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When reading Night, it isn’t hard to notice that the main character of the story was a real person that was victimized by this situation during his time; who also happens to be the author of the story. Although the main character of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is fictional, both of these illustrate vivid examples of the circumstances of the Holocaust; inside, and outside of the barbed wire fences.
Night had an exceptional way to illustrate how cruel conditions were inside the concentration camps, as well as how people changed due to the inhumanity. The main character in Night was a 15 year old Jew, Elie Wiesel, who was unaware of what was happening to Jews during his time. There was a lot of false hope when he, his family, and other jews
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were sent to these concentration camps. For example Wiesel wrote, “The people were saying, "The Red Army is advancing with giant strides…Hitler will not be able to harm us, even if he wants to…" Yes, we even doubted his resolve to exterminate us” (8).
Within a blink of an eye, Elie was face to face with death; he was struggling to hold on to the little bit of life that remained within him. Despite the fact that Elie managed to walk out of these camps alive, he was no longer the same person that walked into the concentration camps. While trapped inside of the concentration camps, the only thing that made Elie want to hang on, was his father. Elie essentially had to live for two people; himself and his father. After his father died, Elie stated that he no longer had the desire to live, he no longer tried. This is supported by Wiesel when he wrote, “I shall not describe my life during that period. It no longer mattered. Since my father's death, nothing mattered to me anymore.” (113). During his father’s last days, Elie got tired of waiting around for his father, almost like his father became a burden to Elie’s life. This is supported by Elie writing, “I went to look for him. Yet at the same time a thought crept into my mind: If only I didn't find him! If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care only of myself…Instantly, I felt ashamed, ashamed of myself forever” (106). Elie knew it …show more content…
was wrong, but still stated numerous times that he wished his father would pass already, so he didn’t have to put the energy in keeping his father alive as well. Wiesel about his father, “I did not weep, and it pained me that I could not weep. But I was out of tears. And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like: Free at last!…” (112). With just these few facts from the story, it is noticeable that the priorities of Elie began to alter, and his family commitment was beginning to diminish. Family commitment from everyone at the concentration camps was noticeably diminished, not just Elie; the cause of all of this was the cruelty that these Jews took in everyday. The film The Boy in the Striped Pajamas illustrates what happens outside of the barbed wire fences. It does a good job showing that not all families in Germany supported, or even knew what exactly was happening to the jews. In this film, the main character, known as Bruno, moves to Poland with his family because his father is an SS commander. At first Bruno was upset by having to move, but then discovers a concentration camp is not too far from his home, which he thought was a farm with lots of children to play with. Despite his family telling him he can’t go play with the children, Bruno finds himself wandering towards the camp and meets an eight year old boy on the other side of the fence. Bruno befriends this boy, Shmuel, even after learning that he is a jew. Bruno continues to visit this boy everyday, bringing him food and talking to him. By Bruno’s mother being sickened by the things happening to jews, this displayed the fact that not all Germans supported what was happening to the jews; as well as Bruno not knowing what was happening, this revealed that not all Germans even knew what was going on, (Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Directed by Mark Herman, 2008). There are many things that are similar when comparing Night and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
For example, you will notice that they’re both based around the Holocaust, so they both have the same general time zone. They’re also are both based on the main character who struggles with the conditions of the holocaust. Both of the main characters are both a boy, who struggle with family commitment. In Night, Elie finds it hard to hold on, let alone hold on for his father too. This is supported by “Yet at the same time a thought crept into my mind: If only I didn't find him! If only I were relieved of this responsibility, I could use all my strength to fight for my own survival, to take care only of myself…Instantly, I felt ashamed, ashamed of myself forever” (Wiesel 106). In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Bruno struggled with family commitment when he wanted to be friends with the boy on the other side of the fence, but his family told him he can’t go over there. (Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Directed by Mark Herman, 2008). Bruno’s family refused to tell Bruno what was going on in their world, and that caused Bruno to be curious, which led to an accidental death. Some differences were obvious, such as Bruno belonging to a German family who lived outside of the concentration camps; Elie was a jew who was stuck inside the camps, struggling with life. Another major difference was that Night is a true story with real people; The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, was
fictional. Studying both Night and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas together gives a better understanding of the Holocaust not just from one perspective. They both have a way to paint a picture and make the reader able to get a taste of the experience better. Studying the book and movie together helps to understand what jews went through, thought, and how they changed while they were in the concentration camps. The movie gave watchers an idea of what happened between German families, and the thoughts on what was happening from people outside of these camps.
Millions of Jews forced out of their homes and are either killed immediately or forced to work until bodies gave up on them and died. Night focuses on the aspect of inhumanity a lot. The Nazi’s practically dehumanized the Jews and caused them to suffer each day, which is evident in Night. In the book, however, the Nazi’s are not the only ones subject to inhumanity; the Jews are a part of it also. Due to the harsh treatment, many of the Jew lose a sense of empathy. For example, when Eliezer’s father was practically dead the other prisoners beat him just because he didn’t deserve to live any more. The author is ultimately trying to argue that under the right conditions we may all lose our
At last, his father was free. He wasn't taking any more beatings, he isn't suffering, and he doesn't have to be in the concentration camps anymore. Elie is free, he doesn't have to carry the weight of his father anymore. Three months after his fathers death nothing mattered to him anymore. The father son relationship shown in this novel, is something no one else has ever seen before. As you can see the roles switch throughout the story. In the beginning Elie’s father is strong, a role model a leader, but through the story he becomes child-like vulnerable, weak. On the other hand, Elie goes from admiring his dad, to worrying and carrying for
When the Holocaust happened there were many Jews killed due to gas chambers and fires that hid their remains. The book Night is about Elie wiesel (a survivor of the Holocaust) and what had happened to him in auschwitz. Elie wiesel is an actual survivor of the holocaust who wrote this book to show the horrors of auschwitz. He was very changed after he came out of the concentration camp known as Auschwitz(the biggest concentration camp during the holocaust). In the book “Night” by Elie Wiesel, the main character, Elie, was affected by the events in the book because he didn't care if he died, he wasn't mournful over death, and he was psychologically affected.
When they first arrived at the camp, his father asked their Blockalteste where the toilets were. “Then as if waking from a deep sleep, he slapped my father with such force that he fell down and then crawled back to his place on all fours. I stood petrified. What had happened to me? My father had just been struck in front of me, and I had not even blinked...Only yesterday, I would have dug my nails into this criminal’s flesh.”(Wiesel,39) This shows that Elie would have beaten the guard had he been allowed to. This next quote shows Elie much later, near Buchenwald in a cattle car, cramped and starving. His father’s corpse has just been thrown off the train “And deep inside me, if I could have searched the recesses of my feeble conscience, I might have found something like:Free at last!...”(Wiesel,112) This shows Elie thinking that if he searched inside himself for remorse, he would have found something that said he was free from a
Devotion towards another human being must be developed, it does not occur instantaneously. In the autobiography Night, Elie was not so much concerned with the welfare of his family while living in Sighet, Transylvania. Elie goes against his father when it comes to his religious studies, “One day I asked my father to find me a master who could guide me in my studies of the Kabbalah. ‘You are too young for that’” (Wiesel 4). Just as most children, Elie does not accept his father’s answer. Elie finds his own teacher, Moishe the Beadle. When forced into the struggles of concentration camp, Elie becomes faithful to his father. Elie does not have any friends or family members left. For this reason, his father becomes the reason for life itself. This devotion towards his father alters the reasons for his life’s continuance as a whole. This can be seen as life in the camp continues and Elie develops a selfless attitude. His only concern lies in the health of his loving father. Elie states, “My father’s presence was the only thing that stopped me. He was running next to me, out of breath, out of strength, desperate. I had no right to let myself die. What would he do without me? I was his sole support” (Wiesel 86). This insta...
In the 1930s-1940s, the Nazis took millions of Jews into their death camps. They exterminated children, families, and even babies. Elie Wiesel was one of the few who managed to live through the war. However, his life was forever scarred by things he witnessed in these camps. The book Night explained many of the harsh feelings that Elie Wiesel experienced in his time in various German concentration camps.
The significance of night throughout the novel Night by Elie Wiesel shows a poignant view into the daily life of Jews throughout the concentration camps. Eliezer describes each day as if there was not any sunshine to give them hope of a new day. He used the night to symbolize the darkness and eeriness that were brought upon every Jew who continued to survive each day in the concentration camps. However, night was used as an escape from the torture Eliezer and his father had to endure from the Kapos who controlled their barracks. Nevertheless, night plays a developmental role of Elie throughout he novel.
Elie really needs and wants his father to live. When the SS guards yell "Throw out all the dead! Corpses outside!" the guards were going to throw Elie's father out but Elie said, "I threw myself on top of his body, he was cold. I slapped him. I rubbed his hands crying: Father! Father! Wake up! They are trying to throw you out of the carriage" The SS guards yelled" Leave him. You can see perfectly well that he's dead." Elie replied, "No! He isn't dead! not yet!!" On page 286 of the interview with Oprah, Elie explains how he needed his father to live and survive himself by saying "As long as my father was alive, i wanted to live- but only because of him. After he died, between January and April [of the year we were released], I didn't really live."
The ground is frozen, parents sob over their children, stomachs growl, stiff bodies huddle together to stay slightly warm. This was a recurrent scene during World War II. Night is a literary memoir of Elie Wiesel’s tenure in the Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel created a character reminiscent of himself with Eliezer. Eliezer experienced cruelty, stress, fear, and inhumanity at a very young age, fifteen. Through this, he struggled to maintain his Jewish faith, survive with his father, and endure the hardships placed on his body and mind.
His father is getting old, and weak, and Elie realizes his father does not have the strength to survive on his own, and it is too late to save him. "It's too late to save your old father, I said to myself..."(pg 105). He felt guilty because he could not help his father, but he knew the only way to live is to watch out for himself. "Here, every man has to fight for himself and not think of anyone else. Even of his father..."(pg 105). He thinks of himself, and
Some of the most fabled stories of our time come from individuals overcoming impossible odds and surviving horrific situations. This is prevalent throughout the Holocaust. People are fascinated with this event in history because the survivors had to overcome immense odds. One, of many, of the more famous stories about the Holocaust is Night by Elie Wiesel. Through this medium, Wiesel still manages to capture the horrors of the camps, despite the reader already knowing the story.
When people are placed in difficult, desolate situations, they often change in a substantial way. In Night by Elie Wiesel, the protagonist, Elie, is sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp where he undergoes many devastating experiences. Due to these traumatic events, Elie changes drastically, losing his passion in God, becoming disconnected with his father, and maturing when it matters most.
Imagine waking up on a normal day, in your normal house, in your normal room. Imagine if you knew that that day, you would be taken away from your normal life, and forced to a life of death, sickness, and violence. Imagine seeing your parents taken away from you. Imagine watching your family walk into their certain death. Imagine being a survivor. Just think of the nightmares that linger in your mind. You are stuck with emotional pain gnawing at your sanity. These scenerios are just some of the horrific things that went on between 1933-1945, the time of the Holocaust. This tragic and terrifying event has been written about many times. However, this is about one particularly fascinating story called The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.
This new behavior lead him to develop new character traits. While Ellie was in the concentration camp he became angry at many things, for example “I would have dug my nails into the criminals flesh” (Wisel 39). Elie shows extreme anger when the Nazi officials are beating Elie’s father. Elie was angry because the Nazi soldiers were not treating them nicely and putting them in poor conditions. Elie is usually not a person for anger but he shows this when his family members are being hurt. Elie wants to stand up for what is right and for his family members. Despite his studying, Elie wavered in his belief in Kabbalah while he was at the camp. In the book Elie says, “‘Where are You, my God?’” (66). Elie is wondering why God is not helping the Jews. Elie had complete faith in his religion until now, when he is starting to question his beliefs. He had learned that God will punish evil and save the righteous. However, when Elie saw that God was not helping the Jews situation then asked himself the question, “Is God real?”. Elie became worried because he felt he had lost a companion that always seemed by his side at all times. He lost hope. While Elie was in the camp he had changed the way he acted towards his Dad. Before Elie was sent to the camp Elie had a love hate relationship with his dad. However while they were in the camp together they became closer. Elie showed this when, “I tightened my grip on my
Night begins in 1941, when Elie, is twelve years old. Having grown up in a little town called Sighet in Transylvania, Elie is a studious, deeply religious boy with a loving family consisting of his parents and three sisters. One day, Moshe the Beadle, a Jew from Sighet, deported in 1942, with whom Elie had once studied the cabbala, comes back and warns the town of the impending dangers of the German army. No one listens and years pass by. But by 1944, Germans are already in the town of Sighet and they set up ghettos for the Jews. After a while, the Germans begin the deportation of the Jews to the concentration camp in Auschwitz.