Blog Post #1 - Siole

When I was reading Night I felt extremely sad at some parts of the book. When the children were crying and needed water, I felt like I wanted to help them. I felt so bad for them. When the children were sitting outside of their homes on the sidewalk all they wanted was a drink of water and they were begging their mothers for water:  “Children were crying for water… Water! There was water close by inside the houses, the backyards, but it was forbidden to break rank...’ Water, Mother, I am thirsty!’” (16). Their childhood should be fun, they should feel safe and secure. They shouldn’t feel scared and burdened by this terrible situation to the point where they feel weak or just feel like giving up. Later on the train, I felt so sad and terrified about what was going to happen to them. I was wondering if a lot of people were going to suffocate. I was so scared to read the rest of the passage to see if the children die as well. “There was a moment of panic. Who screamed? It was Mrs. Schächter. Standing in the middle of the car, in the faint light filtering through the windows, she looked like a withered tree in a field of wheat. She was howling, pointing through the window: “Look! Look at this fire! This terrible fire! Have mercy on me!’”  (25). I felt bad for the woman because she was suffering and felt weak. She was hallucinating. She wanted to see her family but was giving up hope of ever seeing them again. 

I felt like Elie Wiesel made the book so detailed, that you feel like you're in the story. For example, “My father had risen before all of us, to seek information in town. He returned around eight o’clock. Good news: we were not leaving town today; we were only moving to the small ghetto. That is where we were to wait for the last transport. We would be the last to leave.  At nine o’clock, the previous Sunday’s scenes were repeated. Policemen wielding clubs were shouting: ‘All Jews outside!’” (18). I envisioned myself in the story at this time and felt like if I was in the story I would be sad and miserable. Elie Wiesel also made the book so intense to the point where there is a moment of anticipation. For example, “‘Get up, sir, get up! You must ready yourself for the journey. Tomorrow you will be expelled, you and your family, you and all the other Jews. where to? Please, don’t ask me, sir, don’t ask questions. God alone could answer you. For heaven's sake, get up . . .’ He had no idea what I was talking about. He probably thought I had lost my mind. ‘What are you saying? Get ready for the journey? What journey? Why? What is happening? Have you gone mad?’ Half asleep, he was staring at me, his eyes filled with terror, as though he expected me to burst out laughing and tell him to go back to bed. To sleep. To dream. That nothing had happened. It was all in jest . . . My thought was dry and the words were choking me, paralyzing my lips. There was nothing else to say. At last, he understood. He got out of bed and began to dress, automatically. Then he went over to the bed where his wife lay sleeping and wth infinite tenderness touched her forehead. She opened her eyes and it seemed to me that a smile crossed her lips. Then he went to wake his two children. They woke with a start, torn from their dreams. I fled.” (15). I felt so anxious to find out why the person was waking him up.