Third Post for "Night"

Pg 90 “It was pitch dark. I could hear only the violin, and it was as though Juliek's soul were the bow. He was playing his life. The whole of his life was gliding on the strings- his lost hopes, his charred past, his extinguished future. He played as though he would never play again.”

While reading this, I thought of the mini violin one is supposed to play during a sad experience in movies. It is a symbol of sadness, and sorrow. Keeping in mind that this was a true story, I though it was ironic that his dying friend was playing the violin, as almost the band that plays at someone's funeral party. This was not only Juliek's funeral song, it was for the many that had died that night, that day, and week, and month, and year. And to think that this boy, this man hadn't enough strength to get up, but had the power to play a farewell song to him and many others lying under the many dying and dead. I believe that Juliek was a real hero, because of the way he used his last strength to do something he loved, and provide for the people using up there last breaths. When I look at that I see a real hero, when you are doing something that will not only benefit yourself, but others. I think that even playing his violin was heretic, and nothing could have changed the fate of this man, but he changed the way he was going to die. He must have died happier than many of the thousands that died that night. So as they all lay there, unable to move because of loss of strength, that violin played, and made everyone at awe, and somewhat at ease, that's a real hero for you.

Pg 64 “I heard the voice of the officiant rising up, powerful yet at the same time broken, amid the tears, sobs, the signs of the whole congregation: “All the earth and the Universe are God's!” He kept stopping every moment, as though he did not have the strength to find the meaning beneath the words. “

People are loosing faith, loosing hope, in what they believed in so strongly before. Everyone is praying as if God will answer their prayers, even though they are starting to think that there is no God to answer to. This got me thinking about if there were a God, would he/she really let such a thing like this happen, and be repeated continuously throughout time? And if this is supposed to be a “lesson” as some people put it, then what would be worth learning when so many lives are lost? Coming back to the repeating history, and wars that keep happening because of the same type of fights between the same types of people. Why does this “lesson” keep happening over and over, if it is shown that we are repeating the same mistakes? And because of this would the question be: Is there really a God that looks after us and we look so highly of? Before reading this book, I believed in a God, to a certain extent, and now, thinking about it, I'm not really sure, because of the way our history keeps repeating and mass amounts of people keep dying, and our lesson is still yet to be learned.

Post three dialectic journal entries as you read the text.
Tuesday: Post 1
Wednesday: Post 2
Thursday: Post 3

Tuesday: Pg 37 "I did not move. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, before my very eyes, and I had not flickered an eyelid...I thought only: I shall never forgive them for that."

This part in the book made me realize the effect of visuals on the people, and how much something can totally change your life, and perspective on things in an instant. It really made me think about how much visuals and sights can affect the way we act and react. When Eliezer sees his father being struck by a gypsy, he does not react, when he says the day previous to that, he could have fought for his father, and protected him. If people like Eliezer are loosing feeling and hope now, on the second day of camp, what will become of the many days, weeks and months to come? I don't think that the physical affects on the people even phased them throughout time; it was the things they saw that killed their light on the inside. That killed the emotions and feelings they had for themselves and other people.