Loss Of Innocence In Night By Elie Wiesel

Night In the book Night, the awfulness of the Holocaust and abhorrent treatment of Jewish beings was narrated through the eyes of fourteen year old, Elie Wiesel. His family lost all privileges and freedom when they were taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944. Eventually, Elie would lose contact with his sister and mother. Therefore, he only had his father by his side. Both of them had experienced the tremendous atrocity of the gruesome life in camp. Elie’s father had seemed to lose all faith and hope, and at one point, Elie did as well. The author, Elie Wiesel showed readers how he lived through the excruciating pain and paralyzing nights. Soon, his innocence would gradually, but surely deteriorate into nothingness. In Chapter 4, a young Polish man was hanged for stealing. Elie was forced to witness his, as well as other hangings; however, the worst one was the hanging of a small child. The young boy was too light and still moving with the endless suffocation that was wrapped around his neck. “He remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes” (Wiesel 65). The hanging of the small child was almost a reflection of what life was like for everyone held at the concentration camp. There was no assurance as to who was able to live and who is not.
It did not show hope in an encouraging perspective, but more so in a fatalistic way. Of course, there were crucial times that he needed his faith to reassure him; however, it became more difficult as more time went by. This book gave readers a whole new aspect on the reality of one of the worst time periods in history. It showed what horrifying things mankind was capable of and how one’s life was easily be belittled by others. Although Elie was able to endure it all, many lives were taken. In the end, Elie was able to live through the agony and desolation due to his human instinct to