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Essay about Book Report Night by Elie Wiesel

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The novel “Night” was written by Elie Wiesel and is a memoir of his life during World War II. The book starts with his life living in Hungary with his family. It then tells of how they were taken away to concentration camps throughout the war. During Elie’s stays at the various camps you see the sacrifices he makes and how the experience changes him. The setting of “Night” is Eastern Europe and during Nazi rule between the late 1930s and the mid 1940s. Throughout the entire story it takes place in Europe but the location varies to different concentration camps around Nazi occupied Europe. The main character is Elie himself as a young boy. Elie is a Hungarian Jew who deeply believes in his religion. When the novel starts he is only …show more content…

This is the start of the climax and goes through Elie being hospitalized and almost killed because he was bedridden. Once recovered his father starts to fall ill causing Elie to make tough decisions about survival and family. Elie spends time trying to figure out what to do about survival and his family, and during that his father dies relieving a burden off of him. After his father died Elie stayed at the concentration camp Buchenwald until a resistance group in the camp took control and drove out SS officers who were patrolling the camp. All the prisoners then were freed after the liberation of the camp. This book interested me because it is a great example of what so many people went through in concentration camps throughout Europe in World War II. So many books have been written about personal accounts of war hardships suffered by the Jews but so few capture the true problems faced by prisoners. The impossible decision between survival and family was a difficult one faced by many during this time. Elie had an unfaltering will to live when his father was alive with him but once his father died the reason for living disappeared. But he once was faced with the decision of helping to keep his father alive or let him die and have an extra ration of food. How can one be stuck with a decision like this and not choose survival? Only true unselfishness can cause you to help someone

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