Human Nature In Night By Eliezer Wiesel And Roberto Benigni

Before the times of War World II Adolf Hitler rose power because of the dissatisfaction from the German community. His influence and power built up it began to spread to a national level; he decided it was necessary to exterminate all of the Jews. The Holocaust left quite the scar in the world's memories as an extremely barbaric event in history. There are not many pieces of work that can come close to illustrating the horror that occurred during this time; however, writers such as Eliezer Wiesel and Roberto Benigni have helped build a fairly clear picture of these dark times. With these works readers have the ability to face the facts and understandings of human nature around such an important time of mankind’s history. Wiesel's own account,

‘Night’ delivers a feeling of despair and hopelessness, specifically describing the actions of those in fear and desperation. These actions show the rotten and selfish side of humans; with this they are capable of finding justification within anything. A pronounced example of this side of mankind is shown when farmers toss food inside the carriages, this allowed the Nazi’s to find entertainment in them murder each other over the food. Right after this incident another example is demonstrated when a son kills his own father for a piece of bread. The novel explains the removal of not only materialistic possessions, but feelings as well. This is reinforced when the reader sees the actions that occur during the time of Eliezer’s thoughts. On the other hand, ‘Life is Beautiful’ takes on a much more loving and carefree feeling throughout. The movie displays a beautiful example of human kindness in the worst of situations, much to the contrary of ‘Night’. Guido and his son spent a lot of time in the concentration camps. Regardless of Guido's own starvation, he provides more food for his son whenever he is hungry. Guido even goes so far as to convince his young son that this whole entire camp is just a game. Given these points it is evident that the tone of ‘Night’ and ‘Life is Beautiful’ are oppose each other, however they both convey the trepidation of the

Some may disagree and state that this difference may come because of the difference in age between the sons, the movie ‘Life is Beautiful’ purposefully makes the son more ignorant and naive. All things considered, it is still best described that ‘Night’ displays a stronger instinct of survival as well as the fact that in such extreme times relationships aren't as closely considered. A prime sample is realized when, in ‘Night’, Rabbi Eliahu's own son decides to abandon him because he is fearful that his father will only hold him back. This is revealed in the quote, "He had seen him. And he continued to run in front, letting the distance between them become greater."(Wiesel, 1956, p. 116) In comparison Guido refuses to give in to the tasks the Nazi's give him, instead he invents a game for his son in order to palliate his worry. The game is quite simple in the fact that as long as Giosué obeys what he is told he will gain points and if he gains the most points he will win a tank. In the case of Eliezer in ‘Night’ he is continuously exemplified as someone whom is always conflicted within himself. The squabble is noticed when he thinks, "Oh God, Master of the Universe, give me the strength never to do what Rabbi Eliahu's son did."(Wiesel, 1956, p. 116) Thus the audience understands that Eliezer believes he is taking on the onus of taking care of his father. In either case it can