Eliezer Wiesel Character Analysis

Eliezer Wiesel changes during the Holocaust, physically, emotionally and morally. Wiesel changes, but; “Changing isn't a bad thing, it never was. But at the end of the day, you know, you’re the same person. And, where your heart is. That doesn't change.”(Sony and LLC). Wiesel changes in many ways. He becomes so weak he looks like a corpse. His emotions change in a way where he blames his father and lets him get beat up, and his morals flip and change his knowledge on the difference between right and wrong.

One way Wiesel changes is physically. He is an ordinary, healthy 15 year old who did everyday activities that any teenager would do in that state. At the start of the novel, Wiesel is studying the Torah. But he changes a lot during the Holocaust. He becomes weaker as the days go by. It all starts when, while in the camps, he keeps on eating as much as he can, it is just that the SS officers in charge feed him far less. The officers feed all of the prisoners a small amount of bread, margarine, and soup. His father, Shlomo, forces him to eat what they can. At times of desperate starvation, he would eat the food they were given. When he is told to run as he is being examined for the selection, he runs as fast as he can but in his mind all he hears is “You are too skinny, you are too weak,” which is his own voice

He changes physically when he becomes so weak that he looked like a reflection in a mirror to a corpse. Wiesel changes emotionally when he let Idek beat up Shlomo. He is so numb and confused to the point where he changes and forces anger and blame towards his own father. Lastly, Wiesel changes morally when he forgets the morality of have faith in God. This is what life in the concentration camps did to Wiesel. They broke him. Physically, emotionally and morally. The horror of the Nazi occupation should never be