Analytical Essay on "Night"

Joseph Konkle
Ms Cindy Kennel
English Honors 10 P4
30 April 2014
Elie Wiesel : The Knight of Hope
“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.” (Night 24) Never shall I forget reading that bone chilling quote from Elie Wiesel’s novel Night, Taking place during one of the darkest periods of human history. 6 million lives lost and countless families destroyed with one goal in mind; Exterminate the Jews. Throughout his novel Wiesel experiences many instances of hope and hopelessness, as many of us do. Without hope many things that we try to accomplish could not be done, hope is what helps us carry on and survive, Night proves this point. Towards the end of World War II many Jews including Wiesel lost hope when they were sent to the ghettos, torn away from their homes and possessions. Sadly for the them it would not stop there. After a few days, the caravan cars arrived to take the Jews to Auschwitz. The journey was horrendous, The tightly packed cars, their basic right to sit had been revoked, they were starving and thirsty. Madame Schächter had gone mad after being separated from her family and would yell about how she saw fire.(24) It eventually got to the point where no one wanted to hear this mad woman yell that they would hit her repeatedly to get her to be quite. When they arrived at Auschwitz and exited the caravans “An SS came towards us wielding a club. He Commanded: “Men to the left! Women To the right!”” (Night 29) At that moment he said goodbye to his mother and sister for forever.although It seems as though all hope is lost, he still has his father, who throughout this novel is one of Wiesels most tremendous sources of hope. throughout the holocaust the jews faced many hardships, these include two Wiesel went though. One, they were forced to have their golden crowns removed in order to be devoid of all valuable possessions. Another, more significant hardship, was the constant physical abuse from the kapos, in Wiesel's case Idek “....I happened to cross path. He threw himself on me like a wild beast, beating me in the chest, on my head, throwing me to the ground and picking me up again, crushing me with ever more violent blows, until I was covered in blood.” (Night 53) In this moment, Wiesel experiences true hopelessness, being beaten and not being able to do anything about it. His father who had been there for him now being able to do nothing but stand and watch. Wiesel would have given up there if not for the words of one mysterious french girl "Bite your lips, little brother … Don’t cry. Keep your anger, your hate, for another day, for later. The day will come but not now … Wait. Clench your teeth and wait …" this is a small ray of light or a gasp of air when drowning. It kept him alive, it kept him going, that shows how far the most minuscule amount of hope can take you.
In my Freshman year of high school we discussed the heros journey, and when a person is on there heros journey they go experience the abyss. Night can be summed up as one abyss. Wiesel spends almost all of his time in pure and utter hopelessness. Throughout most of the Novel Wiesel finds hope in his father, hope to keep going, and to survive, but then the worst happens. Wiesel's father was in humanly beaten by an SS Officer, while he could do nothing but stand there and watch. When Wiesel fell asleep, his father was still alive, when he woke up his father was gone, presumably taken to the crematorium. (113) That was it, wiesel had lost his last ray of light. From that point on he was just an animal, looking for food. Nothing matters anymore, his life, his father, or his family. For Wiesel. it seems like it was the end, but to his avail, it was not. That april the resistance took over Buchenwald and the american army arrived a few days later and liberated the Jews located there (115) This moment, Wiesel emergers from the abyss, he is taken out of the water, removed from the dark tunnel! He has air, he has food, and most importantly he has freedom!
In conclusion, throughout this entire odyssey, even though Wiesel experiences the deepest darkest parts of hopelessness he has been able to carry on, and survive this terrible event by hope. Without hope many things that we try to accomplish could not be done, hope is what helps us carry on and survive, Night proves this point.

Bibliography

Wiesel, Elie Night: Twenty- Fifth Anniversary Edition. New York. Bantam Books, 1960.