Decisions In Night By Elie Wiesel

Elie’s father loses his strength quickly, “his eyes [grew] dim” (46) almost immediately after arriving. The horrors which he had seen were easily enough to crush the spirit of a former community leader. His disbelief of the horrors he saw questioned the very basis of his soul, and he began to despair. His father’s eyes soon become, “veiled with despair” (81), as he loses hope for survival. The despair of camp life shrouds the human within, showing only another cowed prisoner. Elie’s father no longer can see hope, having his vision clouded by cruelty and hate. Elie’s father is eventually overwhelmed by despair; he, “would not get up. He knew that it was useless” (113). The Nazis crushed his soul, killed his family, stole his home, and eventually took his life; this treatment destroyed the person inside the body. He could no longer summon the strength to stay alive, so he gave up, and collapsed.

From the time where Elie had to decide to fight for his father’s life, to the time where he questioned his beliefs, Elie has had to make many life-changing decisions. As some of his decisions left negative consequences, some were left a positive outcome. In the end, all the decisions Elie had made in the camps has made his life miserable or at its best. For better or for worse, the events that Elie encountered makes his life unforgettable as realizes there was more to life than he had thought of

During the Holocaust they counted that 6 million Jews died.The Jews faced many difficulties, death being the main one. In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, he told his story of the difficulties he faced during the Holocaust. The Nazis were horrible to the Jews; they gave them little food, made them march many miles, worked them long hard hours, and when on the train they had little air. Because Elie Wiesel overcame his difficulties he faced during the Holocaust, I feel I can overcome my problems and live a wonderful life.

Elie Wiesel struggles to fight through the concentration camp he must deal with many unfriendly encounters. “I had watched it all happening without moving. I kept silent. In fact, I thought of stealing away in order not to suffer the blows. What’s more, if I felt anger at that moment, it was not directed at the Kapo but at my father. Why couldn't he have avoided Idek’s wrath? That was what life in a concentration camp had made of me…” (pg. 54). Elie wrestles with the idea of how to respond and even if he should react he debates that if he does respond then he will get beat, but if he does not respond then he must watch his father be beat so he thinks to himself what would be more painful? By the end of the beating it is kind of ironic how Eliezer is more

When Elie and his father first entered the camps, his father was struck and Elie did nothing to help his father: "What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails in this criminal's flesh" (39). This shows that, although Elie did not share a close relationship with his father, he still feels that he should stand up for his fahter for the fact that they are father and son. Elie is very violent in that he would have "dug his nails in the criminals' flesh." Evidently, Elie is furious towards the offender. Unfortunately, Elie does not do anything when his father is struck because he does not want to draw attention to himself. Nevertheless, the bond between Elie and his father does strengthen: "And what if he were dead, as well? He was not moving. Suddenly the evidence overwhelmed me: there is no longer any reason to live, any reason to fight" (98-99). Elie reveals that he truly depends on his father for survival. Because he believes his father is no longer alive, he loses all hope for surviavl. Although Elie expresses anger towards his father from time to time because he is being a burden, he still feels that his survival is meaningless without his father. The strong bond that the two developed once they entered the concentration camps proves that nothing can come between them so easily.

In Elie Wiesel's memoire, instincts of self-preservation overwhelm all other human emotion. While at Auschwitz Elie and his father were transferred to new barracks were Elie's father was beaten by a gypsy inmate who was in charge for politely asking were the bathroom was. Elie describes his reaction of standing petrified and thinking "What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked. I had watched and kept silent. Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this criminal's flesh. Had I changed that much? So fast? Remorse began to gnaw at me. All I could think was: I shall never forgive them for this. My father must have guessed my thoughts, because he whispered in my ear: 'It doesn’t hurt.' His cheek still bore the red mark of the hand." (3.117-120)Elie's lack of reaction showcases how the environment of the concentration camp was already conditioning Elie to put his needs of survival ahead of his human identity. Weasels description of the events show how the brutality of the camps have changed Elie's actions and thoughts because Elie knows that interfering in the encounter would mean sacrificing basic survival; love and human emotions are no longer a priority.

Elie first recalls Dr. Mengele’s “eight short, simple words” (Wiesel 27) when he enters the camps: “Men to the left! Women to the right!” (Wiesel 27) In this part of the book, Elie and his father are separated by his mother and sisters. This metaphorically kills Elie because he is very attached to his family as are they to him. A piece of Elie has been taken away from him forever. Later in his memoir, he mentions the cruel hanging of the Pipel. Previous hangings that day did not phase Elie, but when the young, angelic Pipel was hanged, Elie said his once flavorful soup “tasted of corpses.” A man near Elie was saying “Where is God now?’ And I heard a voice within me answer him: “Where is He? Here He is- He is hanging here on this gallows…”(Wiesel 62) This is a powerful quote that shows how Elie has also began to question his faith. This brings about the mindset of the death of God in Elie. Elie begins to show distrust and rebellion in his God. This is a sharp contrast to Elie’s former beliefs. When Elie’s father dies, Elie emotionally shuts his mind off. He says “After my father’s death, nothing could touch me anymore.” He had finally given up. His father was his rock tied to the balloon, his reason to keep going. Without his father, Elie gave up and became zombified like the rest of the broken souls. Elie fully turned into the emotionless man that he was set to become as a result of surviving

: As Elie’s motivation to keep persevering at times began to diminish. Elie would either remind himself that god was watching over him and would eventually free him from the suffering and torture. Other times he would look over at his father and see him struggling yet still fighting with every

One day you are forced to do what you are told and have no voice, rights, or the possibility of deciding how you’re future will look. The freedom we grow up with allows us to be open minded and have options. This is something we take for granted. The choices we make throughout our life determine our future and depict who we are. Nowadays, we are put in positions where we have to make a choice and it may or may not impact our life. During the Holocaust the term “choiceless choices” emerged because of the Jews trying to survive the concentration camps. The term “choiceless choices” meant that they had to make a choice in difficult situations and it could lead to detrimental consequences. In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, the main characters

In a Concentration Camp survival was next to impossible. In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie is a survivor of the holocaust who doesn’t have much of a relationship with his father. He has always felt that he was never important to his father and that his father cared more about the community than his own family. When Eliezer and his father are forced to count on each other, it’s a slow process for them to finally have a father-son relationship. Without each other they wouldn’t have survived for as long as they did and Eliezer would have lost all hope. A major theme in this story is how Eliezer and his father come together and build a relationship amidst their circumstances.

That was what life in a concentration camp had made of me...”.Even though he wanted to stand up for his father he didn’t do anything and watched Idek beating his father because he was too scared to get beaten by Idek,just like his father did. Other example might include on page 109,when at the end he stands up for his father against his neighbors and insults them; he says, “I began to insult his neighbors. They mocked me. I promised them bread, soup. They laughed. Then they got angry; they could not stand my father any longer, they said, because he no longer was able to drag himself outside to relieve himself.”.He stood up for his father but he didn’t dare to threaten the neighbors and be braver against them and protect his father from his neighbors. These were examples were Elie wanted to stand up for him self or his father but he didn’t or when he did he didn’t do it seriously, because he was too scared. If he stood up for himself/his father the kommandant might have killed him but at least he would’ve died with bravery and his daring. He should have been more serious and speak

In the midst of the worst time at the camp, Elie finds something that gives him a small, but strong amount of hope. Elie remembers, “I shall always remember that smile. From which world did it come?”(Wiesel 86). Elie’s thought process becomes that if she can smile so beautifully at a time like this, I should be able to have faith and hope at any point during my journey. When hard times fall on Elie, he explains his feelings. Elie reflects on an event, “But I had no more tears. And, in the depths of my being, in the recesses of my weakened conscience, could I have searched it, I might have found something like-free at last!”(Wiesel 106). Elie now feels as if now his father is gone, that he has a weight lifted. It shows that his faith is strong and that he can survive easily now while not having to care for his ailing father. As a result of the oppressive environment of the concentration camp, Elie discovers that he is so concerned about his own survival that he no longer cares for the plight of

Elie remained in Auschwitz until April 5th, when the wheel of history was turned. America finally thought the lives of Jews was just as important as the ones living in their nation; but life did not get easy for Elie, "But now, I no longer pleaded for anything. I was no longer able to lament. On the contrary, I felt strong. I was the accuser, God the accused." Elie was placed in a hospital, very ill with death knocking on his door waiting for his arrival. "One day, I was able to get up, I decided to look at myself in the mirror on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me." Coming so far and then expecting death is a thought no one should ever have cross their mind. Even when free, the battle was still being fought. Those memories are forever in his mind. The corpse standing in front of him will haunt Elie throughout life. With freedom came confinement of all thoughts, sights of deaths and smells of burning flesh through those five years in a living hell for all

After selection, Elie is stripped of his clothes and beaten. He tries to “protect himself from the blows”(41) but is unsuccessful. A young Polish man comforts Elie by telling him to not “lose hope” (41). These are the “first human words” Elie has heard upon his arrival (41). German officers maim and demolish any desire to survive that may thrive in prisoners. It is not common to witness compassion in the hands of the SS officers. Threats consumed the lives of innocent men, women and children. For a young man Wiesel had never met to reassure him (Elie) shows that few prisoners maintained their

When the human body, or any species for that matter, feel endangered or threatened, self-preservation will kick in. This is seen all throughout Night by Elie Wiesel when Elie and his family are sent to a concentration camp and have to survive. Elie does anything to survive including reject his own father while he is being beaten. Sadly, Elie’s Father does not survive, Elie survived because he allowed his body’s self-preservation feature to kick in, making his body go into pure survival mode. In this novel, the Jewish men in the concentration camps of the Holocaust used self-preservation to survive.