elie's nightmare about the novel night

Elie's Nightmare
"...I did not belive that they could burn people in our age, that humanity would never tolerate it...." (24) says a young Jewish boy, named Elie Wiesel, who was forced into concentration camps during World War II. Anyone would believe that humanity would be concerned about the deaths; however, during World War II many Jewish people endured horrific events until their deaths. Furthermore, some were lucky or unlucky enough to survive the nightmare. One Jewish man who survived decided to detail his nightmare in a book with very horrific events that haunt him forever. A memoir, symbolically titled Night by Elie Wiesel, was written to explain his personal nightmare that he endured through the inhumanity he witnessed, his own internal struggle with his religious beliefs, and the reality of losing his family members throughout his experiences at various concentration camps. Inhumanity is not something that many people witness or endure; however, Elie Wiesel knew what inhumanity looked like, smelled like, and tasted like. When Elie and his family first arrived at camp, he could only remember the words of Moishe the Beadle, while he witnessed it himself, "Without passion, without haste, they slaughtered their prisoners. Each one had to go up to the hole and present his neck. Babies were thrown into the air and the machine gunners used them as targets" (5). Elie questioned Moishe the Beadle's recollections, however, now it was reality. As Elie and his father were forced into lines that had an unknown fate, while all around Elie smelled the burning of flesh and cries of death in the nightmare during his arrival at Birkenau. "We did not know as of yet, which was the better side, right or left, which road led to prison and which to the crematory." (24) These crematories were like being sent to your grave and endless nightmares because there were no proper, respectable burials. Elie's only chance of survival was based upon a decision which was not his own, this fear of death adds to the already terrible experiences at the camps. Lucky enough to pass the first selection process, Elie and his father again came to the conclusion, "we were all going to die here. All limits had been passed. No one had any strength left. And again the night would be long." (75) To live through another long night of the nightmare is significant to survival. All anyone could focus on was getting through the darkness of each night to endure another day of the nightmare. "Behind me, an old man fell to the ground. Near him was an SS man, putting his revolver back in his holster."(22)Witnessing other condemmed Jews die all around Elie made Elie's nightmare worse. Elie, having to watch the other prisoners fall to their long never ending nightmares, Elie realized that he may be put into a never ending nightmare also. No one knew when it would end yet still somehow kept the hope to live including Elie. Not only did Elie struggle through the senseless inhumane actions of the Nazis, and he also internally questioned his religious beliefs. Elie realized that God was silent throughout all of the suffering of his people. "For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the Universe, the All-Powerful and Terrible, was silent. What had I to thank Him for"? (25) As many turned toward their religion as comfort, Elie was stuck questioning the existence of his God. Elie grew very angry with God's disappearance when they needed him most. Elie needed God's trust and comfort yet could not seek it after going through horrifying experiences at the camp. "Why, but why should I bless Him? In every fiber, I rebelled. Because He had had thousands of children burned in his pits? Because He kept six crematories working night and day, on Sundays and feast days? Because on His great might, He had created Auschwitz, Bierkenau, Buna, and so many factories of death?"(49). After witnessing shocking acts of violence day by day, Elie grew very disappointed in his once idolized God and his abilities to keep his faith. Elie had once been a very devout Jew and now was not able to balance his faith in God with what he was enduring and witnessing every minute of every day. "I did not deny God's existence, but I doubted His absolute justice," (42) Elie said. Elie lost his innocence and childhood after the very first night of the nightmare began. Lossing Elie's God added to his long relentless nightmare, almost throwing him into terrifying darkness. "And, in spite of myself, a prayer rose in my heart, to that God in whome I no longer belived."(67) When Elie saw darkness darker then death he saw some light in God which whome he had thought he lost. Losing something he never lost, such as God had turned his nightmare into a internal struggle. His internal struggle had now become part of the nightmare of uncertain survival. Elie, like many Jews, was forced to live a nightmare that also included losing his family along the way through the selection process and ultimate death. After losing his sisters and mother through the selection process, Elie wondered, "How was it possible that men, women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent? No. All this could not be real. A nightmare perhaps " (24) Elie watched as the SS officer moved his baton to the right or to the left, depending on the health of the Jewish prisoners. Elie and his father were lucky enough to pass through the first selection process to endure even more punishing circumstances.The continuous nightmare went on even though families were seperated and inhumanity existed. One man in particular explained, " that having been chosen because of his strength, he had been forced to place his own father's body into the crematory oven." (26) It's almost ironic that surviving the selection process resulted in more tormenting experiences. Elie did not know what else was in store for him and just kept hoping that possibly nothing he was living through was real. Usually a nightmare will end once there is some relief, yet this nightmare seemed to never end even after the relief of surviving through selection. "We stayed motionless, petrified. Surely it was all a nightmare? An unimaginable nightmare?" (23) Wondered Elie as an SS officer told the crowed of Jews their fate. Later on, Elie's father finally struggled with dysentery and during the night was taken away while Elie was sleeping. "And I did not know in that place, at that moment, I was parting from my mother and Tzipora forever. I went on walking."(22) Elie did not only lose his dad, he lost his mother and sister during the selection making his nightmare worse. Elie losing his family throught his experiences during the concentration camps contributated to the whole nightmare. Although Elie survived the concentration camps he will forever live with the memory of the never ending nightmare and losses of his family. Elie Wiesel's Night, is a symbolic and personal memoir that details a horrific nightmare of inhumanity, internal religious struggle, and the death of his family. This memoir hooks any reader in because of the outrageous events that a young Jewish boy encounters, endures and survives. The nightmare is something that not many can empathize with and many try to sympathize with and understand. Elie and any other survivor will forever live that nightmare in their memories, never forgetting the small details about the camps. Elie said, as many survivors probably agree, "Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."(25-26)