Description
A Jew Today
In the opening paragraph of A Jew Today by Elie Wiesel, a "distant town surrounded by mountains" is mentioned:
Cobblestones pave the narrow streets that run and weave through the town, leading to the various stores and kiosks. A small town, handcrafted wares are sold at every corner beyond the opened oak-paneled doors. A man waits behind his counter for the first crowd of customers, rearranging the pots, pans and other various goods for sale. In the town square, women run, like runners in a marathon, to the various markets, purchasing goods and food to prepare the nights dinner. Carts and buckets brimming with colorful fruits and vegetables attract many an eye. The small sticks with price signs stuck among the fruits are simply for show. Voice jumble in a loud cacophony of sound, like bird chirps in a forest. Women haggle with the store owners for "lower prices!", "These apples aren't ripe...I'll pay half.", "Is this the freshest you have?" The children at their mother's heels all scramble around on the floors, scuttling like small ants, playing some game known only to them, dirtying their clothing. Outside, minuscule trees grow in potted dirt enclosed in a square of carefully arranged bricks. Quaint flower gardens grow along the sides of the buildings, ivy trailing above. Pungent aromas of daffodils and posies drift through the air like leaves on a breeze. A dislodged cobblestone becomes a ball for a group of older boys, and they begin to kick it down one of the side streets, as if playing a game of soccer, and into the residential area of the town. Large trees grow on the sides of the streets here, and line the sidewalks. Children sit on the wooden steps, bordered with ornate black iron rails leading up to their homes. Their beloved pets sit next to them, as they await their mother's arrival. A wind picks up and the leaves skitter down the street, sticking in the bushes and between the cobblestones.