Night By Elie Wiesel : A Tragedy Revealed

Setting (time and place): Early 1940s, during World War Two, Holocaust era. starting in Sighet, Transylvania, and moving throughout concentration camps in Europe.

"Never shall I forget that night the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed," -Elie Wiesel, Night. This quote is one of the quotes from Elie Wiesel's book Night that refers to the title of the book. The title of the book is called Night for reasons such as the fact that the first night was what changed his life, it symbolizes the darkness that encased all of their souls, and it also symbolizes how dark and evil the world was. The title Night has a stronger meaning than what it seems.

“To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering” (Nietzsche). This quote, said by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, describes the desire to survive that was inside of Elie Wiesel in his story. The book describes Elie’s late teen years when he was sent to a concentration camp by the German government. In the book, he is separated from his whole family except for his old father, and both are put to work inside of the camp. As Elie suffers through the camp, his faith and his life face many tests and trials. There are many instances throughout the book when people die or when somebody loses their faith. The theme of the book Night, written by Elie Wiesel, is survival, as shown by the death of many Jews during the Holocaust, people willing to do anything to survive, and people’s faith not surviving the traumatic experiences of the concentration camps.

In Elie Wiesel’s Night, he recounts his horrifying experiences as a Jewish boy under Nazi control. His words are strong and his message clear. Wiesel uses themes such as hunger and death to vividly display his days during World War II. Wiesel’s main purpose is to describe to the reader the horrifying scenes and feelings he suffered through as a repressed Jew. His tone and diction are powerful for this subject and envelope the reader. Young readers today find the actions of Nazis almost unimaginable. This book more than sufficiently portrays the era in the words of a victim himself.

Night begins with the narrator, Elie, talking about Moishe the Beadle, who is described as the “jack-of-all-trades” in a shtibl (Weisel, 21). He then continues by talking about his family. He goes back to talk about his deep conversations with Moishe and their evenings spent together. One day, the foreign Jews of Sighet, where he lives, were expelled. This included Moishe. They were taken away in cattle cars by the Hungarian police. Months past and one day, Elie saw Moishe sitting on a bench near the synagogue. He tells Elie about what happened to him; how he and the other Jews were transported and forced to dig their own graves in the forest. Luckily, Moishe had managed to escape. He had come back to warn the Jews in Sighet of what to come.

One day, when Elie returned from the warehouse, he was summoned by the block secretary to go to the dentist. Elie therefore went to the infirmary block to learn that the reason for his summon was gold teeth extraction. Elie, however pretends to be sick and asks, ”Couldn’t you wait a few days sir? I don’t feel well, I have a fever…” Elie kept telling the dentist that he was sick for several weeks to postpone having the crown removed. Soon after, it had appeared that the dentist had been dealing in the prisoners’ gold teeth for his own benefit. He had been thrown into prison and was about to be hanged. Eliezer does not pity for him and was pleased with what was happening

Night, written by Elie Wiesel, tells the terrifying experience in the concentration camps that many Jews were imprisoned in during World War II. Throughout most of the novel, Elie Wiesel tells about how many prisoners, including himself, lost faith in God. During the Holocaust many groups of people, especially Jews, were taken to concentrations camps and treated in the most inhumane way. Many were taken away from their homes, and lost everything that was once their own. In order to survive, many Jews encountered such brutal difficulties. They were worked to death, starved to death, killed, and all because they were Jews. Upon being taken away, many were unaware with what was happening outside their own homes.

Night is a recollection of Elie Wiesel’s time spent during the holocaust. It is a gripping tale of survival and death. While it is a small book, it has a huge message. During the time in which the book takes place, the Jewish people were srtripped of their humanity. Elie and his fellow inmates at Auschwitz endure dehumanization throughout starvation and on the train to Buchenwald.

Elie Wiesel’s Night is about what the Holocaust did, not just to the Jews, but, by extension, to humanity. The disturbing disregard for human beings, or the human body itself, still to this day, exacerbates fear in the hearts of men and women. The animalistic acts by the Nazis has scarred mankind eternally with abhorrence and discrimination.

Have you ever had to make an instant decision that would significantly impact your life?

As humans, we require basic necessities, such as food, water, and shelter to survive. But we also need a reason to live. The reason could be the thought of a person, achieving some goal, or a connection with a higher being. Humans need something that drives them to stay alive. This becomes more evident when people are placed in horrific situations. In Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, he reminisces about his experiences in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust. There the men witness horrific scenes of violence and death. As time goes on they begin to lose hope in the very things that keep them alive: their faith in God, each other, and above all, themselves.

When dealing with suffering and hardship, challenges that may seem impossible to overcome. It takes a mind into an entire new level of experiences and pressure through both emotions and physical strength. In Elie Wiesel’s autobiography Night, Elie battles an internal conflict of being left with hardship, but he is determine overcome every struggle. Elie ultimately resolves this conflict by determine to live life without suffering; however, this choice also illustrates his true character as both persistent and unconfident. Elie’s decision to live on without his family also reveals the universal theme that suffering comes unexpected times, but overcoming those problems with confidence will be self assuring.

In the memoir, Night, author Elie Wiesel portrays the dehumanization of individuals and its lasting result in a loss of faith in God. Throughout the Holocaust, Jews were doggedly treated with disrespect and inhumanity. As more cruelty was bestowed upon them, the lower their flame of hope and faith became as they began turning on each other and focused on self preservation over family and friends. The flame within them never completely died, but rather stayed kindling throughout the journey until finally it stood flickering and idle at the eventual halt of this seemingly never-ending nightmare. Elie depicts the perpetuation of violence that crops up with the Jews by teaching of the loss in belief of a higher power from devout to doubt they

A tragic event can change someone’s life forever in a good way or a bad way. The holocaust shaped people's lives into a way where they can never go back. In “Night” by Elie Wiesel, the main character, Elie, changed as a person due to his experiences at Auschwitz. Elie was a victim of the holocaust and it changed his life forever as a person and a Jew.

After releasing from the police station, Elle’s father told his friends and relatives that, “The news is terrible, TRANSPORTS!” (Wiesel, P.13). The Jews thought that Hitler had given up his plan about the annihilation of Jews. They relaxed for a few months but Elle’s father had made people scared. They thought the German would kill all of them. After that, most of the Jews were not able to sleep and felt worried about their futures. At the same time, Night also told significant things in the Jews’ minds. One of the most touching things was about Elle’s friends, Juliek. Despite the cold weather during the transportation to another concentration camp, Juliek was persistently playing violin and he played a song during the night time. Elle mentioned in the book, “The darkness enveloped us. All I could hear was the violin, and it was as if Juliek’s soul had become his bow.” (Wiesel, P.95). It was important as many people in the concentration camp had lost their friends, families, or even interests. However, Juliek didn’t lose his interest in playing violin and his persistence became much stronger than German’s weapons. Night was symbolic in the Jews’ minds. It emphasised the helpless of the Jews, but at the same time, Night also witnessed lots of important things in the camp, which made them unforgettable.