Night And Maus II And Elie Wiesel Analysis

Many people believe that prisoners in Auschwitz do exactly what they are told, and nothing else. On the contrary, these prisoners took advantage of every opportunity and were selfish when it came down to a matter of life or death. They also had to rely on themselves, and not depend on others in order to survive. In the novels Night and Maus II by Elie Wiesel and Art Spiegelman, the main characters Elie and Vladek are prisoners at Auschwitz. Both Vladek and Elie take advantage of the opportunities given. They are also selfish when it comes to survival, hence only relying on themselves. This is crucial to their survival of the death camp. In Art Spiegelman’s Maus II and Elie Wiesel’s Night, Elie and Vladek have to take advantage of every opportunity,
Towards the middle of the book, Elie’s father is sent to a different block, and he and Elie have relied on each other up to that point. Elie’s father gives him utensils which will help him with his situation at the moment: “Look, take this knife,” he said to me. “I don’t need it any longer. It might be useful to you. And take this spoon as well. Don’t sell them. Quickly! Go on. Take what I’m giving you!”(Weisel 71). This teaches Elie that no one will be there anymore for him to rely on. He will have to use anything somewhat useful to survive. He can’t trust anyone there, thus having to become selfish. He has to be selfish with what he can find, and what his father gave to him in order to help his situation in Auschwitz. This will be crucial to his survival of the death camp. This isn’t the only time Elie has to rely on himself and be selfish at the death camp. Towards the end of the book, the prisoners at Auschwitz were forced to march many miles away from the camp. The person he was marching next to wasn’t able to keep walking, nonetheless was trampled by the other prisoners. Elie kept on marching because he realized he had to think of himself and rely on only him from then on: “I quickly forgot him. I began to think of myself again.”(Weisel 82). This explains why Elie comes to realize that he can no longer rely on anyone but himself. He can’t think of anyone else and how they are
In the death camp, the characters are given opportunities to help better their situation. Both take full advantage of this and become selfish with what comes of it. They also learn to rely on only themselves because you can trust no one to be there for you. They couldn’t think of anyone else’s problems but their own to survive. This still happens today, for example, in the workforce. When an opportunity like a promotion is offered, most people will work harder and do whatever they can to take the promotion to better their lives. If Vladek and Elie hadn’t taken advantage of opportunities or hadn’t learned to rely on only themselves, would they have survived