Amanda+and+Brae

Chapter 1 "The yellow star? Oh well, what of it? You don't die of it." (20) I think that it shows that they aren't ashamed to wear the yellow star because they thought that it couldn't cause them death even though in reality, it did. In a way it is actually sad.

"What can we expect? It's war..." (6) This just shows that they couldn't be surprised by anything that happened because you can't really know what will happen.

====“But people not only refused to believe his tales, they refused to listen. Some even insinuated that he only wanted their pity, that he was imagining things” (7) ====

I think what the quote is trying to say is that just because of someone's status, they refused to listen to the thing that could surely save them. It seems people thought that all the guy wanted was attention, so they assumed he was either crazy or they felt bad for his desperate attempts for attention. It's sad how people wouldn't even lend an ear.

I think that the guy just wanted to warn people. He wanted them to be ready for what was coming.

**Class Discussion questions: **

>>> This definition basically explains exactly what they were during this time period.
 * **Share quotes that impacted you both then choose one to share with the class and explain why it impacted you all. **
 * **Who is Moshe the Beadle? Why do you think Wiesel used him as his introduction? (Think about your good intro. techniques!) **
 * ** He was the homeless guy that was really into religion and he helped Wiesel with his studies. He used his story first to show that even though the people accepted him as he was, they still didn't want to listen to him. **
 * **Look up the word ghetto – can you find a definition that links to what we have learned about ghettoes in the book? Paste the definition and explain its connection. **
 * a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships.
 * a section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships.
 * **What are the steps in the “race toward death” (10)? List all of the steps (there are more than 5!) **
 * 1) Jews were forbidden to leave their homes for three days under penalty of death.
 * 2) Not allowed to own jewelry.
 * 3) Every Jew had to wear the yellow star of David.
 * 4) No longer had the right to frequent restaurants or cafes.

Chapter 2&3 "No." The man now sounded angry. "Not fifty. You're forty. Do you hear? Eighteen and forty." (30)

"Surely it was a dream." (37) -I think that this quote can really represent everything that is happening to Elie. He really wants to believe that these terrible events aren't real, because he couldn't understand why anyone would do such a thing.

Brae The part that surprises me the most is when Elie kept telling himself that it was a dream and that at any given moment, he would wake up in his bed back home and everything would be back to normal.

Amanda The part that surprised me the most was in chapter one, when they were being walled up and put in ghettos. It seemed that Elie in all the Jews were okay with people coming and living and their homes, and taking away their freedoms, then putting them in walls. They seemed calm about it until they left on the trains, and I didn't understand how anybody would think that was okay? I would leave as soon as anything like the happened.


 * Kabbalah (4)
 * Inquisition (17)
 * Conflagration (21)

Chapter 4 "As if we had a choice . . ." (48) This quote shows that the Jews didn't really have any options on what they would do in the camps. If you didn't do what you were told to do, then you would die. It's as simple as that. So if they wanted to live, they would have to do what they were told, with no real choice on what you wanted to do.

Amanda a. An experience that really stuck with me is just how out of no where Idek completely beat Elie up, and threw him back like that was nothing. b. To be that young, on low amounts food, and already having to physically and emotionally deal with the conditions, to be hurt so bad like that must have been unbearable. It is quite amazing how people managed to suffer through this. It must have really hurt too, he said he was aching all over and bleeding. c. The way it just kind of came out of no where really surprised me. It shocked me because of how horrifying it was. I don't care how much fury you are venting, that doesn't give anyone right to beat up a young kid.

Brae a. The experience that stuck with me was when Pipel and the 2 other people were hung. b. Pipel was one of the only nice people in the camp. The first 2 people die instantly but he lasted for half an hour. c. It just proved the fact that you really can only worry about only yourself during in that situation.

Chapter 5 "Lately he had been wondering among us, his eyes glazed, telling everyone how weak he was" (76).

-Drumer loses his will to live because his faith in God started to falter. As a religious man, as soon as his belief started to become lost, so did everything else he believed. He seems to think that mercy from God is something that is not going to happen. He questions why after putting so much faith into someone, that they give him nothing in return. After seeing everything that is going on he just doesn't want to see anymore, doesn't want to live anymore. They said his eyes had lost everything, and they were just deep wells of pain and terror then. The difference between Drumer and Elie was the fact that Elie spent a lot of time being strong for his father, and wanted to survive. Though he thought about dying many times, and his faith in God had been damaged, he still managed to believe and keep going. Maybe Drumer had seen what happens in life and lost hope, and maybe didn't have anyone or anything to live for now.

"Next to me lay a Hungarian Jew suffering from dysentery. He was skin and bones, his eyes were dead. I could just hear his voice, the only indication that he was alive. Where did he get the strength to speak?" (78).

Chapter 6&7 "My father's presence was the only thing that stopped me. He was running next to me, out of breath, out of strength, desperate. I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support." (86 and 87)

"For three years, they had stayed close to one another. Side by side, they had endured the suffering, the blows; they had waited for their ration of bread and they had prayed. Three years, from camp to camp, from selection to selection. And now when the end seemed near, fate had separated them." (91)

-I think something that can be said about family and father and son in this book is that they are living for each other. They want to be able to support their family and they are keeping themselves alive by being together. It's an important bond that would be broken if one were to die.

Chapter 8&9 "The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me" (115). At the end of the story I think that the only feeling I have is understanding. Understanding that even though he wanted to stay the same person he was before it all happened, he couldn't. There came a point where he let that side of him go and became a totally different person, one that he didn't really want to be.


 * he let his past make him better not bitter
 * probably the fact that he wasn't in it for that long helped
 * Just becausez you dont love someone, doesn't mean you hate them, just means you lack care for them its just all based on someones perspective or how they think
 * he was with his father throughout most of his time there unlike some who were separated immediately
 * he wasn't as broken as some others