The Capability of Evil Within Mankind What is evil?

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the definition of evil is “morally bad.” However, after reading the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, one begins to question the depths of the superficial dictionary definition. In Elie’s memoir, he is able to show the capability of evil within mankind by describing his experiences through one of the most horrific events in history. The three strongest cases which show what evil is capable of, occurs in the early and final chapters. In the earlier chapters, the actions of the homosexual camp leader and the execution of the “sad-eyed angel” clearly portray the will of evil. Moreover, in the end, Elie surprises the readers with the German workmen who take bread and torture the Jew for their own sadistic pleasures. Through the usage of a few sentences, Elie is able to explain the wickedness of his fat homosexual camp leader. Elie states how the leader is extremely nice to children because “he had brought them bread, soup, and margarine” (Wiesel 46). However, the next statement in parentheses states that the leader wasn’t doing this out of “disinterested affection,” but instead, there were many homosexuals including the German camp leaders, who wanted to use the children for sexual purposes. At first, this statement appears extremely sick and weird; however, there is an underlying message: the Germans would never do anything out of kindness, instead everything they did was for their own selfish pleasure. This underlying message portrays a sense of evilness, in which every man is capable of extreme inhumane selfishness. After all, if one man can do such acts, nothing prevents any other person from acting similarly. Imagine a person who would sentence a small innocent child to death. At the end of chapter four, another cruel event occurs: the “SS sentenced [the boy who was the servant of the Oberkapo] to death” (Wiesel 61) without the slightest hint of hesitation. Just the thought of this makes the reader cringe and question the