The Last Night Analysis
The Last Night
At the beginning of the passage it is instantaneously established that the circumstances in which the two brothers, Andre and Jacob, are currently residing in are appalling. These would be the same conditions that most of the Jewish people would have been residing in prior to being taken to concentration camps. We are aware that the conditions are poor as Faulks tells us that ‘Andre was lying on the floor’ which implies that he has nowhere else to sleep, it also shows how exhausted he must have been as young boys would not normally be resting. We are also informed at the start of the passage that the boys are French-Jewish, by their names.
As Andre lies on the floor a Jewish orderly comes round with postcards on which the deportees can write their final message. This shows us that a percentage of the Jewish people were collaborating with the Nazis, although the Jewish orderly would have been lower than the Germans they still had a sense of responsibility. This could have looked like a betrayal from the view of the rest of the Jewish people. Furthermore, even though the Jewish orderly has joined forces with the Nazis he is still sneaking postcards for the Jewish people to write their final messages on. This portrays a sense of loyalty from the Jewish orderly. Here Faulks calls the Jewish people ‘deportees’ which reminds us, after a pleasant picture of the Jewish orderly’s loyalty, that they are being deported by force. Following on from this we are told that they are to write their final messages on the postcards which again enables us to reminisce on the circumstances. Faulks does this by using the word ‘final’. This emphasises that this potentially could be the last thing that the Jewish people ever write which truly illustrates to us the reality of the situation. The ‘final message’ could also allude to Hitler’s final solution which would portray how the Jewish people were regarded and consequently the terrifying experience that they had to go
At the beginning of the passage it is instantaneously established that the circumstances in which the two brothers, Andre and Jacob, are currently residing in are appalling. These would be the same conditions that most of the Jewish people would have been residing in prior to being taken to concentration camps. We are aware that the conditions are poor as Faulks tells us that ‘Andre was lying on the floor’ which implies that he has nowhere else to sleep, it also shows how exhausted he must have been as young boys would not normally be resting. We are also informed at the start of the passage that the boys are French-Jewish, by their names.
As Andre lies on the floor a Jewish orderly comes round with postcards on which the deportees can write their final message. This shows us that a percentage of the Jewish people were collaborating with the Nazis, although the Jewish orderly would have been lower than the Germans they still had a sense of responsibility. This could have looked like a betrayal from the view of the rest of the Jewish people. Furthermore, even though the Jewish orderly has joined forces with the Nazis he is still sneaking postcards for the Jewish people to write their final messages on. This portrays a sense of loyalty from the Jewish orderly. Here Faulks calls the Jewish people ‘deportees’ which reminds us, after a pleasant picture of the Jewish orderly’s loyalty, that they are being deported by force. Following on from this we are told that they are to write their final messages on the postcards which again enables us to reminisce on the circumstances. Faulks does this by using the word ‘final’. This emphasises that this potentially could be the last thing that the Jewish people ever write which truly illustrates to us the reality of the situation. The ‘final message’ could also allude to Hitler’s final solution which would portray how the Jewish people were regarded and consequently the terrifying experience that they had to go