Night was a very powerful book. I had never heard of it or read it before. I feel as though the telling of the story was intense and painful to think about, but at the same time it was still readable and wasn't unbearable. He had a way of telling the story that showed the tragedy, but didn't give horrendous details that made it difficult to read because it was so graphic. I believe this is a very teachable book in a classroom. I think that the best way to teach a book about the Holocaust would be to incorporate the war aspect of the whole situation. Honestly, I truly do not know what was actually happening in the war and who was on whose side, etc. I think that incorporating a historical book similar to the Hitler Youth book except about the war would be a very beneficial teaching opportunity. I think the most heartbreaking piece of this book was how after his father had made the decision to leave the camp and not stay in the infirmary he states that those people were freed. I feel like that is almost something I would not want to know. I am very curious about his current life, did he ever find out what happened to the rest of his family, did he ever return to his home again? If he has written books about those pieces of his life, I think it may be an interesting way to make a unit. Since this book is so short, if the others were as well then it would be a nice way to make a unit about the holocaust and its aftermath.
Hitler Youth was a very different approaching to looking at the war. Often times I feel like the Holocaust overshadows everything, I'm not saying it wasn't important because it was, it's just that I feel we forget about everything else and why Germany was actually at war. I feel that the layout was not helpful for me though. I don't know why but I almost feel like I didn't actually learn anything. I feel as though it wasn't very informative. I think that if I were to use a book like this in a classroom they would be helpful but only if they specifically related to the context of what I was teaching. Throughout my years as a student I know my teachers never assigned a book like this to further our understanding of a topic. I feel that they are a unique way of teaching students.
I agree with you that it would be interesting to read about what his life is like now, how he dealt with being a survivor, and if he did find out with his family. Something we noticed in our small group discussion was that it is never mentioned what happens to his other two sisters, so I wonder if they survived, or what did end up happening to them. I really liked Hitler Youth, I felt like I learned a lot about the war and how Germany's youth were involved, and I think this would be a great book to pair with a book like Night in a literature class, or even to use in a Social Studies class.
ReplyDeleteGlad you finally got to read Night! It is so present in high school curriculum and is a "classic" for Holocaust literature. As we mentioned in class, there are so many resources for teaching this novel like the virtual tours of the Holocaust Museum. Oprah also did an interview with Elie awhile back, and there is a multitude of information on her website about his current life and his experiences with the Holocaust.
ReplyDelete-Allison