English 10
Exam Response – Typed Up
Elie Wiesel’s and Jeannette Walls’ Paths to Success
Our environment shapes who we are. Setting plays an important role in memoirs as it influences
characters and develops traits such as determination and perseverance. In Night, Elie Wiesel’s experiences in the
Holocaust through the settings of Sighet, Auschwitz and Buchenwald highlight the importance of having
perseverance in order to survive. Quite similar but in a less life-threatening situation, in The Glass Castle, ,
Jeannette Walls’ determination to have a physically better life can be shown through the settings of the desert,
Welch and New York. Therefore, in both memoirs Night by Elie Wiesel and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls,
the use of setting portrays the importance of determination and perseverance, shown through enduring difficult
times, escaping hardship and achieving physically better lives.
In the beginning of Night, Elie lives in the religious community in Sighet which instills in him a devout
religious belief. Due to the fact that he has never experienced the real terribleness of humanity and the world, in
general, before; he thinks that everything is inherently good. When the German soldiers arrive at Sighet, Elie even
thinks they “are reassuring” and even “polite.” Clearly, because of his lack of experience of hardship that comes
from the not-so-perfect world, Elie’s belief in God makes him to believe that the world is good, as God is good.
This clearly shows Elie’s innocence toward everything due to his lack of real world knowledge. However, the
setting of Sighet also marks the beginning of Elie’s determination to survive, as Sighet is the place where the Jew
deportation happens.
Similarly, in The Glass Castle, the setting of the desert also shows Jeannette’s innocence due to the
lack of real-world knowledge, yet it is also a setting that marks the beginning of Jeannette’s determination in
achieving a better life. Because of her isolation from the real world and its terribleness, Jeannette is unaware of the
poverty she is living in caused by her father. To Jeannette, her dad “is the perfect dad”, as he “[flies] faster, [fights]
harder, and [gambles] smarter”. Clearly, because of Jeannette’s lack of knowledge of the terribleness in the world
due to living in isolation on the desert, she admires her father due to the unawareness of the poverty her father
brings to her. However, this setting is able to show the obvious difference between before experiencing the teasing
due to poverty and after, as Jeannette’s determination and perseverance will be explicitly shown.
Next, the setting of Auschwitz in Night is able to show Elie’s determination in escaping the
concentration camp and to survive. One day, Idek “[flies] himself on [Elie] like a wild beast”, beating Elie
viciously. Despite being treated horribly in Auschwitz, Elie is able to realize that the suffering is a divine test, and
if he loses his faith in survival, he will lose all the incentive to fight. Because of having determination and
perseverance to survive the Holocaust and to escape the hardship he is experiencing in the setting of Auschwitz,
Elie is able to be one of the few survivors. Clearly, the setting of Auschwitz is able to illustrate the importance of
having determination and perseverance to live and to achieve a physically better life.
Similarly, in The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls also experiences hardship in the setting of Welch, which
is able to emphasize her determination to overcome the bullies in order to have a better life. She sticks through this
hardship by joining The Maroon Wave, school newspaper, as the youngest person ever. Due to her determination to
be better than everyone in her school, her presence in The Maroon Wave is able to make some students to look up
to her “like a varsity athlete”. Clearly, due to being bullied in the setting of Welch because of her poverty, Jeannette
is able to grit through and to prove that she is not “a piece of garbage” by being intellectually wiser than everyone
else. At this point, it is clear to see that Jeannette’s determination on becoming better and on escaping the hardship
from the bullying is able to lead her to a better life, as her strategy of joining The Maroon Wave really sparks her
future success in New York.
Finally, the setting of Buchenwald concentration camp in Night is able to show the result of Elie’s
perseverance and determination to survive .One night, Elie sees “American tanks [standing] before the gate of
Buchenwald”, which illustrates Elie’s liberation from all the hardship in concentration camps. In this instance, it is
clear to see that if Elie loses his faith and determination in survival, he will be dead like Akiba Drumer and his
father, who died because of losing their faith. Because of his determination and perseverance in survival, Elie is
able to live through the difficult times during the Holocaust and finally to be liberated as a result of his
determination. As a result of Elie’s faith in survival, he is able to escape the hardship and to have a physically
better life.
In The Glass Castle, Jeannette experiences her success in New York, which is similar to Elie
experiencing his liberation from the Holocaust. Jeannette’s participation in The Maroon Wave in order to escape
the bullying not only illustrates her determination and perseverance in becoming intellectually wise in order to
mentally beat up the bullies, but also sparks her interest in journalism. In New York, because of her previous
experience with journalism, Jeannette is able to get a full time job working in The Phoenix (a newspaper), which
leads to her stable income of “125 dollars a month”. Apart from the stable income, Jeannette is also able to have an
apartment of her own, enough clothes to wear, and enough food to eat. At this point, it is clear to see that because
of Jeannette’s determination to overcome the bullies that tease her on her poverty, she joins The Maroon Wave. Her
participation in The Maroon Wave eventually leads her to have a full time job that gives her stable income. In this
instance, it is clear to see that Jeannette’s determination and grit through her hardship is able to make her to be
successful. From the success she experiences in the setting of New York, she is finally able to escape the hardship
from poverty her parents have caused her, and finally able to experience a physically better life.
Thus, in Night by Elie Wiesel and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, both authors are able to use
settings to show the spark, the process, and the result of determination and perseverance in overcoming difficulties
by using similar techniques, but in different situations, one being more life-threatening than the other. Both authors
are able to portray that determination and perseverance are important factors that contribute to one’s escape from
hardship and one’s achievement of a physically better life. The same principle applies to the real world. Everyone
suffers and experiences failures, but what makes one successful is his/her determination and perseverance to
overcome the mistakes and difficulties in order to become better and more successful.