Category: Night by Elie Wiesel

In “Night”, Elie Wiesel describes his early experiences of the Nazi genocide against Jews and his subsequent life in a concentration camp known as Auschwitz-Birkenau. Given that the events are seen through the eyes of the young person, the major emphasis is placed upon the main character’s perception of the violence and death taking place around him and gradual loss of faith and belief in humanity; for this reason, the novel is actually entitled “Night”. It depicts the night of human existence, interpersonal relationships, human values, and religious beliefs.

The main character of “Night” is Eliezer, a pious and studious teenage boy, who daily studies Talmud and lives in accordance with the principle of mutual support, common for his people. The events Wiesel writes about refer to WWII when the Nazis started almost worldwide “racial purification” and sought to establish the rule of the superior Aryan race. Jews were viewed as the participants of the global conspiracy against non-Jews and a cause of economic crises like the Great Depression. Eliezer grows in a small Hungarian town Sighet, populated mainly by Jews when his spiritual friend and teacher Moshe the Beadle is taken to Poland, after being declared as unable to prove his citizenship. He returns in some time narrates that his survival is purely accidental, as all of his companions were shot by German soldiers. Whereas the majority of Sightet’s Jews mistreat and disbelieve him, Eliezet takes Moshe’s story close to heart and begins to lose his childish belief injustice. This period of doubts and hopes that Moshe’s narrative is fantasy can be characterized as a twilight: “Yes, we even doubted that he wanted to exterminate us. Was he going to wipe out a whole people? Could he exterminate a population scattered throughout so many countries? So many millions! What methods could he use? And in the middle of the twentieth century!” (Wiesel, p.6). As the Nazi-led government gradually introduces additional restrictions on Jews’ lifestyle and behavior (probation of visiting cares and synagogue, the obligation of wearing a yellow star), people still have the light of hope for survival, as these rules generally do not refer to extermination the Jews of Sighet fear. The last sparkle of light is probably their life in the ghetto, where the Jewish autonomous government was established and the little society enjoyed self-regulation. Accordingly, Eliezer resumes his study of Jewish mysticism and reflections upon the sanctity and justice of the divine rule. However, this almost idyllic life soon ended, as the ghetto dwellers were forcefully taken to the concentration camps. Eliezer is separated from his mother and sisters, who are immediately taken to the gas chamber, and himself closely faces death when witnesses the murders of small children and is on the verge of his own death. The subsequent chapters of “Night” are filled with descriptions of violence, which represents almost Dantean Hell: “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in the camp, which has turned my life into one long night…Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke…Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever” (Wiesel, p.44). Thus, the main character’s faith in the goodness of the world seems shattered irreparably, as the main question he first asks is how God can expose his people to such disgusting cruelty. The loss of faith is also accelerated by the psychological transformations how fellow prisoners undergo. If they united against the oppressors, Eliezer would probably maintain his belief in the goodness of God and His care about humanity, but instead, he encounters a totally different picture: driven by selfishness, his peer readily become the camp guard and betray the other inmates by losing connection with them and ignoring those in deeper need, those who are even more disabled or disadvantaged. One more factor contributing to Eliezer’s personality changes and the development of cynicism is his own guilt for becoming de-humanized, similar to his fellow prisoners. Therefore, the psychological elements of the novel essentially refer to human behavior in critical and physically exhausting situations, when the very human life is threatened. Wiesel reveals that the camp community, treated like cattle, become inescapably brutalized, as the survival instinct stimulates everyone to neglect others. The main character also experiences this sense of disunity, as he soon begins to respond to his father’s care with indifference, almost hating himself for emotional and psychological passiveness in those issues which directly relate to his nearest and dearest person.

The struggle with faith as an aspect that interferes with the realization of the survival instinct is also evident in the book. On the first night of his imprisonment, the protagonist seeks to avoid thoughts about the justice and humanity issues in the mass murders of children he has recently witnessed. When he sees the hanging of a little child for an imaginary crime, Eliezer also desperately tries to abandon his thoughts about the divine authority, but they nevertheless persecute him, proving that Eliezer’s world is not the one where “God is dead”. In many years after the Auschwitz horrors, the main character states he has reconciled himself to his religion and found answers to his questions.

As one can conclude, “Night” is a sincere account of the Holocaust witness, which focuses primarily on the spiritual trauma caused by the Fascist genocide. In this book, the cruelty the young protagonist witnesses are immediately directed by him against his faith, so Wiesel’s intention is the description of his spiritual journey from the rejection of faith to the return to Jewish mysticism, associated with the horrifying events of years 1943-1945.

Works cited

Wiesel, E. Night. New York: Bantam, 1982.

The Night by Elie Wiesel explores the painful experiences of the narrator (Elie) during the Holocaust. Elie had a deep connection with God in his childhood. The narrator studies the Torah and Cabala, attend the synagogue and prays until he weeps to reflect his deep faith and connection with God (Wiesel 3). Elie had never imagined his life without God.

However, actions of the Nazi make Elie lose his belief and faith in God (Grabois 1). It is important to note that the narrator struggles to keep his faith in God. This happened when Elie went to Auschwitz. He notes, “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust” (Wiesel 34).

Elie started to wonder why innocent people would suffer while there was God. However, Elie never lost his faith in God completely. While at the camp, Elie noted that some men discussed God, sins, mysteries, and redemption (Sternlicht 29). These characters doubted God and His absolute power, but they never ceased to believe in His existence. Akiba Drumer says:

“God is testing us. He wants to see whether we are capable of overcoming our base instincts, of killing the Satan within ourselves. We have no right to despair. And if He punishes us mercilessly, it is a sign that He loves us that much more…” (Wiesel 45).

This encounter with Akiba Drumer helps Elie to maintain his belief in God throughout the Holocaust. However, Elie had to request Akiba Drummer to recite Kaddish for him. Elie reflects an inner struggle with the belief in God, “Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled….” (Wiesel 67-68). Elie provides several reasons why his belief in God is weak while he is in the concentration camp.

He believes that God is responsible for the massacre that humanity experiences at “Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death” (Wiesel 67). Elie wonders how he could once again praise the name of God after the massacre (Donadio 1-2). The narrator says that he was no longer able to “lament or plead anything to God” (Wiesel 68). Elie’s struggle makes him change roles with God, “I was the accuser, God the accused” (Wiesel 68).

Elie realizes how he was alone without God or man in the world. His faith sank further. Although Elie questions the whole concept of faith in God, he never stops to ask questions that connect him with God. His anger reflects an inner struggle and deep sentiments for belief in God. Elie constantly refers to religious metaphors to show that he still believes in God (Devera 1-2).

However, Elie restores his faith in God, “My God, Lord of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahou’s son has done” (Wiesel 91). Elie realizes that he is weak without strengths from God and asks for power and strengths from Him. The narrator cannot face the death of his father on his own, and he regrets that his father had no religious memorial. A prayer rose from Elie’s heart to God to show that Elie had not completely lost his belief in God. The narrator seeks help from God when he can no longer control himself. At the end of the novel, one can observe that Elie’s faith in God remains intact.

Works Cited

Devera, John. Eliezer’s struggle to maintain faith in God in Night, 2008. Web.

Donadio, Rachel. The Story of ‘Night’, 2008. Web.

Grabois, Andrew. Elie Wiesel and the Holocaust, 2008. Web.

Sternlicht, Sanford. Student Companion to Elie Wiesel. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2003. Print.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print.

Holocaust was one of the most devastating periods in human history when Nazi Germany murdered Jews, and many authors created their stories to share those terrible experiences. Night is a powerful memoir about life in concentration camps between 1941 and 1945 written by Elie Wiesel. By sharing his memories, the author cannot ignore the fact of personal changes that happen to people in a particular environment. Wiesel’s Night is a way of transformation from a boy who believed in God and was obsessed with teaching Kabbalah to a man who lost his faith because of separation and brutality.

One of the first stages in the main character’s Eliezer transformation is his childhood and the desire to study Talmud and Kabbalah at a young age. The boy meets Moishe the Beadle, who explains the importance of “pray to the God… for the strength to ask Him the real questions” (Wiesel 5). Among a variety of Jews’ strengths, their belief in God and His teachings is remarkable because it makes them strong and goal-oriented. At that moment, Eliezer is not ready to answer all questions about the worth of human life, but he wants to enhance his awareness through books, personal understandings, and family relationships. This character’s childhood turns out to be a solid background for inevitable changes.

The next period in the boy’s life touches upon his dramatic experiences in the concentration camp and the observations of cruelty and innocent deaths. When Eliezer sees a child being hanged on the rope but still breathing, the answer to the question is evident: “where is God?… This where – hanging here from this gallows” (Wiesel 65). This episode symbolizes the inability of the character to maintain his religious beliefs and expectations that God could save them. It is not enough to underline the cruelty of the Germans and no respect for damaged human lives. Additionally, this experience involves external factors and the environment and breaks human souls. Eliezer’s transformation continues with the re-evaluation of virtues and the inevitability of resisting the Nazi order.

Finally, the feeling of loss and separation greatly impacts Eliezer and completes his transformation process. Despite the intention to survive in those environments, the family faces new challenges with “one more stab to the heart, one more reason to hate. One less reason to live” (Wiesel 109). At the end of the story, the main character has to accept the last truth that his father loses his strengths and died in suffering. What is more, he has already been separated from his mother and sister, and now, his father is gone forever. The only way to cope with grief and hatred is to find another reason to live, which becomes a new wave in his transformation.

Wiesel’s memoir is full of negative but frank emotions about real human experiences that explain how a beloved boy with faith in God becomes a man with no beliefs, family, and hope. The character’s transformations are gradual, with special attention to what he wants to be, what he has to survive, and what he needs to live with after losses and separation. His religion is insufficient to understand the cruelty observed in the concentration camp and the necessity of losing his family. In addition, Night is one of those stories that make the reader feel a lump in the throat because of multiple strong sentiments about the period in history that took so many innocent lives. Most of Eliezer’s changes are inevitable, but instead of treating them as something regular, it is high time to recall the events and understand that every human life is priceless.

Work Cited

Wiesel, Elie. Night. Translated by Marion Wiesel. Hill and Wang, 2006.

Introduction

‘Night’, a Jewish holocaust novel authored by Eliezer Wiesel, presents the impression of a dark tale that is experienced by the author, who describes his first-hand ordeal with the Nazis. In my opinion, there exists no suitable vocabulary word to provide an appropriate title for the holocaust of the Jews. At such a time in history, the oppressors had forgotten human nature, but the family spirit of those being oppressed was not distorted. Instead, it was made stronger.

Although the Eliezer’s people were devoured in anguish and pain, they did not seem to forget God’s presence in their hearts. This situation made some of the Jews to push on with the inhuman life under the hands of the Nazis. However, some Jews felt that God had forgotten them. Being Jews who are considered as strictly religious community, they started blaming Him for abandoning them in times of need. It reached a point where Eliezer had to trust and seek protection from his father than God Himself.

The Relationship between Eliezer and His Father

Eliezer’s relationship with his father has been variously highlighted in the novel, ‘Night’. In the beginning, he looked up to his father as a role model since he was highly regarded as a Jew elder. He was a consultant to issues that pertained to the Jewish community. This situation made Eliezer to look up to him even though he was too involved with the welfare of the Sighet Jewish Community and not with his own family (Wiesel 43). Generally, Eliezer admired the fact that his father was prayerful and he kept his utmost faith in God even in the time of oppression.

During the separation of women and men in Birkenau, Auschwitz, Eliezer decided to stay with his father. He was separated from his mother and sisters. Eliezer’s love and affection towards his father grew stronger since they were experiencing the torture and pain of being war prisoners together.

When the German oppressors moved Eliezer and his community to Buna camp from Auschwitz, he was selected to work at the electrical warehouse and he asked for permission to work closely to his father, which he was granted. However, ‘he was angry with his father for not avoiding the wrath of the official and doing his work efficiently as told’ (Wiesel 67). At one moment, he decided to teach his father how to march when he became hesitant to the commands of the German officials.

The relationship between Eliezer and his father started to soar since he had begun to become rebellious to both God and his father. This state of affairs was after Eliezer became reluctant to fast during the period of The Day of Atonement even after his father advised him to remain strong in faith during the trying times. Eliezer ‘accused God for letting him and his people experience hell on earth under His watch’ (Wiesel 92).

However, when the time to select and burn weak people in the cylinder came, Eliezer was always worried about his father and wondered if he would be able to pass the test that was set by the German medical officials. He got so disconcerted and vexed because his father was asked to remain behind by the officials since he did not have the required qualifications to work. He was rendered ineffective. Eliezer could not imagine separating with his father after all this far they had come together, so they decided to continue with their journey even before his father recovered.

It had reached the time to leave Buna and so, the Germans ordered the Jew war prisoners to evacuate. At this time, Eliezer realized the sole purpose of being alive was to support his father and be his keeper. They kept together at all times and soldiered on the harsh conditions and possibility of death at any given time. However, his father had been in a state of fever for several weeks and his condition was worsening day to day. Eliezer kept by his side throughout the ordeal without giving up on him.

Nevertheless, the fact remained that he was soon going to die since he was having dysentery and the doctors were not willing to save his life. This situation compelled Eliezer to become ‘open-minded about the situation and was ready for anything that came by his way’ (Wiesel 102). Presumably, when his father was cremated alive, Eliezer did not cry since he knew he had been through a lot of exploitation and he was now in peaceful eternally.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the relationship between the father and son in the ‘Night’ novel has remained sturdy and the difference in opinion at first did not deter them from going through the ordeal together. This bond between them ensured that they endured many hard situations to reach to such great lengths in the struggle of oppression.

They show us how the people struggled and what other men went through during the Jewish Holocaust; hence, they express the feelings of others who were in the same conditions. In my opinion, intrinsic love and affection that existed between Eliezer and his father kept their father-son relationship alive throughout the Jewish Holocaust.

Works Cited

Wiesel, Elie. Night. Argentina: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print.

Introduction

Elie Wiesel accounts for a life full of horror and conflicting experiences. In the Wiesel’s Night story, Eliezer is depicted as the main character who witnesses and survives the Jewish holocaust. As a young boy, Eliezer is observant of life as it unfolds especially during the holocaust. Eliezer’s depiction in the story as the main character in the story is that of a humble and religious young man. Like any other boy from a humble family in the eastern European countries, Eliezer’s early knowledge of religious matters is evidenced from constant reading of the Torah and Cabala.

In fact, Eliezer had Moshe as a religious instructor at an early age. Eliezer’s passion and faith in God are further revealed from frequent visits to the synagogue. Eliezer’s understanding of God remains unshaken until he witnesses horrors beyond imagination. Eliezer’s faith in God keeps on shifting with time as the Nazis continue the atrocities against the Jews. In this regard, Eliezer struggles to maintain faith in God as events unfold in the story.

Dehumanization by the Nazis

For a long time, Eliezer believed that God protected the righteous from the evil. However, Eliezer witnesses dehumanization of his neighbors, friends and family. Eliezer witnesses as the Jews are subjected to horrendous treatment by the Nazis during the selection process at Birkenau (Wiesel 77). Eliezer remembers the smell from the burning Jewish bodies once they arrive at Birkenau. At this point, the idea of embracing heroic humanism takes toll a majority of the Jews contemplate of escaping. On the other hand, Eliezer develops cynicism about God after many Jews are killed by the Nazis.

Eliezer’s blurred vision of God

Eliezer remembers his commitment to an omnipotent God and asks “Where is God? Where is He?” The blurred vision of God is realized once a young boy is sentenced to death by strangling on the gallows by the Nazis. Eliezer’s anger in God for forsaking his people is too much to bear after the death of a young boy (63). According to Eliezer, God also died on that day by “hanging here on this gallows” (65). The likening of God execution marks Eliezer’s lack of hope and faith for a bright future. In an ironical twist, Eliezer admits that there is God does not favor the youth.

Existentialism

Eliezer’s struggle to maintain his faith in God makes him an existential superman. Life difficulties and the urge to survive makes Eliezer and his ilk become masters of the world. Without faith in God, Eliezer bears no illusions or false hopes. In this context, the will to survive and make a difference leaves young Eliezer without compassion of others.

In fact, this is evidenced when Eliezer friends distanced themselves from family to ease the pain of death and suffering. According to Eliezer, such is a sacrifice that he wishes not to commit. He witnesses Rabbi Eliahou’s son loses compassion of family and friends to save them from further humiliation by the Nazis. Ironically, Eliezer renews his faith in God by praying for compassion to avoid such embarrassment.

Although Eliezer is disillusioned and does not embrace faith during the experience, he still believes in God. For Eliezer, it is a constant struggle to maintain the very faith in God which leaves him weak and confused. The character becomes vulnerable to diminishing faith. In this regard, he is in a constant praying mood so as to ensure that his faith in God does not diminish.

Moshe, who is a religious instructor, insists on the importance of praying by saying “I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions” (5). Perhaps, this is the very basis that Eliezer uses to contemplate his faith in God. Indeed the holocaust experience makes Eliezer reevaluate his faith by questioning the nature of good and evil. Without a doubt, Eliezer’s experience makes him have a firm stand on his faith in God than before.

Conclusion

Eliezer’s portrayal as a man struggling with his faith is a replica of humanity’s experience during the difficult moments. The night is an effective symbol of a situation where man has no firm stand in regard to what he believes. The fact that the main character is a young boy who struggles with negative thoughts and emerges victorious in his quest shows the resilience of humanity. The constant questioning of faith reveals the strength of man during adversities.

In fact, “….every question possessed power that did not lie in the answer. Man raises himself toward God by the question he asks him” (5). From the story of Eliezer, the importance of faith in deriving a moral authority over issues affecting humanity is critical. The world’s struggles in the 20^th century as evidenced by the impact of the holocaust calls for mankind to strive for compassion. In this context, the reality of consulting faith as the last resort in embracing compassion and humanity is recommendable.

Work Cited

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print.

Eliezer’s Faith

Wiesel’s understanding of God in the book, Night, is demonstrated through the main character, Eliezer. Eliezer’s faith in God changes throughout the book, as Eliezer experiences the challenges of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel had experienced the Holocaust while at a concentration camp and chose to narrate his experiences in writing.

The book explains the horrible occurrences of the Holocaust. One of the major conflicts in Night is Eliezer’s struggle with his faith. The events in the book regarding Elizer’s faith are quite sarcastic and dramatic as Eliezer’s faith moves from an intimate relationship with God to denying God’s existence and lastly Eliezer’s unshakable faith in God.

The Events

At the beginning of the book, we see Eliezer’s total and unreserved faith in God. He is so passionate about God and His existence. We find this in the way he expresses himself and speaks fondly about God. For example, in one instance, when he is confronted by a question about his passion for prayer, he says, “Why did I pray? […] Why did I live? Why did I breathe?” (Wiesel 2).

Eliezer’s life involved “Daily devotions reading the Talmud and attending evening prayers at the synagogue” (Wiesel 1). At this point, we find that Eliezer’s is not only committed to living a worthy life but is also seeking to gain in-depth knowledge on the teachings of the Cabbala.

His faith is so deep that he even goes against the wishes of his father, who is averse to the idea of his son studying the Cabbala. We are told that Eliezer’s ignores his father’s words and, “found a master for [himself], Moshe the Beadle” (SparkNotes 2). Moshe becomes the man of wisdom that teaches Elie “the revelations and mysteries of the Cabbala. (Sparknotes 3).

Things, however, take a dramatic twist when Eliezer’s goes to the concentration camp. Here Eliezer’s encounters a peculiar and rather shocking situation that shakes his faith in God. Here we are introduced to an Eliezer who has never witnessed the Holocaust before but now has to deal with its horrific and shocking events.

This is where Eliezer’s steadfastness in God suffers the test of time. There are many thoughts that go through Eliezer’s mind while at the concentration camps. Eliezer almost questions God as he wonders why a loving and compassionate God would allow his people to be so humiliated and maimed by merciless people.

Eliezer undoubtedly finds himself in a dilemma as he finds himself in a difficult situation. On the one hand, he is a man who trusts and believes in God, while on the other hand, he is unable to resist the temptation of questioning God. We encounter the first time that he seeks to falter God when he says, “why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank him for?” (Wiesel 31).

Eliezer’s bound with God is not about his existence but related to his personality as the true and righteous judge. Eliezer seems to falter this idea. We are told Eliezer “did not deny God’s existence, but doubted His absolute justice” (Sternlicht 42). Perhaps, the scenario that best illustrates Eliezer’s dilemma is during the hanging of a young man. Eliezer is asked where his God is and answers, “Where is He? Here he is – He is hanging here on this gallows” (Sternlicht 62).

Conclusion

Throughout the book, Eliezer’s faith could be said to be evident even though shaken by inevitable circumstances. His anger towards God as he witnesses the Holocaust could be said to be rational as any believer could react the same way towards God. The fact that he questions God is enough to prove that has faith in God is somewhat shaken.

Works Cited

SparkNotes. Sparknotes 101: Literature.. New York, NY: SparkNotes., 2004. Print.

Sternlicht, Sanford. Student companion to Elie Wiesel. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003. Print.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006. Print.

A brief overview of Elie Wiesel’s Night

First of all, I would like to point out that the work Night written by Elie Wiesel is of great importance. The events described in the book are related to the Second World War and the genocide of European Jews.

Lorraine Maynard thinks that the work Night is considered to be the so-called testing of faith. He states that “Elie Wiesel‘s haunting narrative Night is an account of the horrors of the Holocaust” (Maynard 1).

The thesis statement

Generally, there are a lot of contradictions concerning Elie Wiesel’s Night. One of the key issues, which is discussed in the work, is people’s belief about the presence of God. The author of the book presents his hero in two ways: on the one hand, he depicts the boy, who is full of hopes and expectations; on the other hand, he shows the boy whose soul is destroyed with horrific experience.

Some critical evaluations of the work

The most interesting point is that there are two Eliezers in the book. On the one hand, the readers are familiar with an innocent child; on the other hand, they see the hero, who is destroyed with his horrific experience. The second Eliezer is not a child anymore. It is difficult to believe that the boy was changed so much. Looking at the new image of the main hero the author provides us with, we understand that Eliezer’s viewpoints have been altered.

As far as the boy has no parents, nobody can state that he is somebody’s child. The horrors the boy experiences made him different. “The student of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me. A dark flame had entered into my soul and devoured it” (Wiesel 34). His character became tough; he became too hard on people. Eliezer was transformed from the boy into a camp survivor. The second Eliezer won’t accept another side of his soul anymore.

Jennifer Flynn says that Naomi Seidman, “professor of Jewish Culture at Berkeley College’s Graduate Theological Union ignores critical aspects of the autobiographical genre and Wiesel’s transformation of that form that valuably complicate an understanding of Night” (1). I would like to point out that such ignorance can be explained by the fact that Seidman mostly supports word choice. She “neglects features of structure such as the inclusion of novelistic devices that shed light on Wiesel’s motives” (Flynn 2).

Robert E. Douglas, Jr. (1995) says that “anyone who comes in contact with these horrors will be forever shaken in his present faith” (1). According to the popular website Usf.edu (2005) the main hero “finally despairs of both God and humanity, yet juxtaposed against the atrocities is the story of his enduring relationship with his father” (1). “I did not deny God’s existence, but I doubted His absolute justice” (Wiesel 42).

Death and faith are the central issues in the work. Thus, Eliezer’s faith died, but his new nature was born: new behavior, new attitudes, new thoughts. In other words, Eliezer got new soul.

The conclusion: new Elie

“As an end to the camp, Elie finally took a look at himself in the mirror, and what he saw shocked him; he saw an almost lifeless corpse staring back at him” (Ccsd.edu 1). In other words, Eliezer realized whom he was transformed into. He understood the consequences of horrible events he experienced.

Usually, people have no time to evaluate some changes, which occur in their life. However, when they start to analyze their life, it becomes obvious, what losses they suffered. “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me” (Wiesel 109).

Works Cited

Ccsd.edu. From the Depths of the Mirror a Corpse Gazed Back at Me, 2011. Web.

Douglas, Robert. Elie Wiesel’s Relationship with God, 1995. Web.

Flynn, Jennifer. Reshaping the Autobiographical Self: Elie Wiesel’s Night. Web.

Maynard, Lorraine. “From Whence the Rivers Come, Thither Their Return Again”: The Testing of Faith in Elie Wiesel’s Night. Web.

Usf.edu. Survivor Testimony and Literature, 2005. Web.

Wiesel, Elie. Night, 1982. Web.

“Night” is a heart-wrenching story of a young man’s journey, the author as a prisoner in Auschwitz and Buchenwald during the holocaust. Elie Wiesel provides a first-hand account of the horrors he witnessed and experienced during his time in the concentration camps. He describes the events that took place so readers can visualize them and read the intended emotion. Throughout the novel, Elie Wiesel witnesses his family’s death, his fellow prisoners’ degradation, and his own physical and psychological decline. Although “Night” is a work of fiction, it is based on Wiesel’s real-life experiences and serves as a powerful testimony to the horrors of the holocaust. The novel is incredibly moving and provides a valuable perspective on one of the darkest periods in human history.

Wiesel perfectly narrates how people lose their humanity and innocence due to torture experienced during the holocaust. For instance, the gradual dehumanization of the prisoners was mean and unfair to any human being. Wiesel writes about how the slaves are treated like animals and slowly stripped of their humanity. The inmates were forced to act in a given manner to survive. For example, Wiesel is forced to watch as his father is beaten and killed, and he is also forced to kill a man himself, taking away his innocence. This experience reflects how characters can no longer feel love or compassion for others. The words “Twenty corpses were thrown from our wagon. Then the train resumed its journey, leaving in its wake, in a snowy field in Poland, hundreds of naked orphans without a tomb” (Wiesel 99) depict the torture and lack of concern the Nazis had for the people.

Not even children were spared the horrible times but were instead used as bait. “A truck drew close and unloaded its hold: small children. Babies! Yes, I did see this, with my e y e s … children thrown into the flames” (Wiesel 32). Following this quote, Wiesel demonstrates the mercilessness among Nazi soldiers, who could not even spare a harmless creature like a baby. In another instance, Wiesel mentioned the thought of losing his mind when he saw babies thrown into super-heated ditches. He told himself that the kids must be dead as a way to try and stay sane in light of the brutal acts committed before them. The Nazis loudly laughed at their actions as if to enjoy and mock the pain of others, which made the whole experience even harder.

Hope is one of the most remarkable points of strength that gets people tough through the most challenging periods. Wiesel captured the hope in Jews that made them survive another day despite their horrifying experiences. People constantly encouraged each other throughout the holocaust, which gave them the will to continue with life. In several instances, Wiesel reports, “To the last moment, people clung to hope” (Wiesel 15), and “We mustn’t give up hope, even now as the sword hangs over our heads” (Wiesel 31), illustrating how the people stood with each other in hard times.

The irony was a striking literary term employed by Wiesel in his report about the holocaust. For instance, Wiesel describes how he and his fellow Jews were excited to be taken by the Nazis, thinking they would be given a better life. However, the reality was that they were taken to concentration camps, where they were treated horribly. An example of irony in the book is when Wiesel describes how the Nazis forced the Jews to wear yellow stars (Wiesel 11). The Jews were told that the stars would protect them and make them feel special. However, in reality, the stars made the Jews easy targets for abuse and violence.

There was also foreshadowing in Wiesel’s analysis of the events. For instance, Jews were forced to give up their belongings and were told to pack lightly for the trip. This foreshadows that they would be taken to concentration camps where they would be forced to live in cramped and uncomfortable conditions. Moreover, symbolism is also highly employed in the text. For example, the night sky is used to symbolize the darkness and cruelty of the holocaust. Another symbol in the book is the character of Moishe the Beadle, who represents the importance of remembering the holocaust and bearing witness to what happened (Wiesel 28). The Jews also referred to the Star of David because it stood for resilience and hope among them. Despite the darkness and cruelty of the Holocaust, the Jewish people continued to believe in their faith and hope that they would one day be free.

In conclusion, the book “Night” is a harrowing account of the author’s experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz and Buchenwald during the holocaust. The novel is incredibly moving and provides a valuable perspective on one of the darkest periods in human history. The book is a powerful testimony to the horrors of the holocaust and how people can lose their humanity and innocence. It is essential to bear witness to things that occurred in the past, so that future generations can learn from them and understand some current events from a historical point of view.

Work Cited

Wiesel, Elie. Night: Elie Wiesel. Spark Publishing, 2014, pp 1-120., Web.

Nowadays, it has become a commonplace practice to refer to the novels Night by Elie Wiesel and A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn as such that is concerned with revealing the sheer evilness of the Nazi and Communist political regimes. By exposing the audience to the first-hand accounts of one’s existence as a concentration camp inmate, Wiesel and Solzhenitsyn had succeeded in promoting the idea that the layer of civility covering people is very thin.

Both novels effectively show that the representatives of the Homo Sapiens species are, in fact, nothing but “hairless primates”, biologically predetermined to cease acting humanely towards each other when it comes to ensuring their physical survival. The Nazi and Soviet leaders appear to have been well aware of it: something that explains the striking similarity between the themes and motifs in Night and A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. This paper will explore the validity of the above-suggested at length.

The most easily identifiable theme in both novels is the deliberate dehumanization of people and its effects on how those affected by it tend to perceive the surrounding reality and react to different existential challenges. In turn, this objective is best achieved by means of forcing the victimized individuals to “turn off” the rational workings of their psyche and grow completely preoccupied with striving to satisfy their basic biological needs, as something that has the value of a thing-in-itself. Nothing can be more effective, in this regard, than starving camp inmates to death, in the literal sense of this word.

While providing an eye-witness account of his time in Auschwitz, Wiesel admits that it was specifically the thought of where/how to get an extra ration that used to define his behavior there more than any other: “(I)… dreamed more of an extra portion of food than of liberty” (51). Evidently enough, while subjecting Auschwitz prisoners to starvation, the Nazis wanted to reduce these peoples to being nothing short of hunger-driven beasts, absolutely incapable of taking any collective action against their tormenters. Wiesel’s novel testifies to the emotionally disturbing truth that such a murderous objective can be achieved with ease.

The motif of constant hunger, experienced by prisoners, resurfaces throughout the entirety of Solzhenitsyn’s novel, as well. In fact, the novel’s main character Shukhov is represented as being rather incapable of giving much thought to what is going on around him, unless the potential prospects to qualify for receiving some extra food are in question. As this character noted: “The belly is a demon. It doesn’t remember how well you treated it yesterday” (Solzhenitsyn 54). Nevertheless, as it appears from A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, people are fully capable of adapting to such a situation and even of growing to consider it thoroughly natural.

As it can be inferred from Wiesel’s novel, one of the reasons why the Nazis were able to prove themselves very efficient in pursuing their murderous agenda against Jews is that many of the latter ended up collaborating (unwillingly) with their sworn enemies. There is a memorable scene in Wiesel’s novel, where some male Jewish deportees subject Madame Schächter to a severe beating so that she would not disturb them with her apocalyptic visions of a flame that engulfs everybody: “She (Madame Schächter) received several blows to the head… When they actually struck her, people shouted their approval” (26).

Evidently enough, for a totalitarian regime to succeed in reaching its genocidal objective against a particular group of people, the concerned individuals must be encouraged to act on behalf of their atavistic instincts while ceasing to feel any empathy towards the others, whatsoever.

In this regard, the Soviet authorities in charge of running the Gulag (system of concentration camps in the Soviet Union) appear to have been no different from their Nazi counterparts. That is, they knew that the key to making sure that Gulag prisoners never rebel is the establishment of the objective preconditions for these people to be treating each other as if they were natural competitors for scarce resources within the camp’s guarded perimeter.

Therefore, there is nothing surprising about the fact that, just as it is being seen in A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, the task of watch guards at “HQ” (Soviet labor camp in Siberia) has been significantly alleviated by the inmates’ irrational willingness to act as their helpers. For example, they never hesitate to take part in the beating of those of them who fail to adhere to the informal rules of “zek” conduct. The character of Fetyukov stands out particularly illustrative, in this regard. He has been repeatedly beaten by his own team (104th) members on account of his failure to report in time for the evening stand-up counts (Solzhenitsyn 45). In a Soviet labor camp, there is no mercy for the weakest and least adaptable.

Nevertheless, even though there are indeed a number of similarities between the descriptions of concentration camps in Night and A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, it would not be appropriate equaling Auschwitz to Gulag (“HQ”). The reason for this is that, whereas the former was an extermination camp, Gulag served as a labor camp. For example, in his novel, Wiesel never ceases to refer to Auschwitz as being nothing short of the physical materialization of Biblical hell on earth: “This is what the antechamber of hell must look like. So many crazed men, so much shouting, so much brutality” (34). The novel’s scene, in which corpses are being burned to ashes in huge pits, strengthen the impression in readers that the author must have indeed been to hell.

Solzhenitsyn’s account of a Soviet labor camp implies that, even though one’s life as an inmate there was indeed very harsh and full of deprivations, it has not been necessarily leading to death. Once adapted to the realities of camp life, a prisoner had a fair chance of surviving Gulag. The mentioned earlier character Shukhov exemplifies the validity of this suggestion.

Having been a practically minded person, he came to realize that he would be much better off trying to enjoy life’s little pleasures while serving his sentence, as opposed to giving in to despair. When reflecting on the events that took place through the day at the end of the novel, Shukhov cannot help feeling calm and content: “He’d had many strokes of luck that day… He hadn’t fallen ill. He’d got over it. A day without a dark cloud. Almost a happy day” (Solzhenitsyn 63). In this regard, Shukhov hardly relates to Eliezer from Wiesel’s Night: a person whose very release from Auschwitz proved to be miraculous.

After all, as it emerges from Night, it was not merely the evil SS members who used to derive pleasure from torturing and killing the imprisoned Jews, but most German civilians as well. For example, German women and children would throw pieces of bread at the convoyed Jews and enjoy the spectacle of starved prisoners trying to take their eatable finds away from each other, “Where the bread had landed, a battle had ensued.

Men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at and mauling each other” (Wiesel 101). Nothing of this sort can be seen in A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Quite to the contrary. In Solzhenitsyn’s novel, Gulag prisoners are seen to be enjoying much sympathy, on the part of most native villagers in Siberia.

In light of what has been said earlier, it will be appropriate to summarize the main acquired insight into the subject matter as follows. Both, the Nazis and Soviets had made a point in dehumanizing camp prisoners, as the actual instrument of keeping these people under control. While addressing the task, the representatives of both totalitarian regimes never hesitated to appeal to the most primitive instincts in men. This, in turn, has two philosophical implications.

First, people are indeed nothing but “hairless monkeys”, whose act is ultimately defined by their instinctual anxieties. Second, unless humanity comes to terms with this simple and scientifically proven but emotionally uncomfortable fact, there can be very little rationale in expecting that the mistakes of the past can be averted in the future. This conclusion is fully consistent with the paper’s initial thesis, as to what should be deemed the discursive significance of both analyzed novels.

Works Cited

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Translated by Henry Willetts, Straus & Giroux, 2005.

Wiesel, Elie. Night. Hill & Wang, 2006.

Night by Elie Wiesel describes the author’s time at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps, where he was sent by the Nazis together with his father, named Chlomo, in 1944. Throughout the months of misery and tortures, Eliezer’s relations with his parent change. To the teenager, the declined and helpless grown-up man becomes a burden, which the son desperately wants to get rid of.

First, it is necessary to consider the narrator’s attitude to his father before they were driven to the concentration camp. At the age of thirteen, the boy would pray and study Talmud regularly. He did these things not only due to the tradition but also because of his inner noble impulse. His religious beliefs were crucial to him, despite his young age. He had a wish to study Kabbalah thoroughly. For this purpose, the youngster needed an experienced master, a teacher. Although Eliezer describes his father as reserved and unemotional at that time, the teenager asks him for help. According to Wiesel, “one day, I asked my father to find me a master who could guide me in my studies of Kabbalah” (1). It means that the teenager adored his father and deeply respected his opinion.

Not long before the end of the war, Eliezer’s family was deported to Polish ghettos. Soon after that, the Nazis sent them to Auschwitz, but, because of the hardships of the way, only Eliezer and his father arrived there alive. While moving there, for the boy, his father was still a kind of light in the dark. He explains that “the idea of dying, of ceasing to be, began to fascinate me… My father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me” (Wiesel 14). From this quote, one can easily see that the teenager desperately needed to have someone trustworthy beside him, someone unquestionably reliable, and someone to cling to.

However, the situation changed when the father fell ill at the concentration camp. Due to the harsh conditions, Chlomo’s body and soul got weak, and he became helpless. The man could not even get up on his feet. Then had almost nothing to eat. The author describes how his father gradually grew disabled and devoid of self-respect. The author recalls how “another doctor came to the block. However, my father would not get up. He knew that it was useless” (Wiesel, 130). It means that Chlomo gave up and understood perfectly well that he was doomed. The boy had to bring him food and water, communicate with the doctors, and became his father’s caregiver.

Seeing and experiencing all the hardships of the concentration camp, Eliezer loses his belief in God. His disrespect for humanity becomes overwhelming. In addition, the boy’s respectful attitude toward his father changes for disgust. He admits that “if only I could get rid of this dead weight… Immediately I felt ashamed of myself, ashamed forever” (Wieser 101). The parent, who used to be a man to protect and give life-important advice, becomes a sick stranger who needs constant care. Eliezer understands perfectly well that his father is going to die; that is why he sees no sense in keeping up the parent’s fragile and painful existence.

That is how the author’s attitude to and relations with his father change. At first, the parent is the one who can give help and support. But, when the circumstances become hard, the boy and the man change their roles. Instead of spending his teenage years in happiness and joy, Eliezer has to experience hardships and support his mortally sick father.

Work Cited

Wiesel, Elie. Night. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012.