Night By Elie Wiesel Humanity Theme

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If you endured mass genocide for years, would you ever want to vocalize what you saw? Elie Wiesel survived the Holocaust and has recorded a book called Night of what he saw. Elie Wiesel uses numerous themes throughout Night to adequately expose the experiences that these Holocaust prisoners had to endure through. One topic Wiesel addresses at Night is the survival instinct. The theme he develops around this topic is when people are reduced to nothing and treated like animals, they will only care for themselves and do appalling things to others for their benefit. This is seen on page 101 when a boy murders his own father for a piece of bread. Then the son is killed by another collection of men who wanted the bread as the others just watch. The theme is moreover explored on page 91 when another child abandons his own father because he feels his father was weighing him down. These examples show how ruthless humans can be when they feel a strong sense of resentment. …show more content…

The theme he develops around this topic is when humanity and decency break down, evil is allowed to flourish in society. This is witnessed on page 46 when Elie says, "As we were passing through some of the villages, many Germans watched us, showing no surprise.” The German villagers were unfazed by the trek of prisoners. The theme is further explored on page 96 when Schutzstaffel or SS officers laughed at the brittle men for consuming the snow off each other’s backbones. The hostages would have been shot if they were to bend down to the ground to eat the snow so they ate what they could. These cases show how inhuman the officers have become. To gain entertainment from the famished individuals is not right. The prisoners were using their final bit of energy to survive and the guards ridicule them like were less than

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