Partner Macbeth Pre Discussion

Partner: Zak
- Is evil ingrained in human nature? That is, are some people just “born evil,” or is evil caused by circumstance or environment? 

We believe that evil is caused by circumstance and environment, because babies are born innocent, and lack the knowledge about evil actions. One's mind develops according to their environment during their childhood. As they grow up, they experience and perceive the different levels of evil that are embedded in this world. For example, if a person grows up in an abusive family, the chances of them turning out to be abusive as well is greatly increased. A child brought up to be kind hearted, with no reasons to display acts of evil is the opposite. Their chances of turning evil are none. In, conclusion, people are not born evil but they are influenced at a young age. Being raised poorly in an unhealthy environment causes evil.

Are our lives determined by fate, or by the acts of our free will? 

Our lives are determined by free will. There is always a choice in anything you do. People don't have one fate in their life, they are able to change their life and make their own path. Some people wait for their fate when they could be living their life with free will. For example, if an athlete wants to make it to the pros, they should work their hardest to make sure they make it. Leaving it to fate stops them from working hard. In conclusion, people don't have one fate. Their choices in life sculpt their path.

Is redemption truly possible? That is, is it possible to commit an act of genuine evil and truly recover from it? 

No,  we don't believe that redemption is truly possible, because when a person commits an act of genuine evil, it stays with them and haunts them forever. Even if they receive forgiveness from the people that they hurt from their actions, they can never truly forgive themselves. What they can do is make peace with their decision and understand that the past is in the past, and there is nothing that they can do to change it. People can try to make up for their actions by doing good deeds and  being a better person, but the truth is, that act of evil will have changed their lives forever. We don't believe that anyone can ever fully recover from an act of genuine evil. 

Is it possible to admire or respect a person whom you know has committed acts of genuine evil? 

Yes, it is possible to admire or respect a person whom you know has committed acts of genuine evil . Acts of evil don't necessarily define who a person is. A person can have a major setback in their life, caused by a bad decision, and then turn around and work towards the greater good for the rest of their life, in an attempt to redeem themselves. That is a person who'd we both admire and respect, because it shows perseverance and the willingness to change, which is always tough. 

Do “the ends justify the means”? That is, if one uses morally evil methods to acquire a goal, is that goal forever tainted or polluted by the actions one has taken to achieve it? 

Night Final Exercise

Write 2 thesis statements for which you could write well-supported literary analysis essays. Remember when analyzing the literature we are always trying to determine the meaning of the literature. It is not a summary or you repeating what is already known. So in the thesis you need to tell us something that you can prove through evidence from the book. You need to write two thesis statements based off these literary elements:

Theme: The book "Night" by Elie Wiesel portrays that when people are presented with the constant threat of death, they lose their morals and their ability of being a decent human being. 

• “Once again, the young men bound and gagged her. When they actually struck her, people shouted their approval.” (pg. 26)

• “The three veterans, with needles inter hands, engraved a number on our left arms. I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name.” (pg. 39)

• “I heard the pounding of my heart. The thousands of people who died daily in Auschwitz and Birkenau, in the crematoria, no longer troubled me.” (pg. 62)

• “One day when we had come to a stop, a worker took a piece of bread out of his bag and threw it into a wagon. There was a stampede. Dozens of starving men fought desperately over a few crumbs. The worker watched the spectacle with great interest. In the wagon where the bread had landed, a battle had ensued. Men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at and mauling each other.” (pg. 100-101)

Character: The inhumane acts of the Holocaust caused many people to lose their basic human qualities,  but in the book "Night", Elie Wiesel shows that hope and compassion will eventually get one through even the most seemingly hopeless of situations that life may present. 

• - “Don’t lose hope… Have faith in life, a thousand times fate… Help each other. That is the only way to survive.” (pg. 41)
• - “‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘Everything will be alright.’... Every one of his words was healing and every glance of his carried a message of hope.” (pg. 79)

- "My God, Lord of the Universe, give me strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahou's son has done." (pg 87) 
- "I tightened my grip on my father's hand. The old, familiar fear: not to lose him"

Dialectical Journal

1) Dehumanization- The act of treating an individual as if they are not a human being.
2) The prisoners no longer consider other people their friends and family. For example, when the guards throw a piece of bread into the train, one of the older prisoners manages to get it and sneak it into his shirt. When the prisoner's son sees this, he jumps on top of his father and ends up beating him to death. They live by the saying "every man for himself" and will kill and fight other people for just a small piece of food.
3) The first change that Eliezer noticed when at the camps was that he was losing his emotions. When his father was harshly beaten right in front of him, he couldn't help but just watch silently. Eliezer also begins to think negative thoughts about his father, such as how he'd be better off if his father was dead, but immediately regrets it. He prays for the strength to keep those thoughts out of his mind, and to not be like some of the other prisoners that he saw.

Quotes:
"Without passion, without haste, they slaughtered their prisoners." (pg. 4)

"I became A-7713 ... I had no other name." (pg. 39)

"I now took little interest in anything except my daily plate of soup and my crust of stale brad. Bread, soup - these were my whole life." (pg. 50)

"Dozens of starving men fought each other to the death for a few crumbs." (pg. 95)