Comparing Fact To Fiction

Olivia Willoughby

Name of the Instructor

English

13 January 2020

Comparing Fact to Fiction

Ask the Passenger by A.S King and Night by Elie Wiesel can be compared for referring to prejudice and discrimination, in a compelling manner. Both pieces of literature depict a realistic view of the prejudices and discriminatory aspects prevalent in society. In Ask the Passenger, King’s character Astrid is confined to her thoughts. As a resident of a conservative society, and being raised in a traditional manner, Astrid has accepted the notion that she could not open herself to anyone around herself, not her parents and nor the society she lives in. Such societal attitude has made her more reserved, which depicts a prejudiced attitude toward Astrid by society and family. For example, this fictional aspect could be related to the fact that she spends most of her time, leaning in the courtyard and observing the passenger flights in the sky ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"8TuZKHrr","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(King)","plainCitation":"(King)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":367,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/EQSDCMAG"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/EQSDCMAG"],"itemData":{"id":367,"type":"book","publisher":"Hachette UK","source":"Google Scholar","title":"Ask the passengers","author":[{"family":"King","given":"Amy Sarig"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2012"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (King). This part of the story suggests that Astrid believes that since she is interested in a girl, who could meet her sexual desires, therefore, she should be more open about herself in front of those who would not disappoint her, or are not interested in her life.

Similarly, in the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, the fictional aspect related to discrimination and prejudices is evident, when Wiesel refers to the World War II experience under Nazis. His semi-autobiography depicts that discrimination remained persuasive throughout the crisis time during WWII. For example, the racism employed by Nazis and Hitler’s final solution was referred to as the Jewish Problem ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"3faXM48P","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Wiesel)","plainCitation":"(Wiesel)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":365,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/HHBNE6J3"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/HHBNE6J3"],"itemData":{"id":365,"type":"book","publisher":"Macmillan","source":"Google Scholar","title":"Night","volume":"55","author":[{"family":"Wiesel","given":"Elie"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2006"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Wiesel). The holocaust then perpetrated by Hitler, was nothing less than depicting the discrimination and prejudices against a certain community. It also shows the racial hatred toward Jews and an aspect of racial superiority that the Germans once believed they were bestowed with. Another aspect of discrimination is evident where Wiesel points towards the religious differences they had with the Jews. According to Wiesel, since Hitler had been projecting himself as a superior breed belonging to Aryans, therefore, he had a racial edge over the Jews. Such aspects suggest how the memoir Night talks about discriminatory and prejudice attitudes.

Further, in Ask the Passenger, Astrid’s expectations from society are traces of the fact that she had been living in a place, where people are too discriminatory toward people who have a sort of unusual choice for making love. She believes that if she opens herself in front of people who knew her, it will be nothing but a drastic abuse of herself and her family ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Dqe0nwGX","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(King)","plainCitation":"(King)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":367,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/EQSDCMAG"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/EQSDCMAG"],"itemData":{"id":367,"type":"book","publisher":"Hachette UK","source":"Google Scholar","title":"Ask the passengers","author":[{"family":"King","given":"Amy Sarig"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2012"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (King). She has actually anticipated a prejudiced attitude from society. This aspect could be explained by referring to the example where she starts believing that like the passengers in a flight are not interested in each other’s life, similarly, people around her society could have developed a sense of understanding for her self-requirement. Though this aspect of prejudice and discrimination emerges from her self-belief for others but remains dominant throughout the story.

Elie Wiesel’s projection of discrimination and prejudice is a little self-oriented, but his projection of incidents remains wide. He views the development around his existence, in a more holistic manner. For him, things were different and remained evolving throughout. Both stories employ a different nature of prejudice and discrimination. The reason for this differential approach rests with the narrative aspect of the stories. Ask the Passenger is more related to narration, whereas Night is an autobiography, which the narrator wants others to just discern. Both authors have not deliberately used the techniques of prejudice and discrimination. Both these aspects are just related to the manner, the manuscripts are written.

Works Cited:

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY King, Amy Sarig. Ask the Passengers. Hachette UK, 2012.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. Macmillan, 2006.