Darkness Falls...

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Darkness Falls...

This picture relates to the darkness that they all feel because when its dark, you can't see anything.  Darkness consumes everything.  See in this picture how people are walking around? In the middle of the picture there is a group of people holding on to eachother.  That symbolizes that they intend on staying together just as Eliezer and his father intended.  

It's gloomy, depressing, and saddening.  It really does remind me of the Holocaust because there are groups of people surrounding a huge figure that if you assume is Hitler, actually makes sense.  The people are gathered, there's something standing alone in the distance and the people look afraind.  You can't see their faces but read their body language and their positions.  

Fire Played Its Own Role

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Symbolism of Fire

This person sees flames.  Swirling, causing destruction, when all he can do is watch.  He feels helpless.  Just as if Eliezer was watching or working in the crematorium himself, flames surround them all and strike fear into their hearts.  Witnessing the destruction that fire can bring, contradicting what they have been taught of what fire symbolizes.  In this situation the fire in the eye could symbolize the hatred towards Jews that the Nazi's feel or how the Jews hate the Nazi for what they've done.

Just as the woman on the train had her premonition of flames, this is probably what she imagined seeing.  Flames causing destruction and killing Jews.  She tried to warn them, but they all wanted her to keep quiet.  For one, they didn't want to believe her and two because they were trying to sleep and she kept having mini episodes. This picture reminds me of the hatred and rage Eliezer feels towards God and the Nazi's.

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Eliezer's Love and Devotion to His Father

This picture represents the bonding of a son and father.  The little boy holding onto his fathers' finger is related to how Eliezer is with his father.  He holds onto his father, supports him, and fends for him when he can.  He loves his father and refused to let himself die taking his father's point of view into consideration.  He didn't want to leave his father alone. 

Eliezer is bonded with his father.  The way he sees it is that he is the glue to keeping them both alive.  He does what he can to protect his father such as, when he went through the crowd of Jews and snuck his father from the left to the right side to where he won't be killed.  He wants to stay with his father which is understandable in the situation they are in.  I wouldn't want to be alone either.

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Inhumanization

The cruelty displayed by the Nazi's inhumanized the Jews who were the victims. The man screaming at the woman is an example of what the Nazi's did to the Jews.  Yelling, screaming, shooting, and torturing were frequently used among the Jews. 


They were cruel, put psychological stress and torture on them.  They made them all look the same, treated them with no respect, and killed them without hesitation.  Violence was part of their everyday life, and just like this picture, it is hard to get away from violence.  The woman is cringing away, expecting the worse, while the man gets into her personal space.

Eliezer's Disgust

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Eliezers's Disgust for God's Silence

This picture represents God's Silence throughout the Holocaust.  He was quiet and His people suffered.  Eliezer is convinced and disgusted that God has kept silent through their suffering.  He is confused, and constantly questions his beliefs.

Eliezer felt abandoned by his "God".  He felt as if he had just let them all suffer and gave up.  Eliezer was quietly filled with rage and the feeling of being alone.  No matter how much their people prayed, there was no instant salvation.  They were lost and confused.  Their "God" had left them is what they convinced themselves considering He was quiet through their screams.

Eliezer is Battling Himself

 image from www.livestrong.com


Eliezer's Struggle

He has been struggling with himself.  He has started to lose his faith and now with the overwhelming situation he is afraid.  He doesn't know what to do.  Seeing as how the child was afraid to look and see the horror of what the child could've imagined.  He is clinging to the wall and using it as support.  

In my opinion, Eliezer feels abandoned by his God and he doesn't understand.  He starts feeling this hatred towards God, unknowingly grudging everybody and everything besides his father.  He is struggling within himself.  In the beggining, he was solid about his faith and beliefs as to now he has abandoned what he believed.  He struggles with what he wants to believe and what his lost mind is telling him.  I think he wants to believe in God but at the same time his mind is contradicting the thought bringing him to conclude that there is no God, and if there was, then God would have put a stop to their suffering.