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Georgia White

Ms. Crowell

Advanced Composition

1 May 2017

Elies Changes Throughout the Book Night

The memoir Night by Elie Wiesel tells of the horrible hardships faced by a young Jewish

boy who must go to the Auschwitz concentration camps with his dad. During his time there, the

Nazis beat and starve Elie, along with his father, who is his driving force to stay alive. As Elie

struggles, he begins to lose much of himself as a person. Throughout the book, Elie battles many

internal and external dilemmas such as his faith, his survival, and the camp officers; he survives

by depending upon the comfort of his father, yet, during this process he loses faith in God and

his father.

In the text, Elie separates his life into two different times. The day refers to his time

before the Nazis and the concentration camps, and night is Elies imprisonment. When Elie

leaves the ghetto, the German officers allow the Jews to bring one bag of personal belongings.

But as the Jews arrive to the camp, they must leave their bags in the cattle cars in which they

come to the camps, The beloved objects that we carried with us from place to place were now

left behind in the wagon and, along with them, finally, our illusions (29). Here Elie says that he

has finally left his illusions behind; he finally understands the cruelty of the world, and he is

about to experience it. Elies night begins when he sees the fire ditch where the Nazis throw the

small children and babies. This aspect of night is Elies childhood torn away from him, like a

band-aid torn off quickly to prevent prolonged pain. The moment he sees this, Elie says, How
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was it possible that men, women, and children were being burned and that the world kept silent?

(32). In this moment, Elie sees people dying. To someone who lives such a sheltered life, it is the

most shocking thing he ever sees. But this is only the beginning of Elies loss of his childhood

innocence.

Near the end, while Elie and his father run to Gleiwitz with the other prisoners, Elie has a

realization about his father, which destroys the last of his childhood. Elie says, My fathers

presence stopped me I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his

sole support (86-87). Here the role of Elies father as the caretaker switches; this proves true

when the two arrive in Gleiwitz, and Elies father becomes sick. Elie gives his father his rations,

and holds onto him, even though Elie knows he will die. These are the sacrifices of a father who

only looks out for his child. When his father dies, Elies response is not to weep, but to think that

he is free at last. During the resting period at the brick factory, Elie knows that Rabi Eliahus son

has abandoned his father because he thought that the Rabi would fall behind. Elie says, Oh God,

Master of the Universe, give me the strength to never do what Rabi Eliahus son has done (91).

This quote shows that Elie will do is willing to pray to God, in whom he has no faith, asking for

help, only for his father. Even though others abandoned their family for their own personal

survival, Elie does not, and even prays to God not to.

Young Elie is very deeply religious. In fact, religious studies are Elies passion: By day I

studied the Talmud and by night I would run to the Synagogue and weep over the destruction of

the Temple (3). But, as Elie sees the atrocities committed by not only the Germans, but also by

his fellow Jews, he loses this faith in an all-loving God. He outright defies God; he rebels against

others prayers to God, and though he never loses his belief in this God, he does lose his faith:

And I, the former mystic, was thinking: Yes, man is stronger, greater than God (67). This quote
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from Elie shows that he has given up on God saving him; Elie believes that he will save himself.

During this time, Elie stands in the Appelplatz for the Rosh Hashanah prayer. He hears the words

of other Jews blessing Gods name, and thinks to himself, Why, but why would I bless His

name? (67). This loss of faith causes Elie to struggle through the camps with a sense of never-

ending hopelessness. Without God, all he clings to is his father.

The Nazis in the camp purposefully take the humanity of the prisoners in the

concentration camps. Elies humanity deteriorates as the Nazis dehumanize the Jews, causing

them to all become desensitized to things like death, hunger, and suffering. Elie shows his lack of

humanity while the S.S. member beats Elies father, just before his death: I could see that he

was still breathing-in gasps. I didnt move (111). Here Elie shows self-preservation, whereas

young Elie would have helped his father: What had happened to me? My father had been

struck, in front of me, and I had not even blinked Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails

into this criminals flesh (39). This quote from Elie, comes from the day he arrived at

Auschwitz. This shows even from the first day he was at the camps, he was so scared of what

may happen, he stopped standing up for what is right, and this is a true loss of humanity. This is

why in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech Elie says, And that is why I swore never to be silent

whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation (118). Loss of

humanity, in Elie, results in showing self-preservation.

In conclusion, Elie loses his identity in Auschwitz. The horrible things Elie sees and

experiences lead to his loss of identity. In turn, this loss of identity results in Elie losing his faith.

On top of losing his faith, he loses his father, his reason to live. These two things he depends

upon for his survival, and after they are gone, Elie only lives for the next day. He loses the hope

to escape, or to be freed.
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Works Cited

Wiesel, Elie, Wiesel, Marion. Night. New York: Hill And Wang, 2006. Print