"Night" Themes, Lessons, and Ideas
By Sarah Mcdavitt, Hours 3/4
How did camp life change the prisoners as a person? A family? And relationships with other human beings?
The camps de-humanized them. They became less like people and more like animals. Most of them no longer cared about their family, but only for their survival. Sons saw their father as a burden and made it clear that they didn't care for them any longer. Likewise, many did not care about other human beings, particularly when it came down to survival. There was a little bit of helping each other, like the people warning the children to stay in their block because they were to be shot, but overall, people turned into uncaring savages.
Theme One
Brutal reality, and the capabilities of wicked, ambitious people. Picture from http://u2.lege.net/whale.to/b/greet.gif
Theme Two
Survival. People turn into animals when under extreme circumstances. Picture from http://tiergartenstrasse4.org/DATA/pliki/grafiki/OUR%20PROJECTS/KULMHOF%20FORGOTTEN%20DEATH%20CAMP/towards%20chelmno.jpg
Theme Three
Family. Family is important, the most important thing in your life. Elie was willing to give his dying father his own ration of food. Picture from http://www2.holocaust.cz/web_data/images/camps/pinsk/ushmm04572_pinsk_family.jpg
What does this novel reveal about you as a human being?
This novel reveals that humans will stop caring about other humans under extreme circumstances. It also reveals that I (and all other humans) have the capability of doing lots of damage to countless people.