Night - Journal Entries

saPages: 1-10
Entry: 1
12 December 2007

Quote: "There are a thousand and one gates leading into the orchard of mystical truth...We must never make the mistake of wanting to enter the orchard by any other gate but our own."

Moshe the Beadle tells this to Elie as Elie complains about not having a mentor to teach him about the cabbala. This quote is very interesting. It seems that Moshe the Beadle is saying that there is one path for everyone. That we should not cross the ones that are not meant for us, for we may not be capable of handling whatever comes are way.

After Moshe escapes he tells his stories to the others, but they do not believe him. I find it highly disgusting of what was happening throughout that time and what Moshe had witnessed. Babies were used as target practice. This just shows that humans are as defenseless as chimps yet vicious as gorillas. What is it that is so appealing about the weak? Why must people have this need to feel stronger than others? Without the weak the strong are absolutely lost. The vilence that was described in these few pages was haunting, I can only imagine what it was like for Moshe the Beadle and others who have witnessed it.

I feel terrible for all of the people who were so easily manipulated. The German officers knew exactly how to handle the situation. They acted as protecter's, or observers. Then they gave them a place. The "ghetto", which they innocently thought was a place where they could be closer with no outsiders. They made them feel comfortable and waited until Passover was done so they could start their killing. They were evil bloodsuckers. The people didn't even see it coming, and the reason was because who would have thought such horrible ideas could be contrived by the human mind! It's disgusting. Furthermore! It seems as if they are losing their faith in God. It is a horrible thing when someone can strip you of your faith.

Pages: 11-21
Entry 2
13 December 2007

I find it strange that human beings can cause other human beings to suffer. I'm not quite sure what is inside of us that enjoys it. Enjoys inflicting pain. Enjoys inflicting agony. Enjoys inflicting heart ache. Perhaps it's the power. We enjoy oppressing. We enjoy feeling superior to the weak.

Wiesel tells how people were forced to leave their possessions behind them because they [possessions] were of value. By leaving them behind would exeplify how these people were not of value. How they were worthless and meant nothing to the world. That is what the Germans wanted to instill in these innocent peoples minds.

"My father wept. It was the first time I had seen my father weep" (16).
Obviously, this was a man that did not show his pain. They had caused so much pain into him that he could no longer hold it in and he wept infront of his son, wife and daughter. They had broken his father. To do that to a human benig, to make them cry, not even, to make them weep, is something only a volatile creature could do.

14 December 2007
Entry 3
Pages 22-32

People were going mad. For example Madame Shacter who obviously went crazy and didn't know how to handle being separated from her loved ones. People were fearing for their lives. It's insane how other human beings can be such a threat. The other passangers just wanted her to shut up. Perhaps they didn't want to hear her because they were afraid she spoke the truth. Being ignorant was better than knowing I suppose.

15 December 2007
Entry 4
Pages 32-42

The Jews are being made to run these drills. They have no communication to the outside world except for what the Germans allow them to see. It's so interesting how they morphed their words to make the Jews feel comfortable in the concentration camps. It's so horrible how they manipulate the people's minds. Eventually, slowly each person begins to get angry with the other. Such as Wiesel with his father.

16 December 2007
Entry 5
Pages 43-53

They were given number stamps. And were only known as that number. That is terrible. To do that, they are showing that they were no longer living, breathing human beings, but they weren't even good enough to be given a name. They were all just worthless drones, floating in a sea of numbers. How horrible.

17 December 2007
Entry 6
Pages 54-64

Towards the end of this section of the book, it seems there are a few people that are losing their faith in God, and others, such as Wiesel, who blame or question God. These people have damaged the Jewish people so much that they have taken away their [Jews] faith. They have caused so much mental havoc in their minds that they are now questioning their own faith -- what they have known for years, and worshipped for years. Horrible.

18 December 2007
Entry 7
Pages 65-75

Elie Wiesel and the rest of the Jews have suffered so much dehumanization. It's disgusting. The Germans have rotted their brains and they can't even function well enough to know wether or not to believe in God.

19 December 2007
Entry 8
Pages 76-86

Elie had witnessed so much agony. His own, his father's and the countless number of stranger's. I admire his willingness to want to stay alive. Although, I do not understand why he still wanted to. Instead of taking the easy way out and dieing as quick as possible, he chose to stay alive and suffer day after day, a slow and painful death. The death of his faith, his soul. Elie was being torn apart peice by peice. Was he afraid of death so much that he wanted to live in pain? Was it because of the loss of faith in God he suffered, that he has no idea now what was waiting for him on the other side that he would rather live through hell.

20 December 2007
Entry 9
Pages 87-97

Elie talks about and 'audience'. He is referring to the people who watched them and threw bread at them. These 'spectators' would just watch. This was the most disgusting thing of all. People had found their misery, their torture, as entertainment.

21 December 2007
Entry 10
Pages 98-109

Living in the concentration camp had sucked the life out of Elie. Emptiness had consumed his emotions. He could no longer feel. Witnessing his father die slowly everyday had some how killed Eli on the inside. In the expostion of the novel I could tell that Elie had respect and love for his father, but being in the concentration camps had destroyed all of that. It really truly sucks to have those feelings taken away from a person. It's like being amputated from a part of yourself. A part of yourself you used to be so familiar with and then being thrown into unknown abiss filled with unusual emotions. Emotions you never thought you could never experience. Emotions you never thought existed. The camps ate away at the compassion that once filled Elie's heart. Neing so empty must make him feel so alone. So empty. So lost.