Preview

Dehumanization In Eliezer Wiesel's Night

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
822 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dehumanization In Eliezer Wiesel's Night
Night The holocaust was a time when Jews were prosecuted by the Nazis under Hitler’s rule in the years 1933-1945. People who survived the holocaust speak of what they went through; others tell their story through writing. Eliezer Wiesel (Elie) a survivor of the holocaust and he told his story through a book called “Night”. Night is about what Elie lived and thought during Word War II. He speaks of what he felt during the time when little by little he was being moved into one concentration camp into another. Night is a powerful book that contains unbelievable truth. What makes it unbelievable is how Elie writes it, describing it deeply so you can picture what is going on in each scene. In the beginning Elie describes how the townspeople …show more content…
This sentence gives the readers a quick picture how humans were treated as things and not treated as a human should be treated by comparing babies as targets. “You must get completely undressed... Run as if the devil were after you! Don’t look at the SS. Run, straight in front of you!” is another example of dehumanization. In this part of the book Jews were ordered to strip and run in order to pass a test for survival. This is an example of how Elie, his father and his fellow Jews were humiliated. A final example of how Elie and other Jews were dehumanized was when they were asked to leave their homes and were moved into the ghetto “Faster! I had no strength left. The journey had only just begun, and I felt so weak...” They had little time to pack their most precious belongings and move out before something worse happened; they were taken out of their own homes into the …show more content…
Though, the fact that there was a chance that a family member was alive was not grate but there was still hope. In the book Eliezer lied to Stein, his relative, about his family being alive because Eliezer felt that if he lied, Stein will still have a motive to stay alive. In my opinion I think Eliezer was morally right because he tried to save someone’s life even if it cost lying to him. The fact that he knew if he told Stein the truth he would have no motive to live. The significance of “night” in the novel is to describe in one word what Eliezer thought of the years he spent in the concentration camp. Night is described as a dark day in this case dark years. “Night. No one prayed, so that the night would pass quickly. The stars were only sparks of the fire which devoured us. Should that fire die out, there would be nothing left in the sky but dead stars, dead eyes.” This sentence is an example of how Eliezer thought he was living his life in darkness. Another example of how Eliezer felt was when he wrote “The night was gone. The morning star was shining in the sky. I too had become a completely different person. The student of the Talmud, the child that I was, had been consumed in the flames. There remained only a shape that looked like me. A dark fame had entered into my soul and devoured it.” In here he describes how in one night everything can change; the child he was is no more. Eliezer was liberated on April 10th

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the author’s point of view, the theme of dehumanization leads to the lack of individualism is conveyed through the use of similes, metaphors, and imagery.…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book Night, by Elie Wiesel, is very emotional and horrendous during the description of a disheartening tragedy known to mankind. He shares his horrifying experiences during the Holocaust through a captivating 120 page book, illustrating how he survived. In his book, Night, Elie Wiesel develops the plot by using very vivid figurative language to describe very sentimental experiences.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The motivation Eliezer has to endure is to keep his father alive. Even though his father is a constant burden, Eliezer is determined never to desert his father like Rabbi’s Eliahou’s son attempts. Even when Chlomo becomes sick with dysentery, Eliezer stays by his side. He gives his father his own soup, forfeits his own bread, and even tries to get a doctor to help. “For a ration of bread, I managed to change beds with a prisoner in my father’s bunk…” (103). Eliezer is determined to never lose him. He even puts himself at risk by giving up his own food so his father would have a better chance. With his father’s life resting in his hands, Eliezer is motivated to endure this catastrophe.…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Night has many contrasts between good and evil characters that causes Eliezer to have trouble making the right decisions. In the concentration camp, one of the Blockälteste tries to persuade Eliezer into giving up on the only thing he has left—family. “Let me give you good advice: stop giving your ration of bread and soup to your old father. You cannot help him anymore. And you are hurting yourself. In fact, you should be getting his rations …” (Wiesel 178). Even through all this pressure, Eliezer does the right thing and stays true to his father. This proves that good will always overpower…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the text Night, written by Elie Wiesel, it is a horrific story about how the Nazi’s invaded Wiesel’s hometown of Sighet, Hungry and where taken under German control and sent to many concentration camps. During his time at the concentration camps, Elie and fallow Jews were in harsh and unforgettable conditions and treated severe from the Germans that no one could imagine. There is plenty of evidence which supports that even through many people turned and began to do dreadful things to one another; there were the very few people who stayed calm and gentle within all of the commotion.…

    • 1344 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The most common example of dehumanization in the book was what they were called. The Jews were addressed to as no more than filth or an animal. When the Hungarian police ordered them out of their houses into the streets yelling “Faster! Faster! Move you lazy good-for-nothings!” (Wiesel 24) the Jews began to suffer the first steps to feeling worthless. They were ordered around, given no food or water, hit, stuffed into train cars, and mistreated. Any value or respect held for them was taken away, exemplifying degradation and dehumanization. The Jews were no longer spoke to by their names. Instead, they were given and assigned numbers that were their so-called “names” for the next months. Any historical or important surnames were quickly abolished. “I became A-7713,” Elie explained, “From then on, I had no other name.” (Wiesel 42) Their humanity was taken away and all they were left with was a broken, filthy body and a number. As the year passed, the Jews became so accustomed to this treatment that they succumbed to not being anything more than a number, a face, and an enemy. Adding to what they were told they were, they also had their dignity and honor stripped from them in the disgraceful ways they were treated.…

    • 1012 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book called Night by Eliezer Wiesel is the true story of Wiesel’s experiences during the holocaust. Wiesel was born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania; he was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944, and moved to the Auschwitz concentration camp. This book is Eliezer terrifying record of his memories about how Jewish people were transferred to concentration camps. Eliezer explains how the Nazis treated them like they were animals, made them work hard, and fed them little food. (the food given to them was only bread and soup). Because of the abusive treatment Eliezer witnesses and endures at the hands of the Nazis during World War II, he is stripped of his former self forever.…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the memoir “Night” by Elie Wiesel, a young Jewish boy during the time of the Holocaust talks about all of his experiences during these horrific events and everything that he has gone through, being stripped from everything but his father and barely managing to survive everyday in the harsh conditions. He was separated from his family and from his friends too, most of whom he will not see after the first separation of men and women, ever. Elie, through all that he faces, changes from a sensitive young boy to a callous young man from before the holocaust to after his experiences in all the concentration camps.…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Night Elie Wiesel

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Night by Elie Wiesel is a memoir about Elie’s experiences in the Holocaust between 1941-1945. In the beginning of his memoir, Elie is a spiritual, religious young boy. His family, friends, and townspeople Were taken to the Concentration Camps, changing his life forever. He witnesses things that forever change his life, throughout his experiences in the Holocaust and camps, not only does his life change, Elie himself starts to change. His faith starts to seep through, his empathy gone, all he could do is care for himself and his father, who they both were taken to the same camp.…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyone will face a time in their lives when they start to question themselves or beliefs. It forces them to reflect on their decisions and their moral code. Elie went through a very traumatic event, in which no one should have to endure, let alone a child. The Holocaust changed him, as it would anyone. Elie questioned his faith many times in God and humanity. Throughout the novel you can see specific times where his faith waivers and changes.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book Night, by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, gives a firsthand account of the events that took place. Several recurring themes, motifs, and symbols are used by Wiesel to show the beliefs and ultimate moral decline that enveloped the minds of many Jewish survivors.…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    All three of the Holocaust experiences appeared to be traumatizing and life altering. In Night, the perspective of an actual Holocaust survivor is shown. In the memoir, Elie Wiesel, describes his story in great detail using evidence, metaphors, and other writing techniques. In my eyes, the title “Night” is used to symbolize death and loss of faith (which are two things Elie struggled with). Some examples of the terrible events which surfaced in the night, include Mrs. Schachter’s vivid hallucinations of hell and death, Elie and his dad’s arrival in Auschwitz, and the marches through the night. Further, Elie’s usage of tone is serious and somber, as can be expected. He’s also very mournful as he mourns the loss of his family, childhood and faith. He is very honest and does not try to sugar coat or shy anything away. For example, Elie does not dismiss the fact of guilt he had for his father’s passing, how he did not defend his father when he was beaten, and that he felt he was a burden. However, Elie is not hateful or angry. He stays away from judging or blaming people as it typically triggers more hatred.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As a result, he is now a despondent young man who finds no value in prayer and no longer believes that living a good life means life will be good. After the daily work and roll call in front of everyone, as a punishment, anyone who disobeys the Nazis will be killed. And so, Eliezer witnesses the hanging of Pipel, a small child. “And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes.”(65) How could God allow this cruelty? “And from within me, I heard a voice answer: ‘Where He is? This is where-hanging here from this gallows…’” (65) The idea of god allowing the hanging of a child for no reason reduces Eliezer’s belief in God’s protection and safety. As well as Eliezer’s overall sense of justice, stability, and fairness are much shaken. The burning of the innocent children in the beginning as he went left as a decision for his fate. “Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.”(34) Why would Eliezer believe in a God that allows innocent children to be burned? At the end of the summer and Jewish year, “Why, but why would I bless him? Every fiber in me rebelled. Because He caused thousands of children to burn in his mass graves? Because He kept six crematories working day and night…” (67) How could god allow such things as those of burning innocent children? How could Eliezer have any faith in god if this is happening to those people who pray to him? Also the event in which a son kills his father because of starvation startled Eliezer and shakes his ideals of family, as well. As people throw bread at the Jews, in wagons, “Meir, my little Meir! Don’t you recognize me? … You’re killing your father… I have bread for you too…for you too…” (101) How could God allow all of this starvation? Enough torture and starvation to cause a son to kill…

    • 1856 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Night by Elie Wiesel is a memoir that documents the story of a young Jewish boy named Eliezer who was born in Sighet, Transylvania during World War II. The story begins in his hometown, where life is normal and calm before the storm. It quickly transitions into Nazi occupation, persecution, segregation in the form of ghettos, and eventually deportation to camps. As the Jewish people arrive at the camp known as Auschwitz, they are separated and many are immediately executed while the rest are sent off to work. The persecution does not simply end at hard work all day for the Jews, and as time goes on things become progressively worse for Eliezer. The Nazis rip and tear at the humanity of Eliezer throughout the book in…

    • 2641 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the beginning, before all the agony and pain, Eliezer was a strong young man with morals and determination in his eyes. Once filled with joy he became cold, his eyes turned gray and he grew silent. After many traumatizing and daunting events, Eliezer learned to stay quiet. While his dad was being beaten by the German guards, Eliezer remembers, “My father had just been struck in front of me, I had not even blinked. I had watched and kept silent.” Eliezer was too apprehensive to stand up against the guards as all the traumatic experiences hindered his ability to react to such a horrific event. As noted, during the holocaust, Eliezer was stripped of his humanity and voice. With his dignity deprived, he no longer had the will to live. As he…

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays