Compare And Contrast Essay On Night By Elie Wiesel

Survivor stories have held the truth about disasters in the world better than oral storytelling can possibly achieve. The only thing readers would assume about survivor stories is the recurring idea of surviving a horrible incident. However, two particular survivor stories - Night, a memoir by Elie Wiesel about his horrid experience in the Holocaust; and Revenge of the Whale, the true story of the whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick - have more resemblances and distinctions than one could see. The straightforward system that Eliezer Wiesel from Night uses to maintain hope is inadequate to the hope-crushing techniques the crew members from Revenge of the Whale use. This difference creates a fissure in which two discrete storylines unfold.

The people around him help him achieve this easily by telling him to "don't lose heart. Have faith in life" (Wiesel 38). He merely believes the people blindly, without looking for evidence, without a second thought. He also has a purpose to stay alive: his father. He keeps reminding himself that he needs to stay alive because his father needs him, because his father stays alive for him. Furthermore, death is surrounding him; it is present in every thought, every movement, every death. He eludes the idea by enticing others to remind him to live through pity and personal experience, similar to the way the little "Aryan" girl tells him to "Grit your teeth and wait..." (51) and how the Hungarian Jew advises him to "get out of the hospital before the next selection!" (74). He evades death very well, but at the most miserable moments, "the idea of dying, no longer being, [begins] to fascinate [Eliezer]" (82). To be able to maintain hope, he depends on others more than