Preview

Elie Wiesel's Motivation For Survival

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
300 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Elie Wiesel's Motivation For Survival
Elie Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust, detailed his experience in a popular book entitled, “Night”. Wiesel writes of his journey, explaining his witnessing of countless murders, ruthless animalistic behavior, and even the death of loved ones. Despite this horror, Wiesel never loses sight of what is important, and because of this, is determined to survive.
Wiesel’s main motive for survival was his father. He goes on to write, “All I could think of was to not lose him. Not to remain alone.” This is clearly demonstrated throughout the whole memoir. Though he ended up separating himself from his devoted faith to his God, he was far more dedicated to his father. However, due to the rigorous physical requirements needed to survive, Wiesel’s father

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    vastly between the two authors. Night is a work by Elie Wiesel about his experience with his father in the Nazi Germany concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945 (Night book.). Elie became motivated to write this novel because he felt he was obligated to share the gruesome experiences felt by Jews during that time period. Many scholars agree that “Elie Wiesel wrote the book "Night" as a memoir of his experiences as a Jew during the Holocaust. He calls himself a "messenger of the dead among the living" through his literary witness” (Why did Elie Wiesel write the book night?). This proves that he felt responsible to address this experience and make certain that the genocide that stripped him of his identity and childhood…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Elie Wiesel Inhumanity

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Wiesel addresses the theme of mankind’s inhumanity towards others as he recounts the event on a passenger ship involving the Parisian woman and the native children fighting for a coin in the water. He connects this moment to the horrific scene on the train where men fought to death for scraps of food and German soldiers laughed. We humans can sometimes be the most inhumane, from all the destruction we cause to the pain and suffering we create.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Elie Wiesel's Survival

    • 107 Words
    • 1 Page

    During the Holocaust, over 11 million people were killed. 1.1 million were children and 6 million were Jewish. In the novel titled, “Night” by Elie Wiesel, he speaks about a young boy named Elie Wiesel. This novel also explained his thoughts/feelings during the tragic event. During, Elie Wiesel lost his mother when the Holocaust started and lost his father at the end of the Holocaust. Three qualities that contributed to Wiesel’s survival was his intelligence, when he hid his left arm, his bravery, when he refused to separate from his father during the selection, and his determination, when he decided to not stop running during the flee.…

    • 107 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Night By Elie Wiesel Hope or despair? The book "Night" by Elie Wiesel is a first-person narrative about the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the genocide of over 6 million European Jews and others by the Nazis during World War II The book tells the story of the time when the author was taken to a concentration camp by the Nazis. At the time he was only 14 years old and lived in Sighet, Transylvania. He tells us all of his horrifying experiences as a Jewish prisoner. Even though he tells us this gruesome story I believe he is trying to tell us that even though terrible things may happen, you must always have hope that things are going to get better.. It must have been very hard for him to narrate this memories that probably still haunt him so we must be thankful to him for giving us this chunk of history that was missing.…

    • 700 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Night Essay

    • 1346 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The millions of deaths that Elie Wiesel witnesses throughout his experience in the Holocaust cause his faith to slowly fade away. In the novel, the young teenager unfortunately witnesses death and must deal with the tragic loss of the ones that he loves. One of the most devastating sights he saw was of the young children, “Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky” (Wiesel 32). The life changing sights Elie Wiesel saw during the Holocaust will strongly remain within his memory. Wiesel’s faith was on the line and he did not know how he was going to be able to hang onto it while he was being forced to watch the bodies of young children burn to death (Wiesel 32-43). Another death that causes Wiesel to lose his faith is when he sees a young boy turn on his father for food. While traveling between the concentration camps, the prisoners were malnourished and delusional. Elie witnessed a savage young boy kill his own father for a small ration of bread, and then watched another man kill the young boy for the same ration. When Elie Wiesel beheld these tragic events he was weakened and did not know if he could still have trust in God. God did not create man to kill. However, Elie questioned whether or not God was still…

    • 1346 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    An estimated six million Jews died during the Holocaust. Conversely, only about three million were able to stay in hiding or survive the concentration camps. One survivor, Elie Wiesel, endured 15 grueling years (months?) within the camp's walls. His physical survival coordinated with his father’s guidance, personal strength and toleration, as well as luck. Shlomo Wiesel, Elie Wiesel’s father, was able to stay close to Elie through the concentration camps, giving each of them a reason to stay alive. During Elie’s time within the camp, he endured labour work (which led to further problems), as well as punishments directly and indirectly related to his actions. Throughout his entire time within his camp, his ability to stay alive was promptly related to encountering a great amount of luck. Whether it be being in the right place at the right time or associating with the right people. Nevertheless, Elie Wiesel conquered all odds.…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The holocaust has given way to one of the most horrific events the world has ever seen. The holocaust was the genocide of Jewish people, killing more than 11 million people in total and 6 million Jews alone. Elie Wiesel is a Jewish survivor of the holocaust who shares his experience in the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp. Elie Wiesel, author of Night reveals how he lost his family and faith to the evils he experienced during the holocaust. This book is still very important because people need to be shown how imperative it is to stand up for what is right and to challenge society to make the world a better place for everyone.…

    • 1147 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    His personality is not like it was before his year spent in the German concentration camps, but it is no longer as it was during the Holocaust either. He does not see himself as a body with no meaning, and his faith is stronger than that of the angry boy he was who thought God abandoned him back in Nazi Germany. After traumatic and life altering experiences, a person has to have the bravery, determination, and a will to want to return to a life of normalcy. Many do not recover, but the success or failure of a recovery depends on the individual person. Wiesel, now a successful, contributing citizen of society, is proof that re-humanization after dehumanization is more than…

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Elie Wiesel Silence

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “And yet, having lived through this experience, one could not keep silent no matter how difficult, if not impossible, it was to speak” (Wiesel introduction). Elie Wiesel introduces his tragic memoir Night with the fact that silence was not the answer for victims of atrocities. This memoir depicts Elie Wiesel’s experiences at Auschwitz, one of the cruelest concentration camps during the Holocaust. Through the pain and seemingly eternal silence that fell upon the victims, a voice needed arise to shed light on the broken actions in the world. Elie Wiesel, in his memoir Night, reminds the world that “silence” or “indifference” to atrocities committed anywhere is an unacceptable answer to those in need.…

    • 1094 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    He saw babies and humans being burned, for no apparent reason. Angered, Wiesel came to a solution by stating “Why should i bless His name?” (42). At times, Wiesel’s faith was totally gone because he was angered towards how people were treated, and why God didn’t do anything about it. Wiesel’s relationship with God remained as he believed that God was out there, just hidden saying “I did not deny God’s existence, but I doubted His absolute justice.” (53). Then time passes and Wiesel’s relationship with God is then questioned when he is influenced by the people around him. One day he came across three victims being killed, and listening to to people saying “Where is He?” (72). Wiesel was also influenced by Akiba Drummer, as the motif in his eyes showed that he lost total faith in God. Wiesel no longer blessed God because he realized that there was no point of blessing God when he allowed so many horrid things to happen. Wiesel also stopped praying, since he had no time to do so. All this resulted to an extent of Wiesel being spiritually dead. Wiesel lost total faith and spirit in God, because of the horrid experiences he went through, which changed his perspective on certain…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Often people may wonder, “what did I do to deserve this?” Well, that is exactly what Elie Wiesel was thinking in 1960, when he was just 15 years old. Wiesel is the author of the memoir “Night”. He is a famous holocaust survivor. This novel describes his fighting journey in the concentration camp “Auschwitz”. He struggles with many factors, the two biggest factors being survival and faith. If there is a situation where cruelness is a key factor, the one being attacked may wonder why God isn’t helping them out in this situation. That can make them question God and may take over their sense of faith in him. Cruelty taking over the sense of faith is displayed in this novel, including the deaths of many innocent, the death of Meir Katz, and the death of Elie’s father, Shlomo Wiesel.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Wiesel's book, “Night,” he narrates the life of an inmate in a concentration camp in Auschwitz. As you read, you start to get the feel of how scary the camps were and how terrified the workers were. Wiesel informed us how they treated the souls of the camp. They were scared and confused when they were first brought to in the camp. They lost their loved ones and many valuables.…

    • 183 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It would seem as if Wiesel is suggesting that sense faith enables hope, the Jews had to maintain hope to survive. Their hope desired for something good to happen, and expected it; but their faith gave them certainty that what they were expecting would be done. Basically, Wiesel was saying that a life without faith or hope is empty and not worth living. Whether their faith was based in reality or not, it was the essential element that gave the Jews the strength and will power to go forward emotionally and physically. Faith, and the hope that goes along with it, could sustain them through even the most horrific experiences even though they could not see evidence of their future…

    • 934 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Elie W. began his journey full of spirit. He started dwindling in his faith for god throughout the days and months he was in the concentration camp. Elie went from the enthusiastic child praying every night always hoping for the best to being grown up and expecting the worst. Elie W. was a spiritual person. Elie lost his faith in god because of the horror he experienced in the holocaust.…

    • 357 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Night

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Jordan Cheatham Kirst ENG 101 March 11, 2011 Elie Wiesel’s Night The tragedies of the holocaust forever altered history. One of the most detailed accounts of horrific events from the Nazi regime comes from Elie Wiesel’s Night. He describes his traumatic experiences in German concentration camps, mainly Buchenwald, and engages his readers from a victim’s point of view. He bravely shares the grotesque visions that are permanently ingrained in his mind. His autobiography gives readers vivid, unforgettable, and shocking images of the past. It is beneficial that Wiesel published his work, if he had not the world might not have known the extent of the Nazis reign. He exposes the cruelty of man, and the misuse of power. Through a lifetime of tragedy, Elie Wiesel struggled internally to resurrect his religious beliefs as well as his hatred for the human race. He shares these emotions to the world through Night.…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays