Night by Elie Wiesel

In exploring the back story of Elie Wiesel's Night, I learned that Wiesel kept silent about his story for an entire decade. When he finally decided to break his silence, he was met by a stack of rejection letters from publishers, all stating that the book was too "morbid," and that "no one wanted to read about the concentration camps." Still, Elie pursued publishing the book, and he stated later that his purpose was to share the stories of others who could not speak. He did not want the other victims to be forgotten. He had a voice not only for himself, but for the 1.5 million other Jews killed in Auschwitz (6 billion total in all the camps). He chose not to let them be silenced. Surely the concept of silence plays a role in Night, especially in reference to God. At the beginning of our story, Elie is a curious and bright young Jewish boy, enthralled by religion, spirituality, and God. He studies and prays, craving to learn all he can about the mysterious God he prays to. Very quickly, Elie's nurtured and wholesome life is uprooted by evil, and for the rest of the memoir, as Elie experiences and bears witness to atrocity after atrocity after atrocity, Elie can no longer claim belief in this God he once sought to know. He repeatedly questions himself, the reader, God, or perhaps no one, exactly where his God was when he witnessed: a young boy struggling for life as he hung at the gallows for over a half hour; a talented young violinist playing his last Beethoven concerto before slumping over in death; and ultimately, his dying father speaking his last words to Elie, Elie's name, a request for water, and Elie rolls over to sleep. He feels that God is standing by, silent--along with Elie's faith is changed forever. Night is a story for humbling and awakening. For students in late middle school or early high school, this is a story that can bring to light the horrors that Anne Frank didn't live to tell in her famous diary, providing teachers with a tool to dig a bit deeper. The spiritual searching that Wiesel describes can encourage readers to explore these concepts through personal thought.

Bog Child

In Siobhan Dowd's coming-of-age/historical fiction Bog Child, a theme from beginning to end is the concept of choice. What is right? What is wrong? Is there such a thing as such a black-and-white choice? Throughout the novel, our main character Fergus is posed with moral dilemmas that have serious implications. From the very beginning, we're introduced to his ethical nature while he and his Uncle Tally are collecting peat and come across human remains. While Uncle Tally is vying for the choice embracing self-preservation (leaving as quickly as possible and not reporting the remains), which is certainly an understandable choice for many, especially in such uncertain times, Fergus's ethical nature causes him to indeed report the remains to the authorities. Then, Fergus is posed with the decision to join the resistance by carrying an unidentified package during his runs. Concerned with the idea that what he is carrying could actually be dangerous, Fergus initially decides not to investigate it any further and not carry the package. However, when he is encountering a personal trial with his brother's starvation and his cooperation with the resistance might force his brother to begin eating again, he gives in to the resistance, reasoning that his cooperation is for his brother's sake. Of course the irony of this situation is that, had he chosen to just peek at the contents of the package, he would have realized that it wasn't any dangerous item at all--birth control. Toward the end of the novel, Fergus's greatest ethical dilemma is over his brother's life; when his brother goes into a coma from the starvation, Fergus's parents debate whether to feed him [Fergus's brother] intravenously. It is interesting is that each parent has very strong beliefs and reasons for those beliefs and both are understandable, and here they've had a son like Fergus who is not more like or unlike either of them yet he carefully considers each situation, while they tend to be black and white in their decision-making habits. Fergus's father is against feeding the brother, as the brother wouldn't want to be fed if he had a choice, and the moral choice for him is to uphold honor. Fergus's mother doesn't care about the moral implications or the honor--it's her son's life, and she'd rather have another die for the cause. Here, Fergus becomes the tie-breaker, choosing his brother's life over honor. This is a terrific book for young adults, and I would say it fits best in 10th-11th graders. Young people of that age group are in a phase where choice is so important. They are often getting pressured to make choices about sexuality (shown in this story with Fergus's relationship with Cora), peer pressure (Michael), and family loyalties (Uncle Tally and Fergus's parents). What is important for young people to see here is how carefully Fergus makes his decisions. He acknowledges and considers all pros and cons, and he ultimately makes decisions based on what feels right to him, regardless of who he disappoints.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

I love the diary-esque model of this book. Like World War Z's "mockumentary"-style text works to make the story more realistic, Butler's Parable of the Sower's diary model makes this feel realistic by bringing the readers in very close to the main character. The main threats in this story (environmental destruction, violence, and drug abuse) bring to light many of the hugely popular issues in the early 1990s when this was written; however, it's interesting that this was written in 1993, because at the time global warming did not yet have the buzzing around it that it had in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The plot detail of people needing to pay police to investigate crimes brings a whole different level of fear for the main characters, causing them to be in charge of their own protection, which leads to a certain desensitizing. The idea of desensitizing is an interesting one, displayed in World War Z and also Night. Lauren's "affliction" of empathy is the biggest (though perhaps more subtle than a three-year-old being murdered when playing outside) indicator of what has changed in American society. Americans have a tendency to diagnose, treat, and medicate all kinds of disorders and afflictions that other cultures might look at as simple character traits; while I am not stating that this is wrong, it is fascinating that a once-honorable and celebrated trait has now become a diagnosis, as empathy is no longer convenient in Lauren's world.