Examples Of Dehumanization In Night By Elie Wiesel

Millions of people were brutally abused by the Nazis, forcing them to resort to beastly ways. Hitler, the Nazi party leader, had a master plan of dehumanizing and crushing the entire Jewish population. Until the liberation of the Jews, he had a successful run. Hitler dehumanized Jews by way of starvation, physical abuse, and verbal abuse. This theme can be seen very clearly in “Night” by Elie Weisel.
Throughout the duration of the novel, Hitler starved Jewish people, dehumanizing and further diminishing the population. The Nazis would sometimes withhold food for days from Elie and his father. “Perhaps less than that even; a starved stomach was aware of the passage of time” (Weisel 38). This is showing that food was withheld so often, that Elie’s stomach can tell how long it has been since the last meal. Even when the food wasn’t withheld, it was so sparce that people would look anywhere for more food. “Looking of a bit of bread a civilian may have left behind” (Weisel 41). This shows how Elie was starved just like the rest of the Jewish population and was reduced to eating crumbs off the ground, left by civilians.

Nazis would strike Jews for seemingly no reason. “This was Franek’s chance to torment my father and to thrash him savagely every day. Left, right: Punch! Left, right: Clout” (Weisel 41) this was when Elie’s overseer was savagely beating Elie’s father every single day, for simple mistakes during marches. It could easily end in death for a Jew. “We received more blows than food; we were crushed with work. And three days after he’s gone, we forgot to say the Kaddish” (Weisel 57). After an acquaintance of Elie’s had passed away, they were being beaten so often that they couldn’t say a prayer for their friend. Further showing that the Hews were being dehumanized by physical