Elie Wiesel's "Night"- Journal Entry

Essay by glisten June 2007

download word file, 3 pages 3.0

Downloaded 15 times

Luck is on Wiesel's Side"I am too old, my son," he answered. "Too old to start a new life. Too old to start from scratch in some distant land…" (9)This scene where Elie's father rejects his son's request to liquidate everything and flee from the place where the extermination of Jews may occur, reminds me of a vivid conversation I once engaged in, with my two former North Korean grandparents.

The Korean War (1950-53) and the Holocaust (1938-45) are in most aspects different, however, there is a heartbreaking similarity existing between the two incidents. That is, the pain of the victims gained from the separation of the family.

While reading this novel Night, for several times we questioned the reason why the Jews , despite hearing the Nazi plans of annihilating the entire population dispersed throughout nations, didn't take chance to flee from the town. As we discussed in class, primarily, the Jews were skeptical that such inhumane incident would take place in the world, until they underwent the incredible agonies both physically and mentally.

Secondly, the Jews simply were unable to find some place to leave for. Sure enough, they were unwilling to become homeless even under adverse conditions of life under the hands of the SS officers. (which they didn't expect to be the holocaust)The first reason pointed above also applies to the families during the Korean War. Subsequent to the outbreak of war, young, strong men were forced to join the army in North Korea. This meant to my North Korean grandfather in his 30s, fighting against the South Koreans was a patriotic obligation. However, he refused to fight, or support the government, and along the group of crowd he realized that the only way of escaping from the ordeal was to abandon his home and...