By: Brittany Coco and Mariah Mendes

HOPE

“Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me for all eternity, of the desire to live.” Page 32

This quote explains how all Elie started to think about was his desire to live. The only thing he hoped for was to live and that’s all, I think if he didn’t have hope to live he might have not have made it too the end.

This quote is an example of the theme hope. The reason is at this point in the book Elie and his family are living in the ghetto. The quote is showing that the mom thinks that they need to keep going with their daily lives to survive this. She’s hoping that nothing can get worse than what they are now.

“We must keep going, we must keep going,” she kept on repeating. –pg.18

In this quote it describes hope because Elie has hope he is going to survive the march and the camps as well. I think hope kept Elie going because at the beginning of the march he had no hope but toward the end he relied on his hope, and pushed through.

“How long had we been standing like this in the icy wind? An hour? Simply and hour? Sixty minutes? Surely it was a dream.” Page 35

This quote shows hope because Elie and his father just saw the crematories. They think they are being sent to them to die. But Elie is relying on his hope that people are not this cruel. Even though it is right in front of him, Elie trusts in his hope that this will not happen.

But I told him that I did not believe they could burn people in our age, that humanity would not tolerate it… -pg.30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUEEYa0pvgU&feature=related

Video of Elie Weisel

“If I wanted to bring about my own death, this was the moment. Our line had only fifteen paces to cover. I bit my lips so that my father would not hear my teeth chattering. Ten steps still. Eight. Seven.” Page 31

This quote shows hope because hope is almost like a positive motivation you might give yourself and I think that’s exactly what Elie was doing. He kept on saying how many more steps he had left, eight, seven, and I think that encouraged him to keep on going because it will be

done before he knows it.

This quotes shows hope in two ways. One is that the men are actually hoping to die in a way. The reason is that they would rather die by the bombs then die in the hands of the Nazis. The other hope is that the soldiers would come to their rescue and save them. Either way they all hope to be free from the camps one way or another.

We were not afraid. And yet, if a bomb had fallen on the blocks, it alone would have claimed hundreds of victims on the spot. But we were no longer afraid of death; at any rate, not of that death. Every bomb that exploded filled us with joy and gave us new confidence in life. –pg.57

“Yet I was convinced that he could see everything, that now he could see the truth in all things.” Page 103

I think this quote shows hope because Elie hoped his father knew what was going to happen, maybe for the better. That maybe it would mean he wasn’t in pain anymore.

The whole time Elie and his father are in the concentration camps, they and the prisoners hope that the Russians will come and rescue them. They are facing such a hardship that they can only rely on their hope. The hope they can somehow be saved from the Nazis.

“Perhaps the Russians will arrive first.” -pg.77

“The choice was in our hands. For once we could decide our fate ourselves.”

This quote shows hope because through the whole experience Elie felt people were always telling him what to do, and for once he had to make his own decision which he always hoped. So when he made his decision he hoped it was right.

I tried to explain to him that this was not the end, that we would go back to the house together, but he would not listen to me. –pg.102

This quote is a great example of the theme hope. Elie knows his father is dying but he is just wishing that somehow his father will survive and live. Elie’s hope is keeping himself going to keep himself alive so he can help his father.

http://educator.widener.edu/~mjcorcoran/003-concentration-camp.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Russian_Troops_NGM-v31-p372.jpg/800px-Russian_Troops_NGM-v31-p372.jpg http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Poland/Majdanek/OldPhotos/Majdanek%20barracks.jpg http://www1.yadvashem.org/IMAGE_TYPE/1564.jpg http://www.ushmm.org/remembrance/dor/photos/images/hi-res/37316.jpg http://www.vho.org/GB/c/GR/Olere.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_LDPdrB-5lxc/Sg8KrlnDyeI/AAAAAAAAABI/d4NPn8AuSk4/s400/Auschwitz+crematoria.jpghttp://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ys4yaY-ijmk/Sg7-zuFJ6mI/AAAAAAAAACU/QJx4u0ap-zk/s400/ebensee_concentration_camp_prisoners_1945.jpg http://www.easypedia.gr/el/images/shared/b/bb/Children_in_the_Holocaust_concentration_camp_liberated_by_Red_Army.jpg http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~ghost20j/classweb/ghost20j/star%20of%20david%20concentration%20camp.jpg http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/dachau/Dachauprisonerliberation.jpg http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/workshop/photos/79914.jpg

Picture Bibliography