Prompt: Describe the most important event. Give at least three reasons why you think it
is the most important event.
The Event that Changed Young Elie's Life
When reading the first few pages of the book I quickly realized that Elie lived a peaceful life in a calm community. He seems to be very religious by going everyday to the altar and praying. It is until one day when he goes to the altar and meets a man named Moshe the Beadle. On the first page of the novella he describes him as "being very poor and lived humbly...my fellow townspeople, though they helped the poor, were not particularly fond of him." When Elie starts to pray Moshe the Beadle starts to question his decisions by saying why does he pray. At first Elie starts to be a bit disturbed by this question, but it is until his time in Birkenau when he starts to lose faith in his religion. I feel like this encounter between Elie and Moshe the Beadle changed how he thought about the world. When he returns to Poland after escaping a concentration camp that is when life slowly starts to change for Elie. The ghetto didn't completely change Elie's life it was until on he boarded the train for Auschwitz when his role in society started to be revealed to Mr. Wiesel.
Why was this event important?
The encounter with Moshe the Beadle leads to future questioning about Elie's religion which has a major impact during his time in the concentration camp. The encounter in church is the last glimpse of his everyday life and he rapidly starts to lose his old life. The first things he loses is his cherished objects and I feel like this had a huge impact on young Elie. This is seen when he says "the cherished objects we had brought with us thus far were left behind in the train, and with them, at last, our illusions." It seems that the last items which represented his old life are gone and he has now started a new life at Auschwitz. The number one thing that is going on in Elie's life is his family and how he can quickly be separated from them during roll call. When can see that he is now becoming a more responsible young adult by putting others before himself especially during their arrival at the camp. He says "at all costs we must keep together." This shows that he no longer is the spoiled kid back at Sighet, he now cares for others during their time at the camp. We can now tell that the event made him more responsible.
How has time at the camps affected Elie?
We have so far learned in the book that he has been sent to three different places Birkenau, Auschwitz, and recently to Buna. In the book the reader can tell that the narrator and main character Elie Wiesel focuses more on his time in the famous concentration camp than his religious views from his previous conversation with Moshe the Beadle. We can tell that between chapters three and five Elie has changed when it comes to responsibility and religion. If we take for example when his father is hit in the face by a German officer. Elie says "I did not move. What had happened to me? Yesterday, I should have sunk my nails into the criminal's...Had I changed so much then?" He even realizes himself changing and Elie seems to be a bit surprised by this recent discovery. I think at this point in our lives we start to change and become more worthy of taking on responsibility. It seems that this is happening to young Elie he is going through the first stages of becoming a young-adult. I think that is why this event is so important to the main character.
This image above shows responsibility and how people can work together to make a positive impact on the world. In this part of the book we are starting to see Elie growing up and becoming a young-adult. He is leaving behind his old life in Sighet and learning more about the world around him during this time period. He at first thought that there wasn't any thing bad about the German people in his little community. It was when Ellie arrived at the camps that he started understanding how Moshe the Beadle felt in the world.
Abdiel-
ReplyDeleteI'm a little confused on your blog. Your prompt is describe the most important event and list three reasons why that is important. You state in your first paragraph that that event is praying with Moshe the Beadle and religion. In your other two paragraph however, you do not focus on Moshe or religion. Where were you going with this?