FREE ESSAY ON THE NIGHT

THE NIGHT

The Night by Elie Weisel is a non fiction auto-biography. His special qualification for
writing this is that he lived through it. He has won the Nobel Peace Prize, and he has
written Dawn, The Accident, and The Town Beyond the Wall. He won the 1986 Nobel Peace
Prize for his efforts in improving the living conditions and promoting the understanding
and acceptance of Jews around the world. I am not sure if this is a recent publication or
a classic, but it was copyrighted in 1960. The book is organized in chronological order,
it starts at the beginning of the war and when he is leaving for the concentration camp,
and it ends when he is leaving the camp and is saved. The author's topic is the
Holocaust. His main ideas are the events that occurred in his life during that year. He
tells the happenings of someone living through the Holocaust as a Jew in a concentration
camp. 
He starts the book by giving a quick overview of his childhood. He tells of the important
people in his life, and he says the tips he got about what was to come that he had
ignored. His siblings were "...There were four of us children: Hilda, the eldest; then
Bea; I was the third, and the only son; the baby of the family was Tzipora..." He had not
gotten along so well with his father during his childhood. Someone he knew, named Moshe
the Beadle, was the first one from his community who got a taste of the war. He came back
to tell everyone about it and to warn them, but they ignored him. "... "Jews, listen to
me. It's all I ask of you. I don't want money or pity. Only listen to me."..." he would
cry out. Not even Eliezer believed him though. He would listen to be polite, and to give
him a chance, but it didn't seem realistic to him. They finally realized their mistake
when Eliezer's father got the news of deportation. "... "I have terrible news," he said
at last, "Deportation."..." which began they're terrible times and torture. 
Next he tells about the trip to the concentration camp. When they got to the first place,
everyone's head got shaved and they got branded a number. They separated the men and
women to begin. Eliezer felt a new connection to his father, he knew that he could not
lose him. "...My hand shifted on my father's arm. I had one thought-not to lose him. Not
to be left alone...". He had lost his mother and sisters, his father was all he had left,
and he would never let go. 
At the concentration camps the lies began. They told them to change their ages when they
got asked. "..."I'm not quite fifteen yet." "No. Eighteen." "But I'm not," I said.
"Fifteen." "Fool. Listen to what I say."...". Then they told his father to say that he
was forty instead of fifteen. Although they were there to keep the Jews under control,
many of the guards were trying to keep them alive and teach them the rules. Eliezer and
everyone else saw the chimneys that were for burning the people that seemed to be of no
use to them. He saw the torture that almost became immune to him as time passed and it
happened more often. He began to lose his faith. "... "What are You, my God," I thought
angrily, "compared to this afflicted crowd proclaiming to You their faith, their anger,
their revolt? What does Your greatness mean, Lord of the universe, in the face of all
this weakness, this decomposition, and this decay? Why do You still trouble their sick
minds, their crippled bodies?"...".
Then came the time that Eliezer's foot became frost bitten. It began to swell from the
cold weather. After he was operated on, he had the choice of either staying at the
hospital while the rest of his concentration camp left for a new place, or to go along
with them. If he stayed at the hospital he might be rescued by the Russians, but it also
had a chance of being bombed by the Germans. He decided to leave and take his chances
that way. "...I learned after the war the fate of those who had stayed behind in the
hospital. They were quite simply liberated by the Russians two days after the
evacuation..."
On April 10 they were saved when the American troops came and took charge of the camp.
They had survived so much pain, but they finally got a relief. "...From the depths of the
mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has
never left me."
I definitely think that this book is good for the list. I actually feel that it teaches
such a strong lesson that it should be read by everyone. It was true, which got the
effect out more, but it was also descriptive enough to bring you into the story and their
lives. The only problem with the book was that it was not long enough. When I got to the
end, I was not ready to finish it. I wanted to know more. It is even a book that can be
read over and over again and still have the same intensity as the first time. It is a
must.