In this scene from Night, Elie Wiesel and his inmates are rushed out of their barracks at 5 A.M, forced to strip, and ordered run, naked and cold. Elie unveils that enslavement strips one of their personal identity leading to dehumanization. Wiesel observes “Mountains of prison garb” in the concentration camp. The use of hyperbole, exaggerating the amount of prison garb, emphasizes the high density of individuals in the camp. They are forced to wear the same uniform clothing, illustrating the destruction of individuality. The use of the word “prison” shows the birth of subjection. Wiesel also uses syntax to demonstrate the conformity of the camp, recalling the daily routine “Disinfection. Everybody soaked in it. Then came a hot shower. All
“The camp looked as though it had been through an epidemic: empty and dead” (47); even when there is a break in between the horror and pain of working for Nazis in concentration camps and suffering from hunger, it is dead, empty and inhuman; this meaningful passage about the complete and utter truth of concentration camps comes from a memoir, Night, by Elie Wiesel. Vocabulary in this passage, is nothing short of exemplary, the words completely compliment the message being shared in this quote. Elie Wiesel describes the atrocious Buna camp as if it were through an epidemic, an outbreak, rendering people empty and dead due to starvation, lack of sleep, and over exertion. This paints a complete and thorough visual of how he viewed concentration
Wiesel exemplified the dehumanization of the Jewish prisoners in Night. He showed the readers a personal view of the Nazi's treatment to the prisoners. They lost their possessions,
Throughout the book “Night” written by Elie Wiesel, his tone regarding the two hangings is incredibly somber and haunting. These hangings deliver a sense of despair, horror, and helplessness. The brutal reality of the hangings underscored the immense challenges faced by the Jewish community during this dark period in history. The author uses vivid descriptions, religious references, and emotional language to force readers to feel the weight of these tragic events happening to the Jewish prisoners in the concentration camps. Wiesel’s tone concerning the first hanging that occurred evokes a mixture of shock and fear.
The imagery and symbolism present in Night by Elie Wiesel demonstrates that desperation reduces life to the most basic essentials. Wiesel's depiction of life inside the concentration camp, the sole purpose being survival, challenges the traditional view of life as joyous and meaningful. This idea is introduced when Wiesel describes how chaos ensues after bread is thrown into the wagon, watching as “men were hurling themselves against each other, trampling, tearing at and mauling each other [like] [b]easts of prey unleashed, animal hate in their eyes.” (Wiesel 101). The men being described as “beasts of prey” not only is a literal shift from human to animal, but also is symbolic of the loss of humanity under these conditions.
In the novel Night, Elie Wiesel gives an account about his life in a concentration camp. His focus is of course on his obstacles and challenges while in the camp, but his behavior is an example of how human beings respond to life in a concentration camp. The mood, personality, behavior, and obviously physical changes that occur are well documented in this novel. He also shows, as time wears on, how these changes become more profound and all the more appalling. As the reader follows Elie Wiesel’s story, from his home in the ghetto, to his internment at Auschwitz-Birkenau, to his transfer and eventual release at Buchenwald, one can see the impact of these changes first hand.
There are people crowded, shoulder to shoulder, expecting a shower and to feel water raining down their bodies. Sighs of relief turn into screams of terror as innocent people are gasping for their last breaths of air inside of the gas chamber. This was a daily occurrence for Jewish and other people involved in the Holocaust. This was just one horrific event of many that had happened to women, men and children. Some of the survivors have used their voice to speak out about their own background during their time spent in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Elie Wiesel, author of the book Night, is one of the many who did so. Wiesel talks about his personal experience and shares his feelings, thoughts and emotions that he went through with others during the Holocaust.
Elie Weisel’s Experience with Dehumanization at Night Many books have been written about the horrors of the Holocaust, but reading one from the perspective of someone who has lived through it can be especially haunting. In his book Night, author Elie Wiesel engages the reader by bringing them directly into the experience of surviving the concentration camps Birkenau, Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald. His character is developed through his reactions to and observations of dehumanization, which help him piece together the true horrors of his circumstances. Just after arriving at Birkenau from off the wagons, stripped of all their belongings, the men and women are separated.
Elie Wiesel’s book “Night” shows the life of a father and son going through the concentration camp of World War II. Their life long journey begins from when they are taken from their home in Sighet, they experience harsh and inhuman conditions in the camps. These conditions cause Elie and his father’s relationship to change. During their time there, Elie and his father experience a reversal in roles.
Throughout Night, Elie illustrates the change of the Jewish people from a unified race to self-reliant beasts who only look out for themselves and must fight for their own well-being for survival. As Elie and his father are welcomed to Auschwitz by SS guards shouting “ Men to the left! Women to the right!” (Night 29), immediately separated from their family, and having no time to acknowledge that they will never see each other again, they begin to realize this isn’t any ordinary camp. During their first night at Auschwitz they are ordered to, “Strip! Hurry up! Raus! Hold on only to your belt and your shoes”(Night 35). Their clothes representing their dignity and
Many themes exist in Night, Elie Wiesel’s nightmarish story of his Holocaust experience. From normal life in a small town to physical abuse in concentration camps, Night chronicles the journey of Wiesel’s teenage years. Neither Wiesel nor any of the Jews in Sighet could have imagined the horrors that would befall them as their lived changed under the Nazi regime. The Jews all lived peaceful, civilized lives before German occupation. Eliezer Wiesel was concerned with mysticism and his father was “more involved with the welfare of others than with that of his own kin” (4). This would change in the coming weeks, as Jews are segregated, sent to camps, and both physically and emotionally abused. These changes and abuse would dehumanize
In Elie Wiesel’s Night, imagery is employed to show the dehumanization of the Jewish people by the Nazis as the Jews develop the “survival of the fittest” mentality, and as Eliezer looses the ability to express emotions. Wiesel uses imagery of the Jews’ “survival of the fittest” mentality to show the dehumanization of the Jews who are forced to endure treacherous conditions in the concentration camps. The enslaved Jews experience the worst forms of inhumane treatment. Pushed beyond their ability to deal with the oppressing starvation, cold, disease, exhaustion, and cruelty, the Jews lose their sanity and morality. Thus, Wiesel refers to the Jews as, “wild beasts of prey with animal hatred
Setting (time and place): Early 1940s, during World War Two, Holocaust era. starting in Sighet, Transylvania, and moving throughout concentration camps in Europe.
Individuality is the supreme catalyst that guides people to feel self-worth and become emboldened in their pursuits. It is the mentality that gives humans clarity and uniqueness that make the world interesting. It is what allows each person to be respected in his/her own way. In the stories Night and Persepolis, the motif of individuality is emphatically expressed. It is portrayed as essential to the hope of the masses. When individuality is suppressed people lose virtues/self respect/humanity, motivation/will to live and faith. In essence, they give up the idea of anything else except their suffering. As thousands die, the protagonists (of Night and Persepolis)
In this scene from Night, Elie Weisel writes about the ways the Germans treat the prisoners when they arrive at Auschwitz. In this scene, Weisel teaches his reader how the Germans brutalize their prisoners. Weisel describes the Germans as “beating” the prisoners repeatedly and forcing them into “disinfection,” this is similar to how one wouuld treat an object or animal, not a human being. This reflects the brutalizing of the prisoners. Elie writes about how as the prisoners were running they “threw” clothes at them and in that moment they had “ceased to be men”. Weisel also writes about how Meir Katz, “wore a child’s pants” and how Stern, was “floundering in a huge jacket.” The Nazis did not give the prisoners the proper clothes and threw the
On one night the Wiesel and the other jews have to leave the concentration camp to another one. Wiesel tells of the darkness of this night and that they were accompanied by “[h]undreds of SS [that] appeared out of the darkness”. The opened gates ahead of him leaded to a “darker night”(Wiesel 84) ahead of them. This unsettling image symbolizes the everlasting uncertainty they have to live in the concentration camps. Furthermore the image conveys heavily on language relating to darkness and night.