“He called out to me and I had not answered…”

“His last word had been my name. He had called out to me and I had not answered. I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears.” –Night, Eli Wiesel 112

So in English, we had just finished reading Night only about a week ago, and all I can say is that it left me speechless. I never thought I would cry reading this, but I have to admit, I cried like a baby. Just scene after scene, it either touched my heart or tore it apart, especially the scene where Eli’s father passed away. I was absolutely devastated.

Starting when Eli’s father’s health beginning to deteriorate, I was afraid to turn the page and read what happens to him next, but when finally I got the idea that he was not going to make it any further, I cringed. The thought of losing your beloved father, who has always been your backbone through thick and thin, is quite heartbreaking. Thinking about how Eli abandoned him in his time of need crushed my heart even more, because all that his father has done for him; protect him, support him and love him; Eli naively forgets his father’s needs and foolishly decides to sleep through his desperate cries for help.

Reading this book made me realize that I’m so blessed with everything around me and that many more people are so unfortunate to go through difficulties and have to suffer because of their beliefs. It has definitely taught me not to take what I have for advantage and appreciate everything that I am given, especially family.

With that being said (or typed), I just want to leave a short and simple message for my dad: Dad, I just want you to know that although we fight and have our ups and downs, I’ll always love you more than you know. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, I appreciate all the things you do for me, whether it’s driving me to a friend’s house or comforting me when I cry. You’ll always be the #1 Dad and greatest one I can possibly ask for. Thanks, Dad.

Happy Father’s day, and don’t forget to be grateful for everything you’re blessed with!

-Stephanie

Don’t Lose Yourself

“One day, when I was able to get up, I decided to look at myself in the mirror on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me.”

Those are the last lines to the book, Night. Every author chooses the last words to their story wisely. Those lines are used to either sum up the book, or pass on an important message. Like the meaning of the story. Or perhaps, create a cliffhanger or a rhetorical question to keep one’s mind thinking. No story wants to be forgotten after it has been read. Each story has a message, no matter how long or short the story is. If a story didn’t have enough of an impact on the reader to remember the story or pass it on to someone else, then the author obviously has failed his duty.

For this story, Elie Wiesel is no different. He’s trying to show how much the concentration camps, the horror, and the brutality of the past two years has had upon him. He can no longer recognize himself He doesn’t even know what happiness or morality is anymore. Elie Wiesel was no longer the naive religious boy, who went along with everyone else. He is now alone in the world, scarred by loss and pain.

The whole purpose of the story is to inform people of the evils and torture that the Jewish people had been put through.This particular scene is very important because it reveals the complete transformation that Elie went, mind and body, that he became unrecognizable to himself. He wants to open the eyes and minds of citizens, so that they can prevent anything as terrible as the Holocaust from happening again. For a young boy to see his own father die, and have his mother and beloved sister burnt is more than anyone should go through. The only reason Elie Wiesel was able to remain alive was through sacrifice of his moral obligations and resort to bare instincts. Once Elie was finally free, he still couldn’t recognize himself, because of the choices he made that he never would have made before his containment. When Elie looked in the mirror, he realized that as well as looking like a corpse, his mind and soul was also dead.

“‘For God’s sake, where is God?’ And from within me, I heard a voice answer: ‘Where He is? This is where– hanging here from this gallows…'”

Everyone has an inner demon, but most people have tamed it. But whenever we are angered, or worn out, those demons usually come out. The Nazis, because of their hate for their Jews, released their demons, torturing the Jews, causing them to release the demons of senselessness and basic instinct. The Jews had lost their faith and hope and in replacement, had become primitive creatures. Without their faith, they didn’t know where to go, and many had lost hope. By the end of the story, the message changes from a story of survival, to holding on and not losing yourself and your entity. Because even when you are all alone in the world, you cannot just let go and give up hope, you have to hold on for a better future, no matter what.

-V.D.

weheartit.com/kyroar (google images–> don’t lose yourself)

Lyric-less Response to Night

Page 95 of Night by Elie Wiesel

“It had to be Juliek. He was playing a fragment of a Beethoven concerto. Never before had I heard such a beautiful sound. In such silence…The darkness enveloped us. All I could hear was the violin and it was as if Juliek’s soul had become his bow. He was playing his life…He played what he would never play again.”

After searching  through Google, I read that Juliek played  Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 61 2nd Movement before his death, and I listened to this recording on YouTube to try and imagine the scene with the violinist playing.

We Can Only Live Today (carpe diem?)

Doesn’t that look super cool? Those guys are boarding down some roads somewhere in Europe. They’re from the music video of a song by Netsky – We Can Only Live Today. Super awesome song, if I may say so. Definitely something I can put on repeat and just chill to.

Live to Learn to Love to Be to Do to YOLO

What has happened to the world? We’ve become a group of shallow, faceless blobs that engulf ourselves in mindless and meaningless frivolities. The value of things in the world has quickly fallen that now the worth of a human being is almost equal to the pleasure that one gets from surfing the web. Like right now? What are you doing? What am I doing? I’m writing a blog about how life is related to my English class when I could be spending it out with my friends and family, making an impact in the world. And you? You’re probably just sitting at your computer, eating a bag of potato chips, looking for something to waste the time away. Do you really just want to end up like some bumbling hobo, who sits on the beach steps with nothing to life?

What is the meaning of life?

“I am Edmond Dantes; You killed my father, Prepare to die”

                

Ahhh… the Princess Bride. A classical tale of two lovers who are separated and must find a way to come back together. Surprisingly, there are a bunch of parallels that can be found between the Princess Bride and the Count of Monte Cristo! Both are two wonderful tales that are set back in olden times, where there was a king, and some criminals, and people with funny names. Personally, I would never name my child Buttercup, or Eugenie…

Don’t be a fool. (like Mercedes)

Lovefool – RAC remix ft. Lisa Anjos

THOSE WHO HAVE NOT FINISHED THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, BEWARE. SPOILERS  AND RANTS ABUNDANT.

Stay True to Yourself

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

-Oscar Wilde

Excuse Me Mr. Know It All, Take Another Look At Me and See What I See

It came to my attention last week that so many people are judged before one even gets to know who the person is and what that person has gone through. No one takes the time to understand a person, or see why they act that way. It reminds me of Kelly Clarkson’s “Mr. Know It All.” Kelly beautifully belts out this tune about some guy who judged her and acted like he knew her and this totally relates to this post.

Don’t you wish everything could be simple?

So earlier this week, my class went on a field trip around school after reading a little something called Seeing by Annie Dillard. We saw some pretty amazingly simple things. Like a tree. A secret entrance. A little garden. A plaque. Some roses. But the biggest, simplest thing that stuck out to me, though, was a red curb on the side of the street, on the side of my school. Why? Because my teacher told my class that we could go ahead and balance on it while we were walking along that street. Just. Like. Little. Kids. The instant my teacher told us we could go do that, I had this extremely goofy smile on my face that I just could not wipe off. So, there a few of us were, forming a little rag tag line while balancing on the little red curb. We were little kids again. And thinking about being a little kid reminded me of how we are now, and of this song called Don’t Cry by Olivia Broadfield. The song starts off in the point of view of a kid, but as the song progresses we see hear that kid grow up into an adult.