Final Project
The non-fiction book Night by Elie Wiesel, the fiction book The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and the poem somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond by e.e. cummings can all be connected by the common theme of love.
Night
Night by Elie Wiesel is the story of a Holocaust survior's time in a Nazi concentration camp. It shows you first hand just how bad things were for Jews of that time. Elie and his family are taken from their home to a concentration camp. Elie is stripped of all of his possessions, his home and almost everyone he loves. He would never see most of his friends and family ever again. The only thing that he still had with him was his father. Elie and his father did everything that they could to stay together. They only cared about the safety of each other, especially when they figured out what had happened to Elie's mother and sister. They knew that if they let themselves be separated, they might never see each other again. Things were getting worse and worse in the camp and at some points, the only thing that gave Elie the will to live was his father, and not wanting to lose anything else. Toward the end of the book, when they were put into different blocks, they still met up with each other to make sure that the other was alright. Even when Elie's father was on his death-bed, Elie still refused to take any of his rations despite many people, including his father, insisting that he should. When Elie's father died, Elie stopped writing about everything that was happening. He said that time just passed by. The little hope and happiness that he still had had with him died with his father.
At around 1:50 Elie talks about just how close he was with his father. He talks about seeing him even after his death.
The Road
The Road by Cormac McCarthy is the story of a man and his son making their way across a post-apocalyptic world in hope of a better life. McCarthy never says what happened to put the man and the boy in this position, but we can see what effect it had on them. Unlike the boy, the man remembers what the world was like when everything was still fine. He lived in a world that was most likely very similar to the one we live in today. Just like Elie Wiesel, he lost all of his friends and family and almost all of his possessions. The only thing that he has left is his son. It is easy to see that the man cares about his son's life just as much, or more than, his own. He knows from the beginning that he is sick and will be dead soon. His only goal is to get the boy to the south where he thinks things will be better for the boy when he is gone. Throughout the book, the man thought multiple times about losing the boy. He didn't know he would ever be able to live on if something were to happen to the boy. He always wanted what would be best for the boy. When he had to leave the boy alone, he would give him the gun and tell him to shoot himself before being captured. The boy also dearly loved the man. When the man died at the very end of the book, the boy was extremely reluctant to leave his body without a proper burial. In the end, the boy was able to go live with another family that would protect and help him, which is all the man ever really wanted.
somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyondThe poem somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond by e.e. cummings is about a person that loves their child more than anything. Love is a huge theme in this poem. At first glance, it is confusing and hard to understand but if you look deeper into the poem, you can see that the speaker is a parent showing telling a young child just how much they love them. The speaker explains how delicate and precious the child is to them. They say that the child has an incredibly strong power to influence them and the child can control the speaker's actions and emotions very easily. The speaker says that because of their strong, and unending love for the child, they will do anything for it.
|
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
E. E. Cummings, 1894 - 1962 somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond any experience,your eyes have their silence: in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me, or which i cannot touch because they are too near your slightest look easily will unclose me though i have closed myself as fingers, you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens (touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose or if your wish be to close me,i and my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly, as when the heart of this flower imagines the snow carefully everywhere descending; nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility:whose texture compels me with the colour of its countries, rendering death and forever with each breathing (i do not know what it is about you that closes and opens;only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses) nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands |
Conclusion
The Road and Night can both be very dark books. There are other, darker themes that can come out of them but there is also a huge amount of love in these books. Love is very strong and it unites all of the characters in The Road, Night, and, somewhere i have never travelled gladly beyond.
This Prezi will show how everything fits together
Sources:
http://youtube.com/
http://www.poets.org/
http://www.google.com/imghp
http://www.poets.org/
http://www.google.com/imghp