Elie Wiesel
“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind” (Gandhi). Gandhi talks about how when one is faced with incredible pain and suffering, their mind will also have freedom. In the memoir, Night, written by Elie Wiesel, the author and many millions of other victims, were presented with this very dilemma of trying to retain their individual thoughts despite everything they were facing. Throughout his memoir, Elie Wiesel uses memories of when he was faced with the pressures of extreme hunger and his experience with witnessing death to convey his struggle to maintain his humanity.
In times of extreme hunger and high danger, Elie Wiesel struggled with temptations of food in exchange for risking …show more content…
Elie was living in a camp where death was very common, however he had yet to see someone get hanged. A week after the alert, a boy was condemned to death for stealing soup. Elie stated that “the thousands who had died daily … no longer troubled me, but this one, leaning against his gallows-he overwhelmed me” (Wiesel, 59). He was clearly traumatised and the situation got worse when he was made to stare into the victim's eyes. Yet, his hunger managed to overcome his grief as Elie “remembered that [he] found the soup excellent that evening” (Wiesel, 60). In addition, on another occasion, a boy who had been suspected of involvement in a sabotage, was sentenced to be hanged. This was truly a horrific moment in Elie’s life as he watched the boy “struggle between life and death, dying in slow agony” (Wiesel, 62). In contrast to the last hanging, this time Elie stated “the soup tasted like corpses” (Wiesel, 62). From this statement, one can make the conclusion that although Elie had a brief loss of humanity, he was quickly reminded of the torture that was taking place around him. In summary, from these deaths, Elie’s humanity was tested, but ultimately was maintained through a horrible experience.
In conclusion, the constant battle between hunger and terror as well as having to stare at death in the eyes, contributed to Elie’s ultimate struggle to retain his humanity. Elie was a victim
In times of extreme hunger and high danger, Elie Wiesel struggled with temptations of food in exchange for risking …show more content…
Elie was living in a camp where death was very common, however he had yet to see someone get hanged. A week after the alert, a boy was condemned to death for stealing soup. Elie stated that “the thousands who had died daily … no longer troubled me, but this one, leaning against his gallows-he overwhelmed me” (Wiesel, 59). He was clearly traumatised and the situation got worse when he was made to stare into the victim's eyes. Yet, his hunger managed to overcome his grief as Elie “remembered that [he] found the soup excellent that evening” (Wiesel, 60). In addition, on another occasion, a boy who had been suspected of involvement in a sabotage, was sentenced to be hanged. This was truly a horrific moment in Elie’s life as he watched the boy “struggle between life and death, dying in slow agony” (Wiesel, 62). In contrast to the last hanging, this time Elie stated “the soup tasted like corpses” (Wiesel, 62). From this statement, one can make the conclusion that although Elie had a brief loss of humanity, he was quickly reminded of the torture that was taking place around him. In summary, from these deaths, Elie’s humanity was tested, but ultimately was maintained through a horrible experience.
In conclusion, the constant battle between hunger and terror as well as having to stare at death in the eyes, contributed to Elie’s ultimate struggle to retain his humanity. Elie was a victim