Rather than monumentalizing a specific historical event, the antiquarian takes into account all historical events that brought about his or her life, archiving every experience and obsessing over all its details. Also, unlike a monumental historian who considers only a handful of historical events as significant, an antiquarian historian finds each single thing in his life important. The antiquarian historian then reduces and combines the likes of several different aspects of life to a single value, a priceless antique. This narrow field of vision allows every event that is old to be worthy of reverence, through the eyes of the antiquarian historian. By default, any idea that is not considered old is ignored. For this reason alone, antiquarian …show more content…
The key processes of the critical method are to drag the past before the court of justice, investigate it meticulously, and finally condemn it (pg. 21). Not every part of history is worthy of being emulated; however, all parts of history are condemnable, if chosen to be. Individuals must recognize that the past is not always pure and flawless, but rather that it contains faults, just like everything else, including individuals. And, the only thing that can pass judgment on whether or not the past should be condemned is life. Life is the only mode in which the past can be broken away from the individual, but it takes great power to live. The reason for this is that it is often difficult to accept the facts that living and being unjust are one and the same (pg. 21). Not only is living difficult, destroying a past using life is difficult as well. This is because the pasts of all individuals are so intricately intertwined with who they are as people. All individuals, derived from chain of families, inherit everything that is associated with their chain of families, including all family histories. The only way to combat the seemingly unending pasts is to make the act of criticizing the past as second nature. This second nature must grow into something larger than itself, in order for the first nature to crumble away. This is the ultimate task for a critical historian. However, …show more content…
However, there are ways in which individuals can compensate for their dreaded fate. They can find an essential balance between the historical and the unhistorical, or as Nietzsche puts it, there is a horizon where “we know how to forget at the right time as well as remember at the right time, that we feel with powerful instinct the time when we must perceive historically and when unhistorically” (pg. 9). This horizon is attainable for every human being. This horizon is the line that separates the historical from the unhistorical, the light from the dark, and the yin from the
Historians approach history in various ways to catch their reader’s attention and make sure that their books are interesting at the same time. They tend to write histories based on concrete evidence from the past− ethnography, journals, and research. However, John Demos went beyond the normal stereotype. He approached history unconventionally by drawing hypothesis from certain historical evidence and connecting history to his subject rather than just speculating; he made it personal. In Unredeemed Captive, he made it clear that he wrote this historical novel based on research, also, journals and diaries left by the Williams family.
Edmund Burke once said, “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it” (“History Quotes” par. 23). There is something to be said about a civilization that does not analyze its past flaws to correct it future mistakes. By not studying the past, both the laudable and the unmentionable, there is no way for a person, country, or race of people to avoid making similar errors as a result of ignorance. Examining history provides each generation with the tools for it to construct its own values, opinions, and solutions to essential humanitarian, political, economic, and social problems. However, sometimes analyzing history is not enough, especially whenever its warnings are largely ignored or underestimated.
The past is unchangeable, however what one chooses to do with their future determines their legacy. In the novel Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver, the protagonist, Codi struggles to overcome her past experiences as she returns to her home town. Through Codi’s actions the question arises, “Does one’s past dictate their future?” Collectively cultures are focused on the present. They view the past as unalterable such as mourning the loss of someone will not bring them back to life.
Night Essay As the world began, humanity observed various events, took note of their surroundings, and shared that information. Ever since one horrid event titled the Holocaust occurred millions of corrupted victims chose to forget the difficult experience. To them, it was easier to leave the problems behind, and create a new life, than to tackle the situation, and gain enlightenment. The silent stayed silent to the point that a portion of humanity began to doubt if the Holocaust was even a real term event, or if it was just a hoax.
Author, Elie Wiesel in his powerful speech, The Perils of Indifference claims history must not repeat. Wiesel develops his message by emphasizing how many were dehumanized. “They no longer felt pain, hunger or thirst. They feared nothing. They felt nothing.
Firstly, in “The Perils of Indifference”, Elie Wiesel uses rhetorical questions to get us thinking on the thought of what life would be like for people after the Holocaust. “Does it mean that we have learned from the past?” “Has the human being become less indifferent and more human?” “Have we really learned from our experiences?”
In Perils of Indifference, by Elie Wiesel, he states, “These failures have cast a shadow over humanity: two World Wars, countless civil wars, the senseless chain of assassinations (Gandhi, the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Sadat, Rabin), blood bathes in Cambodia and Algeria, India and Pakistan… And, on a whole new level, of course, Auschwitz and Treblinka” (16-20). Initially, it may
“Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten” (Wiesel, 1999, para. 10). Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor and Nobel peace Laureate, demonstrates how the perils of indifference can affect the future to come. He strongly argues “indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred” (Wiesel, 1999, para. 9). Wiesel’s purpose was to point out to society that not only do we need to learn from our past, but change for the future.
Joe Shmoe Mr. Dai English 10H Period 5 17 February 2023 2 Body Paragraphs + Introduction In her diary, Anne Frank wrote that “a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.” This powerful observation resonates with the darkness interwoven in Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, in which he recounts his experiences as a Jew who survived the Nazi concentration camps. Throughout the autobiography, Elie displays prominent psychological patterns to explain how Jews allowed human atrocities to occur, using characters such as Akiba Drummer to make the intent of Jewish genocide clear. In Night, Wiesel explains how learned helplessness and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs can explain human atrocities, using Akiba Drummer’s death and Elie’s downfall as examples.
In the span of a lifetime one often faces many adversities that stand within their path. While some challenges will be overcome easily, others will take a lot more tenacity. When in the face of adversity it is key not to give up. One should always strive to persevere through their hardships, no matter how severe they seem to be. The author of the memoir “Night” Elie Wiesel, vividly describes his experiences in the concentration camp of Auschwitz.
Past, present, and future is what we are told to think about, but are we overlooking the past? We seem to get caught up in thinking about what we are doing now, and what we will be doing in ten years, but I think the most important thing is to know your past. It’s critical to understand what you, and other people’s ancestors did before. Remembrance is important to know your history and so you do not let the terrible things recur.
This is thoroughly portrayed in Night by Elie Wiesel, the “Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech” by Elie Wiesel, and in the New York Times article “150th Anniversary: 1851-2001; Turning Away From the Holocaust” by Max Frankel. On the contrary, when individuals are put in tragic situations, it can strengthen their hope and motivation to survive. For instance, in Night, Wiesel stated “‘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.
Holocaust survivor and American Jewish author, Elie Wiesel in his serious and pensive speech, “The Perils of Indifference,” asserts that “to be indifferent” of the world’s problems “is what makes the human being inhuman” and is the reason that genocides along with millions of deaths have occured (The Perils of). He supports his claim by revealing to his audience his personal experience in the concentration camps of the Holocaust to appeal to their emotions so that they can understand what he had to go through; moreover, Wiesel uses strong, emotionally loaded language to further create a stronger impact when describing our world and society as being involved with “so much violence” and “so much indifference.” Additionally, he uses imagery to illustrate indifference as “not only a sin,” but “a punishment.” Wiesel’s purpose is to make “the human being become less indifferent and more human” in order to bring about change in
“You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could've, would've happened... or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the f*** on” (Tupac Shakur). People, who play the guessing game on why certain injuries, emotional or physical, happen, tend to hold negative feelings for their own situation. These individuals should strive to correspond with the aphorism to, “Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble”. An individual living by this aphorism should consider their injuries in their past, and they should come back from those injuries stronger than they were, continue to strive towards their successes, and let go of their past failures and hold on to their silver linings.
Memory Blessing or Curse Religious wars fought over beliefs were always fought between two sides and one is thought to have a winner and a loser victor and victim. In Elie Wiesel’s Noble speech “Hope, Despair, and Memory” he describes his experiences during a religious war that were more of an overpowering of people than a war no clash of metal, no hard fought fight, just the rounding up and killing of people with different beliefs that barely put up a fight. Elie Wiesel the author of the Noble lecture “Hope, Despair, and Memory” implores us to respond to the human suffering and injustice that happened in the concentration camps by remembering the past, so that the past cannot taint the future through his point of view, cultural experiences, as well as his use of rhetorical appeals. Wiesel uses his cultural experiences and point of view sot that he could prove he spent time and survived the concentration camps in order to communicate that the past must be remembered that way it cannot destroy the future, he spent time in a concentration camps and he