Q: Wiesel states that he sympathized with Job. After reading The Book of Job, how would you describe the similarities/differences between Wiesel and Job and their relationship to God? Compare the reactions of Job and Wiesel to their suffering and to the way their suffering affected their fate.

R: Both Wiesel and Job seemed to be without crime but were punished any way. Both suffered greatly with their punishments and losses, and both came to questioning God as to why all of this had happened to them. Wiesel however was being wronged purely by man, unlike Job who had both nature and man against him. Where Job had to live on as the only one around feeling such misery, Wiesel lived with hundreds of others that felt the crushing blow of being wronged. Job's reaction to these events in his life was similar to Wiesel, but where as he was not watching himself and those around him change into something less than. Both Wiesel and Job questioned God and why he allowed for such things to happen to humans on earth.

(picture from avanimation. avsupport. com)

Prof. Denis' Lecture

Prof. Denis gave a lecture on the horrors of the holocaust and those that fought off the seemingly never ending tide of inhuman actions through the rebellion of art. Prof. Denis teaches a course on the topic, but even though he has covered the topic more than once in classes his emotional struggle over the holocaust and the acts committed there could easily be seen. The art shown in the slide show was mainly rough and on simple supplies such as cardboard and work slips. Although there were hundreds of pictures that survived the different death camps unlike some of their artists, it is unknown how many drawings and paintings did not. While some artists were employed in the camps while they were impressed there, not all made pictures for visiting Nazi officers or drawings of victims for Nazi experiments. The more powerful art from these centers of humanity's crime were those that were made in secret, documenting the disturbing acts of the Nazis and even those of other prisoners. The over all affect of the lecture was that of awe no matter how many times a person read about life during the holocaust.

(picture from Windows Vista)

The Art of Job

Professor Kather's lecture was based mainly on the artist William Blake's view of The Book of Job. I had known of William Blake from his poetry but sadly not for his art work which I found full of different meanings and ideas. If I could sum up what feeling I got from Prof. Kather's lecture it would be a feeling of humbling. If I had been given the chance to look over Blake's drawings I would have studied them, noticed a few differences and ideals, and then moved on without giving it much more thought. Prof. Kather however gave me an insight to the meaning behind a lot of his work such as his dislike for the old testament. This gives me the idea of perhaps going back and rereading a lot of William Blake's work that I had most likely moved through without grasping the full meaning.

The Book of Job

Q: How do you react to God's show of strength and power-his boasting, his intimidation, his aggressive behavior-at the end of the story? Is it an appropriate response to Job? What does this show say about God and his relationship to man?

R: Keeping the courses name in mind I find the ending between God and Job to be somewhat of order and chaos. God is meant to be the all powerful order and Job has been forced into a more chaotic world because of the sudden shifts in his life. God's over powering demeanor is basically his way of placing down the order of his world. In the world that God created, God is the God. A one. A whole. Not to be questioned or reasoned with, just to be thanked and obeyed. Job thus is in action a force of chaos born from the chaos his life became for he did nothing wrong but was wronged himself. The lack of order, for he prayed and feared God doing all that was in his power to do right by God, allowed Job to question and to ask why. This difference between the two seem to show a never ending paradox. The relationship between God and Job is that of a master and he whom must obey. Job is rewarded in the end.