Night By Elie Wiesel Night Analysis

Many Jews in Sighet chose not to believe the warnings from Meadle the beadle who caught glimpses of the full horror. Many people clung to the belief that his reports were exaggerated because contemplating the truth was too horrible. Even Elie who heard of Meadle’s stories took pity on him not fully aware of what was to come. The Jews of Sighet caught glimpses of what waited for them unwilling to believe in Hitler’s plan or escape whatever was to come. Until the Jews experienced first-hand the horrors that existed, they cannot believe that such horrors exist. On the first train to the first labor camp Elie felt optimistic when arriving to Auschwitz saying “Confidence soared. Suddenly we felt free of the previous nights’ terrors. We gave thanks to God.” (Wiesel 27). When arriving to the camp Elie became more optimistic when he started to find people he knew still alive, even in these dark times he was able to find happiness. Not only did Elie have this mind set but the others in the camp as well they believed the war was about to end, even though there was no clear sign. Upon hearing that they were bought to Auschwitz to be killed the younger Jews wanted to rebel while the older ones told them to rely on faith. In the midst of religious persecution the Jews managed to look on the brighter side of things
by singing and praying together. The leader Akiba Drumer says, “God is testing us {..} we have no right to despair. And if he pushed us relentlessly, it’s a sign that he loves us more” (Wiesel 42). In the first separation Elie remains with his father, but still uncertainty remains. While most us can assume the fate of his mother and sisters; Elie is forced to watch his father be beaten and fails to defend him. Elie realizes what the camp has done to him worrying about his own survival and is angry with his father whenever he gets in the way of a guard or other inmates. With the story of Rabbi Eliahu looking for his son thoughts cross Elie mind of the son wanting to free himself of the burden of his weak father much as he wanted to leave his father he still remained with him. Just as the young boys had beaten their own fathers, Elie had fears that he too will turn on his father for his own survival. Even though Elie doesn’t mistreat his father his bitterness grows throughout the story. Death was all around and no one blinked an eye after weeks of seeing bodies in the yard, even sons abandoned their fathers without a tear (Wiesel 92). I don’t understand why the Germans would do such barbaric acts only to keep it from happening to them. In the book Night, Wiesel explores his own mind of his terrible experience and why God is allowing the Germans to commit these crimes against the Jews. He mentions no Nazi ideology which allows for these events to speak for themselves and readers to draw their own conclusion. For Wiesel motives are to warn others so people don’t forget and it doesn’t happen again. The loss of innocence plays a big part in the book night not only was Elie, but many others including adults who lost their innocence to the experience of the Holocaust.
At a young age when the Nazis moved into Elie home town and was torn apart from more than half his family he began to slowly lose his innocence and began to realize just how cruel the world was and lost faith in God. He claims he lost himself, “My eyes open and I saw that I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man. Without love or mercy” (Wiesel 68). The holocaust eliminated any chance of a normal life, never again will Wiesel have a day where he doesn’t think of what
happened. Many Jews lost their faith in humanity and God; many of those people believed that God had abandon them. Just like many of the Jews, Elie questions God, “Behind me, I heard the same man asking: ‘For God’s sake, where is God?’ and from within me, I heard a voice answer: ‘Where is he? This is where- hanging here from this gallows…” (Wiesel 65). The longer the Jews stay in the concentration camps the more they experience cruelty and suffering and no longer believed that a just God would allow for this to exist. Elie was amazed at how many looked for comfort in their faith by continuing to pray and recite the Talmud. Later as more people die the others around him lose hope even the rabbi whom he talks to eventually believes that God’s existence is impossible. Stated in the preface of Night “to bear witness for the dead and for the living.” Because of the horrific experiences, he believed it was his duty to record the first-hand experiences he encountered and help prevent this from happening again. The survivors grow old and die and the memories of the genocide fade with them and Wiesel knew early on that he must survive to tell his story. One positive lesson that emerges from Wiesel was to later speak out against orders that take away human rights. During the time in the camp Elie finds the Jew and even himself not standing up to the guards, and what happen to the rest of the world. Many people were scared to speak up even the Germans they believed that if they went against the Nazi party they too would be treated just like the Jew. The Jews were beaten and broken way before they even came to the camps they were already too weak mentally and physically to take a stand.