"Night" by Elie Wiesel - Kyra

1939, the year it all started. The start of death and pain. The start of the extermination of the Jewish people. The start of many long nights. The start of the take over. The start of the end for many. The start of the HOLOCAUST. Many sad and heartbreaking stories came from this event of a disaster. Many cuts and bruises. Many families lost and broken. But the story we have been riding with is the memoir of Elie's time in the Holocaust "Night" writen by Elie Wiesel himself. Words straight from a holocaust survivor's heart and soul. This book was realeased in 1956, eleven years after the holocaust ended. We have been studying the sentence styles and language techniques Elie used in this book and the effect they had on us. I have found three sentences/quotes that I feel hold a lot of meaning and emotion; sentences that really stood out to me and felt very strong.

"Men to the left! Women to the right!" Eight sharp words. Eight words with so much meaning. Who would have thought eight words like these, spoken so sharply with so much aggression could mean so much. Short simple sentences in contrast to each other. The two sentences oppose men/women and left/right. This points out that this sentence is just so straight forward. That it is what it is. No questions asked, you just listen and do. This short quote really got me thinking about how grateful I am, that I live in a house with all my family. I get to spend time with all of them. Together, we get to be together. It made me feel sick to the stomach thinking that these orders were separating families. These eight words that might just seem weak and worthless, but are actually the separation of families and friends. These eight words are the reason people might never see each other again. These eight words.

"In no time, I stood before him." Reading that, a chill runs down my spine. Having the thought that this man standing here before me is the man choosing if I live or die. How do you even look him in the eyes? I can see Elie Wiesel used first person narration by using the first person pronoun 'I'. The effect of this is that we see things from his point of view. Elie didn't go into much detail about his thoughts and feelings during this time, but you can feel the emotion coming from that sentence. It also gives the reader an opportunity to think how they may have felt at that moment. How scared I would have been. How scared Elie must have been. I could only but imagine.

"His last word had been my name. He had called out to me and I had not answered." The only thing that would be going through my mind would be "I've failed". I've failed my father. I've failed myself. I've failed. I noticed he also used first person narration in this sentence by using "my/me/I" which again is showing us things from his perspective. It is also a compound sentence which ends with a negative statement, "I had not answered." These combine to emphasise the painful memory and regret around his father's last moments. This moment would really make me question if I should keep going or not. Would it be worth it? It seems like all the things they went through together were for nothing. They had tried to push through together and had failed. There was no one there anymore. Elie was alone.

Reading "Night" has made me more grateful for the life I live, reminding me not to get upset or angry over little things as there are way worse things people and families are having to go through. The strength and resiliance Elie showed during the holocaust is unfathomable. Elie went in as a young 12 year old boy and came out as a young 17 year old man. I feel that the most painful part would be having to go through all of this by yourself. Elie was lucky enough to have his father there by his side for as long as he could. But when you think about it, being alone would also have its advantages. You wouldn't have to worry about anyone else. You would only have to look out for yourself, by putting yourself before anyone else. But the starvation and all the hits to the head would never be as painful as losing your family and the ones you love.

Kyra <3