FREE ESSAY ON NIGHT BY ELIE WIESEL

NIGHT BY ELIE WIESEL

Book Review of
NIGHT
~* *~
May 2000
~* Summary *~
"Where is God now? (A man behind me asked)...He is hanging here on this gallows..." This
is where the Holocaust left young Elie. It left him with a feeling that there is no God,
or if there is, he is not as wonderful as everyone has been proclaiming that he is.
The story begins in the small town of Sighet near Transylvania were Elie lived with his
parents and two little sisters. Elie studied the Talmud during the day and spent his
evenings in Synagogue praying. His life revolved around his undying faith and love for
God. He loved God and the Jewish faith so much that he often cried while he was praying.
He and his family lived without fear and in happiness until some of the people of Sighet
were deported. One of them, Moche the Beadle, returned with stories of Jews being
slaughtered and babies being tortured and used as firing practice. The stories were
dismissed as crazy and they told themselves that they were all safe. They believed they
were in the peaceful hands of God.
Unfortunately, in 1944 German troops moved into their town. They set up ghettos and
controlled their lives with fear. The people of Sighet were forced to leave their homes.
They were packed into cattle wagon trains and given buckets of water and bread to eat.
They stayed in the train for many days and were not allowed to get out to go to the
bathroom so they were condemned to live amidst filth. Some people started going crazy.
One old woman screamed almost the entire time about flames and burning flesh. Little did
everyone know that what she was yelling about was the fate of everyone in her company.
When they finally arrived in Birkenau, they exited the train to the smell of burning
flesh and the sight of smoke and flames. 
When they got into the camp Elie and his father were separated from his mother and two
little sisters. They did not realize immediately that they would never see them again.
After they were separated they were told to march in a line that was heading directly
toward a tremendous hole in the ground in which the charred remains of Jewish corpses
could be seen. 
It is then that Elie begins to wonder why it is that he has been blessing God. The people
around him had begun to say a prayer for the dead and for themselves. He wonders why he
should bother? No God that he knows would let such evil go on, therefore there must be no
God. People around him were asking the same questions. Others told them that God was
testing their faith and if they kept themselves strong and survived for as long as they
could, God would be pleased and they would be blessed. 
They continued marching straight up to the edge of the ditch with faith in their hearts
and were suddenly told to turn left into barracks. Elie and his father were given tips by
men that had been in the camp longer about how the Germans were working and how to
survive. They were told what you had to say and how you had to act in order to stay alive
longer. All Elie cared about was not being separated from his father. 
For over a year they were forced to live and work in extreme conditions. They were made
to walk miles on little sleep and even less food for continuous hours and days at a time.
Men were beaten and killed for their hunger, fear, sickness and exhaustion. They had to
endure the stress of selection where they were briefly examined and were selected to be
killed because their weakness was a drain on the camp. 
Elie's father grew very sick and became very weak. One day while he was calling for Elie
to help and comfort him guards at their camp beat him. When Elie woke up the next morning
his father was gone from his bed, inevitably taken to a crematory. A few weeks after he
and many other Jews were set free. 
~* Review *~
Night is an amazingly thought provoking and touching story. The descriptions of the
horrors that Elie faced grab you and make you understand completely what kind of pain he
and everyone else faced. This book was written to show how exactly horrendous the
Holocaust was. It also shows you how evil can destroy persons belief in something that
they hold dear, no matter how precious the belief is to them. I think the book clarifies
how much hatred there is in the world. I think that people look simply at what is right
in front of their face and take it for its value, forgetting that somewhere else, the
hatred is intolerable. I don't think that until many years after the Holocaust, did
people start to realize what had happened. I don't understand how powerful nations with
common sense in their brains could have let such attrocities take place, especially when
one single, solitary man is the cause of all of it. 
We have all herd stories of the terrible acts that were committed during the Holocaust
but I think it is hard to imagine how horrible it really was until you read a novel such
as this one. I wold have never thought that people would fight for their lives and their
beliefs in such a way. To let themselves go through so much for so long because of their
unlimited faith in God is unfathomable. To hear of their hardships and their undying
strength gives me a feeling of hope and pride. People should not let their lives be
judged by ignorant people. They should fight for as long and hard as they can for what
they think is right.
An example of this need to live, to keep going as if to see how much one can endure is in
chapter six. Here Elie describes the forty-two mile march from Buna to Gleiwitz in the
blinding snow. There were thousands of men running as fast as they could, with scarcely
any meat left on their bodies or clothes on their backs. If they fell out of ranks or
slowed the pace they were shot dead on the spot. "They had orders to fire on any who
could not keep up. Their fingers on the triggers, they did not depriver themselves of
this pleasure."
I think that this work is very important to the study of culture and society. You begin
to understand that the holocaust was an extreme example of the damage that ignorance can
lead to. I think that Mr. Wiesel has thoroughly covered and expressed how necessary it is
to know about the horrors of the holocaust. He carefully writes the novel with the
greatest of detail to stress exactly how terrible their situation was. With his
descriptions you are able to picture everything vividly and nearly smell the burning
flesh right along with him. 
Everyday we hear of hate crimes against people of color or varying sexuality. All of this
hate is formed in ignorance. Fortunately, I don't believe that in these modern times, any
of us will ever see anything as horrible as the holocaust, which is why I think it is
important for everyone to read this novel. It helps keep the words and memory of the
victims alive in our minds and it may reach someone who has hate in their heart, it may
make them realize the extent of pain that hate can cause.