A Norm In Elie Wiesel's El Salvador

In the dead of night, in a humble home, a family of six sleeps peacefully. The sleeping father hears a forceful knock on the door. He immediately thinks to himself, “Nothing good can come knocking during the night”. He gently shakes his wife, waking her. She is startled. Her husband quickly signals her to keep quiet. In a panic, she thinks about her children. As quietly and quickly, she runs to her children. She wakes her children, instructs them to be quiet and hide. The family man asks, “Who is there?” through the door. A man shouts, “Open the door or we will forcefully come in.” Feeling terrified, he opens the door. When he opens the door, the uniformed men shout while forcefully pushing their way through the doorway. Armed with military

Since I did not know anyone else was my mother. According to my sister, we lived in our house alone, without any guardian guiding, or caring for my siblings and I. We ate our meals at my Aunt Gloria’s since we did not have any food at our own house. Moreover, It was a norm in El Salvador, the male to abuse their wives and children. Our cousins were our bullies; they saw their own mother abused by their alcoholic father. I asked my sister Yenis recently, “Why our cousins bullied us?” She said, “When you did not finish your meal, they would force you to finish your meal by smacking you.” When I was slightly older, I remembered I was standing on a ledge my grandfather build to prevent landslides. When I was standing on the ledge, I was thinking about how tall the ledge was, I looked to my right at my cousin when he pushed me, forcing me to fall down to the bottom of the ledge. I remember going in and out of consciousness. My grandfather picked me up from the ground and brought me inside my grandmother’s house. During the time, my grandmother clamored at my cousin, Yessica, to get warm water and rags. I remember feeling the warmth of the blood dripping down the back of my head. My grandparents did not take me to the hospital with the limitations they possessed. As a neglected parentless child I became withdrawn and