Night Elie Wiesel Identity Change Essay

Lorelei, Bryant
World Literature
Mrs Sultan
3/24/23
Identity Change Guilt and dehumanizing action inflicted upon Elie affect his identity throughout the story, and cause what could be known as an identity crisis that is amplified due to relationships. The Story “Night” by Elie Wiesel is a biography that describes his living situation as a jewish kid in the holocaust. The story shows how the inmates were physically and mentally tortured throughout their time in the concentration camps. These events scarred many of the inmates there, and led to a loss of their own identity that they were never able to recover from. Identity is personal to each and everyone of us and is subjected to change making it an important part of ourselves.

One of those situations is when his father is getting yelled at and disciplined. Elie felt guilty as he did nothing to stop the officer and realized how much he had changed. He depicts this moment in his book when he says,“I had not even blinked… Only yesterday I would have dug my nails into the criminals flesh”(pg39 Wiesel). This is showing how Elie's time in the concentration camp has already taken a toll on his identity and how that change in identity can be found through his guilt in his hesitation to protect his father. Another example of this shown in his story is when his father is getting beaten and Elie feels mad at him instead of the officer beating him although the thought only lasted a moment. He shows this moment through his words when he says,“It was only a fraction of a second, but it left me feeling guilty”(pg111 Wiesel). Elie Wiesel's thoughts show how he has changed since the beginning, and how his identity is slowly fading in and out, which we see through his conflicted mindset of remorse. Elie’s identity was pushed even further as he experienced unjust and dehumanizing actions thrusted upon

One of the actions that caused Elie to drastically change his identity was when they made everyone strip and get naked: “For us it meant true equality: nakedness”(pg35 Wiesel). This affected Elie tremendously because it showed how they weren’t being treated as human, and through them making everyone look the same by stripping them of their clothing it showed a loss of identity throughout the jews. Among the many dehumanizing actions the Germans invoked there was one that was superior to the rest and often used throughout many concentration camps, it was public hangings. Elie Weisel was among the many who experienced these horrible scenes. He writes about how watching them slowly die tore at his heart: “I watched other hangings…These withered bodies had long forgotten the bitter taste of tears”(pg63 Wiesel). These words show how watching the deaths of fellow jews slowly ate away at his hope and tore his soul, as he knew that he could be next to die and that both him and the one being hung had “forgotten the bitter taste of tears”(pg63 Wiesel). These actions and words that were forced onto young Elie all change how he saw himself and his identity as a