Zachary Blasczyk 2/13/2014 AP Comp 3rd Hr Optimism to a Fault Elie Wiesel characterizes the people of Sighet as optimistic, to a fault.

He reveals the self-deceptive and sanguine nature of the Sights by juxtaposition of the cruel atrocities the Gestapos committed with the smiling Jews of Sighet, using the colon to list consequences the Jews endured, and apostrophe to outline events from the perspective of the little boy he once was. Wiesel uses juxtaposition to show the difference in perspective between that the Jews and the Gestapos and to make the audience stop and think about the severity of the situation the Jews were in verses the freedom the officers felt. One person was placed in charge of every car: if someone managed to escape, that person would be shot. Two Gestapo officers strolled down the length of the platform. They were all smiles; all things considered, it had gone very smoothly. (22)The strolling nature of the Gestapos would lead an audience to believe that they were under no pressure or stress because there job had been taken care of. All they had to do was count the Jews of each car. If any were missing their fate had been sealed, however, this was not the case for the Jews that were under an enormous amount of stress. To the left was the natural instinct to escape, to be free. On the right was the realization that if you went missing a member of your town would be shot. Worse yet, you would be responsible for

their death. Elie and the others were not smiling, they had not thought things had gone smoothly. Juxtaposition is not the only rhetorical device used to characterize the people of Sighet. Despite ominous signs, the Jews in Sighet spurn the idea that the Fascists could ever do anything to raze them. The Jews of Sighet lack acumen, subverting not only the exhortatory media being broadcasted, but also one of their own townspeople, Moch the Beadle, who was deported along with other non-Hungarians and taken to a concentration camp, barley escaping the menacing threat with his life. They refuse him, however, and think him either insane or seeking attention. The people continue on in their normal, everyday lives through 1943. In 1944 the townspeople remain foolishly optimistic even after the Fascists come to power, Germany invades Hungary, and the German army itself arrives in Sighet. he brought Mrs. Kahn a box of chocolates. The optimists were jubilant: "Well? What did we tell you? You wouldn't believe us. There they are, your Germans. What do you say now? Where is their famous cruelty?" The Germans were already in our town, the Fascists were already in power, the verdict was already outand the Jews of Sighet were still smiling.(10) Eliezer's father refuses to try to escape the country. On Passover the persecution of the Jews begins. Wiesel uses the colon to add dramatic effect to his story and imagery that resonates in the audience mind. On the seventh day of Passover, the curtain finally rose: the Germans arrested the leaders of the Jewish community. (10) This imagery connotes some truth being reviled and that it was only the beginning, like the first act of a play. The Germans were not what they were letting on. Jews were first forbidden from leaving their homes for three days, required to wear

the yellow star, and then crowded into two ghettos. Even among the ghettos, people carried on as normal even as their world was crashing around them. Wiesel uses apostrophe to show the ridiculousness of their optimism and their benevolent folly. Even as they shuffled from one part of the ghetto to the next the peoples of Sighet had a distasteful altruistic motif. We settled in. (What a word!) I went looking for wood, my sisters lit a fire. Despite her fatigue, my mother began to prepare a meal. We cannot give up, we cannot give up, she kept repeating. People's morale was not so bad: we were beginning to get used to the situation. There were those who even voiced optimism. (20) What a world indeed, how delusional can a people be? Wiesel exclaims to the audience his astonishment. He is looking back at his past with 20/20 vision, realizing how foolish they were, realizing how the little boy he once was saw the world and how shocking it was. The people of Sighet are characterized as passive optimists --so self-absorbed they couldnt see the train that was headed their way. They refused the warnings. They lacked the incentive to act. They allowed themselves to become victims and to almost be annihilated. Wiesel shows this through the effective use of juxtaposition, colon, and apostrophe.