Family first.This is what Elie Wiesel might be thinking every time he dodges being freed from the terrible Holocaust just for his father. Every single time he could be free from the pain, struggle, and atrocity of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel is a Holocaust survivor that sees hundreds of people killed per day and is labored vigorously, and is starved until he is only skin and bone. He survives the Holocaust but not before going through hard labor and seeing many unseeable things. Elie Wiesel survives the Holocaust and leaves a different person than before, going through physical, emotional and spiritual changes.
Elie Wiesel goes through physical transformations because of the Holocaust since he is forced to complete grueling tasks. In the beginning, Elie is a healthy 15-year-old boy living in Hungary, but his conditions plummet as soon as he enters the concentration camp.For example, a Kapo named Idek is very upset and takes it out on Elie like so, “Idek was venting his fury, I happened to cross his path. He threw himself on me like a wild beast, beating me in the chest, on my head, throwing me to the ground…”(53) This demonstrates how Elie was harmed for many reasons, some just out of fury, or to show power over another him. After seeing something he should not, Elie gets beaten until the state of unconsciousness. He writes, “ ‘Ten...Eleven!...’ His voice was calm and reached me as through a thick wall.’Twenty-three…’ Two more, I thought, half unconscious.”(58) This experience teaches Elie that the SS officers are not afraid to whip until he is unconscious to create an example to the other prisoners. Because of this, Elie Wiesel gets very hurt and has to be sent to the camp infirmary. Food at the camp also changes Elie physically. After running many kilometers to Gleiwitz, a camp far away, Elie explains his conditions saying, “The SS shoved us inside, a hundred per car: we were so skinny!” (97) This shows how the physical condition of Elie is just getting worse through this grueling time that seems like ages. In addition, Elie and his father are not being fed nearly enough. That leads to Elie’s father getting sick and getting dysentery. It is evident that Elie’s physical conditions changed greatly over his
Elie experienced many changes, as a person while he was in Auschwitz. Before Elie was sent to Auschwitz, he was just a small naive child that new very little
many times during the book it talks about Wiesel’s problems. Elie’s first problem would be when he was in Buna, a concentration camp. This was a problem for Wiesel because he didn't have food, water, and at sometimes air. In the book Elie says “ At ten o’clock we were given our daily ration of bread” (Wiesel 34 ). This quote shows how that they only got bread once a day from their SS Officers, and that they didn't have food. Another problem Wiesel had is the loss of family. Elie got taken away from his mom and sister when they were deported on the train but got to stay with his father. Elie says “ I certainly do. But on one condition: I want to stay with my father” (Wiesel 35). With Elie being taken away from his mom and sister, he wanted to stay with his father through the whole thing. Wiesel’s father was his strength to stay alive. Elie had tough adversities he had to go through in his life and he was strong and overcame them.
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
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.
I honestly agree to what Elie Wiesel has to say, “when human lives are endangered when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Where ever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion or political views, that pace must at the moment become the center of the universe.”
Elie starts out in pretty good physical condition but that changes throughout the course of Night. In the book Elie is afraid of failing the second examination after he had been in the work camp so long. (Wiesel pg.71) It’s proof his condition must have been worsened because in the beginning he passed with no problem. Him showing this fear proves he was weakened from starvation and the abuse he faced, so he might not be able to work much longer. No work meant the ultimate liberation from the bleak and dismal life that was the concentration camps. In the end of the book after the allied forces liberates Elie he is in a hospital and he looks in the mirror and says “a corpse was looking back contemplating me.” (wiesel pg 115) It provides the fact the he changed enough that he
For instance, the Nazis treat the Jews like animals, no respect is given to them, they are constantly mocked and they are punished for no reason. In particular when Elie loses his name and becomes a digit he feels extremely dehumanized, " I became A-7713. From then on, I had no other name." (49). Once he lost his name he feels worthless and non-existent, he is nothing but a number to the Nazis. Furthermore, all of the Jews are tattooed with their new identity, from that point they became inferior to the Nazis, something so simple as a name forced the Jews into feeling less than human. Next, the Jews experience massive changes to their bodies due to starvation when Elie is released he is hospitalized " One day when 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. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me." (115). Elie's self-esteem is so impacted that it changed him mentally, he feels as if the old Elie is dead and he is a whole new person. The struggle he faces in Auschwitz change him so much he no longer recognizes himself, when he looks at himself in the mirror he sees a corpse, not just physically but also dead inside. To sum up, Elie is traumatized by the horrendous things the Nazis make him go through, his self-esteem is so impacted that he transforms into a totally different
Many thoughts went through my mind while reading about Wiesel’s final experiences as a German prisoner. I felt pity and sadness for him. His last few days as a German prisoner were his most difficult. He lost his father, he went days without food and passed days out in the freezing cold. I was also impressed on how he fought through these events. Despite his exhaustion or hunger, he never surrendered his life. He found strength that he never knew he had and showed the readers how strong humans can be when their lives depend on it. If I could meet Elie Wiesel and discuss with him about his time during the war, I would want to tell him many things. I would tell him that the time he spent at the concentration camps made him the man he is today
The Holocaust began around 1933 when Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and leader of the Nazi Party. During that time, the first concentration camp, Dachau, was established to torture and kill Jewish people. Soon after, in 1935, Nuremberg Race Laws against Jews were decreed and depriving Jews of German citizenship. Germany then invaded Poland, starting World War II in Europe. With the start of World War II came many more concentration camps, and millions of deaths. Six million European Jews lost their lives during this horrific time. Many survivors shared their stories after they were freed, so that the world would know of the horrors they experienced. Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust, told his story in his book, Night. Elie Wiesel was a teenager during the Holocaust, but lived on into his eighties and continued to speak out against what the Nazi’s did to his family.
During his time in the concentration camps, Elie’s outlook on life shifted to a very pessimistic attitude, showing emotions and actions including rebellion, forgetfulness of humane treatment, and selfishness. Elie shows rebellion early in the Holocaust at the Solemn Service, a jewish ceremony, by thinking, “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled” (Wiesel 67). Elie had already shifted his view on his religion and faith in God. After witnessing some of the traumas of the concentration camps, Elie questioned what he did to deserve such treatment. Therefore, he began to rebel against what he had grown up learning and believing. Not only had Elie’s beliefs changed, his lifestyle changed as well. When Elie’s foot swelled, he was sent to the doctor, where they put him “...in a bed with white sheets. I [he] had forgotten that people slept in sheets” (Wiesel 78). Many of the luxuries that Elie may have taken for granted have been stripped of their lives, leaving Elie and the other victims on a thin line between survival and death. By explaining that he forgot about many of these common luxuries, Elie emphasizes the inhumane treatment the victims of the Holocaust were put through on a daily basis.
The Holocaust was a very terrible time in history over six million Jews perished in concentration camps. Even though in every tragedy there are survivors. Elie Wiesel was a little boy when all of this happened. He experienced all of the terrible things that happened during this time frame. While suffering in the terrible condition of the camp Elie and his father’s relationship goes through a drastic change.
Amel shook his head, sighing. He looked disappointed. I had finally quelled the happiness in him. Or, so I thought, until he gave me a small smile. "I'm sure living here for as long as you have has been taxing. The people here are so sad and violent, but they don't want to listen, Cerin. Hope, joy, and love... they don't have to hide very well here. There are so many distractions, so many fake things they tell themselves, that any virtue is easily covered up. God could give us so much food, we'd never ever starve, or so enough money for absolutely everyone to live in a nice house, or even heal all the sick and raise our dead loved ones, and we still wouldn't believe in Him. But He shouldn't even have to do any of that, He already made us, and
Before Elie went to the Concentration camp, he had many good character traits. On page 31 - 32 Wiesel states, “The wind of revolt died down. We continued to walk until we came to a crossroads. Standing in the middle of it was, though I didn't know it then, Dr. Mengele, the notorious Dr. Mengele. He looked like the typical SS officer: a cruel, though not unintelligent, face, complete with monocle. He was holding a conductor's baton and was surrounded by officers. The baton was moving constantly, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left”… “This conversation lasted no more than a few seconds. It seemed like an eternity.” In this part of the book Elie had just gotten to the camp and is getting sorted by the angel of death. This part of the text showed that Elie was brave because Elie had just talked to a man who had killed hundreds of people, and he never said he was scared or acted like he was frightened. Another trait he had before he changed was that he was hard working. One example of that trait is on page 50, “Sitting on the ground, we counted bolts, bulbs, and various small electrical parts.” In this part of the book after they got
The narrator of “Night,” Elie Wiesel, spent a majority of his time in concentration camps throughout the Holocaust. His main struggle was coping with the experiences he went through and trying to stay alive while in the concentration camps. Throughout his autobiography, Wiesel made evident that his struggles in those camps mostly revolved around death; either the fear of it or witnessing death itself. Furthermore, Elie’s hardships truly began upon arriving at Birkenau, and the memories of the countless tragedies he witnessed probably remained unforgotten until his death.
Elie Wiesel was a man that always had a way with using language to paint a picture. Whether he was writing to stay sane or to write so people remember what happened to him. He was apart of one of the most horrific events in history, the Holocaust. Throughout the book Elie witnessed traumatizing hangings and babies being scorched, as well as families being torn apart, all while he was still fifteen. Throughout the biography Night, Elie and other Jews were treated as if they were inhumane, Elie questions God, and they were all in fear of these camps and the people there, which eventually led to the dehumanization of Elie along with other Jews.