Saturday, July 26, 2014

Explain the boy's seemingly calm acceptance of his hanging.Elie comments that "I never saw a single one of the victims weep" Why do you think this...

There are a lot of things that you must consider when you
look at this piece, not the least of which is the degree of horror that all the Jews
faced who were caught up by the Holocaust. Presumably, this passage is one that is
significant because it asks the question of where God was in all of this tragedy. The
boy is calm because he has accepted his fate. Even at such a young age, he knows that
there is nothing that he can do to change what is going to happen to him. Weeping will
not solve it. On another level, however, if you continue on in the passage, it is the
witnesses who weep and who mist ask the question of where God is and why he has forsaken
his ostensibly chosen people. The answer, then, becomes clear in the shape of a small
boy, too light to die immediately, who instead, like Christ on the cross, lingers on to
die slowly hours later. From the audience, one man answers the question, indicating that
God is right there in front of them on the gallows in the shape of that boy. Just a
Christ calmly accepts his own fate, so does this boy, dying with as much dignity as he
can is the ultimate denial of the torture being perpetuated against the Jews. It is the
understanding that God has some other plan, and that to accept his plan willingly and
without making a scene, is the ultimate in respect for self and
God.

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