“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world”. (P.Farmer). In the terrible and sickening memoir Night, written in 1954 by Elie Wiesel. Night is a very accurate representation of how poorly the Jewish people were treated during the Holocaust. Innocence is the state, quality, or fact of being innocent of a crime or offense. Simply not having a clue on what is going on. Each and every Jewish person obtained the quality of innocence. Not a single person had any knowledge of what was going to take place. In Wiesel’s Night, Eliezer along with his fellow Jewish acquaintances are people who experience the acts of dehumanization that the Germans portray. Eliezer experiences many dehumanizing actions while …show more content…
This quote is proving how Eliezer goes through dehumanizing actions while he was in Auschwitz. Eliezer does not have the choice whether he wants to remove his clothes or not. The Germans make a decision and that is what is expected to be done. If these tasks are not completed, the innocent Jewish people receive a punishment. These punishments dehumanize the Jewish people even more than what has already happened to them. Eliezer’s beliefs along with his faith vanish more and more as his time at Auschwitz goes on. Eliezer describes how his beliefs are vanishing when he states “ Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams into ashes”. (Wiesel,32). This quote is indicating that being at the camp for a longer time period, his beliefs start disappearing slowly one by one. Everything Eliezer believes in before he arrives at Auschwitz has a very beneficial impact on him. Eliezer will turn to God when something unsatisfactory happens, however being at Auschwitz completely deprives him for being close to God with turning his thoughts very negative. Eliezer is put into an unfortunate situation where the Germans decide that he is to remove his gold crown without further …show more content…
The stripping of Eliezer’s clothes, removal of his gold crown, and how being at Auschwitz makes his beliefs and faith disappear are all instances where he is a victim of dehumanization. With Eliezer’s friends being made into soup, Jewish people getting burned, and how babies were being used for target practice are great exemplifications on how Eliezer’s friends were also victims of the dehumanizing actions that the Germans portrayed towards the Jewish people. One lesson that is shown is that although they cannot choose the circumstances they are in, they choose the way they decide to deal with these circumstances. Up to 6 million Jewish people died because of their beliefs and religion during the period of the Holocaust. The fact that we live in a world that gives anyone the opportunity to believe in what they would like makes us very
In this book Elie speaks of his hardships and how he survived the concentration camps. Elie quickly changed into a sorrowful person, but despite that he was determined to stay alive no matter the cost. For instance, during the death
(Wiesel 112). Eliezer is sad when his father dies, but is more relieved because he can take care of himself now. Another way Eliezer is dehumanized mentally is through his religion. Before he was sent to the concentration camps, Eliezer believed God always knew best. But as the memoir goes on, Eliezer loses his faith.
In chapters 4 to 6 in the novel, “Night”, Elie Wiesel and his father continue to suffer in the grasp of the Germans. Eventually, all the Jews are moved to a new work camp, Buna, where they are overworked and undernourished, and resort to killing each other for pieces of bread. In his old home, Elie had never experienced brutality and inhumanity within it. Now, Elie and other Jews witness extreme violence and an absence of mercy that begins to erode their mental state; bringing most men to animalistic tendencies. In chapter 4, the Jews arrive in Buna.
Dehumanization Causing Events in Night Over the course of Eliezer’s holocaust experience in the novel Night, the Jews are gradually reduced to little more that “things” which were a nuisance to Nazis. This process was called dehumanization. Three examples of events that occurred which contributed to the dehumanization of Eliezer, his father, and his fellow Jews are: people were divided both mentally and physically, those who could not work or who showed weakness were killed, and public executions were held.
It is a human instinct to prioritize one's well-being before others. We are constantly confronted with situations where we as humans have to take action for our own contentment. In the book, Night by Elie Wiesel, he shares his own traumatic experience of the Holocaust, which was a mass murder of 12 million Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, basically anyone who is different and wouldn’t fit into Adolf Hitler’s image of a perfect society. Despite how ruthless the Holocaust was, the Elie and his fellow prisoners fought and fought for their freedom, displaying how much humanity will fight for survival. By looking at the following examples: A child kills his own father for a loaf of bread, a son leaving his father behind during one of the march so he would not die, and Elie debating if he should let his father die so he could have a higher chance of surviving.
The adversities at Auschwitz and Buchenwald caused Elie to lose faith in God. Before being transported into Auschwitz, Elie was a boy who deeply believed in God and had absolute faith in God. Elie 's first seeds of doubt in God came when he was transported into the camp and separated from his mother and sister. The other prisoners began reciting the Kaddish, but Elie got agitated when they gave thanks to God, “For the first time, I felt anger rising within me.
In the book Night by Elie Wiesel, Eliezer Wiesel narrates the legendary tale of what happened to him and his father during the Holocaust. In the introduction, Wiesel talks about how his village in Seghet was never worried about the war until it was too late. Wiesel’s village received advanced notice of the Germans, but the whole village ignored it. Throughout the entire account, Wiesel has many traits that are key to his survival in the concertation camps.
The cruelty of the German officers at the concentration camps change Elie’s personality throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel, Elie is deeply religious and spends most of his time studying Judaism. However, by the end of the novel, Elie believes that God has been unjust to him and all the other Jews, and has lost most of his faith. The cruelty of the German officers also changed the other Jews as well. The events of the Holocaust forces the prisoners to fend for themselves, and not help others.
“A traumatic experience robs you of your identity” (Dr.Bill). Concentration camps during the agonizing Holocaust disallowed their prisoners to obtain a personal identity. The renowned memoir, Night, written by Holocaust survivor, Eliezer Wiesel, published in 1954 expands the apprehension of the life altering challenges and torment the Jewish society encountered from 1933 to 1945. Identity consists of an individual's distinctive characteristics, beliefs and mannerisms which was forbidden for the Jewish hostages of the Holocaust to attain. Elie’s identity was shaped and reshaped by the traumatic experiences the Jewish community persevered through.
Elie’s Loss of Faith Within this barbarous world, there are innumerable accounts of devastating events that have occurred in the past, and continue to occur; these occurrences periodically cause us to question the existence of God. Overall, this statement proves to be correct to ill-fated Eliezer Wiesel. This brave child was exceedingly religious, as well as he had a strong hunger to be closer with God. Previous to being transferred to Auschwitz, he believed that as long as his family stuck together, everything would work out to be well. Throughout all his time in the concentration camp, he started to lose his faith after discovering the horrid ways of the camp.
The public beatings, the hanging of prisoners and making others walk past them, as well as the selection process are all examples of dehumanization. When Eliezer has to run at full speed to avoid being noticed during one of the selection processes, it is a reminder as to how large a role dehumanization
Imagine knowing your fate ahead of time. That single moment would be stuck in your head, replayed every second to prevent it. This would obstruct your feeling of morals, making you only focus on your own survival. Nothing would get in your way of trying to survive. During the Holocaust, many people were faced with this moment when they stepped in a concentration camp.
Eliezer and his father rely on one another to survive through the Holocaust. Together they encounter the cruelty of the Nazis, the lack of compassion from the prisoners, as well as the difficulty of simply surviving. They remain strong together unlike other father-son relationships seen in the novel. A majority of the prisoners gravitate towards self preservation while Eliezer chooses to remain with his father. Eliezer does exhibit ambivalence in continuing to help his father because the conditions of the Holocaust continually make it harder to make others a priority than oneself.
In the novel Night the protagonist, Elie Wiesel, narrates his experiences as a young Jewish boy surviving the Holocaust. Elie 's autobiographical memoir informs the reader about how the Nazis captured the Jews and enslaved them in concentration camps, where they experienced the absolute worst forms of torture, abuse and inhumane treatment. Dehumanization is shown in the story when the Jews were stripped of their identities and belongings, making them feel worthless as people. From the start of Elie Wiesel 's journey of the death camps, his beliefs of his own religion is fragile as he starts to lose his faith. Lastly, camaraderie is present as people in the camps are all surviving together to stay alive so as a result the people in the camp shine light on other people 's darkness.
It is a common assumption among numerous people in the world that the Holocaust never existed. In fact, almost fifty percent of the world population never even heard of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel helped people around the world learn about the Holocaust through his book “Night.” He wanted people to see the bravery, courage, and guilt of the Jews through his book. “Night” shows the horrific and malicious acts in the German concentration camps during the Holocaust.