Reader's Journal#11 Night---Memoir

Readers Journal#11

                                                                                                                11/7/11

Dear Mrs. Zrihen,

     The book I currently finished reading is Night By Elie Wiesel.  The quote that  I like was a light on the other side of the tunnel, “ One day I was able to get up, after gathering all my strength. I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me.
The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.” I chose this quote because this is the last thing that he mentioned about the holocaust and the feelings he had about it. Also this means that he feels mentally dead although he is physically alive. He has those feelings because this reflects about what he has been through and how he feels about it. The strategies I used before reading were reading the reviews this book got on Barnes and Nobel, and getting a recommendation from Mrs. Zrihen and my mom.

     The genre of this book is non-fiction and a memoir because this was an event in Elie Wiesel’s life so that makes it a memoir and it is non-fiction because this was a real event in his life. The topic of this book is about the holocaust. The main idea is about the events Elie Wiesel witnessed in that daunting time. It is stated because it is in the time period of it, and the places he went to are the same ones that were hot spots in the holocaust. The three supporting details I have for the main idea are how he went to those places described in the book, another reason is about the holocaust because it’s the same trials of events that go on in the holocaust, another reason is his suffering that he endured. Night’s essential message to the readers is to inform about what events took place in the holocaust. The cause for the holocaust is because Adolph Hitler was against Jews, the effect is that he tried to wipe out all the Jews and that event started the Holocaust. The pattern of organization in this book was in chronological order due to the fact that he describes all the things that took place in this miserable event. The text features I found so far in this book were the font changes in the book form the text in to the chapter and the chapter title font. The point of view of this book was in first person because it’s a memoir and a memoir always comes from the author’s visual aid and the narrator is a character in the story. I went on websites like Spark notes to see if I did my quote right. I also looked if my facts about the holocaust were right so I can get to know more from this tragic event. The text to text connections I found in this book were similarities I found in books like Wattson’s go to Birmingham 1963 because black people were hurt physically and mentally just like the events in the holocaust. I didn’t really find any connections for text to self but I have friends that their grandmas and grandpas have been through the holocaust so they can relate to having that experiences told by their elders. The text to world features I found was easy to spot. A lot of people have seen, heard, and even been through attacks because of their Race, Gender, Religion, Etc,.  The tone that Elie Wiesel used to write this book was serious and bitter when he explained all the things he saw and went through.

     I wouldn’t change the title of this book because he couldn’t have put it any better than that. Night represents darkness, fear, and the unknown, and that’s the way he felt about the subject. The rating I give this book is a 10/10 because the spot on detail Elie Wiesel’s book Night, can give anyone a visual idea the things that he saw and experienced. I would recommend it to anyone that wants to know more about the history of the holocaust and what happened there.

From your student,

Alan Alvarez