The Role Of Execution In Elie Wiesel's Night

Over the course of Eliezer’s holocaust experience in the novel Night, the Jews are gradually reduced to little more that “things” which were a nuisance to Nazis. This process was called dehumanization. Three examples of events that occurred which contributed to the dehumanization of Eliezer, his father, and his fellow Jews are: people were divided both mentally and physically, those who could not work or who showed weakness were killed, and public executions were held.

Elie Wiesel is comparing the soup to the taste of corpses because before they went to get their soup to eat, they watched the hanging of three bodies, two men and a child. They had to watch the light child struggle for life in the noose, watching him for half an hour up close until he died, no one wanted to see a child get hanged at an age like that. I feel that the emotions Elie is trying to communicate with us is extreme sadness and sorrow not only because of the death of the two prisoners, but because of the death of the boy. This quote to me, means that because of what he saw up close and for a half an hour, the 13 year old boy trying to cling to his life in the noose, had left a bad taste in his mouth for the soup.

The author of the Night did not understand why God punishes the innocent and righteous, who worship Him, even in the death camp, what did they do? They pray for you! Glorify your name. Wiesel openly expressed his hatred for God, was not afraid. He thought that after what happened in Auschwitz, the religious dimension of Jewish identity completely lost its meaning. He accuses, and the accused was God. His eyes were open and he was alone in a world without God and without man. Without love and mercy. In Auschwitz, even Orthodox rabbis lost faith. But when he felt crushed, his faith, lost grounds to fight and began to die. Elie Wiesel confessed to deny-standing religious practices even in a symbolic and moral.

In Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, he compares hangings of two prisoners; through his word choice, he reveals the brutality many people faced during the Holocaust. During an air raid on Buna, a prisoner utilizes an opportunity to steal soup. The next day, the same prisoner is sentenced to death. During this hanging, the prisoner yells, “‘Long Liver Liberty! A curse upon Germany!”’(Wiesel 46). This quote shows that the prisoner is rebelling against the Germans. This action gave many people in the camps hope because they are not in a place to rebell. This in a way, restored the prisoner faith and boosted their morale. This is the reason why his soup tasted better. However, during the second hanging, a small child was also sentenced to death. When

1. After the hanging of a child, Elie hears someone say, “‘For God’s sake, where is God?’ And from within me, I heard a voice answer: ‘Where He is? This is where—hanging here from this gallows…’ That night, the soup tasted of corpses” (Wiesel 65). Though optimistic at first, Elie Wiesel, along with many others at the concentration camps, began to lose faith in God. The people doubted the existence of their God more and more as events happened. After witnessing the execution, Elie is unable to enjoy his soup because of the grim tone created by the hanging the child. While the Nazis intended public hanging as a means to keep prisoners in check, it turns into a dark ritual that makes prisoners less productive.

Elie Wiesel witnessed numerous hanging throughout his time spent at the Jewish concentration camps, but he chooses to write about only two specific hangings. The first hanging was a man sentenced to death for possession of weapons, but the second hanging was three different people being hanged, but “among them, the little pipel, the sad eyed angel.”(64) The two hangings were very similar mechanically. In both hangings, machine guns were pointed at the prisoners, the victims denied blindfolds, the victims did not seem fearful, and after the hanging was complete the prisoners had to walk past the dead bodies. Although at surface level they seem more similar than different, but the deeper look that is taken between the two hangings, the more

Losing faith is like clearing off a foggy windshield. The true pain and suffering of the world are revealed. During the Holocaust, the SS would often force prisoners to witness the deaths of fellow prisoners, to scare them into obeying the SS and to show the prisoners what would happen to them if they did not follow orders. In the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel uses symbolism and metaphors to show the theme that suffering will weaken religious faith.

“Yes, you can lose somebody overnight, yes, your whole life can be turned upside down. Life is short. It can come and go like a feather in the wind.”- Shania Twain. At times, it appears unviable for one’s life to transform overnight in just a few hours. However, this is something various individuals experienced in soul and flesh as they were impinged by those atrocious memoirs of the Holocaust. In addition, the symbolism portrayed throughout the novel Night, written by Elie Wiesel, presents an effective fathoming of the feelings and thoughts of what it’s like to undergo such an unethical circumstance. For instance, nighttime plays a symbolic figure throughout the progression of the story as its used to symbolize death, darkness of the soul,

Most parents tell their children that monsters come out at night. What do monsters usually do during the night? They kill or bring death with them. Ellie Wiesel proves this theory true with his use of the word night in his book “Night”. During World War II Adolf Hitler sentenced the Jews to concentration camps to endure hard labor. Also known as the Holocaust. Wiesel was a survivor of the Holocaust. The Holocaust was full of monsters and dark times. Throughout his book the word night appears nearly every time something bad happens to Wiesel or his family; therefor, the word night can symbolize death or horrific events.

In the novel, “Night” Elie Wiesel communicates with the readers his thoughts and experiences during the Holocaust. Wiesel describes his fight for survival and journey questioning god’s justice, wanting an answer to why he would allow all these deaths to occur. His first time subjected into the concentration camp he felt fear, and was warned about the chimneys where the bodies were burned and turned into ashes. Despite being warned by an inmate about Auschwitz he stayed optimistic telling himself a human can’t possibly be that cruel to another human.

In chapters 4 to 6 in the novel, “Night”, Elie Wiesel and his father continue to suffer in the grasp of the Germans. Eventually, all the Jews are moved to a new work camp, Buna, where they are overworked and undernourished, and resort to killing each other for pieces of bread.

“I felt no pity for him. In fact I was pleased with what was happening to him” (Wiesel 52). Elie Wiesel’s character became a brute, because he witnessed children being killed, death everywhere and his loss of faith.

In Night, Elie Wiesel uses details to portray his resilience through the hardships of the Holocaust.

“Whenever we suffer a physical or emotional trauma, it is said that a part of our souls flees the body in order to survive the experience. With every cut and wound, our essence and vitality grows weaker.”--Mateo Sol

Sometimes nightmares come true; and they're far worse than anything you ever expected. This was true for Elie Wiesel, the author of Night. He and thousands of other innocent people were stuck in a seemingly never ending nightmare: being forced into concentration camps by Adolf Hitler. Wiesel’s novel his personal experiences trapped in some of these camps, along with his thoughts and inner turmoil about his religion. When reading his novel you get a glimpse of the holocaust from a young survivor’s point of view, with the intricate writing skill of a college professor (Wiesel 3). I enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who wants to read an inspiring book about a young boy’s survival through the holocaust.