Fear and Dehumanization
When studying a character’s internal conflict, it’s important to not only identify what they want, but what they are trying to avoid. An everyday necessity is to grow and change, we often seek any opportunity to deflect harsh truths and realizations. Fear can lead to dehumanization because it can cause people to see others as less than human, leading to violence and discrimination. In both life and fiction, there are many examples of how fear can influence dehumanization and vice versa. Many texts prove this to be as the ideas are developed. Present in the texts, Night by Elie Wiesel, The Inevitable by Emily Dickinson, and The Truman Show, the authors show the idea that fear and dehumanization can control a person's
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As the Jews are piled into a small wagon at the beginning of their torture journey they saw “strange-looking creatures, dressed in striped jackets and black pants, jumped into the wagon.” (Wiesel 28) They couldn’t recognize their own. Some Jewish people were getting called strange-looking creatures by other Jewish people because of the beatings and malnourishment they have been through. There is constant dehumanization not only with the enemies against the Jews it's within the Jews as well. The level of stress and torture these people are being put through is so inhuman and inconsiderate. Not only is this happening within the Jewish community but outsiders see them as animals, “a worker took a piece of bread out of his bag and threw it into a wagon. There was a stampede. Dozens of starving men fought desperately over a few crumbs. The worker watched the spectacle with great interest. Men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at, and mauling each other. Beasts of prey unleashed, animals hate in their eyes." (Wisel 100-101). As soon as the food is in sight, the prisoners transform from zombies to savage animals fighting for their lives and just a …show more content…
The thought of fearing something or when it will approach is what will make it come faster. Fear causes destruction and causes people to make the wrong judgments because of hesitation. Even though fear can be a burden to most it also can be helpful because it lets people live without risk. It makes people more cautious with all their actions and things that are said. As Dickinson explains the idea of fear she talks about her own experiences with fear, “while I was fearing it, it came.” When realizing what you fear, you are more likely to be scared and hurt by the fear. Since it has been feared for so long that idea of fear starts to fade without realizing it because it is normal at some point. Fearing something for so long can make someone lose hope in certain accomplishments and fights. Some people will live in fear because of the thought that what they fear will eventually catch up to them, “Tis harder knowing it is due, Than knowing it is here.” Again the idea of it coming and the build-up is scarier than when it is happening. This poem has expanded the explanation of fear within society and how people will live in fear forever no matter the level of distress. This text created a new perspective on how the idea of fear can create another side to the story with the thought of fear and how most fear the idea of fear before it
Dehumanization The Nazis dehumanized the innocent people. In the novel it showed what life was like during the holocaust. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesal, tells you the way that the Nazis dehumanized the Jewish race. They dehumanized the Jewish race by doing what they would do to animals. They burned them.
Throughout the novel Night and throughout the history of the holocaust, Nazis dehumanized Jewish prisoners with both language and actions. Nazis treated Jewish prisoners like animals; when they behaved well, they were rewarded with extra soup or bread and when they misbehaved, they were physically tortured or even killed. They were also referred to as numbers rather than names. This is shown when Elie Wiesel states, “I never felt anything except the lashes of the whip... Only the first really hurt,” (Wiesel 57).
Elie Wiesel, The author of the Book “Night” has experienced many forms of dehumanization, such as running in the cold German weather to being whipped with a crowd watching. These actions majorly affected Elie's view of humanity such as Elie fleeing empathy from others and listening to cruel commands. First Elie Wiesel stated, “Oh god, Master of all the universe give me the strength never to do what the rabbi's son has done. ”This quote shows how even sons sacrifice their fathers for a better chance of surviving. Elie remembered the Rabbi’s son seeing his father fall back, yet he chooses to keep running toward the front.
Also the SS men made all the prisoners look the same so they could all feel like there was no place for them. Also the SS men’s form of dehumanization was abuse and the SS men were hurting the prisoners in many violent ways including, whipping , hitting, blows to the head, barley feeding them, forcing them to get tattoos of numbers on their arms that they have to live with forever, and much more. The prisoners had to live with these scars and memories for the rest of their lives and always have a memory of what it was like in the holocaust always in the back of their mind. It's a very awful experience that they went through while in the concentration
Throughout this Essay I am going to focus on Dehumanization. To specify throughout the book the Jews are slowly dehumanized and seen as less than human. I believe Elie Wiesel uses the technique of dehumanization to effectively convey his message of the horrors of the Holocaust and the human capacity for evil. In the beginning of the book Night, the Jews were having a week of Passover, in Elies community they sang, ate and drank.
Humans are born to be afraid. A feeling of fear is only natural for humans to feel; it is a part of who we are. However, it can be more than just a feeling. Fear can be a weakness in humans even though it is only our natural instinct for survival. Sometimes, fear is so powerful that it can blur our rationality and dominate how we think and what we do.
“Dehumanization is the psychological process of demonizing the enemy, making them seem less than human and hence not worthy of humane treatment. This can lead to increased violence, human rights violations, war crimes, and genocide”. The memoir “Night” by Elie Wiesel, published in 1960. It is about how Elie survived and what he suffered during the Holocaust. Dehumanization is the process by which the Nazi gradually reduced the Jews to little more than “things”.
This is also clear discrimination because they are acting like Jews are slaves and deserve to haul around stones for twelve hours a day, when all Jews
An example of dehumanization in both novels is how they were both treated unfairly. In both novels the victims (blacks and the Jewish) were not given the fair treatment of everyone else. ' You come in here, boy, and bust up this chifforobe, and I'll give you a nickel.' (Lee 59). The whites would treat the blacks little to nothing.
Night: The Psychology of Evil “The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces,” said Philip Zimbardo after his 1971 Stanford mock trial prison experiment. Throughout the Zimbardo experiment, Zimbardo defined many terms such as dehumanization and deindividuation. Like Zimbardo, Eliezer, a young Jew from 1944 who was deported to multiple concentration camps and also wrote the novel Night, faced copious German militants who abused their power by dehumanizing their fellow humans by taking away essential items for human life such as food, drink, and freedom. Through the countless number of years that humanity has existed, victimizers who have been given power over others have chosen to abuse their fellow humans and make them victims of their rule. To study how power affects human nature, various psychological studies have been conducted to explain such behavior.
Fear comes from a lack of proper understanding, the unknown and the insecurity of not being able to anticipate or evaluate a thing. Fear also makes them want to conquer it. That means action and fighting that fear. Can you wrong someone for their instinct and
Dehumanization In the novel, Night, Elie Wiesel tells his story of his survival throughout the horrible event of the Holocaust, where inhumane treatment of Jews shattered their faith in humanity and hope. The Jews were stripped of their nature and were treated like meaningless humans, their purpose and existence meaning nothing to the Nazis as they were seen as nothing but a nuisance. Ridden of their names, soon known as numbers, and having to have seen the atrocities these Jews were exposed to was unreasonable and horrid treatment. Because of this extreme dehumanization that occurred during this time, it serves today as a way to remember those whose lives were taken and to impact society on how such behavior against harmless people can devastate
Dehumanization is a major of human cruelty. This quote shows the dehumanization that the Nazis were putting forth on the Jews. ”Without passion or haste, they shot their prisoners, who were forced to approach the trench one by one and offer their necks. Infants were tossed into the air
In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, The author shares his story and describes the conditions he had endured in order to survive in concentration camps during the Holocaust. Among these conditions, the prisoners had to experience dehumanization by the Nazis. In the novel Elie and the others had to experience dehumanization through many different concentration camps they went to and the mental and physical tolls these camps had on them. Dehumanization is the process of treating others as if they are less human, essentially depriving them of their human qualities, personality, and dignity. There are many instances in the book where dehumanization is a key concept such as when the Jews had to endure prohibition and forceful assimilation in Sighet,
Foresight and Fear What is fear? Fear is a feeling, and like all feelings it has the ability to impact everyone, including me, when making life-altering choices. While fear itself is a powerful force, it is when your foresight starts to cause this fear that its power is really shown. The picture obtained by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum shows a sight feared by millions during WWII, that became a reality for many including Elie Weisel, the author of the best selling book Night.