Role Of Lies In Night By Elie Wiesel

Lies are mentioned for bountiful reasons; lies can be invaluable to others or used for a greedy, egoistical reason. No matter the motive, lies are frequently told everyday. Even in the concentration camps of World War II, there were no exceptions. In the novel Night, Elie Wiesel is caught naturally lying to mislead his relative, Stein even though Wiesel has a chance to tell the truth, he decides against it. Even though he lied, I believe that Wiesel's lie was morally right.

Stein approaches Wiesel and his father requesting on any information of his family's whereabouts. Although, Wiesel "knew nothing about them...Since 1940, my mother had not received a single letter from them. But I lied" (Wiesel 44). So, he took the initiative and decided that he would rather deceive Stein than tell him the truth; so he told him, "Yes, my mother did hear from them. Reizel is fine. So are the children..." (Wiesel 44). Stein started to weep from joy. Wiesel decided to lie because he felt like it was the better option and he believed that giving Stein hope was better than destroying him. Wiesel had no evidence of what had happened to Reizel and

The truth always comes out no matter what, but Stein might have a new perspective over his family's death at a different point in time. If Stein were to find out when he asked Wiesel, then he would have lost all hope. A considerable part of him was only living to see his family again. A while later, after Wiesel has told them that his family is well, Stein cheerfully declares, "The only thing that keeps me alive is to know that Reizel and the little ones are still alive. Were it not for them, I would give up" (Wiesel 45). If not for Wiesel's lie, Stein would not have survived for another day. So, Wiesel did a friendly deed lying; he was able to protect Stein from the horrors of the truth for a limited