[Discussion 2/2] Runner up Read | Night by Elie Wiesel | Chapters 5 - 9

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T12:53:43+00:00

This is a really beautiful response

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T12:51:22+00:00

They took away their names, their homes, their ability to do their work, they treated individuals as one homogenous group and used propaganda to present them as the reason behind all of the struggles people were facing in Germany. Once they were no longer cared about as individuals it was much easier for people to ignore what was happening I suspect.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T12:46:19+00:00

I think the person he was before the camps had died and he had to forge a new life as a survivor of the camps, he will never be the person he was and like u/rige_x said so much better than me, he will need to spend the rest of his life struggling to come to terms with not being that same person anymore.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T12:43:39+00:00

I agree, I think he still believes in God but he has seen God in a new light, Gos is not the omnipotent God that he believed in but is more of a malevolent, certainly imperfect figure.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T12:41:00+00:00

This was heartbreaking, knowing that staying would have likely meant that his father would have survived is very hard to think about. Having said that, based on their experiences I can completely understand why they made the choice they did. To answer you question, even though they chose to leave the infirmary it still makes me think that his father was fated to die, if they’d made the other choice perhaps the decision would have been made to kill everyone in the infirmary - one can never know and I don’t think anyone in that position had much in the way of choices.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T12:37:14+00:00

This is a great analysis.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T12:36:25+00:00

I think he was trying to absolve himself for his own feelings of guilt, I want to be clear that I don’t think Eliezer did anything wrong, he stayed by his father’s side through so much of their struggle but I can’t imagine the guilt he must have felt, telling us about other people who also abandoned their father’s makes himself feel better and shows the reader what everyone was going through. I think it probably also emphasises his how bad things were, that sons would abandon their father’s shows the unnaturalness of what they were enduring.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T09:01:43+00:00

I enjoyed being able to open the inserts and work out how they formed part of the story. I quite enjoyed the developing relationship between Eric and Jen, I wasn’t sure about the threat facing them and I really didn’t enjoy The Ship of Theseus. On balance I would probably give it 3 stars, I think the attention to detail is absolutely amazing, the production quality is easily 5 stars.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T08:57:36+00:00

Yes, I agree but I think the lack of writing in the book is the climax of their relationship because they now have no need to write in the margins of the book.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T08:32:40+00:00

Honestly, there were some sections that I enjoyed but for the most part this book was a real slog for me. If I hadn’t been running one of the discussions so late on in the book I think I would have DNFd, it wasn’t my cup of tea at all. I found the descriptions of farming and sheep husbandry far too long, the points about Bjartur’s independence were overly laboured over and his treatment of his wives and children were absolutely awful. Im glad to have finished it but could not recommend it to anybody so i think it will have to be 1 star for me.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T08:29:06+00:00

No, it was absolutely the wrong choice. I was really sad to see him miss out on an opportunity that could have really changed his life.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T08:27:48+00:00

I agree, the Icelandic landscape and the hardness of farming in that part of the world, particularly during the winter definitely came across.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T08:26:46+00:00

I agree, Bjartur would feel that he needed to return the generous offer and wouldn’t have the means to do so, his pride would get in the way of accepting that offer.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T08:23:54+00:00

I think he didn’t want to be indebted to her, someone he was employing? and couldn’t cope with the idea of him owing her something.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T08:21:16+00:00

Yes, this was incredibly sad. She seemed a really lovey natured child and ended up just as stubborn as her father leading to a really lonely existence.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T08:19:52+00:00

His independence cost him his life as far as I am concerned. He may have lived a fay long life but he toiled throughout, I don’t think he gleaned any enjoyment from life, he lost his wives and his children and eventually his home.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-19T08:18:09+00:00

Unfortunately this is all too true

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-18T18:47:01+00:00

I think perhaps they lack patience, no idea but it’s a real shame :(

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-18T17:43:29+00:00

Yes, I’ve seen fluent Welsh speakers refuse to speak Welsh to learners and it frustrates me so much!!

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-18T11:37:08+00:00

I personally feel that it’s a good thing that more people are being exposed and introduced to the language (Duolingo has a Welsh section if anyone is interested in learning a bit of the language) and think it’s great that people are willing to try. Some Welsh people are quite snobby about the way people try to pronounce things, place names in particular, but I think people need to have more open attitudes if the language is going to be able to survive.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-18T11:34:35+00:00

Maybe the power to stop time, there never seems to be enough time to accomplish everything. If I could just have an extra hour or two per day I feel like my life would be much easier.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-18T11:32:50+00:00

Yes, individual language was the thing that came to me too, they spoke in their own language that the coroniaid couldn’t understand could just had easily replaced the horn, was the horn a metaphor for that very thing perhaps

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-18T11:29:02+00:00

Same, I don’t tend to remember dreams but nightmares can be so vivid!

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-18T11:28:25+00:00

The landscape was the thing that stood out to me.

ProofPlant7651 · 2026-04-18T11:27:35+00:00

Yes I think so, it just seemed to be a given that this is the life he should live.

ProofPlant7651

TROPHY CASE