Thursday, January 30, 2020

Night Essay Example for Free

Night Essay Compare the hanging of the â€Å"youth from Warsaw† and the hanging of the â€Å"sad eyed angel† and explain, using evidence from there and elsewhere in Night, why Elie Reacted differently to the two hangings. Elie Wiesel’s Night is a memoir of his horrifying childhood experiences of suffering as a Jew in the concentration camps. Eliezer was found to suffer in many camps, and during this time he witnessed the daily sufferings and deaths of many humans. His faith faltered as a result, and after so much pain he grew apathetic to the withering away of mortal life. By the end of the book nothing really surprises Elizer anymore because he knew anything could happen at any moment. However, Eliezer’s reaction towards hanging of the â€Å"youth from Warsaw† was different from the hanging of the â€Å"sad eyed angel. † Eliezer’s faith faltered daily when he witnesses the death of many innocent lives including the hanging of the youth from Warsaw, but he never loses his hope or questions the existence of God until he witnesses the hanging of the â€Å"sad eyed angel. † Eliezer witnesses many death during his time in concentration camps, and he never wept once, even when he witnesses the hanging of the youth from Warsaw. This young boy is described as tall and strong. Supposedly, he had stolen something during the alert in the concentration camp. Looking back at his execution, Eliezer expresses his feeling about the hanging saying that it â€Å"upset him deeply† (Wiesel 62) in a way quite distinct from his knowledge of the thousands who died daily in the camps. Elizer was disturb by the hanging because he did not lost all of his faith and hope, he still have humanity so that’s why he feels upset when he witness people die, deep in his heart faith and hope were just broken, now after witness the hanging of the youth from Warsaw he found the broken pieces of hope that is why that evening after the execution he finds â€Å"the soup tasted better than ever† (Wiesel 63). Another reason that Eliezer finds the soup taste better is because he was actually grateful that it was not him or his father toward the execution. Elizer realize that death is everywhere in concentration camp, and it could be either him or his father next time standing on the gallows. He is thankful that he still alive at that moment and can is still eating his ration of soup, although he knows that he could be in line next to get hang in the gallows. Eliezer also felt the youth from Warsaw brought the death on themselves. He realizes that there are rules in the concentration camp that you can never disobey, if you break the rules in the camp, you will be killed. Where is merciful God, where is He? †(Wiesel 64) It was another day when Eliezer return from work and roll call begins. There were three gallows for three prisoners that are going to be hang on the gallows for conspiring to blow up the electric power station, but among the three prisoners there is a little pipel in the middle, the sad eyed angel. At every hanging, no one in the audience will ever shed a tear or weep, but the hanging of the sad eyed angel affected not only Eliezer but many others. During the execution all eyes were on the child, the two men died immediately, but the child was too light â€Å"and so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death. † (Wiesel 65) The hanging pained Eliezer so much and it makes him wonder how God can be present in a world with such cruelty, he question the present of God and when he heard a voice saying â€Å"For God’s sake, where is God? † (Wiesel 65) he answers â€Å"Where He is? This is where –hanging here from this gallows†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Wiesel 65). Following the death of the sad eyed angel Eliezer thinks that was the death of God as well. â€Å"That night, the soup tasted of corpses† (Wiesel 65), after witness the hanging of the sad eyed angel Wiesel finds the soup tasted like corpses and also like death, the death of God. The sad eyed angel represent a symbol of silent which God is presents as in the novel Night. God was a symbol of silence in the novel because when Eliezer and the other Jewish people cries out for God’s aid and mercy, their please were left unanswered. The God in Night did not save them from cruelty and death, God has remained silence throughout the novel, so when the angel was hanged Eliezer’s relates the death of angel to the death of God, as he meant that God was hanging upon the gallows and had abandoned them. Eliezer realizes that the Nazis were coming closely to destroy his faith in God and so he was unable to enjoy anything because he thinks that life, hope, and joy could not be reach because all goodness had been destroyed. â€Å"I’ve got more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He’s the only one who’s keeping his promises, all his promises to the Jewish people† Wiesel 81) Hitler the ultimate evil was conquering the good Jewish people every day through death and destruction. To Eliezer there was no hope for life and no chance for survival. He thinks God had abandoned them because there seems to be no end to evil. After witness the hanging of the sad eyed angel, Eliezer was constantly being reminded of death, he feels like death was everywhere in the camp, and when he were forced to watch the hanging of the sad eyed angel, which appeared to be innocent and full of hope, he feels that he was forced to watch innocence and hope die in front of him. As Eliezer watched the young pipel struggle between life and death he felt that the boy was innocent and he did not deserve to suffer. Eliezer and the young pipel were around the same age, so when he witnesses the hanging of the young pipel he felt as he shared the pipel’s pain and suffering and that he was suffering from a slow painful spiritual death as well. The hanging of the young pipel pained Eliezer so much because he knew he could not rescue him. In Elie Wiesel’s Night the author present a significance of the hanging and the brutal elements of the surroundings in the concentration camp. He express that evening â€Å"the soup tasted better than ever† (Wiesel 63) after he witness the hanging of the youth from Warsaw, and yet after he witness the hanging of the sad eyed angel â€Å"the soup tasted of corpse. † It was trying to present how Eliezer’s slowly loses his hope and faith in God. Eliezer’s faith was being challenged under such brutal condition, and many do not get their beliefs put to the test in such extreme condition as Eliezer did, and this leads Eliezer to question his faith. The meaning of hanging in this novel represent the bad conquers good, death and evil become apparent. The goodness that had been present prior to concentration camp had been destroyed through death, evil and abandonment. Every killing that Eliezer witness deteriorated his faith and finally after witness the sad eyed angel, it was the end of hope for Eliezer, he finally understood the murderous nature of concentration camp, and he could not walk away unaffected by the hanging. At last, Eliezer walked away as a completely different person than how he entered.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Mothers Pearls :: Personal Narrative, Descriptive, Description

Mother's Pearls Around my mother’s neck was a necklace: a string of jaggedly spherical crystal beads. I don’t know why she chose that necklace for that night. Her sister’s wedding perhaps called for the touch of a family heirloom, or perhaps she simply liked the way it sat above her collarbone in a path of smooth stones. All the same, it was on this night that she chose to wear it — this favorite piece of hers — a gift from her late grandmother. On my mother’s lap I sat in a curl — no older than seven, with little patience for adults or conversation or wedding parties. With my ear to her breast, her voice reverberated as though echoing out of a dim cave in the wells of her chest. My mother’s boyfriend was tall and lanky. He had a reddish face and his ears looked as though they had been pinched by the lobes and stretched out an extra inch. His eyes were gentle, but I had no taste for men that were not my father, and was too shy to accept his numerous offers to dance, as my mother eased naturally in and out of conversation with the other women at the table. "She’s living in Corpus now." "That’s right. She married an optometrist, didn’t she?" "Sean Smithl." The band music, these women’s voices, the vibration of my mother’s chest, had all begun to blend into a slow rhythm, and I stared at the old women on the makeshift dance floor waltzing with their sons. Between my right fingers were the jewels that settled around my mother’s neck, that spiraled and entwined in the small of my hand, tightening at her throat, twisting effortlessly, the cool stones rolling over the tips of fingers, sliding across palm. Had my evening ended like this, the entire memory would have been lost in the pile of my past like any other childhood moment. But it did not. In a snap as quiet as the sound of a pin popping through fabric, my mother’s necklace unleashed from her throat, a ripple of beads falling to the floor like rain. She gasped, pushing me from her lap, leaving me wide-eyed and mesmerized by the glittering pellets that rolled and hopped off the carpet, some even reeling their way to the hard edge of the dance floor. Under the table, past the chair legs, she and her boyfriend bent over desperately, plucking the shimmering rocks and filling their hands with them.

Monday, January 13, 2020

What was the social impact of Elvis Presley?

In 1955 America underwent a social revolution, the youth of the time wanted to express themselves. Leading the way was Elvis Presley, riding on the power of television and commerciality. Source A is from a music magazine, it details Elvis' ride to fame, using words like â€Å"A winner† â€Å"Amazing and â€Å"The hottest artist†, tells us that people where buying his singles. The title â€Å"Presley hot as a $1 pistol† this gives the impression that Elvis was both dangerous and desirable. From the information in source A, Elvis Presley's impact on the US music scene in 1955 was very important he was selling records and appealing to a large audience the record companies would soon be battling to have Elvis on their books. QUESTION TWO Elvis' impact was huge; whether it was positive or negative, whether people liked him or loathed him he was everywhere. Source B is extracts from some of the most popular newspapers in the US. They are mostly taken from conservative newspapers they give a general negative opinion of Elvis, â€Å"Mr Presley has no singing ability†. Source C is from a popular broadcasting magazine it proves that people were still watching programmes that included Elvis, it doesn't however, mean that these ratings were because of Elvis' involvement in the show. Source D is a photograph of Elvis performing, it shows him gyrating explicitly, and it also shows young girls reaching out towards him. Elvis is dressed in dark clothes adding to his mysterious demeana. Source B highlights the fact that Elvis is having a huge impact on American society, source C also shows that Elvis could have been having a massive impact, source D adds further clarification to Elvis impact, he was driving people crazy having a massive effect on the young people in the 50's. Both sources support C however; they both support it in different ways. Source C shows people are watching the programmes identified in source B, source D shows the main attractions of Elvis, his moving and his outrages disregard for social expectations. This makes source C feasible he may well have â€Å"No singing ability† but that was never the attraction. QUESTION THREE The usefulness of a source is very important; to calculate the usefulness of a source we need to know the content, the reliability and the bias. Source E is three quotes from three highly influential and conservative members of the American right wing. The statements vary in ferocity, source E I is fairly mild, it likens Elvis' music to that of the black peoples of America. Source E II is possibly the most disturbing, â€Å"To do a way with this cannibalistic, Negro-loving rock and roller.† Each word as been carefully chosen to cause maximum impact and offence. Source E III fits somewhere between the two, yet all three have equal importance. Source F is a list of top selling singles for the years 1955,1956 and 1957. Source E's content is tells us what we already knew, conservative members of American society opposed Elvis. As with any development these people will disapprove of the changes. This does tell us that Elvis' impact was large enough to warrant peoples opinions. The reliability of this source is good as they are onions we assume that they are as intend by the author. This source is, however, extremely biased; all the opinions are from a similar group of people. In conclusion this source is moderate useful when determining Elvis' impact. Source F's content is factual information plotting the rise of Elvis' chart sales. Its reliability is superb as they are undoctored facts, there is some bias as the years selected where the years when Elvis was selling records, it doesn't show the years prior to 1955 or after 1957. This source is extremely useful; from this source we can learn just how big an impact Elvis had on the music industry, however as the social impact is not discussed it is not as valuable when discussing the social impact. Source F is the most useful source when looking at the impact caused by Elvis. QUESTION FOUR By 1958 attitudes to Elvis where beginning to change, one of the reasons this change occurred was because of Elvis joining the army, this provided him a with a grounding that many of his opponents reason t respect him and realise his achievements, this combined with the fact that people were getting used to Elvis lead to opposition fading. As with any social revolution, the revolutionary period will slowly be accepted as the norm, this process of slowly seducing the majority of the population can take years, however Elvis appealed to the teenage generation, as these people grew up they become they people in power, the people who three years ago had opposed Elvis. As the supporters of Elvis grew into positions of power the opposition crumbled. One of the main arguments people had with Elvis was his lack of patriotism, they believed his music belonged to the black people and he was undermining the American society by infiltrating it with this black music. These rumours were halted when Elvis enlisted in the army, anyone who fights for their country must have pride in their country, and this gave many of Elvis' opposers the opportunity to see his achievements. The new style was moving in and the old was moving on, the anti-Elvis attitudes were moving on with them, allowing Elvis to continue on his way to musical success. Another point to consider here is Elvis' style, by now he was starting to become more commercialised Elvis was a movie star and Elvis merchandise was everywhere, Elvis was a household name not only for his explicit dance moves but also for his dazzling movie career. QUESTION FIVE Without television, Elvis would never have been as famous as he was, but he was only famous because of his music and performance. The big attraction of Elvis was the fact that he is rebellious and different and exciting, his music is like nothing anyone had heard before and his dance moves were today's equilivent to sex on stage. This was the big pulling force behind Elvis. Source D shows people adoring Elvis' music and performances. Although it must be said that in order to reach the millions of people he did television was crucial. In 1950 around two-thirds of the American population had television sets. One of the most popular shows was the Ed Sullivan show. Millions tuned in to watch; there was something for everyone. I didn't take long for Elvis to realise this was the place to be; he made several appearances on the show to terrific acclaim. During Elvis' career he appeared in several films, it should be noted that Elvis was by know means a terrific television personality, more like a famous footballer who requires constant prompting and guidance, the main reason for Elvis' success on the screen was the fact eh was Elvis, people weren't coming to see Elvis act, they were coming to see Elvis. To the teenagers of the time Elvis was a god, bored of following in the steps of there parents they began to carve out identities for themselves, the invention of the â€Å"Greaser† and the â€Å"Preppie† occurred at this time. They were all united by one common cause, a need to strike back they began to slick back their hair and listen to Elvis. Elvis created the teenager with his music; it provided an outlet for the troubled teens. Elvis' success is mainly attributed to his music and performances but without the use of television the southern states would never have had to share him and he would never had reached the audiences he did.