Dehumanization In Night Essay

Night Final Open Ended Question

Night, written by Elie Wiesel, is a memoir about his life as he goes through the Holocaust. Eliezer goes through many situations that cause him, and other Jews, to be dehumanized by the Nazis. The three levels of dehumanization are physical, mental, and emotional. Eliezer was affected by all three. Never in his whole life did he imagine that this would happen to him or his family.

In many ways, Nazis had physically, mentally, and emotionally dehumanized their victims. The Jews were treated so badly by the Nazis that they felt as if they weren’t even humans; they felt like animals. For example, the Jewish prisoners were always being yelled at with harsh tones. Eliezer only remembers one time when a Polish

Of these three, the worst is mental dehumanization. Mental dehumanization is the worst because if you are mentally dehumanized, it can affect you physically and emotionally as well. Eliezer was affected most mentally. For example when his father was beaten, Eliezer says, “...I had not even blinked, I had watched and kept silent.” (Wiesel 39). Eliezer is affected so badly that at times, he doesn’t care for his father. Something similar happens when his father is sick and dies. His father’s last words to him were calling for Eliezer, and he didn’t move. He ignored him on purpose. “Free at last!” (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. After the hangings, the prisoners said a prayer. But Eliezer says, “Why, but why would I bless His name?...He created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many other factories of death” (Wiesel 67). Eliezer, and soon, the rest of the Jewish prisoners, wonders why God would let this happen. People were starting to not believe in God. Out of the three ways Jews were dehumanized, mental was the worst and Eliezer was most affected by mental