The Theme of Darkness in Night by Elie Wiesel

“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.

“I don’t know how I survived; I was weak, rather shy; I did nothing to save myself,” - Elie Wiesel. The author of Night, Elie Wiesel, wrote this book to tell the story of what he experienced during the Holocaust. He writes how when he first walked through the gates of what he soon found out was a concentration camp, he was immediately separated from his mother and sisters, and moved to a separate line with his father. He and his father survived the best they could together, until his father could no longer go on and Elie was left to survive on his own with the rest of the prisoners. He survived the beatings, harsh weather, hunger, and overall the concentration camps. He lost his family through the process, but he made it. This makes it very clear that the theme, survival, is important in the book in order to show Elie’s strength and how he fought to stay alive during the duration of time he was held in concentration camps.

Night by Elie Wiesel depicts the author's experiences as a teenage Jewish boy during the Holocaust. After being removed from his home in Sighet, Transylvania, Eliezer and his family are relocated from ghetto to ghetto. They then are taken away to Birkenau and then separated. Eliezer only has his father as they face the horrors of surviving in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. From 1944-1945, they are forever changed by the inhumanity that surrounds them. Cruelty shown by not just the SS Officers, but by their fellow inmates as well. Eliezer, jaded by the brutalities around him, has lost his faith in God. However, Eliezer still persevered for his father, even when others around him lost the will to live. In one year, the Holocaust took away Eliezer’s innocence, faith, and his own father. (Although Night is a memoir of Elie Wiesel’s own experiences in a concentration camp, it is written from the point-of-view of a boy named Eliezer.)

Night by Elie Wiesel describes the strenuous life of victims of Hitler’s genocidal actions in the Holocaust from the perspective of a teenage boy during this time. Throughout his journey, Wiesel describes the hardships of the physical journeys executed during the Holocaust. These physical journeys taken upon by the victims depict an ample role in the book. In Night, the physical journey during the death march plays a critical role in the book because it emphasizes the need for willpower throughout the book.

Night, a book by Eliezer Wiesel, takes place during the Holocaust; it follows the struggles and changes that he goes through in his time in the camps. Eliezer Wiesel’s book, Night, demonstrates how the author uses symbolism and metaphors to depict the changes in his character. Using religion, Wiesel demonstrates

It seems as if in spite of harsh situations, the capability of our greatness can be most exhibited in tough times. Wiesel constantly depicts the harsh and brutal conditions of the concentration camps. The dehumanization of the Jews seemed almost unreal after reading all of the brutal encounters of death. Night focuses on multiple themes: silence, inhumanity to others, and father/son bonding. Wiesel struggles with his faith throughout the story and believes that God is everywhere, and he cannot understand how God could let this happen, especially as Wiesel faces conflict everyday in the concentration camp.

When I first started reading Night, I immediately knew that I was going to thoroughly enjoy this book. I have always been very interested in history. I am especially interested in learning about the Holocaust. In this book, Eliezer is the narrator of Night and the stand-in for the memoir’s author, Elie Wiesel. Night is written on Wiesel's account of surviving Nazi concentration camps as a teenager. Night tells the story of Eliezer’s physical journey as well as his psychological journey as the Holocaust robs him of his faith in God and exposes him to the deepest inhumanity of which man is capable. I can honestly say I was astonished with the horrors that took place during the Holocaust. My jaw dropped many times while reading this story. My

Elie Wiesel wrote this non-fiction book to alert his audience of his and his families experiences in the Holocaust and what they went through. He notes his journey through chronological events using extreme description. He accomplished this purpose by detailing every little thing that he experienced and that the people around him experienced. The central thesis of Night by Elie Wiesel is that a hostile and insensitive environment and world can cause even the strongest person to lose faith and identity. His thesis is clearly stated when he says, “ Never shall I forget that night, that first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed...Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.  Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.”(pg.32) This thesis is related to the purpose because since Wiesel is a holocaust survivor, it showcases the horrors of the Holocaust and the effects it had on the surviving victims.

Imprisonment. Faith. Emotionless. In the memoir, Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie and his father were kept prisoners in a concentration camp in Auschwitz for being Jewish. This time period was called the Holocaust. Elie and his father were distant but later they become closer and depend on one another.

The Holocaust is one of the most well known historical events to this day. As many as 6 million Jews died at the hands of the Nazi soldiers, and many suspect that there were even more. Night by Elie Wiesel is a memoir of Wiesel’s time in various concentration camps during the Holocaust. It begins in Wiesel’s hometown of Sighet, Transylvania, and follow the journey of the main character Eliezer. A few main themes of this historic recount are silence, night, and inhumanity. Night has many examples of inhumanity, specifically violence toward the inmates. Wiesel’s memoir shines a light on the violence and the inhumanity of the Nazis, and this impacts Eliezer, the book’s theme of inhumanity, and the reader.

In the memoir Night, Elie states that once his father “had just been struck” he had not even blinked (Wiesel 39). These inhumane situations can lead to many other things such as trauma and even lead some people to give up. Two themes related to inhumanity as shown in the book are losing faith and also long term effects.

One of the most important themes in Night is the relationship between Eliezer and his father, Shlomo. Throughout Eliezer’s journey, his feelings toward his father are constantly changing. At some points, Shlomo serves as the center of Eliezer’s struggle to live however, sometimes Eliezer thinks of his father as nothing more than a burden to him who reduces his chance of survival. During the Holocaust, Eliezer was transported to several different concentration camps. At one of the concentration camps, Buna, Eliezer and Shlomo are expected to work in a warehouse. One day, Eliezer and his father are loading diesel motors onto freight cars, when all of a sudden a German soldier yells at Shlomo for not working hard enough. The soldier repetitively beats Shlomo while Eliezer silently observed: “I had

From my conclusions, I would say that the theme for this book is the relationship between father and son, loss of faith, and silence. Eliezer writes about terrible incidents in which even the close bond between him and his father break down. At Buna he sees a boy of about thirteen beating his father because the man had not made his bed properly. On the last train journey to Buchenwald, when a man takes some bread that has been thrown into the wagon, his son snatches the bread from him. The inhuman treatment of the Nazis ruined the lives of these Jews. Even though everyone around them is acting that way Eliezer and his father take care of each other. They have their up and downs but they did not lose their humanity. When his father got very

Night is set during WW2 and mostly while Elie and his father stayed in the concentration camps. Like many other Jewish people, Elie struggled with his faith. “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible Master of the Universe,

The novel Night is an autobiography by Elie Wiesel written in first person. It is narrated by a boy from Sighet, Transylvania. Elie tells us about his experiences of the Holocaust. Eliezer’s struggle to maintain faith is a major theme and conflict in this novel. He struggles to maintain faith in God, his father, and mankind. However, in the end, I believe his journey during the holocaust left his faith in God, as well as himself, stronger than ever.