Night By Wiesel Essay Research Paper NightDuring

?Night? By Wiesel Essay, Research Paper

Night

During World War II a man named Adolph Hitler came into power. He led campaigns blaming the Jews for Germany?s post-War World War I depression. The German people embraced this standpoint. Hitler had come upon a hypothesis called, ?The Final Solution?. By the time the Allies had defeated Germany (in 1945), this so-called ?solution? had resulted in the death of 6 million Europeans Jews. Most of whom were killed in Concentration Camps. Inside of these camps innocent Jews were forced into labor and when they could no longer be used, were murdered. Few survived to tell about these tragic happenings.

Elie Weisel was one of the survivors. After his 10 year vow of silence was over, this man wrote a book called ?Night?, that tells of the things he had seen in the camps making the story partially parallel to his own experiences. The main character of the story is a Jewish man named Eliezer. I believe that this character had suffered the most. Despite the fact that he had lived through the Holocaust, he had to under-go some terrifying experiences.

Eliezer?s troubles are just beginning when the Jews are confided into small ghettos, crowded together into narrow streets located behind barbed wire fences. After a few months the ghettos are emptied and Eliezer and his family are herded like animals onto a cattle car. After a nightmarish journey they arrive at Birkenau, the gateway to Auschwitz. He and his father are then separated from his mothers and sisters and are never seen by him again. The two of them pass the evaluation but before they are brought to the prisoners? barracks they stumble upon an open pit furnace where Nazis are burning truckloads of babies. Seeing these things slowly robs this man of his faith in God, which was so strong at one time.

In the barracks, the Jews are stripped, shaved, and disinfected with gasoline. Everyone is then put to work under slave-labor conditions. The struggle to survive has become harder and was ruining Eliezer?s humanity completely. He was now only concerned with his own life. Not only had he lost his faith in God, but also he almost completely lost his empathy for others. The only person he still cared for aside from himself was his father. He feared that one-day he would lose his love for his very own father and become entirely self-absorbed.

?Never shall I forget that night?. Which has turned my life into one long night?. Never shall I forget those flames that have consumed my faith forever?. the nocturnal silence, which has deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments, which murdered my God?. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself.? These words were spoken by Eliezer describing what a great effect these incidents had on him mentally.

Eliezer had many near death episodes. One time he had witnessed a guard named Idek having sex in the barracks. As punishment Idek publicly whips Eliezer until he loses consciousness. A Swedish woman nursed his wounds and he recovers. Another time, during a 50 mile run to Gleiwitz he and his father are almost trampled when they collapse from exhaustion and hunger. Luckily, they had regained their strength and manage to struggle back up and continue. At a different time he was struck with food poisoning and needs to spend weeks in the hospital. In the room that he was confided to there was a mirror. He was mortified at what he saw. ?From the depths of the mirror?, Weisel wrote, ?A corpse gazed back at me.? For some reason Eliezer was lucky enough to outlive the Holocaust.

One reason that I think Eliezer suffered the most is because in the end he lost the one thing that he still cared for (beside himself). His father passed away on the trip to Gleiwitz. In a way it was a relief to Eliezer because he would no longer have to look after his father. The fact that he was relieved left Elizer feeling guilty. This guilt would most likely stay with him his whole life.

Of all the characters in the in the book ?Night? Eliezer had suffered the most. The main reason I think this is true is because he was left with the gruesome memories. If it were me, I would have rather died with the others than to be left with the memory of all of their deaths. For the rest of his life he is going to remember the disgusting piggish things that happened to him and the others in the camp. That I think is worse than death.

By Jamie Guagliano

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