Examples Of Dehumanization In Night By Elie Wiesel

The Holocaust was the largest genocide to ever occur. An entire population was discriminated against, dehumanized, and then murdered by the millions for their religious faith, handicaps, sexuality or nationality with little to no interference from the rest of the world. Today we can only imagine what it was like to live through it. As a fifteen-year-old Jewish boy in 2018, these events are unimaginable, but for Eliezer Wiesel who was also a fifteen-year-old Jewish boy during World War II, it was his reality. In his years as a prisoner of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Eliezer was exposed to dehumanizing acts which robbed him of his innocence. The thought that a boy similar to me in age and religion could be exposed to such

. Men on the right and women on the left. Then, almost instantly without as much as a goodbye, Eliezer and his father Cholom were sent to their row and separated by force from his mother and sister. To me, this moment is an example of the worst of human nature and the dehumanization which plagued the Jews of Europe in the 1940’s. A family an important component of a person’s life. It shapes a person’s identity from the moment they are born. Eliezer is torn away from his mother and sister in a matter of seconds. “I didn’t know that this was the moment in time and the place where I was leaving my mother and Tzipora forever.” Throughout the rest of his memoir and life, Eliezer lived with the pain of losing his mother, his sister, and his grandmother. This is one of Eliezer’s many moments that I am so glad I will never face. As a fifteen-year-old boy, I am dependent on my mother, brother, and sister to thrive.My sister drives me to school, my mom is in charge of all my scheduling, and my brother constantly brightens miserable days. The love, support, and care that they provide is invaluable to me just like the love Eliezer receive from his mother and sister. I can’t even imagine living with that big of a

Eliezer, now fifteen-years-old looks at his reflection in a liberator’s mirror, the first mirror he had been given access to since he was twelve years old. Emotions overwhelm Eliezer as he sadly ponders, “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.” Eliezer saw a skeleton of the boy he once was. Three years of his life had gone by and in that time period, he had become unrecognizable to himself. He had lost his mother, sister, and father. He had been beaten and abused. He had witnessed killings, and been pushed to his limits but he survived . Yet, it wasn’t Eliezer who survived, but a new person entirely. This moment of the book was especially emotional for me. Many of the crucial changes and additions to my identity occurred as I turned 12, 13, 14, and now 15-years-old. I became more responsible and mature like most tennagers, but I also learned to show empathy, respect, perseverance, and many of the attributes that are fundamental to my identity. These attributes have been shaped by all the love in my life . It causes me to thrive even when something happens which might initially cause me pain and hopelessness. However, Eliezer had lost this love and support. He had been forced to mature without guidance, support and love. He gained the will to overcome and to survive. While I cannot relate to Eliezer in this regard, I feel