Elie's struggle to maintain faith in god

-questioning god

-in the beginning he was faithful, after & during the holocaust he lost faith

-since he believes god is good, the world must be good

Silence

-gods silence such as during hanging of young boy

-silence from victims and lack of resistance

Inhumanity towards others

-how horribly humans start to treat each other throughout the story;worse it gets=worse they treat each other

Importance of father-son bonds

-Selfishness

-Sacrifices

-Elie's father is his will to survive and vice versa

Tradition

-plays important role and becomes absent after time

-people rely on customs, observations, & traditions

Religous observance

-jewish studies

-prayer rituals

Fire

-Represents nazis cruel power

-burning babies

-crematoria

-lady screaming "fire"

-In bible it is used by the good to punish the bad; but instead used by the bad to punish the good

Night

-Represents a world without gods presence

-night occurs when suffering gets worse

Nature of human existence

-George, lennie, candy, crooks, and curleys wife admit to being lonely and isolated

-wants comfort of friend; but will do with the ear of a stranger

-curleys wife:unhappy marriage

-crooks:life without a companion&puts down lennies dreams and feelings, when he needs someone to listen to his own dreams and feelings=unfair

Male friendship

-lennie&georges dream tragically ended from losing a dream too large for them

-farm where they wanted to live;but was almost impossible to reach

-candy was drawn in by its magic(sense of freedom&protection that he wanted)

-brought them closer

-the world(being so harsh)could not sustain such rare friendships and are forced to seperate.

-carlson&candy are unable to apprieciate&aknowledge it

Impossibility of american dream

-most characters dream of living a different life

-curleys wife wanting to be a movie star

-crooks wanting to hoe a patch of grass on lennie&georges farm

-candy latching on the idea of living on their farm

-things they allow, that end up robbing them of their dreams

+curleys wife unhappily married to a curley(who holds a tight leash)

-wishing for freedom=american dream

+george&lennies farm allowing them to sustain themselves&protect them from the horrible world

Portrayal of women

-unflattering(curleys wife=only female on ranch, represented as overly flirtatious,a tart)

-curleys wife always seeking attention by causing trouble with ranch workers

Strengths&weaknesses

-physical strength with lennie, beyond his control

-unable to control himself killing mice

-money(physical strength)=very valuable to george&lennie

-curley=authority on ranch & championship boxer(and his violence towards lennie)

-weakness with curleys size, making him defenceless against lennie

George and lennies farm

- possibility of freedom, self reliance, & protection against cruelness in world

-lures candy in

Lennies puppy

-represents victory of strong over weak

(Lennie=big&strong over puppy=small&defenseless)

-fates of puppies&mice could be like his own because he is unaware of his own strength and what trouble it can get himself in and the harmful things that are around him.

Candys dog

-represents fate of awaiting anyone who outlives their purpose

-once a useful sheepdog working on the ranch->taken over by age and is stinky&cant work

-candy fears his own fate will be like his dogs. getting too old and no longer useful that he is no longer welcome at the ranch(he will then have no where to live)

Essay section.

Darkness of mans heart in OMM&Night

 Darkness of mans heart is represented in both books by not one, but a few different characters. It is obvious to say Hitler and Curley were the main targets for people that did horrible things, but Hitler's soldiers and followers and Curleys father and Carlson, also represent darkness of mans heart. Therefore, I don't believe that only one person in each of the books are responible for being the only evil ones.

OMM: In Of Mice and Men, Curley is the obvious pick to represent the Darkness of man's heart. He represents it the most when he takes out his rage on large men because of his own insecurity of his size and lack of strength when compared them. His anger is most taken out on Lennie because Lennie is the biggest and strongest man on the ranch. He starts a physical fight with him, but ends up getting his hand crushed. He also represents darkness of man's heart, in a way, with his over protection with his wife. She is trapped and watched over like a hawk. He always needs to know where she is and assumes she is always cheating with the other men on the ranch(which leads to more violence). It seems to hold her back from pursuing her real dreams and causes her flirtatious attitude, because she is so desperate for someone to listen to her. Other men who i think have represented the darkness of mans heart are curleys father. His father mistreats george and lennie from the start, when he first meets him he yells at lennie for not speaking and thinks george is robbing him of his money. Carlson is the last example I think shows the darkness of mans heart because he showed no sympathy for candy and candys feelings towards his old dog. Candy has had him since he was a pup and it couldn't have been easy to let go of him and Carlson doesn't pay attention to it and constantly nags him about shooting the dog.

Night: In Night, Hitler most definitly shows darkness of mans heart by having responsibility for creating the holocaust and torturing millions of Jews and "undesirables". But he was not the only one who created the holocaust and kept it going or torturing the Jews and "undesirables". His soldiers had a large number of responsibility to both, along with SS officers, Hitler's followers and supporters, and all the churches and neighboring countries that didn't speak up about it or try to stop it, but knew what was going on. Without all of these people, Hitler would not have been successful with the holocaust and millions could have been saved. Darkness of mans heart shows, when neighboring countries knew what Hitler and his soldiers were doing to the many innocent people, but still let it happen and refused to stand against it, along with churches too. The SS officers who came up with the final solution for Hitler, to execute the Jews and "undesirables" quicker.  And the supporters and followers who were on his side, agreeing with all the terrible things he was doing even though they were so wrong.

In both books, not one person should be held responsible for containing all the darkness. In Of Mice and Men, few people represented it and in Night many different groups of people did. I believe that the obvious choices, such as Hitler and Curley, should still be reconized the most, but you shouldn't forget about the others. Such as the SS and Carlson, because they showed the darkness that can lie in mans heart as well, just in different ways.

Night: Rabbi's son(once reliable to his father, then betrays him by abandoning him for his own good and allowing him to die on his own)

OMM: Curley's wife(once dreamed so big, and then got sucked into curleys world and allowed herself to lose her chances of pursuing her dreams)

OMM: Lennie(Big, dreams of a farm and tending rabbits, inability to contain his strength, george still telling him about the farm, he doesn't change much in the book, he doesn't become more aware of his strength, he still can barely contain it, and doesn't stop dreaming about the farm)

Night: Elie(has been faithful to his family all along and remains faithful and by his fathers side throughout everything. Even if he was sick, wounded, or risked himself dying as well. he stayed faithful)

OMM: Lennie(where to go when he gets in trouble, comes around when he accidently kills curleys wife)

Night: Mooshi the beatle warning them(they didnt listen, which resulted in them getting into the holocaust)