Ace
12-17-2005, 05:53 PM
need some input on the intro, concession and first paragraph of this paper im working on, its 60% of my semester grade so i need to do well on it.
“In Night, Elie Wiesel [the author] inverts and reverses, even shatters, the elements of traditional paradigm” (Vanderwerken 305). Various critics rave about the limitless qualities of this hundred-page portrayal and the epic it unfolds. Night, a “memoir,” is told through the eyes of a young Jewish boy named Eliezer. It thoroughly depicts the horrible atrocities and suffering he endures during his forceful stay in the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Poland, and the unbearable sights he is forced to witness. Throughout Eliezer’s occupation of the camp, he learns who he really is and the austerity of his unwanted environment. This award-winning novel unquestionably deserves a spot on a ten honors summer reading list because of its superior academic value.
Although a selected few view Wiesel’s work as a failure of art (Alvarez 1), they clearly have not realized that this novel has been tediously translated twice into unrelated languages. Perhaps they have not evaluated the novel as a whole and considered the devastation that abundant complicated words might have on Wiesel’s vivid portrait.
Wiesel’s writing style is unique and beneficial because it cleverly accents the novel’s focus. His concise writing clearly depicts scenes and does not confuse the reader. Cedars states that Wiesel’s concise expression openly portrays the truth (294). While showing the truth, the diction is also brilliantly written in a neutral tone. One critic feels this neutral tone is the language of a witness and that by suppressing all emotion, analysis, and embellishment, it speaks only of despair and cynicism (Cedars 294). By using this tone, Wiesel is able to produce an accurate vision in the reader’s mind while allowing the reader himself to make conclusions on the events that took place. Eliezer states in the novel, “I witnessed other hangings. I never saw a single one of those victims weep. For a long time those dried-up bodies had forgotten the bitter taste of tears” (Wiesel 60). As a reader views these lines, or even someone that hasn’t read the book, he is able to imagine the vehement suffering the victims of the Holocaust are subjected to. Without the use of powerful language or embellishment, a bitter memory is engraved in the reader as he pictures the shriveled bodies in his head. Wiesel’s most powerful tool is his “imaginative landscapes” (Alter 526). The only literal analogy Alter can think of for this is the style of romantic poetry where all existence is focused on the lover (526). It is these landscapes that truly bring the novel to life. “Not far from us, flames were leaping up from a ditch, gigantic flames. They were burning something. A lorry drew up at the pit and delivered its load –little children. Babies! Yes, I saw it –saw it with my own eyes…those children in the flames” (Wiesel 30). Unlike most authors who would use vivid words such as “intense, agonizing, or cremating,” the author uses the art of subject. In a world such as ours, the practice of harming a child is universally known as wrong and sinful. Something such as burning a child is unspeakable in our society and therefore the reader instantly feels hatred towards the Germans. Cedars calls this Wiesel’s “language of silence” (294). Not only are all these literary elements tastefully used, they are also a key aspect in helping one understand what the Holocaust was actually like.
i'll keep posting more as a write it, and btw if you haven't guess yet, its a research paper on a book using literary criticism
“In Night, Elie Wiesel [the author] inverts and reverses, even shatters, the elements of traditional paradigm” (Vanderwerken 305). Various critics rave about the limitless qualities of this hundred-page portrayal and the epic it unfolds. Night, a “memoir,” is told through the eyes of a young Jewish boy named Eliezer. It thoroughly depicts the horrible atrocities and suffering he endures during his forceful stay in the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Poland, and the unbearable sights he is forced to witness. Throughout Eliezer’s occupation of the camp, he learns who he really is and the austerity of his unwanted environment. This award-winning novel unquestionably deserves a spot on a ten honors summer reading list because of its superior academic value.
Although a selected few view Wiesel’s work as a failure of art (Alvarez 1), they clearly have not realized that this novel has been tediously translated twice into unrelated languages. Perhaps they have not evaluated the novel as a whole and considered the devastation that abundant complicated words might have on Wiesel’s vivid portrait.
Wiesel’s writing style is unique and beneficial because it cleverly accents the novel’s focus. His concise writing clearly depicts scenes and does not confuse the reader. Cedars states that Wiesel’s concise expression openly portrays the truth (294). While showing the truth, the diction is also brilliantly written in a neutral tone. One critic feels this neutral tone is the language of a witness and that by suppressing all emotion, analysis, and embellishment, it speaks only of despair and cynicism (Cedars 294). By using this tone, Wiesel is able to produce an accurate vision in the reader’s mind while allowing the reader himself to make conclusions on the events that took place. Eliezer states in the novel, “I witnessed other hangings. I never saw a single one of those victims weep. For a long time those dried-up bodies had forgotten the bitter taste of tears” (Wiesel 60). As a reader views these lines, or even someone that hasn’t read the book, he is able to imagine the vehement suffering the victims of the Holocaust are subjected to. Without the use of powerful language or embellishment, a bitter memory is engraved in the reader as he pictures the shriveled bodies in his head. Wiesel’s most powerful tool is his “imaginative landscapes” (Alter 526). The only literal analogy Alter can think of for this is the style of romantic poetry where all existence is focused on the lover (526). It is these landscapes that truly bring the novel to life. “Not far from us, flames were leaping up from a ditch, gigantic flames. They were burning something. A lorry drew up at the pit and delivered its load –little children. Babies! Yes, I saw it –saw it with my own eyes…those children in the flames” (Wiesel 30). Unlike most authors who would use vivid words such as “intense, agonizing, or cremating,” the author uses the art of subject. In a world such as ours, the practice of harming a child is universally known as wrong and sinful. Something such as burning a child is unspeakable in our society and therefore the reader instantly feels hatred towards the Germans. Cedars calls this Wiesel’s “language of silence” (294). Not only are all these literary elements tastefully used, they are also a key aspect in helping one understand what the Holocaust was actually like.
i'll keep posting more as a write it, and btw if you haven't guess yet, its a research paper on a book using literary criticism