Morgan McLaughlin Mrs. Butt English 9-8 16 November 2022 Bread: How Comfort Food causes Suffering in Elie Wiesel’s Night In society today, bread is a delicious comfort food that brings people warmth and joy. However, in Night Elie Wiesel uses the recurring motif of bread to reveal that individuals will do anything for a chance of survival. In the text, bread is used by Wiesel to describe individuals’ willingness to get what they want. When Stein, Elie’s relative, was told by the Wiesel’s that his wife and two sons were still alive, he was so grateful that “from time to time, [he] [brought]” Elie and his father “a half portion of bread” (44). This highlights that by lying to Stein, it earned food for the Wiesel's and helped Elie and his father live. A second example is when Elie was liberated on April 10th, the thing the free thought about was “only of bread” (115). All the former prisoners cared about was food, not their family or revenge. These two quotes demonstrate how people are greedy, only thinking about food. …show more content…
When Elie first arrived in Buna, his tent leader “had bread brought out for [the children]” (48). While this may seem like a nice gesture, it was to bribe the kids with food, something they desperately needed, in order for his tent leader to have sex with the kids. The last example is when the POWs were being transported by cart, the officers thought it would be funny to “take a piece of bread out of [their] bag[s] and [throw] it into a wagon” (100). The appearance of bread after starvation drove many to go psycho, “trampling, tearing at and mauling each other” (101). These examples illustrate how bread is used as bribery to cause further
Strength overcomes weakness People have to have something to believe in during tough times otherwise they will not be able to survive. During the holocaust, many Jewish people were stripped of their clothes, identities, and basic human rights. Survivors of the Holocaust often talk about something they found to be able to keep them alive. They often talk about if they didn't have that source of strength or perseverance they would not be here today.
A Man for Himself Man's inhumanity to man represents the cruel behavior that one shows to another. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel there are many details that represent man’s inhumanity to man. In the novel the Nazis and even the Jews were cruel and vicious towards the Jews during the Holocaust, cruelty and vicious actions are shown many times in the novel. Beginning with “They struck her several times on the head- blows that might have killed her.” (Wiesel 35)
The train passed through German towns, and one a group of curious workers and passersby threw pieces of bread into the wagons. Elie saw, “an old man dragging himself on all fours” who had just “detached himself from the struggling mob. He was holding one hand to his chest” (Wiesel 101). As soon as food fell into the wagons, every person went all men for themselves. No one else mattered, as long as they could get some of the bread.
Despite some people being in such drastic situations, they still show humanity in their actions. In the book “night” by Ellie Weisel. It talks about his life during the holocaust and what he had to go through while they put him in a concentration camp. Many of the inmates that Elie Wiesel was in camp with had shown humanity in their own ways and actions, despite being in such dangerous situations. And many of those actions could have impacted their survival.
The imagery associated with the bread motif is a powerful representation of the change from nourishment to currency, painting a vivid picture of the Jew’s moral framework as it shifts towards survival. Imagery is visually descriptive and allows the reader to imagine the story as if it were before them. Wiesel and Bryks do an excellent job of captivating the reader with their profound imagery of the ghettos. In “Bread,” Bryks introduces bread in the first sentence of his short story, “Comrade Zeide and Bluestein always went together for bread”
Although, the bystanders did nothing to help the helpless, in turn being almost as cruel. During the ten-day train ride to Buchenwald, the train stopped in a village. Curious of what the starving prisoner would do, “a workman took a piece of bread out of his bag and threw it into a wagon” (Wiesel 73). Soon several workmen were throwing pieces of bread into the wagon. When a piece was thrown into Elie’s wagon, a father got it.
Live to Achieve Your Goals Survival should always be the primary goal. Elie Wiesel in the book "Night" lived to achieve his goals. Although some people might think that survival should not always be the primary goal, it isn't true because surviving is the main one in the long run, we think about how we will live if we achieve some kind of goal. And also survival isn't only keeping yourself alive it's also the things that keep you going and motivate you to live, meaning its the primary goal in life. Some people may think that survival isn’t a goal, it is an instinct.
(Wiesel 73). This quote from Night by Elie Wiesel highlights the extreme conditions that Elie and his father faced in the concentration camp. Despite the harsh reality of their situation, Shlomo’s small act of kindness in sharing his food with Elie demonstrates the love and care that he had for his son. Elie’s appreciation for the food also shows how basic needs like food became a luxury in the concentration camp. Although Gerda Weissmann is a great example of proving empathy and engagement with mankind is what
In Night, Elie has a conversation with his father. His father says “Did you eat?” Wiesel’s response was, “No.” His father then asked, ”Why?” Wiesel told his father, “They didn’t give us anything…
The War Over Bread In Elie Wiesel’s Night, Eliezer's family and the other Jews in Sighet, Romania, are offered the opportunity to flee, but they do not take it. The whole Jewish population of Europe was then sent to concentration camps. Eliezer remains with his father in a camp known as Auschwitz, separated from his mother and sister. The family witnesses things nobody would believe at the camp if they told anyone outside of the camp.
In this memoir, Elie Wiesel uses imagery in order to develop the presence of animal-like behavior on people when they are being dehumanized. At this point of the story, Elie and the other prisoners are in a wagon traveling to a different concentration camp, and they are trying to survive in inhuman conditions. To begin, Wiesel describes, “We were given bread… We threw ourselves on it… Someone had the idea of quenching his thirst by eating snow.”
Elie and all the holocaust victims went through hell and back and all they longed for was freedom, so the minute they had been liberated, they had celebrated, by engulfing themselves in bread, lots and lots of bread. Just like ¨O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done...when the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the
Mariah Wilhelm Mr. Delgado Period 7 March, 31st 2023 Loss During the Holocaust My perspective on the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel is that it most effectively conveys the persecution against the Jews and everything they lost due to the Holocaust. These views are based on the Nazis taking away not only the Jews’ lives but also their faith and identity. Further evidence can be found in testimonies from former Auschwitz survivors as they describe their experiences while in camp.
Bread in Night Bread, you may not think of it, but in the book Night, it becomes crucial through the events. In Night, the word “bread” was used multiple times throughout the book. Now bread is just food, but sometimes, depending on people’s hierarchy of needs, it can be more than food. Bread can be food, a luxury, it can represent normality, friends and family together.
Towards the end of the novel, Wiesel 's use of figurative comparisons displays how behavior became more inhumane and conditions worsened as circumstances became increasingly dire. An example of this is when the Germans throw bread around for the victims to scramble and eat and relates the men 's behavior to, "Wild beasts of prey, with animal hatred in their eyes;…" (Wiesel 105). Wiesel implies that the victims have been so deprived of nutrition that they have no regard for human etiquette. This shift in nature from acting tactfully to behaving like wild animals signifies that the victims have lost their sense of humanity. Additionally, Wiesel conveys how circumstances were challenging when his father fell ill and had, "become like a child, weak, timid, vulnerable" (Wiesel 110).