Wednesday, 24 June 2009
24/06/09 Night by Elie Wiesel Pre-Reading Reminiscences
I’m starting my summer reading today with Night by Elie Wiesel. The
first time I read Night was many years ago when I was a sophomore in
high school; my history teacher required the book as part of our study
of World War II. I honestly believe that Night was one of the most
influential books in my life- perhaps the single most influential book
in my life; it was shocking to me at the time and I know it will be
shocking to me again as I read it this week. As a sophomore in small
town Glencoe, Minnesota, I grew up in a relatively protected
environment with a concomitant predictably naïve view of the world and of the
power of evil. At age 16, reading the page by page horror so succinctly detailed
by Elie Wiesel quickly opened my eyes to the reality of the inhumanity
experienced by Wiesel-and millions of other people- at a time in his
life when he should have been enjoying life as a teenager. After
reading Night so many years ago, I turned immediately to other authors
who wrote about the holocaust. With a rabid desire I wanted to learn
more about how this genocide could have happened. Leon Uris, Joseph
Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Tim O’Brien and other great authors helped me
broaden my understanding of what happened in war. The why of war was
a different question.
Years after that eye-opening history lesson, I found myself teaching
sophomore English at Rosemount High School in Rosemount, Minnesota.
Included in the curriculum was the book Night. Each year that I
taught the book, I found a high percentage of my students having a
similar reaction to mine: shock that this genocide happened, shock
that they had not heard about the genocide, shock that some people
pretend the holocaust never happened, shock that genocides continue to
occur. We talked about and wrote about our reactions to the book and
to the lessons it can teach. I look forward to reading this important
book again and I look forward to my TAS students sharing their ideas
on this blog, but even more-so when school resumes in August.
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I have finished all of my sumer reading books. Night was the third book I've read because I have the habit of leaving the best for last. I finished the free Song Of The Buffalo Boy first before buying the other two. My choices for the second one was Picture Bride. Judging the cover, I sensed the non-interesting content and finish it quickily(At least I tried to).And, after all, I was right about the order.
ReplyDeleteNight was a bearable good book. There were only the important details for each of the different scenes (#1) and the plot was clear and interesting enough to keep me going without difficulty.
Unlike you, I knew about the massacre since I was small. This book has hardened the impression of a Nazi camp in my mind.
I think this book is appropriate for both summer reading and class discussion. Students definitely learn lessons from it. What's the lesson? Well, I guess it's something we must figure out soon for the upcoming five paragraph essay on the first day of school. Hmmmm......
By the way, are we only allowed to post comments about Night untill the other threads are created?
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(#1): (Unlike F451 and Of Mice And Men, two of the books we had to read in 8'th grade. 97.56% of the details were totally useless throughout the entire book.)
Feel free to comment on any of the posts (for English 9 reading and if you like for American Novel reading).
ReplyDeleteI am not clear on which book(s) you found the details superfluous--Song of the Buffalo Boy?
Sorry for the misunderstanding, I was talking about the books we read in 8'th grade.
ReplyDelete