Night by Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel's Night is a direct testimony as to what extent a concentration camp can change a person - to what point the human mind can be perverted and to how far the human body can be twisted. Wiesel's narration is so raw and candid one can actually sense Elie's dramatic shift in character as he struggles to survive, dealing with both internal and external conflicts. Elie changes greatly throughout the course of the novel, and his experiences at Birkenau, Auschwitz, and Buna are ones that mark this change and have left a lasting scar on Elie Wiesel. At the opening of the book, Elie's strong connection with God is greatly stressed. We see Elie as this orthodox young boy, with a great belief in Judaism and in God. He recalls himself, "I believed profoundly. During the day I studied the Talmud and at night I ran to the synagogue to weep over the destruction of the temple." (pg. 13) This shows Elie as a devout Jew, who faithfully believed in God, studied the laws of the torah, practiced Jewish traditions, etc. Elie, however, completely changes when he arrives at Birkenau - his struggle with his faith and God begin. Elie writes, "For the first time, I felt revolt rise up in me. Why should I bless His name? The Eternal, Lord of the
At the camps, Elie witnesses so many horrors, yet in a way, he has been numbed of pain. His questioning of God's existence was instigated because of the concentration camps. So much, that after being liberated, as he stared into the mirror, "a corpse gazed back at me," (pg 126) he was almost unable to recognize himself. He has seen cruelty's worst face and the flames from the crematorium (in other words, the concentration camp) have completely destroyed his ties with God. he did not know that in the next months, his life would depend on that very soup he ate everyday. Can we even truly say this is the same person? Or did the concentration camps completely change Elie?. For example, at arriving at Buna, when Elie was asked if he wanted to be in a "good unit", Elie answered, "I certainly do. Elie morphed from a normal 12-year old boy into a victim of the concentration camps. We do not have much insight into what Elie was like before the Holocaust, yet the immense effect that the concentration camps have had on him is visible. Elie becomes a completely different person throughout the course of the book. 51) Instead of reacting, as a rational son would have, the concentration camps had brainwashed him to such a point, that he remained silent, unaffected. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck, before my very eyes, and I had not flickered an eyelid.
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Acceptance Essays
