too formal and repetitive. He is very verbose in his writing style; it would take him twenty words to describe how a turtle managed to cross the street. However, his descriptiveness comes in handy when scenes of great suspense are written on the pages of the book. Tolkien will bore you to putting down the book and moving on to searching for new Apps on your iPod touch, but he will also bring you to Middle Earth. When a battle takes place or a confrontation between a small hobbit and a nasty little creature over a magical ring, J.R.R Tolkien succeeds in creating imagery within his work. He has this ability to practically put a person there alongside the characters; almost as if it was a movie playing live, right in front of you.
The ending of the book may drag on forever, but it is worth reading those extra hundred pages. Just to throw this out there, I found the ending sad but yet an excellent finish to the storyline. For once there isn’t exactly a happy ending for the heroes. They are not given the “Heroes Welcome” when they finally return home and –spoiler alert- the main character goes off to be immortal, but with the price of leaving Middle Earth forever. I was choking up at this part because it is a sad farewell to a character whom you have almost “befriended,” you –as the reader- were right there by his side throughout his entire journey yet now it’s all over. Also I was choking up because I had seen the movie before, and it is nothing but crying and sadness-stricken goodbyes.
Would I recommend this book to a friend? As I have said with the other two fantastic books, yes I would definitely recommend this book to a friend. But my warning is re-administered: those who do not wish to commit to reading this vocabulary-intense and verbose novel should not even bother reading the first page. If you cannot find the free time to read this amazing book, take out three hours of your weekend and what the movie. If you chose option B, I also recommend lots of refreshments because this movie is very long and you will not want to pause it half way through the film to get a snack.
Tolkien did an excellent job with The Return of the King, but of course he did not change his writing at all. Ms. Khawaja, you are probably convinced that my mind is set primarily on criticizing his formal writing technique, but I cannot help it because his style just perturbs my brain. It is too formal and repetitive. He is very verbose in his writing style; it would take him twenty words to describe how a turtle managed to cross the street. However, his descriptiveness comes in handy when scenes of great suspense are written on the pages of the book. Tolkien will bore you to putting down the book and moving on to searching for new Apps on your iPod touch, but he will also bring you to Middle Earth. When a battle takes place or a confrontation between a small hobbit and a nasty little creature over a magical ring, J.R.R Tolkien succeeds in creating imagery within his work. He has this ability to practically put a person there alongside the characters; almost as if it was a movie playing live, right in front of you.
The ending of the book may drag on forever, but it is worth reading those extra hundred pages. Just to throw this out there, I found the ending sad but yet an excellent finish to the storyline. For once there isn’t exactly a happy ending for the heroes. They are not given the “Heroes Welcome” when they finally return home and –spoiler alert- the main character goes off to be immortal, but with the price of leaving Middle Earth forever. I was choking up at this part because it is a sad farewell to a character whom you have almost “befriended,” you –as the reader- were right there by his side throughout his entire journey yet now it’s all over. Also I was choking up because I had seen the movie before, and it is nothing but crying and sadness-stricken goodbyes.
Would I recommend this book to a friend? As I have said with the other two fantastic books, yes I would definitely recommend this book to a friend. But my warning is re-administered: those who do not wish to commit to reading this vocabulary-intense and verbose novel should not even bother reading the first page. If you cannot find the free time to read this amazing book, take out three hours of your weekend and what the movie. If you chose option B, I also recommend lots of refreshments because this movie is very long and you will not want to pause it half way through the film to get a snack.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers was written by J.R.R Tolkien during the 1950’s. It is the sequel to the previous edition in the series, the Fellowship of the Ring. Believe it or not, the Lord of the Rings series was originally six books, instead of the popular three. Due to World War II, there was a paper shortage -among other variables- that caused the conjoining of some of the books. A notable feature of this novel is the fact that it instantly jumps right into the plotline, right where the first book left off-this may be as a result of the collaboration of the books. Also the book ends abruptly as well, leaving the reader wondering what will happen next.
Tolkien’s sentence structure doesn’t change at all compared to his other works, something that has actually become a nuisance for me as I read these great novels. His general writing style is –for lack of a better phrase- “old-school.” Classical terms that would be know in the time period, but nowadays one will probably have to research some words to understand their modern-day meaning. He is very descriptive is his writing, but that also is what tends to kill the elements of the book. Tolkien tends to end up rambling with his adjectives and imagery. Yet, aside from there excessive amount of reading, he manages to paint that scenery in the reader’s head. One can actually create the world that Tolkien illustrates in his writing.
Another setback with the overall structure of the world of Middle Earth is the animals, plants, and inanimate objects. The way Tolkien talks, he sometimes overlaps ideas and it leads to added –possibly unintended- personification within the story. For example; he may be discussing about how the trees can talk, or rocks have the ability to guide those who are lost. Confusion became common in the plot line and to be honest, without the help of my grandmother –a major Lord of the Rings fanatic- and the movie; I would have missed some key concepts within the book.
The Two Towers seemed to be almost more political rather than action, as depicted in the movie. It showed that Middle Earth was not an anarchist land ruled by feudal lords and rogue warriors and beasts. No, the civilized regions of the land approached things democratically or with the wave of the king’s hand. Don’t get me wrong, there is some action in this book -a giant spider too, but you’ll only understand that if you read the books. But this is a prime example of the difference between books and a producer’s impression of the book. So don’t instantly think that the movie is going to be word for word like the book.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book, and it is one of those books that belong on a person’s bucket list of books. Would I recommend this to a friend? Yes, I may have said this in my previous blog, but they need to be prepared to not only read a lot, but they need to put up with Tolkien’s writing style.
word count: 521
Tolkien’s sentence structure doesn’t change at all compared to his other works, something that has actually become a nuisance for me as I read these great novels. His general writing style is –for lack of a better phrase- “old-school.” Classical terms that would be know in the time period, but nowadays one will probably have to research some words to understand their modern-day meaning. He is very descriptive is his writing, but that also is what tends to kill the elements of the book. Tolkien tends to end up rambling with his adjectives and imagery. Yet, aside from there excessive amount of reading, he manages to paint that scenery in the reader’s head. One can actually create the world that Tolkien illustrates in his writing.
Another setback with the overall structure of the world of Middle Earth is the animals, plants, and inanimate objects. The way Tolkien talks, he sometimes overlaps ideas and it leads to added –possibly unintended- personification within the story. For example; he may be discussing about how the trees can talk, or rocks have the ability to guide those who are lost. Confusion became common in the plot line and to be honest, without the help of my grandmother –a major Lord of the Rings fanatic- and the movie; I would have missed some key concepts within the book.
The Two Towers seemed to be almost more political rather than action, as depicted in the movie. It showed that Middle Earth was not an anarchist land ruled by feudal lords and rogue warriors and beasts. No, the civilized regions of the land approached things democratically or with the wave of the king’s hand. Don’t get me wrong, there is some action in this book -a giant spider too, but you’ll only understand that if you read the books. But this is a prime example of the difference between books and a producer’s impression of the book. So don’t instantly think that the movie is going to be word for word like the book.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book, and it is one of those books that belong on a person’s bucket list of books. Would I recommend this to a friend? Yes, I may have said this in my previous blog, but they need to be prepared to not only read a lot, but they need to put up with Tolkien’s writing style.
word count: 521
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