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Examples Of Dehumanization In The Book Night

Decent Essays

When we look at the book Night and the way Elie Wiesel presents this book we see the recurring theme of dehumanization of people. Wiesel reinforces his theme by adding countless aspects to his story, from the statements of the characters to the title of the book, Night. There are many sub-themes to this book that could be considered as the theme such as faith or the sacred bond between a family. Eventually though, it all ties back to the main theme, riding people of their humanity. Most books have a significant title to them, the title is designed specifically for the book and has a meaning that is associated with the story. In Night, Wiesel focuses on how quickly a life can change over one night. He focuses on how they loath the next day. …show more content…

Respect? Carenes? Fairness? Trustworthiness? There are so many elements that make us human, and if they get taken away from us we become less and less of who we are. This happens countless times in Night, when they lose the person they used to be, and are treated like animals, “‘Faster, you filthy dogs!... If one of us stopped for a second, a quick second, a shot eliminated the filthy dog” (Wiesel 85). Wiesel comes out and says that they were treated like dogs. They were no longer a person, who got respect or fairness. They were dogs. This is proven again when they “... had come to a stop, a worker took a piece of bread out of his bag and threw it into a wagon. There was a stampede. Dozens of starving men fought desperately over a few crumbs. The worker watched the spectacle with great interest” (Wiesel 100). It was exactly like a dog fight, where people get entertainment out of innocent dogs or in this case people fight to the death. People were so desperate, they lost who they were, they lost their …show more content…

Wiesel talks about his transformation of his beliefs and his faith. At the beginning of Night Wiesel put all of his faith in his God, there was no hesitation in believing that God was the Almighty. Now in the camp, his beliefs, his faith are being questioned. “Blessed be God’s name? … Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber of me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves?... Yes, man is stronger greater than God…. You have betrayed, allowing them to be tortured, slaughtered, gassed, and burned, what did they do? They pray before You! They praise your name!... But now, I no longer pleaded for anything… I felt very strong. I was the accuser, God the accused” (Wiesel 67-68). Wiesel no longer believes in his beloved God, he lost his faith. Faith is a part of people, it makes them who they are. Yes, they might be respected, cared for, but their faith makes them who they are. Their faith, is what they believe in with all their heart and soul, and for that to be stripped away from them is dehumanizing on a scale that we can not even attempt to

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