Memories act as both a help and a hindrance to the success of someone. Many people advise you to learn from the past and apply those memories so that you can effectively succeed by avoiding repeating your past mistakes. On the other hand, people who get too caught up with the past are unable to move on to the future.
Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night perfectly exemplifies the double nature of memories. Wiesel, a Jewish man, suffered heavily throughout the Holocaust and Night is rife with horrific descriptions of his experience. These memories help to spread the view of what life was like. Through recounting these memories, Wiesel is able to educate world readers about the atrocities committed in hopes that the same blatant violations of human rights are never repeated again. Through reliving the
Holocaust through his writing, Wiesel was inspired to become proactive in the battle for civil rights. Some would point to his peaceful actions and the sales of his book and label him a success.
Despite the importance of recounting such memories, Wiesel acknowledges the damage that memories can also cause. Following his liberation from the Auschwitz concentration camp, Wiesel was a bitter, jaded man. He could not even write Night until several years later. The end of the novel describes Wiesel’s gradual but absolute loss of faith throughout the experience. His past experiences haunted him for several years, rendering him passive. It was not until he set aside his past that he could even focus on the future. Had he remained so consumed with the pain and damage caused in the past, he may never have achieved the success that he has attained. Overall, Wiesel’s experiences exemplify the importance of the past as a guide. Wiesel’s past experiences helped to guide him in later life, but it was not until he pushed them aside that he could move on. To me this means that you should rely on your past without letting it control you. Allow your past to act as a guide, while making sure that you are also living in the present and looking to the future.
Memories
act as both a
help
and a hindrance to the success of someone.
Many
people
advise you to learn from the
past
and apply those
memories
so
that you can
effectively
succeed by avoiding repeating your
past
mistakes.
On the other hand
,
people
who
get
too caught up with the
past
are unable to
move
on to the future.
Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night
perfectly
exemplifies the double nature of
memories
. Wiesel, a Jewish
man
, suffered
heavily
throughout the Holocaust and Night is rife with horrific descriptions of his
experience
. These
memories
help
to spread the view of what life was like. Through recounting these
memories
, Wiesel is able to educate world readers about the atrocities committed in hopes that the same blatant violations of human rights are never
repeated again
. Through reliving
the
Holocaust through his writing, Wiesel
was inspired
to become proactive in the battle for civil rights.
Some
would point to his peaceful actions and the sales of his book and label him a success.
Despite the importance of recounting such
memories
, Wiesel acknowledges the damage that
memories
can
also
cause. Following his liberation from the Auschwitz concentration camp, Wiesel was a bitter, jaded
man
. He could not even write Night until several years later. The
end
of the novel
describes
Wiesel’s gradual
but
absolute loss of faith throughout the
experience
. His
past
experiences
haunted him for several years, rendering him passive. It was not until he set aside his
past
that he could even focus on the future. Had he remained
so
consumed with the pain and damage caused in the
past
, he may never have achieved the success that he has attained.
Overall
, Wiesel’s
experiences
exemplify the importance of the
past
as a guide. Wiesel’s
past
experiences
helped
to guide him in later life,
but
it was not until he pushed them aside that he could
move
on. To me this means that you should rely on your
past
without letting it control you.
Allow
your
past
to act as a guide, while making sure that you are
also
living in the present and looking to the future.