Saturday, March 31, 2012

What are two incidents in the book that illustrates times when bonds of love have been destroyed?I Have One About Elie & His Father. Meaning, I...

One of the key incidents to me at least is towards the end of the novel when the survivors have been evacuated from the camp and are placed in cattle carriages again. When German passerbys toss bits of bread into the car, fierce fights break out. Elie, observing the chaos, watches as an old man manages to snatch up a bit of bread, and then is killed for it by his son:



He collapsed. But his fist was still clutching a small crust. He wanted to raise it to his mouth. But the other threw himsel fon him. The old man mumbled something, groaned, and died. Nobody cared.



This example demonstrates how treating the Jews inhumanely had dissolved their humanity - the son willingly kills his father for a scrap of bread.


The other example that comes to mind is when the Jews are being transported to the camp at the beginning of the novel, and they beat up Mrs Schachter when she talks about fires and flames, foreshadowing their fate. Even though she was a friend and well-known in the community and had her son with her, the Jews applaud the young men who beat her up:



"Keep her quiet! Make that madwoman shut up. She's not the only one here..."


She received several blows to the head, blows that could have been lethal. Her son was clinging desperately to her, not uttering a word. He was no longer crying.



Again we see another example of how the treatment the Jews receive makes them in turn inhuman to each other. In spite of the friendship and comradeship they shared with this women they beat her - probably to death - in front of her small son.

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