Dehumanization and Destruction: Insights from 'The Night'

Elie Wiesel’s book “The Night” is an autobiography of the complete destruction of the Jews, in which he had experienced with his father. Elie Wiesel writes about his disturbing experiences and the how he and his fellow Jews were tortured by the Nazis. Wiesel describes the inequality, brutality, inhumanity and how they were treated worse than any human. The Jews were dehumanised and they were taken their identity from them, this happened when they first arrived at the first camp and they were given all the same clothes, haircuts and tattooing a number on them. The destruction of Eliezer’s town, his family and his faith in god were all taken away from him. This is portrayed throughout the book by using symbols, quotes, images which signify the horrors and devastating experiences the Jews and Eliezer experienced.
Elie Wiesel uses many techniques in his story, Night is used throughout the book, as a title, to symbolise death, to symbolise destruction and loss of faith. In Night, Wiesel exploits this allusion. Night always occurs when suffering is worst, and its presence reflects Eliezer’s belief that he lives in a world without God. The first-time Eliezer mentions that “night fell” is when his father is interrupted

while telling stories and informed about the deportation of Jews. Similarly, it is night when Eliezer first arrives at Birkenau/Auschwitz, and it is night specifically “pitch darkness” when the prisoners begin their horrible run from Buna.
Fire appears throughout Night as a symbol of the Nazis cruel power. On the way to Auschwitz-Birkenau, Madame Schächter receives a vision of fire that serves as a premonition of the horror to come. Mrs Schächter is considered crazy to the other Jews on the train, especially when she begins to scream out “Jews, listen to me! I can see fire! There are huge flames! It is a furnace!” This foreshadows what occurs late to the Jews. Eliezer also sees the Nazis burning babies in a ditch. Most important, fire is the agent of destruction in the crematoria, where many meet their death at the hands of the Nazis. Fire is a constant threat and is there to symbolise death.
Eliezer along all the other Jews experienced amusing torture. Elie Wiesel employs imagery when he describes the harsh winter in the concentration camps. "Winter had arrived. The days became short and the nights almost unbearable. From the first hours of dawn, a glacial wind lashed us like a whip". This quote by itself shows the harsh conditions they went through, Eliezer continues and says “The stones were so cold that touching them, we felt that our hands would remain stuck. But we got used to that too.” This use of imagery by Elie Wiesel gives the reader an understanding on what is going on in a more detailed way.

Another significant use of imagery in ‘Night’ is the hanging of the innocent child.

He was hung because the SS believed that he was leading a resistance force. This child was hunged with two other men infront of everyone. Eliezer at this stage is beginning to lose faith and has no hope. This hanging of the young innocent boy seriously affects all peoples of the concentration camps. It arouses feelings of pity and sorrow that are a rare in the jaded atmosphere of the death camp. Even though the Nazis kill thousands of Jews on a daily basis, but the hanging of the child becomes an act of unspeakable and horrid cruelty. The prisoners all weep, and Eliezer feels like the Nazis have succeeded in killing God himself. This quote shows Eliezer’s beliefs fading

away,

“Where is God? Where is He?” someone behind me asked. ..
For more than half an hour [the child in the noose] stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed.
Behind me, I heard the same man asking:
“Where is God now?”
And I heard a voice within me answer him:
“Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows. . ..”
This quote shows his disbelief at God who let this happen. Everyone is forced to watch this innocent child die in the most humiliating and painful way to die.
Therefore, images and imagery such as; night, fire, amusing torture and an innocent boy being hanged, display the brutality, inequality, inhumanity and destruction by the Nazis, who removed all the faith In God Eliezer and the other Jews had. Elie Wiesel’s experience in torture was conveyed in this book and gave us an idea on the destruction the Nazis had and how they destroyed the lives of all those innocent people.