I need help finding examples of how the theme "self" is shown in Night by Elie Wiesel and The Princess Bride by William Goldman.
self theme in Night by Elie Wiesel and The Princess Bride by William Goldman
"self" isn't a theme. It's a word. A rather ambiguous, abstract one at that. Ask yourself what the authors you are studying are trying to say about self. That will yield an actual theme. Then, ask yourself how you came up with the theme. Probably, the incidents in the book that made you think of the theme are the examples you are looking for.
There are so many good quotes about the self in Night. I haven't read The Princess Bride so I can't be of any help to you there. Here are just a few from Night:
"I wanted to come back to Sighet to tell you the story of my death. So that you could prepare yourselves while there was still time. To live? I don't attach any importance to my life any more. I'm alone. No, I wanted to come back, and to warn you. And see how it is, no one will listen to me...'" (Chapter 1, pg. 5) This is when Moshe the Beadle comes back to the town to warn the others of the Holocaust. With what he has seen, he feels like he has already been through death. People don't take him seriously, instead they think that he is crazy.
"The yellow star? Oh well, what of it? You don't die of it..." (Chapter 1, pg. 9) I feel that this is an important quote. While many people felt that wearing the yellow star is demoralizing, Elie's father accepts the star because it doesn't kill him. It could be argued that wearing the star was just the first step toward death. The Jews accept more and more dehumanization from the Nazis until they lose their sense of self and find themselves in dire straights.
"The doors were nailed up; the way back was finally cut off. The world was a cattle wagon hermetically sealed." (Chapter 2, pg. 22) You could say that this applies to a sense of self because the people are being moved in cattle cars that are tightly sealed from the outside world. They have been stripped of possessions and are all equal in the horrible situation that they now find themselves in.
"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed...Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never." (Chapter 3, pg. 32) Pretty self explanatory. And another a long those lines:
"The night was gone. The morning star was shining in the sky. I too had become a completely different person. The student of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me. A dark flame had entered into my soul and devoured it." (Chapter 3, pg. 34)
"I was a body. Perhaps less than that even: a starved stomach. The stomach alone was aware of the passage of time." (Chapter 4, pg. 50) He has lost his ability to think and to feel-the things that make us human and provide a sense of self-with the prolonged starvation and torture inflicted at the hands of the Nazis.
"Whose was that tear? Mine? His?...We had never understood one another so clearly." (Chapter 5, pg. 65) The line between himself and his father gets blurred here. And another one about his father:
"After my father's death, nothing could touch me any more." (Chapter 9, pg. 107)
"From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me." (Chapter 9, pg. 109) Talk about the sense of self! This quote combines the first-person with the third-person to show that the man and the image in the mirror are not one in the same.
"I wanted to come back to Sighet to tell you the story of my death. So that you could prepare yourselves while there was still time. To live? I don't attach any importance to my life any more. I'm alone. No, I wanted to come back, and to warn you. And see how it is, no one will listen to me...'" (Chapter 1, pg. 5) This is when Moshe the Beadle comes back to the town to warn the others of the Holocaust. With what he has seen, he feels like he has already been through death. People don't take him seriously, instead they think that he is crazy.
"The yellow star? Oh well, what of it? You don't die of it..." (Chapter 1, pg. 9) I feel that this is an important quote. While many people felt that wearing the yellow star is demoralizing, Elie's father accepts the star because it doesn't kill him. It could be argued that wearing the star was just the first step toward death. The Jews accept more and more dehumanization from the Nazis until they lose their sense of self and find themselves in dire straights.
"The doors were nailed up; the way back was finally cut off. The world was a cattle wagon hermetically sealed." (Chapter 2, pg. 22) You could say that this applies to a sense of self because the people are being moved in cattle cars that are tightly sealed from the outside world. They have been stripped of possessions and are all equal in the horrible situation that they now find themselves in.
"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed...Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never." (Chapter 3, pg. 32) Pretty self explanatory. And another a long those lines:
"The night was gone. The morning star was shining in the sky. I too had become a completely different person. The student of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me. A dark flame had entered into my soul and devoured it." (Chapter 3, pg. 34)
"I was a body. Perhaps less than that even: a starved stomach. The stomach alone was aware of the passage of time." (Chapter 4, pg. 50) He has lost his ability to think and to feel-the things that make us human and provide a sense of self-with the prolonged starvation and torture inflicted at the hands of the Nazis.
"Whose was that tear? Mine? His?...We had never understood one another so clearly." (Chapter 5, pg. 65) The line between himself and his father gets blurred here. And another one about his father:
"After my father's death, nothing could touch me any more." (Chapter 9, pg. 107)
"From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me." (Chapter 9, pg. 109) Talk about the sense of self! This quote combines the first-person with the third-person to show that the man and the image in the mirror are not one in the same.
