Dark Times Part 4 Essay

Ironically, it can be said that in the darkest of times is when we, as people, can see the most. A quote that supports this concept is, “In a dark time, the eye begins to see,” by Theodore Roethke. On the surface, this idea might seem impossible, but if one assumed that we saw things internally, through the heart rather than the eyes, Roethke’s quote is one that most would agree with, as I do. In times of disaster or distress, people learn things about themselves, about others, and about their world. Two works that illustrate the quote are Earnest Gaines’ A Lesson Before Dying and Elie Wiesel’s Night.

Gaines establishes a very dark situation in his book through setting. In the south, during the age of slavery, African Americans were not treated fairly. Jefferson was put in a disastrous situation simply because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Facing the death penalty by electrocution, there wasn’t much hope among anyone that he could die a proud, brave human being. Against the odds, including a bet placed by the white men in the town, Jefferson is taught the importance of life through Grant’s friendship. One of the things that he sees before he dies is that to be a hero, one must go beyond living for himself. By fulfilling what he owed to his Nanaan, Jefferson rose to do the very thing that had been impossible for any black man to do for previous generations: Break the vicious cycle that Grant described as the tendency of black males to run away from the misfortune in the south, taking with them the hope of their families and friends left on the plantation. Not only were many white citizens proven wrong by Jefferson’s ability to stand and walk to his death proudly, but so were black citizens. Of these was Professor Antoine, the man that taught Grant himself. The cold, bitter, old man truly believed that nothing would ever change the system in the south. Grant himself was starting to believe that he couldn’t make a difference in his community. Though he was also starting to feel bitter and ready to give up, he himself saw, through Jefferson’s death, that things could change. There is irony in the book in that though rant is placed on a pedestal in his community and thought of as a hero, he is taught a lesson from Jefferson, the real hero, who nobody ever thought of in such a way.

In Elie Wiesel’s memoir, Night, setting also plays an essential role in establishing a gruesome situation from which one can learn the most. As a survivor of one of the greatest tragedies of all time, The Holocaust, Wiesel’s book is largely devoted to the things that he struggled with in his darkest times. For example, because of the horrific events he saw at concentration camps and the brutality of the German soldiers, he, along with most other Jews, began to question their faith in God. However, Elie emerged from the Holocaust with his faith intact. Although he began to doubt his faith, and even said that he had renounced his religion, his use of religious metaphors and biblical passages throughout the book undercuts his statements that he no longer believed in his God. Through this disaster that is The Holocaust, Wiesel learns that a struggle in one’s faith doesn’t make him unfaithful, it is, rather, essential to belief. Fundamental to faith is the act of questioning, or doubting it. This is shown through Moshe the Beatle. When asked why he prayed, he stated that he prays to God that God will give him the strength to ask him the right questions. Elie learns through his experiences that true faith survives even the biggest doubt and questioning. Wiesel also learned during The Holocaust that one can’t live simply on his own. Family, or more specifically the father-son bond, can give us as humans strength, even in the hardest of times. In Night, Elie reveals that at many times, the only reason he had to continue to fight for his freedom was for his father. In his experiences, he saw, on multiple occasions, a father and a son give up on each other, seeing each other as only another person that is standing in their way of getting more food. In order to save themselves, some sons sacrificed their relationship with their father. In the long run, however, these sons were not saved. Elie was able to survive The Holocaust because he had a reason to continue, his father. Through his time spent in concentration camps, Wiesel learned that love and solidarity are stronger means of survival than the instincts of self-preservation.

Both of these literary works, Night and A Lesson Before Dying, show characters who learn some of the most important lessons of their lives in some of the darkest times of their lives. Through the setting, and irony used in the works, one can see why most would agree with the quote, “In a dark time, the eye begins to see.”