Theme Of Friendship In Night By Elie Wiesel

Often, the theme of a novel extends into a deeper significance than what is first apparent on the surface. In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, the theme of night and darkness is prevalent throughout the story and is used as a primary tool to convey symbolism, foreshadowing, and the hopeless defeat felt by prisoners of Holocaust concentration camps. Religion, the various occurring crucial nights, and the many instances of foreshadowing and symbolism clearly demonstrate how the reoccurring theme of night permeates throughout the novel.

Elie Wiesel experienced many personal and social conversions. One theme that relates to everyone throughout the novel Night, is freedom v.s confinement. In the beginning of this nonfiction story, Elie and his family are arranged in a ghetto in their town. The author introduces this by saying, “Two ghettos were set up in Sighet. A large one, in the center of the town, occupied four streets, and another smaller one extended over several small side streets in the outlying district. The street where we lived, Serpent Street, was inside the first ghetto.” The idea of confinement is now being constructed. Within the ghetto, they are not aware, but this was the last time they would see their homes or a place that gives them full contentment/ satisfaction.

In Night by Elie Wiesel, the author reflects on his own experience of being separated from his family and eventually his own religion. This separation was not by any means voluntary, they were forced apart during the Holocaust. Wiesel was a Jew when the invasion of Hungary occurred and the Germans ripped members of his religion away from their home in Sighet. A once peaceful community where Wiesel learned to love the Kabbalah was now home to only dust and lost memories. Most members of that Jewish community were never to return, hell greeted them with open arms as they walked through the now rusty gates of Auschwitz. In order to survive unimaginable circumstances that were enforced in these camps, a boy had to hang on to his humanity. But by no means did humanity stay with the boy, being subjected to the horror of concentration camps, Auschwitz and Buchenwald, Elie Wiesel saw first-hand how members of other communities attempt to silence opposing voices. All of the pain that Wiesel saw inspired him to keep watch and tell stories for people who wouldn’t live on to tell them for their own families. Stories are what keeps a person alive and through Eliezer’s words that he puts down many are able to get a sense of closure in knowing what occurred at these camps. One story occurred on the first train ride away from home, a lady named Madame Schächter was beaten up for crying out against imminent death, unseen by others.

After nearly 2 years of misery, anguish, and despair, a young boy is finally freed to a normal life he had almost forgotten existed. Elie had started to become accustomed to the fact that indifference would be what decides if he survived in the concentration camps or not. In the novel, Wiesel employs the motif of silence to illustrate that silence from the Jews represents the fear, apathy, and the absence of God which results in them constantly feel hopeless and are mentally defeated.

In the book Night, Elie Wiesel focuses on the idea of the unknown. It is a recurring theme throughout the text. The book gives many examples of things that are unknown to Elie and the other characters. For example, on page 27, Elie writes, “‘Auschwitz.’ Nobody had ever heard that name before.” This quote tells readers that the characters had no idea about the concentration camp prior to when the person by the window read it out loud. They were unaware of the sinister things taking place in Auschwitz and the danger that was now placed upon them.

In Night, altruism is what separates man from beast. Humans as a species differ from the majority of the animal kingdom in their willingness to sacrifice their own well-being for the benefit of others. To be human is to be compassionate and caring for your fellow man. In Night, Elie Wiesel shows that humanity is [usurpable]. Subjected to the inhuman conditions of the Nazi concentration camps, his sense of altruism and compassion essentially disappear, leaving only animalistic self-interest and the instinct to survive.

In the book Night, Elie Wiesel writes about the human condition. Dictionary.com defines human condition as the positive and negative aspects of existence as a human being in the book Night there are three main themes: Faith, Survival, Family.

The book Night by Elie Wiesel is a novel about a young man 's’ journey through the holocaust and all of the adversities he faces and overcomes. It briefly talks about his life prior to he and his family being taken from their homes.The novel then tells us about the awful journey Eliezer, the main character, goes through while being a victim of the holocaust. The book is placed in a holocaust camp for the most part, but it starts off in Hungary which is where Eliezer and his family is from. The story is based in one main concentration camp and towards the end they are forced to go to another concentration camp. . The book talks about everything Eliezer experiences

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”- Elie Wiesel. Elie Wiesel wrote the book Night to tell the world about his experiences during the Holocaust. During World War II, Elie and his family, along with all the other JEws were transported to concentration camps where they were starved, and tortured. Elie’s writing lets readers remember this tragic event in history. Elie’s relationship with his father changes from a distant one to a close relationship because in the beginning of the book Elie and his father are disconnected. In the end, they get closer despite Elie's conflicting feelings toward keeping his dad alive, rather than worrying only for himself.

The memoir, Night, written by Elie Wiesel, talks about Elie, the main character, experiences life in several concentration camps and settings. The narrative starts off in Sighet, Elie’s hometown; however, Elie spends the most time at Auschwitz—a concentration camp in Poland overrun by the Nazis. Wiesel writes himself as the main character, a young Jewish boy about 14 years old. Elie not only struggles with abuse and starvation, he also struggles with his faith in God—questioning God’s justice—and himself as he goes through the concentration camps. Through Elie’s struggles, the author conveys that there was none or very little humanity left in the concentration camps. Human nature was very scarce with all the cruel treatment from the Nazis. Wiesel uses the symbols fire, bread, and eyes to convey and illustrate themes in the narrative.

Human beings, time and time again, have demonstrated how people are stronger together than on their own, but would that still be true in a time of privation such as the Holocaust? Eliezer was born in late September, during the year of 1928. He lived with his parents and three sisters in Sighet, Transylvania until his whole family was sent to Auschwitz. Eliezer stayed close to his father and developed a strong relationship with him as they were transported together to two other camps: Buna and Buchenwald. In his book, Night, Elie Wiesel illuminates the importance of family on a person’s ability to survive through the depiction of Eliezer’s relationship with his father.

In Elie Wiesel’s book Night, there are several themes throughout the entire book. Some of these themes are emotional death, struggle to maintain faith, keeping dignity despite inhumane conditions, and self-preservation vs. family commitment. I feel like self-preservation vs. family commitment is shown the most throughout the book. Many charters throughout the book showed family commitment over self-preservation. The first example is when they first got to Auschwitz during the first selection.

Human connection can affect us by how to communicate with others. In story Night by Wiesel. He was in a “death camp”, he met dozens of inmates were there to receive them. The shows “Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God himself.”(Wiesel 37). The quote shows Elie will mark all these scenes in his mind. Those scenes will be a negative affect to Elie, these will make him have a psychological shadow and lost trust between human. Throughout the story some inmates took all all their clothes. Elie and his friend can only freezing in the dark night, but they still try to get through it. The text shows “‘Don’t cry, Yehiel,’ I said. ‘Don’t waste your tears…’” ( Wiesel 38). This quote in the story shows,

In Night, author Elie Wiesel writes about the changing relationship between him and his father from when they lived in Sighet to when his father passes away. At first, Wiesel describes his father as a man who never shows emotion and is more concerned with others than his own family (2). When Elie asks him if he can study the cabbala he states, “You are too young for that” and says he must wait until he is 31 years old (2). Elie disobeys his father and studies the cabbala anyways with the help of Moshe the Beadle. Moshe the Beadle was a poor but humble man that was well respected in the town of Sighet (1). Elie and his father’s disagreement about studying the cabbala shows right away that their relationship wasn’t as close as it could be when they were living together in Sighet.

You are an eight-year-old boy forced to move with your family from your home in Berlin to the countryside because your father received a promotion as the head Nazi officer at a work camp. Without any friends, you sneak away during the day to explore the land behind your house and find what you understand to be a “farm.” It turns out to be a work camp where you meet another boy your age. You quickly become friends with the boy named Shmuel, who is forced to live in the work camp because he is Jewish. You do not understand the hatred towards the Jews during this time, and because of this, an unlikely friendship forms. Shmuel’s father disappears and you offer to come into the camp to help look for him. When searching in the barracks, things