In the story “The Watch” by Elie Wiesel, the author suffers because Jewish people, and himself were sent to the concentration camp during World War Ⅱ. Their money, house, everything, was taken away. Before the Holocaust came, he received a watch as a present for his bar mitzvah. It turned out that the watch was his first, also the last gift he received from his parents.  The author found great value in the watch which symbolized his past, his memories, and also himself. To him, the watch was very important. He wanted to find hope again, and he believed that by finding the watch once again, he could find answers to his past. He wanted his past, his memories, and his true self to be in his hand too. Twenty years later, he found the watch underground, covered with dirt and rust. The act of retrieving the watch was significant to the author because it was an act “to exhume not an object but time itself, the soul and memory of that time (pg.3)”. Upon reflection, he changed his mind about his watch. He told himself “that probably [he] simply [wanted] to leave [his past] behind [him](pg.5)”. In order to move on, he realized that he had to accept what happened to him. He did this by putting the watch to rest. He “buried in accordance with Jewish custom (pg.5)” and by doing so he put his mind to rest, and could let go of the past. From this story, we could see that the although the author wanted to turn back time and relive his past, he realized at the end that he had to accept and forgive injustice by burying his past in order to move forward.

 

 

I did great on finding quotes that connected to the answer.

Next time, I will try harder to make my sentences readable and well organized.