Night Analysis

The Sacrifice of Humanization

When people are told they are something over and over and over, they may begin to believe that it is true, and indeed they begin to become it. In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel there is a use of a heavy symbolism. The most redundant and most important symbols that are used throughout his memoir are those of animals. In this memoir the constant comparison of the Jews to animals is used in a negative connotation and so that we see how the Nazi’s really were dehumanizing the Jews as a whole. Some of the major animals that were used for symbolism include cattle, dogs, and lambs. Not only was the symbolism used to show how lowly the Nazi’s felt about the Jews, but also to show that continuing to call them these various animal names and treat them like the animals began to make them actually behave like these animals would, and by that they were dehumanized. The first major animals that the Jews are compared to are cattle. This is a reoccurring animal that Wiesel continuously reminds the reader that the Jews are compared to. The first instant where the Jews are compared to cattle is when they are all forced onto “cattle cars”. “They had first been herded through the main synagogue…” (Wiesel 18). The use of the word herded here starts off the tone of them being compared to animals. Herded is a term used for animals when they are going to be put together and looked after. The Jews are then next were forced onto the cattle cars. Cattle cars are normally meant for cattle and transporting them, not human transportation. In the memoir Wiesel talks about being put in these cars, “The world had become a hermetically sealed cattle car.” (Wiesel 24). This is implying that now Wiesel’s world is being a cattle, he is forced to be in a locked up tight cattle car with 80 other people, shoved in to inhumane conditions. The cattle cars are not the only reference to Wiesel and the other Jews being considered cattle. While talking about the selection process Wiesel says ““You…You…You…” They pointed their fingers, the way one might choose cattle, or merchandise.” (Wiesel 49). When the Kapos were deciding what Jews they liked and wanted to have, they simply walked through and pointed at whom they wanted to do labor for them, just like a farmer when going to buy cattle to do labor on a farm. The next significant animals that are used as a symbol in the memoir are dogs. Many times in the memoir the Nazis would call the Jews dogs as a term of degradation or to dehumanize them. The first time that this symbol is brought about is when the Nazis are talking to the Jews on the cattle cars “If anyone goes missing, you will all be shot, like dogs.” (Wiesel 24). In the Nazis saying this to them its showing that they do not put value on them as humans, and treat them as they would any other wild dog. Not only does this show that the Nazis do not value them to the reader, but in actually telling the Jews themselves that they consider them dogs, it puts it in the mind of the Jews that they are worthless and inhuman. The next example of the Jews being considered dogs is when they are being transported to another concentration camp. “Faster you tramps, you flea-ridden dogs!” (Wiesel 85). In this quote it shows a few things about the views of the Jews from the Nazis’ prospective. The first is that they are first called tramps, even before dogs. Tramps is a more degrading word for dogs than just dogs. It shows that they are looked even less upon. They have no home, no family, and are barley surviving, like a tramp. Next referring to them as “flea-ridden” dogs is showing that they are also even more worthless. They are sick and should be looked at in a demining way. Continuing to call the Jews dogs to their faces shows how little the Nazis think of them. This is also continuing to play into the fact that the Jews will also begin to think that they are worthless and become dehumanized. The last important animal symbol that is used in this memoir is a lamb. This was a less common animal used, but because of the Jewish heritage, the use of it is very important. Jews consider the lamb to be a sacred animal; they use it in Passover and as a sacrifice to their God. The first time that a lamb is mentioned in this memoir is when Wiesel is talking about the coveted cauldrons of soup that they all want. “Two lambs with hundreds of wolves lying in wait for them. Two lambs without a Shepard, free for the taking.” (Wiesel 59). Wiesel considers these soups the lambs because in his religion they are considered holy. These soups are holy to them because it can mean life or death to them, just like in their religious views the sacrifice of the lamb can mean life or death in the afterworld. The next reference in connection to a lamb is when Wiesel is talking about God. “Praised be Thy Holy Name, for having chosen us to be slaughtered on Thine alter?” (Wiesel 67). This is important because of how the Jews sacrifice their lamb; they are now being “sacrificed” in a way and Wiesel is seeing it now, that they are truly meant for dead in the Nazi’s eyes like the lamb in theirs. All these realizations of being compared to and called animals are very important in the eyes of Wiesel. The Jews have become completely dehumanized by the end of memoir, and in a sense become a wild animal. The first place where the reader really gets a feel for the dehumanization in them is when a son kills his own father just for a piece of bread. “Don’t you recognize me…You’re killing your father…I have bread…for you too…” (Wiesel 101). This is the first place the animal likeness really sticks out. A boy kills his own father just for a piece of bread. The Jews are no longer concerned about keeping family, a humanized value, but rather surviving and doing it at any cost, just like an animal would. This boy is not the only one who begins to feel the need to survive on his own, and only worry for himself. Wiesel himself, although never actually acting on it, begins to feel this way. He has the burden of taking care of his father, when really all he wants to do is fend for himself. “…if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!...” (Wiesel 112). Coming from a boy of only 16, this is not a normal, civilized, human thought to have. This thought of being free when a person dies is caused by being dehumanized and becoming animal like. Only in the most dehumanized, animal situations would a person feel the relief of someone they truly love dying. In all this one of the most vivid times is when all the Jews would fight over the small amounts of bread given to them. “Beasts of prey unleashed, animal hate in their eyes…Sharpening their teeth and nails.” (Wiesel 101). This quote right here truly shows the animals that they have become; they were ready to fight like wild beasts. Wiesel describes them using very wild animal, barbaric terms: beasts, unleashed, hate, sharpening. When this is described a reader would be reminded of a lion’s den and the lions fighting till the death to get what they could to survive. The Jews finally being pushed to the nature of animals truly shows the Nazis’ succession in dehumanizing them. This memoir has some very important messages that are wanted to get across to the reader. The most important message that Wiesel is trying to get across to his reader is that of the dehumanization that is taken place. He uses the imagery of cattle, and how the Jews are herded and selected like cattle would be, He uses the symbolism of dogs and how the Nazi’s do not think anything more than tramps of the Jews, and he uses the reference of lambs, this being extremely important in the correlation of the Jewish religion and the sacrifice that they are used in. All this use of animal symbolism is used to conclude how the Jews truly have become dehumanized like the Nazis wanted, and acted like wild animals in the end because that’s what they were called and treated as.