Nicole's 1st Reflection

Wiesel's story is truly amazing. He manages to horrify and trap me into reading more at the same time. His remembrance of the terrible time is almost too gruesome to be true! The commentary he carries out for the duration of the book allows him to take advantage of literary tools, such as foreshadowing, that are often not taken advantage of in nonfiction writing.  While recalling his fathers passive view on the enforced rule of wearing the yellow star, Wiesel's comment made after the statement given by his father is reflective and gives the reader a feeling of doom. Wiesel recalls his father expressing his feelings as, "'The yellow star? So what? It's not lethal...' (Poor Father! Of what then did you die?)" (Wiesel 11). The comment he gives is foreshadowing at its best.  His comment is almost sarcastic in the way he reflects on his fathers words in a disappointing manner.  The events and changes within himself throughout the first 40 pages is very familiar to me.  Lord of the Flies anyone? The part that made me think of LOTF was when his father asked to go to the bathroom and was hit in the face in reply, and Wiesel did not feel much remorse.  It might not have been that he didn't feel remorse, but he was numb to all feelings, the short, possibly only 24 hours in the concentration camp being enough time to transform the young fifteen year old boy.  He talks a lot of time in the first 40 pages, especially when they get to the concentration camp. He does not remember how long it has been that he is in the camp, but it was most likely only one day.  His quick adaption to his surroundings is similar to the adaptions made by the boys on the island in Lord of the Flies.  Wiesel's acknowledgement of his quick adaption and change as a person is clear when he thinks, "I too had become a different person. The student of Talmud, the child I was, had been consumed by the flames" (37).  The woman on the train shouting that she could see the fire is so eerie and terrifying.  At first, I did not see the double meaning of her words, the truth behind them that only she was able to see at the time.  It was when she exclaimed, "Jews, listen to me...I see a fire! I see flames, huge flames!" (25) that I was hit with the realization that, although she might have been 'mad' or 'crazy' her predictions were truthful.  This woman connects to LOTF because she reminds me of Percival, the first little boy that says that he has seen a beastie lurking in the shadows. They both manage to predict the force that is the cause of their danger.