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Life through the Holocaust in Night by Elie Wiesel

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Every major occurrence in history displays a new characteristic in human beings that future generations can interpret as positive or negative. The Holocaust demonstrates to future generations a trait that exists in humans. The discovery that came with the Holocaust is the idea that humans’ main concern is themselves when they are in challenging situations. Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, presents this quality in his novel, Night. Wiesel establishes through Night that the people’s primary concern is over their own protection and wellness to prove that, in times of chaos, humans protect themselves first through instinct. When individuals find themselves in difficult circumstances they avoid intervening with others’ problems as well as their own difficulties to avert harming their own interests. During the Holocaust, the outside world does not seem to be interfering for an extensive period. Wiesel is puzzled by how the Nazis could “burn people, children, and for the world to keep silent” (Wiesel 30). The outer world avoids interfering with the Nazis because meddling would mean a danger to their own wellbeing and security. Countries and people that the Holocaust was not affecting sought only their own protection. In multiple circumstances, while the guard was beating Wiesel’s father, Wiesel does nothing to stop the guard. Intuitively, Wiesel does not jump to aid his father because he does not wish for the guard to harm him. He would rather be protected from the guard's

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