Eliezer, a little Jewish boy, and his family are taken from their home in Sighet, Transylvania, and brought to Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps in Night by Elie Wiesel, an autobiographical novel set during World War Two. The horrors of the Holocaust and the struggle for survival in the face of terrible suffering are powerfully and unsettlingly portrayed in the novel. The first terrible thing that happened to Elie was when he, along with his family and the rest of the Jewish population, was rounded up and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. This was a traumatic experience for Elie, as he had never been subjected to such cruel treatment before. The dehumanizing conditions and the inhumane treatment of the prisoners were simply unbearable. This leads the reader to believe that Elie is in for a wild ride in this camp and it will impact him heavily. …show more content…
Elie was left with his father after being cut off from his mother and sisters. Because of the circumstances in the camp, his father's health deteriorated, and despite Elie's best efforts to take care of him, there was only so much he could do. Elie has been heartbroken about his father's slow, agonizing death throughout the entire novel. This shows how traumatized Elie was he had no time to morne the loss of his father that is real dehumanization. Elie observed the execution of children at Birkenau, which was the third terrible event that occurred to him. As Elie witnessed defenseless children being burned alive in pits, it was one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the novel. The Nazi officers' brutality and barbarism were on full show as they committed these crimes without any sense of regret or guilt. This indicates that they had no hart left no tears to cry because of what they where forced to do and tolerate the inhumane housing
In a twisted turn of events, Elie lands in the middle of a world full of death and devastation. He spends the next several months in German concentration camps witnessing death, as well as, suffering from physical
Throughout the story “Night”, there are many ways and examples of man’s inhumanity to man. Elie and many other jews first experienced this when they were forced out of their homes to the concentration camp. Elie and other inmates witnessed violent actions daily at the concentration camps, from soldiers beating inmates and inmates fighting other inmates. Experiencing these actions affected Elie and other people in the concentration camps.
In the text, Elie talks about what things he will never forget about his first night in camp and he states “Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever….Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.” (Wiesel 34) this shows how on the first night in Auschwitz that he starts to question why his god would let something like this happen and he starts to lose faith that his life will get better. While Elie was in the Buna camp he and the other prisoners were forced to watch the
Imagine a life where you had nothing to look forward to; everything you care for is either broken, stolen, or dead. Would you still fight for your life? Or would you give up? When Elie Wiesel’s life takes a turn for the worst in his novel, Night, he does not lose hope; he fights for his life against the Nazi’s and their dehumanation.
Then, when Elie catches an officer having an affair with a young Polish girl, he is brutally whipped in front of everyone by the same officer. Overall, the captives went through starvation, mental abuse, whippings and, beatings to the point where it became a daily occurrence. It was hard to read the gruesome details of how the prisoners of Auschwitz were tortured but, even though the Jews were put into the camps because of their faith, they still continue to practice it. The Jews in Elie’s camp would pray before every meal and, a rabbi in the camp lead them in prayer. However, while everyone else continues to pray Elie’s opinion on religion has completely
Babies! Yes, I did see this with my own eyes … children thrown into the flames…” (Wiesel, Elie). From the text the reader is able to comprehend that other people, Nazis, are the humans murdering the children without an ounce of remorse. This makes the reader question how people with a beating heart and functioning brain can commit such atrocities without a second thought.
Elie Wiesel was just a young boy when he experienced the brutality, torture, and control in concentration camps during the Holocaust. In Night, a memoir by Elie Wiesel, he tells of how SS officers working for Hitler used fear to control the prisoners in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. In the concentration camps, the Nazis violence made the prisoners fearful so that they could control them. Elie Wiesel and the other prisoners have been extremely dehumanized by the brutal conditions they go through during the Holocaust. Elie is being called out for seeing the Kapo, Idek, having an affair with a Polish girl, and he was punished.
Not long after, Elie and his father were moved to another camp where conditions were just as bad. Elie’s experience at this camp was dehumanizing. He was beaten and saw things no human should have to see.
The Holocaust was a devastating time for not only adults but children as well. Throughout the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel changes spiritually, physically, and socially. In the country of Auschwitz where he approaches a concentration camp beginning to see the cruelty and brutal trauma Nazis had in plan for not only just Elie but others, by not eating, working to the bone, losing the connection to his family as well as his passion and loyalty to god. Dehumanization is shown throughout the novel beginning with the hanging of the Jewish boy in front of the rest of the prisoners, the Natzi soldiers throwing bread into a cattle car, and losing sight of his faith in god. Each event challenged his inner strength.
When he was 15 years old, he and his family were taken to Auschwitz, a concentration camp in Poland. During his time there, he witnessed the brutal treatment of Jews, including forced labor, starvation, and torture. Elie and his father were separated from his mother and sister, who were sent to the gas chambers. Despite the unimaginable horrors he experienced, Elie survived and went on to become a renowned writer and humanitarian, dedicating his life to promoting peace and understanding. Throughout the book, Wiesel describes the inhumane conditions that he and other children were forced to endure, including the long death marches, the cramped and unsanitary living conditions, and the constant threat of violence and death.
As an adolescent, Elie is forced to bear witness and experience unspeakable horrors; things that no child should ever have to go through. Seemingly overnight, Elie and over six million other Jews are stripped of their identity, faith, and humanity. Starting at his arrival in Auschwitz, Elie realizes the world’s capability of cruelty as he helplessly watches hundreds of men, women, and children alike being thrown into pits of flame. Left in utter horror, Elie questions “how it [is] possible that men, women, and children [are] being burned and the world [keeps] silent” (Wiesel 32). Years in malicious concentration camps, such as Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald, result in detrimental physical and mental repercussions as prisoners are deprived of the most basic human rights.
And through Elie’s story you can begin to see the treatment of those considered lesser, like how sick and old people would instantly be sent off to be killed instantly, and children and babies would not be spared this treatment as the Nazi party would regularly massacare and kill them as according to them they wouldnt be of much use. The story countines and It would countine to show the prejudice behavior the Jewish people would have to endure. But in the end of the story Elie is liberated from the camp but not without the trauma of what he had to endure and then the grief of his father, mother, and sister all passing
Elie survived the camps for nearly two years claiming he gave up on survival, however it wasn't until the passing of his father, he truly felt as though there was no reason to live. Elie says "I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I had no more tears. And, in the depths of my being, in the recesses of my weakened conscience, could I have searched it, I might perhaps have found something like- free at last" (106). After the death of his father, Elie loses the ability to care for his own life, and loses the little hope in survival he has.
Elie reiterates his family 's experience as thralls of Nazi Germany, numerous surrounding Jews are dehumanized and it is quickly understood by the captives that it is every man for themselves, this results in altercations strewn around the camps for essentials like food or water. The prisoners ' emotions exponentially become more fragmented, and actions are assessed by wants, not morals.
The people who were thrown into these camps had personalities that weren’t the same by the time they were done with the camp. Deprivation of hope can be the blame for this. However, many people who went into these camps were still very caring of others. After a while in the camps, Elie became more caring of his father than he did for himself. He would trade things for extra bread for his weak father.