One very common theme that I noticed was the theme of Denial. Both Elie, his family, and Janie were in Denial. Elie and his family were in denial of what was going on in Hungary and the surrounding countries. They heard that there was going to be evacuation of Jews, and they heard that a bunch of horrible things was going to happen. However, they were in deep denial because they never believed that god would let something like that happen.
The Wiesel family was so unaware of the horrible future that was ahead of them. They were even offered shelter in another village by their former house cleaner and they refused because they did not think that anything was going to happen. On the same day, they were evacuated to Holocaust camps where they were greeted by puffs of smoke from the human crematoriums.
Although they witnessed some horrifying sites, it took a while for the reality of the situation to settle in. I think that denial was one of the reasons the whole family did not survive. If they would have left earlier when they heard what was going on, they would have been safe for a little longer, and might have all survived.
In another way, Janie was in denial about Tea Cake as well as her relationship with Joe Starks.
Tea Cake was a womanizer who seemed prone to doing whatever he wanted. Even after getting married, he did not change his ways. He was even caught flirting with a younger girl named Nunkie (137). Although she was jealous, she still showed him affection and passion because she was in denial that there was anything wrong with her relationship. The night after they marry, Tea Cake takes Janie’s money and goes out to party. He was quite irresponsible, but she was so blinded by her love for him that she did not care.
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