Elie Wiesel The Sunflower

After completing the first section of The Sunflower, readers are left with the question of what should be done if they were in your position to forgive the SS soldier for his violent actions. Personally, if I were in your position, I would feel extreme pressure and stress towards granting the dying soldier's wish because it would contradict the Jewish population's sentiments concerning his actions. However, in the end, I would tell the SS soldier about my inability to forgive him on behalf of the entire Jewish population but would offer to forgive him personally. I apply my knowledge from your novel, along with Night by Elie Wiesel, and draw upon films to voice my opinion on your question to readers, "what would I have done?" The most important …show more content…
When Elie is in Camp Buna, there is a dentist who removes the gold teeth from prisoners' mouths and he was going to "simply take out [the] gold crown" of Elie's mouth (49). Elie fakes sickness several times at the office but the dentist is kind enough to let him leave unscathed each time. However, the Nazis eventually close the dentist's surgery as they suspect him of running a private traffic of his own prisoners' golden teeth and he waits to be hanged. This is most likely because the dentist did not want to extract Elie's tooth through force, and as a result of this rare humanitarian act, the dentist pays with his life. The dentist's action also signifies that compassionate people still exist during the Holocaust, even if they are hurting others in the process. Another sign of sympathy can be seen after Idek the Kapo beats up Elie. He describes that he felt "a cool hand [wipe his] blood-stained forehead. It was the French girl. She [gives him a] mournful smile and [slips] a bit of bread into [his] hand" (50). After the war, Elie encounters this girl once again and discovers that she is a Jew who was able to obtain forged papers and pass as an Aryan. When the girl helps him, she risks her life despite knowing that she could face punishment or worse if the Nazis found out. Indeed, this act of …show more content…
The first movie is the 1998 film Les Misérables. The film follows ex-criminal Jean Valjean during the French Revolution who is released after a 19 year sentence in prison from parole. At night, while looking for a place to stay, no one accepts him because of his status as a convict. He is helped by only one person, Bishop Myriel, who gives Jean all the silverware in his home. Bishop Myriel makes Jean promise that he will become a different man as Jean leaves. Nine years later, Jean becomes an industrialist and the mayor of the town he lives in. He is very kind, generous, and constantly helps people in need. This film helps me decide to forgive the soldier since Jean from Les Misérables is an example of a bad person becoming good, similar to SS soldier's wish for forgiveness despite all the evil of his past. There is another movie, To Kill a Mockingbird, with an eccentric character named Boo Radley. The movie's protagonist is a young girl named Scout who begins to discover and understand the world as she matures. Boo Radley lives on her street, but in a dark and gloomy house. People spread bad rumors and assumptions of his actions and personality since they never see Boo that much. Toward the end of the movie, an enraged drunk, Bob Ewell, tries to attack Scout with a knife but Boo Radley saves her, killing Bob in the process. This rescue is an example of how a

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