Mark 23: A Commentary On Matthew 23

After seeing how God had not helped the Jews at concentration camps, Elie started to lose his faith in God. He lost faith in God’s justice. He couldn’t understand why God would let such horrible things happen to innocent people. Eventually, Elie had decided, “not to fast” (23). He did this for many reasons.

No matter the degree of sin each of us commits we are estranged from God to some capacity. It is common for the human person to fall prey to the approval of the world and forget or ignore God, who loves us despite the numerous times we reject Him. He even states how he remembers in his youth that he had wept for Dido for committing suicide because of love (The Confessions by St. Augustine, book 1), but he didn't weep for his own sins and transgressions for God. He could empathize with the tragic plight of a character in a book, but he didn't or couldn't recognize his own tragedy. I think it's all too common for a person to see the faults in someone else and feel sorrow for them, but at the same time, they are unable to acknowledge their own faults and get to the root of their sin.

No one feels good when they get singled out by someone and they begin to wonder what it is they did wrong. It certainly feels worse when the person criticizing is a stranger. One definitely starts to believe that maybe they’re mistaking you for someone else who did them wrong. This can be attributed to feeling that someone who themselves is not perfect has no right to judge others. O’Connor may have wanted readers to conclude that the only person Mrs.Turpin wants to judge her is Jesus himself.

Belief and Faith is a “double-edged sword” to the jews, it cuts both ways. It keeps them alive, and at the same time makes them oblivious, and leads to their suffering. Over time, Elie’s belief in god, diminishes and eventually he questions God’s existence extensively and at point, Elie is infuriated that even though they are being tormented and enslaved, the Jews will still pray to god, and thank him, “If god did exist, why would he let u go through all the pain and suffering (33). This is a major point in the ongoing theme of faith and belief, because for once he is infuriated with the thought of religion in a time of suffering. Throughout the book, with the nazis ultimate goal is to break the jews and make dehumanize them and if anything, their goal is take and diminish their belief.

In Elie’s eyes, God was dead, and consequently, faith granted no comfort anymore. Elie Wiesel had once sought comfort in his faith; however, he had struggled to maintain hope since. Another example of his struggle is when Elie had tried to pray to God even though he no longer believed in Him. After witnessing a child betray his own father, “a prayer formed inside [him]. A prayer to the God whom [he] no longer believed.” (91) Here, the motif of “eyes” is important because it shows how even though Elie had lost all faith in God, he still found himself asking for support from Him.

Denis Diderot once said, “we swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter.” This quote relates to The Crucible in the way it states that people will be accept any lie that helps them in any way. Like Mary, who went along with the lies just so she wouldn't get in trouble. Also, how it states we don't accept the truth if we don't like it relating to Danforth knowing the girl were lying, but going along with it because he didn't like it. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Miller utilizes Biblical references and irony to emphasize the recurring theme that lying is okay as long as you get away unscathed, because of reputation and revenge and the effects it has on everyone in Salem. The idea

This temptation is often ignored or denied in an attempt to not fall into it. Goodman Brown’s “prolonged resistance is a denial of the wishes that are the source of his projections” (Levy 4). After seeing all the people falling into sin before him, Brown finds difficulty not to. Humanity struggles with this everyday. Humans will have a person or people highly regarded, but when the person or those people fail, they will lose the faith in humanity and give up by falling into the temptation.

At first, Barabas considers the wrongs done to him by various people as very personal issues. However, as the play progresses he begins to abhor the Christians specifically because of certain experiences. Barabas teaches his slave, Ithamore, the trade of revenge: “First, be thou void of these affections/ Compassion, love, vain hope, and heartless fear;/ Be mov'd at nothing, see thou pity none/ But to thyself smile when the Christians moan”. Soon, even people who have been loyal to him and have aided him fall prey to his vengeful nature. Ithamore, was one such

Then the Virgin tells Antonio that she will also only forgive both and not only Narciso (Anaya 173). Antonio never bothered to see Tenorio in a good light and was thus always critical of him. His good half wanted Narciso forgiven but overlooked that in being critical of Tenorio he forgot that wishing forgiveness of all means all the people. In an earlier part of the book, Antonio says “It is not easy to forgive men like Tenorio” (Anaya 138). Antonio was once again being critical just showing that he is also human and he is like the God and Virgin in that he is composed of a caring and critical personality.

Ram! Ram! Ram!” not urgent and fearful like a prayer or cry for help, but steady, rhythmical, almost like the tolling of a bell” (667). By calling out to his god, the onlookers may have felt his pain and thought about their god and whether they were being judged for not intervening in the man’s hanging; the same could be said for that of the reader. This example signifies the inherently wrong nature of taking another person’s life,