Night
photo from jsu.edu

This picture makes me think of the anxiety Elie must have had towards the night time. When morning hit he must have felt a huge amount of relief. Everytime night would fall something bad would happen or the inmates would have to endure something terrible.

Night time symbolizes a time without God's presence because in the beginning of the world God said, "Let there be light!", in order to rid the world of darkness. The day Elie arrives at the camp him and his father witness the cruelty of thousands of babies being burnt in a ditch. The book not only represents the physical darkness but the emptiness of the soul. To me, an empty soul is very scary.

Fire
Photo from completeoutdoorconstruction.com

In the book, fire meant something terrible, nothing good became of it. Elie probably related fire on water to the horrible things happening because he couldn't do anything about them. It made me think of the oil spill and how no one knows what to do to fix it so they let it grow and grow until animals begin to die. This is similar to the holocaust because people knew they were going to be taken away from their houses but they didn't know what else to do.

In the Bible and the Jewish tradition, fire is always a symbol of strength and God. He appears in a burning bush to Moses and angels have fire on their sword. The way Elie looks at fire changed the day he stepped foot in the concentration camp. He always pictured the evil being punished with fire, but in the book the evil ones have the fire.

The Importance of Father-Son Bonds

Photo from fanart.lionking.org

This picture shows the love a father has for his son and the unexplainable passion he has for wanting his son to have a better life than he had as a boy. It reminds me of Elie and his father because even though they didn't really know each other that well, they felt like they knew each other. They had a very strong bond to never want to give up for the other person.

Elie sees many family bonds being torn apart. In fact, it was an everyday thing for most of the prisoners. Sons became more interested in food than helping their fathers live. Elie witnesses a son beat up his own father for some bread crust on the train. Almost every son sacrificed their own father to save themselves. Elie proves his love for his father is more important than his will to live when he keeps running knowing his father needed him.

Inhumanity Towards Other Humans
Photo from blackandright.com

Even though this photo is a little dramatic and corny, it relates to the holocaust by showing how crazy the idea of something so terrible like killing a teenager for being sassy sounds to people. When the Jews were in Ghettos they heard of the horrible things happening at their so-called vacation spot, but they didn't believe anything like that would ever actually happen.

After dealing with the cruel things happening around him, Elie had trouble making sense of the world. He also becomes aware of the cruel things Elie himself is capable of. For the first time in his life he has to witness his father being beat and he does nothing about it. Elie learns that cruelty only brings more cruelty. Instead of pulling together in their time of need, the inmates turn against each other leaving every man for himself.

Silence.
Photo from Squidoo.com

This shirt says Silence is the new loud. It reminded me of the concentration camp because I can only imagine how loud the silence must have been in the camp. Even if no one was talking, the thoughts going through your mind the entire time your there would be enough to drive anyone crazy.

The silence of God is the most troubling for Elie. He's left to wonder how an all knowing God could be so quiet as all his followers are being tortured. Even the silence makes Elie question his faith. There's also another type of silence throughout the inmates during the cruel and torturous acts the Nazi's display. Every surviving inmate who watched silently as a family member or friend was beat repeatedly has to be living with a lifetime of guilt.

Eliezer's Struggle to Maintain Faith in a Benevolent God.

Photo from aeonpi.com

To me, this represents Elie stuck in his own body trying to believe in something he's always believed in but is now second guessing. Day after day Elie would ask the same questions to himself, ultimately tightening the bolts on his back, as shown in the picture.

Elie has grown up believing that everything reflects upon God in some way. He was taught that God is benevolent and good in everyway, yet when he witnesses the cruel and unusual way his people are being treated it becomes harder for him to believe that God would tolerate the Nazi's decisions. He doesn't know how such a wonderful being could be involved with such nastiness. Throughout all of Elie's experiences, he manages to keep some of his faith, but he was always wondering in the back of his mind, "Is there really a God?...or How could there be a God with all this evil?"

Very pretty!

Photo from climate.met