In the memoir Night, the narrator Elie Wiesel recounts a moment when, “How was it possible that men, women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent?” (Wiesel, 4). He was angry that innocent people were dying and getting killed. He was mad because of everything they were doing to the poor people. He couldn’t believe what was happening. Two significant themes related to inhumanity discussed in the book Night by Elie Wiesel are Loss of Faith and Disbelief.
In the book Night, Elie Wiesel focuses on the idea of the unknown. It is a recurring theme throughout the text. The book gives many examples of things that are unknown to Elie and the other characters. For example, on page 27, Elie writes, “‘Auschwitz.’ Nobody had ever heard that name before.” This quote tells readers that the characters had no idea about the concentration camp prior to when the person by the window read it out loud. They were unaware of the sinister things taking place in Auschwitz and the danger that was now placed upon them.
From the time where Elie had to decide to fight for his father’s life, to the time where he questioned his beliefs, Elie has had to make many life-changing decisions. As some of his decisions left negative consequences, some were left a positive outcome. In the end, all the decisions Elie had made in the camps has made his life miserable or at its best. For better or for worse, the events that Elie encountered makes his life unforgettable as realizes there was more to life than he had thought of
I swore never to remain silent whenever and wherever humans beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.- Elie Weisel
In the novel “Night”, author, Elie Wiesel uses imagery to share his experiences as a jew during the holocaust. Wiesel’s use of imagery helps demonstrate the tone and purpose of the entire novel. Elie Wiesel’s journey starts off subtle but in the end leaves the reader heartbroken. Throughout the story, Wiesel describes his tragic memories during the nazi concentration camps, which establishes a dark and somber tone. His descriptions and use of imagery creates the tone and purpose of “Night”.
Elie has adapted to his environment and adjusted to how others act around him. At the beginning of the book Elie is unaware of the horrors of the Holocaust and was in denial of the Nazi’s coming to Sighet. The author shows his further optimism when he states, “... optimism soon revived: The Germans will not come this far. They will stay in Budapest” (page 9). He drifts away from these early beliefs as his journey continues. He soon starts to realize that this experience is a terrible one, and after fighting for so long he wants to quit and he even considers suicide, “The idea of dying, of ceasing to be, began to fascinate me. To no longer exist. To no longer feel the excruciating pain of my foot” (page 86). Based on this quote from the book, we see that Elie was in extreme pain and was ready to give up. Towards the end of the book, Elie gets tired of trying to save himself and his father all of the time therefore he becomes selfish and is somewhat relieved of his father’s death, the author admits this when he says, “I did not weep… I was out of tears… And deep inside of me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!” (page 112). As the books states, Elie was very impassive by the end of his journey. This demonstrates his feelings from the beginning to the end of the book and Elie’s overall self
Elie is now truly starting to question his faith in what he was tought to be a perfect and able, kind and gracious God. For his whole life up until this point God has been the center of it all. From life to death, the creator of it all, He wonders how God could be the minister of this hell like enviorment. At this point in the book Elie without doubt at the lowest point in his life, fighting with him self and an outside force (the German's) who show a curl and horrible world, and bettew God who preches a perfact and hearted world in which he no longer
Often, the theme of a novel extends into a deeper significance than what is first apparent on the surface. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the theme of night and darkness is prevalent throughout the story and is used as a primary tool to convey symbolism, foreshadowing, and the hopeless defeat felt by prisoners of Holocaust concentration camps. Religion, the various occurring crucial nights, and the many instances of foreshadowing and symbolism clearly demonstrate how the reoccurring theme of night permeates throughout the novel.
Elie’s faith in humanity starts disappearing on his first day at the camp. “Was I still alive? Was I awake? How was it possible that men, women, and the children were being burned and that the world kept silent? No. All this could not be real. A nightmare perhaps…”(32). Elie’s thought was that if thousands of people were being murdered each day that someone was bound to notice. No one would let a genocide happen right in front of them and not do
* “I shall never forgive myself. Nor shall I forgive the world for having pushed me against the wall, for having turned me into a stranger, for having awakened in me the basest, most
Another tone the author used in this passage was desperate, Through phases like, “Our nerves had reached a breaking point. Our very skin was aching. It was as though madness had infected all of us. We gave up.”, we learn that the Jews had become weary of their Faith and began to lose effort in survival. Desperation is reflected as we see the suffering and lack of ability to survive. The choice of despairing and hopeless words prove how close Elie is to losing all
Elie Wiesel’s book “ Night “ takes place during the crucial events of the Holocaust. Elie and his family are taken to a ghetto and later on taken to a concentration camp called Auschwitz. They were taken there for one reason and one reason only, they were jews. Elie witnessed murder and soulless acts at his stay in Auschwitz, death was in the air. Elie and his father only had each other. One theme that is seen throughout the novel is that times like this can bring two people together to build a better relationship.
Elie starts to have doubts about god he misses his mother and his sister but he lost all hope because the camps were dehumanizing him and made him lose his character and who he used to be but his old self never thought to ever look down on god but he had no other options but too he didn't know if he would ever make it
Three days later, optimism still present, the Jews still refused to believe that God would let dreadful things occur to them even when “German army vehicles made their appearance on their streets” (9). The towns “impressions of the Germans were rather reassuring” (9) at that time, on the contrary of the bloodcurdling conceptions they later gained when the reality of the terrors of Germans had cropped up. Months later, Elie and the other Jews’ faiths become warped when they come back down to earth and the Germans true intentions strike as they enter their long expedition in the death camps.
This book interested me because it is a great example of what so many people went through in concentration camps throughout Europe in World War II. So many books have been written about personal accounts of war hardships suffered by the Jews but so few capture the true problems faced by prisoners. The impossible decision between survival and family was a difficult one faced by many during this time. Elie had an unfaltering will to live when his father was alive with him but once his father died the reason for living disappeared. But he once was faced with the decision of helping to keep his father alive or let him die and have an extra ration of food. How can one be stuck with a decision like this and not choose survival? Only true unselfishness can cause you to help someone